Microsoft Bing has introduced a major update for digital marketers: AI Performance reporting in Bing Webmaster Tools (Public Preview).
The announcement signals a meaningful shift in how search visibility is measured on Bing in the AI era.
For years, SEO performance has centered on rankings, impressions, and clicks. But as AI-generated answers become more prominent, user journeys are changing. With many marketers reporting declining CTRs, it’s clear that not every search results in a click, but that doesn’t mean your brand isn’t shaping the answer.
With this new reporting feature, Bing is giving marketers visibility into how often their content is cited in AI-generated responses across Bing search results and Microsoft Copilot experiences.
This is an early but important step toward measuring performance in generative search environments.
What Bing’s New AI Performance Report Shows
The new AI Performance report in Bing Webmaster Tools provides insight into how your website appears in AI-generated answers across Bing and related Microsoft AI search or chat opportunities.
Instead of focusing solely on traditional metrics like impressions and clicks, this report introduces visibility metrics centered on citations and AI inclusion.
Key metrics include:
- Total Citations – The number of times your content is cited in AI-generated answers.
- Average Cited Pages – The daily average of unique URLs cited.
- Grounding Queries – Example queries used by AI systems to retrieve and reference your content.
- Page-Level Citation Data – Visibility breakdown by URL.
- Citation Trends Over Time – Performance tracking across selected timeframes.
This is a notable evolution in performance reporting. In AI-driven experiences, users may receive detailed answers without clicking through to a website, changing how it’s measured.
For the first time, marketers can officially see whether their content is shaping AI answers, instead of guessing or relying on unproven third-party tools beginning to form.
Why This Update Matters for Marketers
New Visibility Signals Beyond Search Rankings
Until now, marketers have had limited insight into whether their content was influencing AI-generated responses. Bing’s AI Performance reporting introduces a new visibility signal by showing when and how content is cited within AI-generated responses. This allows marketers to move beyond assumptions and begin measuring real AI-driven exposure.
Bing has positioned this update as an early step toward more advanced AI-focused performance reporting, reflecting the growing influence of generative AI in how users discover information through search.
Helps Answer Critical Questions
With access to AI citation data, marketers can begin answering questions that were previously difficult – or impossible – to measure, including:
- Are users seeing our content referenced in AI-generated answers?
- Which pages are playing the biggest role in AI-driven discovery?
- What types of queries are prompting AI systems to surface our content?
These insights help clarify where content is earning authority and where there may be gaps in AI visibility.
What This Means for Other AI Answer Engines (Like Google’s AIO and ChatGPT)
Bing is currently the only major platform offering direct reporting on AI citations, but its insights extend beyond Bing. Google’s AI Overviews and answer engines like ChatGPT influence discovery in similar ways, even if they do not yet provide comparable data.
Until other platforms release their own reporting, Bing’s AI Performance metrics offer valuable directional insight. The types of content earning citations, including clear, authoritative, and well-structured pages, are likely to perform well across other AI-driven environments.
For now, marketers should treat Bing’s AI data as a testing ground and apply those learnings across their broader AI search strategy.
What Marketers Should Do Next
1. Set Up and Explore the Dashboard
Verify your site in Bing Webmaster Tools and review the AI Performance tab. Start by identifying which pages are receiving citations and where AI visibility is concentrated.
2. Audit High-Citation Pages
Treat frequently cited pages as high-value assets. Review them for topic relevance, clear structure, and concise, authoritative answers.
3. Improve Content for AI Inclusion
Update or expand content where citations are expected but missing. Focus on clear hierarchy, direct answers, and formats that are easy for AI systems to reference.
4. Use Grounding Queries to Refine Organic Visibility
Leverage grounding queries to understand how AI phrases questions. Apply these insights to titles, headers, and on-page optimization.
5. Keep Content Fresh with IndexNow
Use IndexNow to help ensure updated content is discovered quickly by search and AI systems.
6. Track Trends Over Time
Monitor citation trends to identify changes in AI visibility, emerging topics, and opportunities for optimization.
Ready to Adapt Your Strategy for AI Search?
As AI-generated answers become a standard part of the search experience, marketers must expand their definition of visibility. Rankings and traffic remain essential, but influence within AI responses is quickly becoming a vital competitive differentiator. The brands that adapt early will be better positioned in the next phase of search.
If your team is evaluating how to adjust your content strategy for generative search, the experts at Arc Intermedia can help with our AI Search & Answer Engine Optimization Services.
Contact Arc Intermedia today to future-proof your search visibility.
