How to see when Copilot and Bing AI cite your website

Bing Webmaster Tools has a free AI Performance report that shows how often your pages are cited as sources in Microsoft Copilot, AI-generated summaries in Bing and select partner AI integrations, which pages are cited, and the search phrases the AI used to find them. It is one of the few places a small business can see AI citations from the platform itself rather than by guessing.

Last updated 21 October 2026 · Written by GPT Visibility

The short answer

Add your site to Bing Webmaster Tools and verify it. If you already use Google Search Console, Bing lets you import your sites from it.
Submit your sitemap so Bing can find every service and location page.
Open AI Performance to see total citations, cited pages, grounding queries and which URLs are cited most.
Check Topics Portfolio, a beta tab added in October 2026, for queries where other sites are cited and yours isn’t.
Fix the gaps on your own pages, then compare the trend over the following weeks.

What the AI Performance report shows

Bing launched AI Performance as a public preview on 10 February 2026. According to Bing’s help page, it covers three surfaces: Microsoft Copilot, AI-generated summaries in Bing, and select partner AI integrations. Data refreshes daily with a short delay, and you can view 7 days, 30 days, 3 months or a custom range.

Total citations: the number of times your content was visibly shown as a source in AI answers in the date range.
Average cited pages: the average number of different pages from your site cited per day.
Grounding queries: the phrases the AI used when it retrieved content it then cited. Bing says this is a sample, not every query.
Page-level citations: which of your URLs are cited most often.
Trends over time: how citation activity changes day by day.

Search Engine Journal reports that Bing added Topics, Intents, Citation Share and Compare views in June 2026. Citation Share is your percentage of all citations for one grounding query. Bing says it does not reveal which competitor domains take the rest.

Topics Portfolio: where other sites are cited and you aren’t

On 13 October 2026 Bing announced Topics Portfolio, a beta tab next to Citations & Pages. It groups the grounding queries where your site appears into broad topics and shows three columns for each:

Topic Size: approximate citations across all sites for that topic, which Bing describes as a measure of AI search demand.
Sites Cited: approximately how many sites appear for queries in the topic, which tells you how crowded it is.
Queries: approximately how many different grounding queries the topic holds.

Below the table, Top Opportunity Queries lists queries where other sites are cited and yours is not, with citation volumes shown as ranges. Clicking a topic shows the queries you already appear for next to the open ones. You can view one, two or three months.

Bing is clear about the limits: topics are labelled by AI and can be imperfect, branded searches can show up as opportunities, the numbers are approximate, and topics without enough data are hidden, so small sites may see a short list or no tab at all. Bing’s own advice is to treat the numbers as directional signals for planning, not as a precise ledger.

How to turn the report into fixes

Read your grounding queries. If they mention services or towns you don’t clearly cover, that’s your content list.
Look at which pages get cited. Check that their prices, opening hours, areas and contact details are current, because those are the pages AI is quoting.
Work through opportunity queries. Skip competitor brand names. For each real service question, make sure one page answers it near the top in a sentence or two, with the service and town written out in plain text.
Check crawler access. Bing respects robots.txt, so make sure you aren’t blocking Bingbot by mistake. Our AI crawler guide covers the main rules.
Re-check monthly. Citation changes can come from new questions, content updates or model changes, and Bing says a trend can’t be pinned on one cause.

What the report can’t tell you

Clicks and visits. It counts citations, not traffic. Our guide on tracking AI traffic in GA4 covers the visit side.
Rankings or position in the answer. Bing says the report doesn’t measure rankings, authority or importance.
Every citation. The data is aggregated and sampled, so some citations won’t appear.
Other assistants. Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and ChatGPT aren’t listed among its surfaces, so you still need to test those yourself. See how to check if ChatGPT recommends your business.

Common mistakes

Never adding the site to Bing Webmaster Tools because “nobody uses Bing”, and so missing the only first-party AI citation data on offer.
Reading a citation count as visitors or sales.
Chasing opportunity queries that are a competitor’s brand name.
Expecting Topics Portfolio to appear on a brand-new or very small site.
Changing several pages at once and then crediting one change for a rise.

Frequently asked questions

Can I see if Microsoft Copilot cites my website?

Yes. The AI Performance report in Bing Webmaster Tools shows how often your pages are shown as sources in AI answers across Microsoft Copilot, AI-generated summaries in Bing and select partner integrations, plus which pages were cited and the grounding queries behind them. It is free; you only need to add and verify your site in Bing Webmaster Tools.

What is a grounding query?

A grounding query is the search phrase Bing’s AI used to find content it then cited in an answer. It is not always the exact words a person typed into Copilot, but it shows the topics and wording that lead the AI to your pages.

Does the AI Performance report show clicks or traffic?

No. It counts citations, meaning times your content was visibly shown as a source. Bing says it does not measure rankings, authority or traffic, so use Google Analytics or your server logs to count visits.

What is Topics Portfolio in Bing Webmaster Tools?

Topics Portfolio is a beta tab in the AI Performance report, announced by Bing on 13 October 2026. It groups the grounding queries where your site appears into broader topics, shows each topic’s approximate size and how many sites are cited, and lists opportunity queries where other sites are cited but yours is not.

Why can’t I see Topics Portfolio for my site?

Bing only shows the tab when it has enough data for your site. Topics with too little site presence or too little activity are hidden, so smaller sites may see a short list or no tab at all.

Does this report cover ChatGPT?

Bing’s help page lists Microsoft Copilot, AI-generated summaries in Bing and select partner AI integrations. It doesn’t name ChatGPT, so to check ChatGPT you still need to ask it customer-style questions yourself.