Most Belgian SMEs open Google Search Console and stop there. Yet Bing Webmaster Tools has quietly become the only free dashboard that shows how an AI assistant, Microsoft Copilot, cites your website. In 2026 Microsoft added two reports that change the game: AI Performance, and more recently Topic Portfolio.
We use it on our own site, and we are not going to pretend it is perfect. The data is partial and still in preview. But it is the most concrete GEO measurement available today without paying for a third-party tool. Here is how to set it up in under an hour, what each report really tells you, and what we see on nexuro-digital.com.
An article from our search engines cluster. To see where Bing stands in Belgium and among AI engines, read our overview of search engines in Belgium in 2026. The sitemap and robots.txt settings that Bing also reads are explained in our practical guide for Odoo sites.
In short
- Bing Webmaster Tools is free, and you can import a site that is already verified in Google Search Console in a few clicks.
- IndexNow lets you notify Bing and other participating engines as soon as a page is added, updated or deleted.
- The AI Performance report shows how often Copilot cites your pages, and the grounding queries it used to find them.
- Topic Portfolio (beta) groups those queries into topics and lists the opportunity queries where other sites are cited and yours is not.
- These reports measure citations, not clicks: use them to decide what content to write, not to predict traffic.
What is Bing Webmaster Tools, and why does it matter for GEO?
Bing Webmaster Tools is Microsoft's free console for site owners: it shows how Bing crawls, indexes and displays your pages. It does for Bing what Google Search Console does for Google, with extra features such as IndexNow and, since 2026, a report dedicated to AI citations.
Why does it matter for visibility in AI engines? Because Copilot grounds its answers in Bing: the AI Performance report itself is built on the queries Copilot ran to find its sources. ChatGPT Search also relies in part on Bing data, although OpenAI has not published the exact mix. If a page is missing from Bing, it has little chance of being cited in those assistants. This is why we treat Bing as a GEO channel, not a secondary search engine. For the wider picture, see our complete GEO guide for SMEs.
Bing Webmaster Tools vs Google Search Console: what is the difference?
Both are free, and you need both. If you search for "webmaster tools google", you land on Google Search Console, which only tells you about Google. Bing Webmaster Tools covers the other side of the picture. The comparison below is based on the features documented by each company as of 4 November 2026.
| Criterion | Bing Webmaster Tools | Google Search Console |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | Bing and the answers Copilot builds from it | Google Search, including AI Overviews and AI Mode |
| AI citations | Dedicated AI Performance report with grounding queries | No separate report: AI traffic is counted in the Web search type of the Performance report |
| Fast indexing | IndexNow and URL submission | Sitemaps and URL Inspection |
| Technical audit | Site Scan and SEO reports | Page indexing and experience reports |
| Setup | Can import verified sites from Search Console | Verification by DNS or HTML tag |
| Best use | Understanding how Copilot cites you | Understanding clicks and queries on Google |
The practical conclusion is simple: Search Console answers "how many people click on me on Google?", while Bing Webmaster Tools answers "do AI assistants use me as a source?". That is exactly the difference between classic SEO and GEO, which we detail in SEO vs GEO: key differences and how to combine both.
How to set up Bing Webmaster Tools, step by step
Plan for about an hour, plus up to 48 hours before the first data appears. Follow these seven steps in order.
- Create your account. Sign in to Bing Webmaster Tools with a Microsoft account, or create one.
- Add your site by importing it. On the My Sites page, choose Import, authorise access to your Google Search Console account and select your sites. Imported sites are verified automatically, and their sitemaps come with them.
- Or verify it manually. If you prefer not to link Google, add the site and verify ownership with a meta tag or a DNS record.
- Check your sitemap. Open the Sitemaps section and make sure your sitemap.xml is listed, or submit it. The settings that matter on an Odoo site are covered in our guide to the sitemap and robots.txt.
- Turn on IndexNow. Create a key, host the key file at the root of your site, then submit your changed URLs. A single request can carry up to 10,000 URLs.
- Run a first Site Scan. Fix blocking errors first: pages returning errors, missing titles, noindex tags added by mistake.
- Open AI Performance. Download the CSV exports, and repeat the operation every month to build your own history.
Two caveats from experience. An import is not synchronised: if you later add a site in Search Console, you must import it again. And Bing periodically re-checks ownership through Search Console, so keep that access active or verify with a meta tag.
What is the AI Performance report in Bing Webmaster Tools?
AI Performance shows how often your content is cited in Copilot and in AI-generated answers on Bing. Microsoft launched it in public preview in February 2026, and any verified site can use it.
What you get:
- Total citations: the number of times your pages were cited each day.
- Cited pages: which URLs are cited, and how often.
- Grounding queries: the phrases the AI used internally to find your content.
- Intents and topics: since June 2026, labels such as Informational, Commercial or Local, plus thematic groups, a Citation Share metric and a Compare view.
The limits are real. Data is exported as CSV files, there is no click data, and you cannot see which competitors were cited next to you. Microsoft itself describes Citation Share as an observational metric, not a ranking.
Grounding queries: what does Copilot actually search for?
A grounding query is a short phrase that the AI generates to retrieve sources before writing its answer. It is not what the user typed. Treat these queries as topics, not as keywords with a search volume. A cluster of grounding queries tells you which subjects Copilot associates with your site, and which ones it never links to you.
What is Topic Portfolio, and what are opportunity queries?
