● The short answer
Microsoft Copilot pulls web information from the Bing search service, so showing up in Copilot starts with being well indexed and trusted in Bing. Verify your site in Bing Webmaster Tools, submit a sitemap and use IndexNow, claim Bing Places for local listings, and publish clear answer-first pages. Bing's AI Performance report then shows how often Copilot cites you.
Key takeaways
- Microsoft says Copilot fetches web information from the Bing search service, so Bing visibility drives Copilot visibility.
- Verify in Bing Webmaster Tools, submit a sitemap, enable IndexNow and claim Bing Places.
- Bing's AI Performance report, in preview since February 2026, shows how often Copilot and Bing AI cite your pages.
Copilot runs on Bing
Microsoft is explicit about this. Its documentation says that when web search is enabled, Microsoft Copilot and Copilot Chat may fetch information from the Bing search service to provide a more grounded response. Copilot turns the user's prompt into a short search query, sends it to Bing and composes an answer from what comes back.
So the most important thing to know about Copilot is that it rewards Bing visibility. Many businesses ignore Bing because it has a smaller share of searches than Google. That was a reasonable call in 2015. It is not now, because Bing also powers Copilot across Windows, Edge and Microsoft 365, which puts it in front of a lot of business users at work.
Copilot also shows up in places people do not think of as search. An office manager asking Copilot in Outlook to "find three commercial cleaning companies near our Brookfield office" is running a Bing search without opening a browser. If your business is invisible to Bing, it is invisible in that moment too, no matter how well you rank on Google.
The how is where we come in.
What we walk through with you, for your business:
- Step by step
- Bing gives you actual AI citation data
Every business is different, so the plan is too. Tell us where you want to show up and we will show you what it takes.
Talk to usMore questions
Is Bing Webmaster Tools free?
Yes. Bing Webmaster Tools is free, and you can verify by importing your Google Search Console properties. It includes indexing reports, keyword data, backlink data, IndexNow support and, since early 2026, the AI Performance report showing citations in Copilot and Bing AI answers.
Does Copilot use the same sources as ChatGPT?
Not necessarily. Copilot is grounded in Bing. ChatGPT runs its own OAI-SearchBot crawler and uses third-party search providers that OpenAI does not fully list. There is overlap because both read the same open web, but rankings and citations differ, which is why you should test each assistant separately.
Sources
- Microsoft Learn: Manage public web access for Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Chat
- Search Engine Journal: Bing Webmaster Tools adds AI citation performance data
Want us to check this for your business?
Send us your URL. We will show you where you are found, trusted and missing across AI answers, search, maps and reviews, in plain English.
Get a free visibility check