Microsoft has introduced a new AI Performance report within Bing Webmaster Tools, offering publishers unprecedented visibility into how their content is being utilized by artificial intelligence systems. The public preview, launched on , provides data on citations across Microsoft Copilot, AI-powered Bing search summaries, and partner integrations. This marks a significant step toward what Microsoft terms “Generative Engine Optimization” (GEO), providing tools to understand content performance in an AI-driven discovery landscape.
For years, publishers have operated with limited insight into whether their content was appearing in AI-generated responses, a situation often described as a “black box” for attribution. The AI Performance dashboard addresses this by tracking citation frequency, page-level activity, the queries triggering those citations, and temporal trends. According to Microsoft, the dashboard “shows where and how content from your site is referenced as a source across AI experiences.”
The new tooling differentiates itself from traditional search engine optimization metrics. While SEO focuses on clicks, rankings, and impressions, AI Performance measures whether content is being used to ground AI-generated answers. A page can receive numerous citations without necessarily driving significant direct traffic, and conversely, generate traffic without frequent citation. This distinction is crucial as AI-generated answers often directly satisfy user information needs, reducing the need to click through to source websites.
Understanding the Metrics
The AI Performance dashboard provides several key metrics. “Total citations” indicates how many times a site’s content has been cited as a source within AI-generated answers during a specified period. “Average cited pages” reveals the daily average of unique URLs from a site referenced across AI experiences, offering a broader view of citation patterns. “Grounding queries” expose the phrases AI systems used to retrieve and cite publisher content. Microsoft notes this data represents a sample and will be refined as data processing improves. “Page-level citation activity” breaks down citation counts by URL, highlighting the most frequently referenced pages. Finally, a timeline visualization displays how citation activity changes over time.
Microsoft has emphasized its commitment to respecting content owner preferences, adhering to directives specified in robots.txt and other supported control mechanisms. This addresses growing publisher concerns about AI systems accessing content without clear consent or established compensation frameworks.
AI Search and Content Value
The emergence of AI-powered search is reshaping the value proposition of online content. Research indicates that visitors arriving from AI search demonstrate a significantly higher value – approximately 4.4 times greater – compared to those from traditional organic search, when measured by conversion rates. However, overall traffic volumes may decline as AI systems provide comprehensive information directly within their responses.
The “grounding queries” metric offers insight into how AI systems match content to user prompts. These phrases differ from traditional search keywords, representing the AI’s retrieval logic rather than user-entered queries. Understanding these phrases allows publishers to optimize content structure and depth for AI comprehension, rather than solely focusing on human readers or traditional search algorithms. Microsoft suggests using these insights to identify content frequently appearing in AI answers and to improve clarity, structure, or completeness on indexed pages.
Optimizing for AI Citation
Microsoft provides guidance for publishers aiming to increase citation frequency. Strengthening depth and expertise, particularly in focused subject areas, is recommended. Deepening coverage in related areas can reinforce authority signals that AI systems evaluate during source selection. Improving content structure through clear headings, tables, and FAQ sections can also help AI systems accurately reference information. Supporting claims with evidence, including examples, data, and cited sources, builds trust when content appears in AI-generated answers. Regularly updating content to ensure accuracy is also crucial.
Reducing ambiguity across formats – aligning text, images, and video to consistently represent the same entities – improves AI comprehension. Microsoft directs publishers to detailed guidance on optimizing content for inclusion in AI search answers for more structural recommendations.
IndexNow and Content Freshness
Microsoft highlights the importance of accurate and current content for AI citation, emphasizing the role of the IndexNow protocol. This real-time notification system informs participating search engines whenever content is added, updated, or removed, enabling faster discovery of changes and ensuring AI systems reference the most current versions of pages. Currently, over 60 million websites participate in IndexNow, submitting 1.4 billion URLs daily as of October 2023.
The integration of IndexNow with AI Performance suggests Microsoft views content freshness as critical for maintaining citation relevance. Publishers can access implementation guidance at indexnow.org, and Microsoft continues to emphasize the importance of comprehensive XML sitemaps for content discovery in AI-powered search environments.
Local Business Considerations
For local businesses, accurate business information is particularly important when AI experiences surface answers to location-based queries. Microsoft directs businesses to register with Bing Places for Business to ensure key details, including address, hours, and contact information, remain current and eligible for inclusion in AI-generated responses. The redesigned platform, launched in October 2025, migrated to bing.com/forbusiness and includes new import features and tools.
Competitive Landscape
The launch of AI Performance positions Microsoft ahead of Google in providing dedicated tooling for AI citation visibility. While Google has extensively deployed AI Overviews, it has not yet released comparable analytics showing publishers how frequently their content appears in AI-generated summaries or which specific pages receive citations. This advantage is significant as understanding AI citation patterns becomes critical for publishers navigating the shift toward generative search.
Research suggests that ChatGPT citations predominantly reference content ranking in traditional organic search positions 21 or lower, approximately 90% of the time – a pattern that challenges conventional SEO assumptions about ranking correlation with visibility.
Industry Implications and Future Development
The AI Performance dashboard signals Microsoft’s commitment to transparency between AI systems and the open web, addressing concerns about attribution and visibility in AI-generated content. The release also highlights the evolving requirements for AI citation, necessitating a shift beyond traditional SEO practices. The industry is increasingly discussing appropriate compensation and attribution models for AI training data and citation, though the current dashboard focuses on measurement rather than monetization.
Microsoft plans to expand and refine the tooling based on webmaster feedback, continuing to work with the community to improve inclusion, attribution, and visibility across search results and AI experiences.
Summary
Who: Microsoft’s Bing team, led by Principal Product Managers Krishna Madhavan, Meenaz Merchant, Fabrice Canel, and Saral Nigam, announced the AI Performance dashboard.
What: AI Performance is a new dashboard within Bing Webmaster Tools providing publishers with visibility into how their content is cited across Microsoft Copilot, AI-generated summaries in Bing, and select partner integrations.
When: The public preview launched on .
Where: The dashboard is accessible within Bing Webmaster Tools.
Why: As AI becomes a more common way people discover information, understanding AI citation patterns is crucial. Microsoft developed AI Performance as an early step toward Generative Engine Optimization tooling, helping publishers understand how their content participates in AI-driven experiences.