Topic Portfolio is a beta tab inside AI Performance that groups your grounding queries into broader topics. Bing announced it in mid-October 2026. It only appears when Bing has enough data about your site, so small sites may see little or nothing.
| Column | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Topic Size | Estimated total citations across all sites for that topic: a proxy for AI demand |
| Sites Cited | Approximate number of sites cited: how crowded the topic is |
| Queries | Approximate number of distinct grounding queries in the topic |
The most useful part sits under the table: Top Opportunity Queries, the queries where other sites are cited but yours is not. Volumes are given as ranges, and you can choose a one, two or three month window. Bing presents all figures as directional signals, not as a precise ledger. Topics are generated by AI, so a query can land under a label you would not choose, and branded queries from competitors sometimes appear.
Our method: export the opportunity queries, discard the branded ones, group the rest by intent, and turn each group into one page that answers the question directly. That is the same logic we apply for Google AI Overviews, applied to Copilot.
What do we see on our own site?
We have been reading these exports for our own domain. We do not publish citation counts here, because the data is a preview and the volumes are small. The qualitative pattern is more interesting.
- Most grounding queries are in English and generic. Copilot searches with broad English phrases, even for a Belgian French-language company.
- Our ERP, CRM and SEO topics are recognised. Copilot associates Nexuro with them.
- Our SEA and GEO content is not yet picked up. Those are exactly the topics we want to own, which makes them our next content priority.
The lesson for an SME: if your market is Belgian but your grounding queries are English, an English version of your key pages is no longer optional. We cover this gap in the state of GEO in Belgium in 2026.
Bing AI search tips: how to increase your chances of being cited by Copilot
The Bing AI search tips published by Microsoft in October 2025 are classic SEO plus content that is easy to lift. They are not a trick, and Microsoft states that no formula guarantees inclusion. Here is how we apply them.
- Be indexed first. Allow Bingbot in your robots.txt, submit your sitemap and use IndexNow.
- Align title, H1 and meta description. Microsoft says consistent alignment improves discoverability and confidence signals.
- Write descriptive H2 and H3 headings. Prefer a question or a precise label to "Learn more".
- Answer in one or two sentences. Start each section with a self-contained answer, then develop.
- Use lists, steps and tables. They break information into reusable segments.
- Add JSON-LD. FAQ, Article and Organization markup label your content for machines.
- Keep key answers in HTML text. Do not hide them in tabs, PDFs or images.
- Replace vague claims with facts. Dates, figures and named sources beat "cutting-edge".
Doing this once is not enough: update your key pages and resubmit them through IndexNow when they change.
FAQ
What is Bing Webmaster Tools?
Bing Webmaster Tools is Microsoft's free service for site owners. It lets you verify a site, submit sitemaps and URLs, monitor crawling and indexing, run technical audits and, since 2026, measure how often Copilot cites your pages through the AI Performance report.
What is a webmaster tool?
A webmaster tool is a free console provided by a search engine to site owners. It reports how the engine crawls and indexes your pages, which queries bring visitors, and which technical errors to fix. The two main ones are Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
Do I need Bing Webmaster Tools if I already use webmaster tools Google?
Yes. Google Search Console only covers Google. Bing Webmaster Tools adds Bing data, IndexNow and the AI Performance report on Copilot citations. Importing your site from Search Console takes a few clicks, so the extra effort is small compared with the visibility you gain.
How do I import my site from Google Search Console into Bing?
In Bing Webmaster Tools, open My Sites, choose Import, sign in to Google Search Console, authorise access and select the sites to import. They are verified automatically. The import is not synchronised, and you must keep Search Console access active.
What is the AI Performance report?
AI Performance is a Bing Webmaster Tools report, in preview since February 2026, that shows how often your pages are cited in Copilot and AI answers on Bing. It lists cited pages and grounding queries, but gives no click data and no view of competitors.
What is Topic Portfolio in Bing Webmaster Tools?
Topic Portfolio is a beta tab announced in October 2026 that groups your grounding queries into topics, with Topic Size, Sites Cited and Queries. Its Top Opportunity Queries list shows queries where other sites are cited and yours is not. It appears only when Bing has enough data.
Does Bing really matter for ChatGPT and Copilot?
Yes. Copilot answers are grounded in Bing queries, and ChatGPT Search relies in part on Bing data, although OpenAI has not disclosed the exact proportion. A page absent from Bing's index is much less likely to be cited by these assistants.
Key takeaways
- Bing Webmaster Tools is free and complements Google Search Console rather than replacing it.
- Importing your site from Search Console is the fastest way to verify it.
- IndexNow keeps Bing informed of every change on your site.
- AI Performance and Topic Portfolio measure citations in Copilot, not traffic.
- Opportunity queries are a ready-made list of content to write.
- Structure matters as much as keywords: direct answers, clear headings, lists and structured data.
What next? Do you want to know whether Copilot cites your site, and on which topics? Our team can set up your Bing Webmaster Tools, read your grounding queries and turn them into a content plan, as part of a free audit. Learn more about our SEO and GEO support or contact us to book it.
About the author
Timothy Jacqmin is co-founder of Nexuro Digital, a digital marketing agency and Official Odoo Partner in Belgium. He helps companies with their SEO, their Odoo upgrades and their visibility in AI engines. LinkedIn profile · About us
Sources
- Bing Webmaster Blog, Easily verify your site in Bing Webmaster Tools by importing from Google Search Console, September 2019
- Bing Search Blog, New AI visibility insights in Bing Webmaster Tools: intents, topics, citation share, compare, 16 June 2026
- Search Engine Journal, Bing Webmaster Tools adds Topics Portfolio to AI Performance, 13 October 2026
- Search Engine Roundtable, Topics Portfolio in Bing Webmaster Tools AI reports, 13 October 2026
- Search Influence, Inside Bing's new AI Performance report, 2026
- IndexNow, Documentation
- Microsoft Advertising, Optimizing your content for inclusion in AI search answers, 8 October 2025
- Google Search Central, AI features and your website
- Yoast, What is ChatGPT Search (and how does it use Bing data)?
