Bing Webmaster Tools Adds an AI Performance Report

In February 2026, Microsoft added a new “AI Performance” report to Bing Webmaster Tools, released as a public preview. It lets site owners see how often, and where, their content is cited in AI-generated answers, including Microsoft Copilot and AI answers in Bing search.

A New Way to Measure Visibility

Tools like Bing Webmaster Tools and Google Search Console have always measured performance through clicks, impressions, and average position in classic search results. The AI Performance report goes a step further, with data on how your content is used in AI-generated answers:

• Total citations: how many times your site was cited as a source in AI-generated answers over a given period.
• Average cited pages: the average number of unique pages from your site cited by AI each day.
• Grounding queries: sample queries the AI used to find and cite your content.
• Page-level activity: which of your pages are cited most often in AI answers.
• Trends over time: a chart showing how those citations change over time.

Unlike classic performance reports, these metrics don’t reflect rankings or clicks to your site. They only show whether, and how often, your content is used to support an AI-generated answer, not its actual impact on traffic.

Why This Report Matters for SEO

AI is now a discovery channel in its own right, and that changes what visibility means. More and more users get direct, AI-generated answers without necessarily clicking through to the original sources. That’s one reason brand mentions across the web now matter more.

With the AI Performance report, SEOs and publishers can:

• See which pages AI systems cite and understand which topics perform well in those answers.
• Identify the queries that trigger those citations to better align their content with what people actually want to know.
• Improve the clarity, structure, and depth of pages that are cited less often to give them a better chance of being used in AI answers.

How to Use the Data

Microsoft recommends using the report’s insights to:

• Confirm which pages on your site are already used in AI answers.
• Spot topics that come up again and again in AI grounding queries.
• Improve content structure, for example by adding clear headings, FAQ sections, or precise definitions that make your pages easier for AI models to understand.

These recommendations line up with modern SEO best practices: well-structured content, up-to-date information, clearly defined entities, and plain writing. Google’s guidance on AI Overviews and AI Mode points in the same direction.

What It Means for the Future of SEO

A dedicated report on performance in AI answers is a clear sign that visibility is no longer limited to traditional search results. As AI becomes a mainstream way to find information, publishers need to think about optimizing for generative experiences, also known as generative engine optimization (GEO). If you’re weighing the two disciplines, our guide to SEO vs. GEO covers the differences.

The bottom line:

• You can now monitor how AI systems use your content.
• You won’t get click or direct traffic metrics from this report.
• Still, it’s a first step toward a new kind of SEO analysis, built for AI-driven search.

Since the report launched as a public preview, Microsoft may add or change metrics over time, so check your Bing Webmaster Tools account for the current feature set.

Need help setting up Bing Webmaster Tools or reading your AI citation data? Référenceur is a French-speaking digital marketing agency from Belgium and Luxembourg, and we work with U.S. businesses remotely through video calls, shared screens, and monthly reporting. Get a free assessment.