The search environment is undoubtedly changing with AI-powered capabilities and the emergence of generative engine optimization (GEO). But how to track performance on AI-driven search?
Microsoft marks a huge advancement in such circumstances with the introduction of AI Performance in Bing Webmaster. It will cite original content publishers across Microsoft Copilot and AI-generated synopses in Bing.
According to Microsoft, over 37.5 million conversations took place on Copilot in 2025. It shows how the global audience is turning toward AI-powered summaries and search results. However, it created challenges for website owners and SEO professionals to track their performance on the AI-enabled search.
Addressing this challenge, Microsoft has unveiled AI Performance in Bing Webmaster to help site owners track their content performance in generative engines. So, let us understand this feature better and understand how it will support websites and SEO professionals.
What is AI performance in Bing Webmaster?
Bing Webmaster has been a companion for website owners to get search insights and performance. Since the search environment is changing with the arrival of GEO, AIO, and others, performance tracking has become a challenge. Site owners failed to track when and how their sites are referenced and have been considered a source for an AI-powered search result.
AI performance in Bing Webmaster overcomes this challenge, with in-depth insights and citations across AI-generated answers. The new feature allows users and publishers to comprehend how their content is performing on AI-powered search and how often it gets cited in generative outputs. With clear performance visibility, publishers can also observe how the citation process changes.
What Does AI Performance Include?
The feature of AI Performance offers a holistic picture of AI-generated answers, citing a site. The dashboard accordingly includes-
Total Citations:
Users can see the total number of occasions their site was cited in the AI answers within a specific duration. However, this doesn’t show the placement of the referred site in AI answers, but shows how often the content was referred to by the AI systems.
Average Cited Pages:
AI Performance also offers the average number of unique pages from a site included in AI answers per day. It helps in understanding the citation patterns.
Grounding Queries:
This section in the AI Performance dashboard highlights the key phrases used to extract content from a page to refer to for an AI answer.
Page-level Citation Activity:
This section displays how many times a specific URL was cited by AI. It simplifies identifying the individual pages that are referred to by AI answers most often.
Visibility Trends Over Time:
The feature also offers a timeline to show how citation activity for a site has changed over time on AI-generated answers. It helps in identifying citation trends quickly.
Benefits of Using AI Performance
At the core, AI Performance assists site owners in assessing their content visibility in AI answers. Here are the top benefits that such insights can lead site owners to-
- Confirm the pages that are already referred to for AI answers.
- Find out which content appears on AI answers more often.
- Identify opportunities to create better content with increased clarity and completeness for frequent citations in AI answers.
What Does this Step Mean for SEO and Search Visibility?
AI Performance in Bing Webmaster defeats the speculations of the search market, getting negatively impacted by AI-driven search. It shows how websites can still stand out with citations on AI-generated answers and summaries. Here are some ways SEO professionals and site owners can improve their plan with AI Performance-
Improve content:
AI Performance allows identifying the sites and pages that have been cited in AI answers. It also offers insights into understanding citation patterns. So, SEO professionals can use these insights to improve content on their sites. It can help with-
- Strengthening structure and maintaining clarity in content.
- Build trust with evidence of AI citations.
- Create accurate, valuable, and fresh content.
- Limit complexity in content formats.
Increased AI Visibility:
The future of search depends on AI-driven search and performance on AI-generated answers. Hence, AI visibility will be of high value for SEO teams. While tracking citations and performance on AI-generated answers, professionals get opportunities for enhanced AI visibility.
Higher Citations and Authority:
Higher counts of citations on AI answers indicate high-quality content with accurate information and clear structure. It helps SEO teams to establish site authority in a specific area. This also helps in building thought leadership.
Opportunities for Local Businesses:
While searching for details about local businesses, it is crucial that AI answers include the appropriate details in location-based questions. Considering this, Bing Webmaster Tools allows businesses to register with Bing Places for Business, through which local firms can confirm their accurate address, operating hours, and contact details. This helps share accurate information about local businesses in AI answers.
Preparing for AI-Powered Search!
With AI-driven search entering the search environment, performance tracking and making improvements have surely become challenging. AI Performance in Bing Webmaster helps site owners and SEO professionals in this regard. Now tracking your performance in AI-generated answers is just a few clicks away.
User AI Performance today and find out how your sites are performing on AI-driven search. Read our expert-driven blogs to stay updated with the emerging tech trends!
FAQs:
Q1. Does Bing have AI results?
Answer: Bing offers AI-powered summaries to queries with the most appropriate insights to meet the needs of the users.
Q2. Is Bing a good AI?
Answer: Microsoft’s Bing includes superior AI tools.
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