AI search platforms

Bing: the search index behind Microsoft Copilot

Many business owners haven’t thought about Bing in years. That’s a mistake in 2026. Bing is the index Microsoft Copilot uses to answer web questions, and Microsoft sells access to it to companies building AI agents. Its webmaster tools are now the only first-party place to see how often an AI assistant cites your pages.

Short answer

Bing is Microsoft’s search engine and the source Copilot uses for web answers. To show up, verify your site in Bing Webmaster Tools, submit a sitemap, claim Bing Places for Business and turn on IndexNow so Bing hears about changes right away. Bing’s guidelines, rewritten in 2026, now cover how pages qualify for Copilot answers and citations.

Get Found · Get Leads · Grow

How we use Bing to get you found, get you leads and help you grow

Get Found

Get indexed fast

We verify your site in Bing Webmaster Tools, claim Bing Places, submit sitemaps and use IndexNow so new pages are found quickly.

Get Leads

One page, two audiences

Bing results and Copilot answers send people to the same pages, so we make those pages easy to act on and track what comes in.

Grow

Fill the gaps Bing shows

We review Bing’s reports alongside Google’s and fix what Bing finds missing.

How it works

Why Bing matters more than its market share suggests

Bing reaches people directly, and it also feeds AI answers that never say “Bing” on the screen.

It grounds Copilot

Microsoft says Copilot sends a short, generated search query to the Bing search service and uses the results to compose its answer. Your Bing visibility is your Copilot visibility.

How Copilot works →

It powers AI agents

Microsoft retired its public Bing Search APIs on August 11, 2025, and pointed developers to “Grounding with Bing Search” in Azure AI Agents, which lets those agents pull live web data from Bing.

It reports AI citations

Bing Webmaster Tools added an AI Performance report in February 2026, in public preview. It shows citations across Copilot, Bing’s AI summaries and selected partner integrations.

What makes it different

How Bing differs from Google and the AI assistants

Its guidelines now speak AI

Search Engine Journal reported that Microsoft rewrote the Bing Webmaster Guidelines in February 2026. They now treat “grounding results and citations” as outcomes and name Generative Engine Optimization. They also note that it doesn’t guarantee citations, any more than SEO guarantees rankings.

Specific grounding advice

The rewritten guidelines recommend stating facts directly, using consistent names for your business and services, keeping each URL focused on one topic and putting key information near the top of the page. Google’s guidance is broader. Bing’s is unusually concrete.

IndexNow instead of waiting

Google discovers changes on its own schedule. Bing supports IndexNow, an open protocol that lets your site notify search engines the moment a page is added, updated or deleted. A submission is shared with all participating engines. Google isn’t one of them.

Meta tags control Copilot use

Bing’s 2026 guidelines explain that NOARCHIVE keeps content out of Copilot answers and grounding results, while NOCACHE limits Copilot to your URL, title and snippet. Google uses different controls for its AI features.

Checklist

What a local or service business should do

Verify Bing Webmaster Tools. You can import a verified Google Search Console property to speed this up. Submit your XML sitemap.
Turn on IndexNow. Many CMS plugins and CDNs support it. Once it’s on, new and updated pages get reported automatically.
Claim Bing Places for Business. Search for your business, claim it or create it, and verify by phone, email, postcard or other offered method. Or import from a verified Google Business Profile.
Check your robots meta tags. Remove any NOARCHIVE or NOCACHE tags you didn’t add on purpose, since they limit how Copilot can use your content.
Write the way Bing’s guidelines ask. One topic per URL, key facts near the top, consistent business and service names, and plain statements instead of marketing fluff.
Review AI Performance monthly. Look at which pages get cited and which grounding queries lead to them. Then strengthen the pages that almost make it.

How MarketPros helps

We set up the channel most agencies skip

We can’t promise Bing rankings or Copilot citations. We can make sure Bing sees an accurate, complete, well-structured version of your business.

Bing technical setup

Webmaster Tools, sitemaps, IndexNow and meta tag review.

AEO services →

Bing Places

Listing claim, import and ongoing accuracy alongside Google.

Local AEO and SEO →

AI citation reporting

Monthly review of AI Performance data with your other analytics.

Analytics and tracking →

FAQ

Bing questions business owners ask

Is Bing still worth the effort?

Yes, mainly because of Copilot. Microsoft says Copilot grounds its web answers in Bing, so Bing visibility affects whether Copilot can find and cite you. The setup work is modest.

Does Bing feed ChatGPT?

OpenAI says ChatGPT uses third-party search providers but doesn’t name them in its help documentation, so we don’t state it as fact. What Microsoft confirms is that Bing grounds Copilot and is available to AI agents through Grounding with Bing Search.

What does the AI Performance report show?

Total citations, average cited pages, grounding queries and page-level citation activity across Copilot, Bing AI summaries and selected partners. It doesn’t show clicks or traffic.

Can I copy my Google Business Profile to Bing?

Yes. Bing Places offers an import from Google. BrightLocal notes that importing verified Google listings can skip Bing’s separate verification step.

Next step

Want to know if Bing has an accurate picture of your business? Text (404) 877-2184 to set up a Zoom discovery meeting, or request a free visibility review.

Sources

Last reviewed October 23, 2026 by Don Stormo, founder of MarketPros.AI.