TL;DR: The 2026 Launch of Bing's AI Performance Report
Microsoft introduces an AI Performance Report in Bing Webmaster Tools to help website owners track how their content is cited across AI platforms like Microsoft Copilot. Key features include citation counts, visibility trends, and user intent data. While offering insight into AI-driven visibility, it lacks click-through-rate (CTR) metrics and traffic analysis, leaving gaps in understanding user engagement.
- Gain insights on citation frequency and user search intent.
- Adapt SEO strategies to target AI-driven search environments.
- Use grounding query data to refine content relevance.
Maximize your SEO potential with tools like Google Search Console to track indirect user engagement and brand searches.
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Bing Webmaster Tools Testing New AI Performance Report
The search industry has long discussed the challenges of measuring visibility within AI-generated answers, and Microsoft is now taking the lead by introducing an AI Performance Report within Bing Webmaster Tools in 2026. For the first time, website owners can gain insights into how frequently their content is cited in Microsoft Copilot and other partner AI platforms. This report represents a notable step forward in providing publishers with more transparency in the AI era, even if critical components like click-through-rate (CTR) data remain absent. As a serial startup founder consistently focused on empowering entrepreneurs through data and tools, I, Violetta Bonenkamp, find this development both promising and incomplete. Here’s everything you should know about the new report.
What is the Bing Webmaster Tools AI Performance Report?
Bing’s AI Performance report is a new feature added to the Bing Webmaster Tools dashboard. It enables website owners to view how their content is being cited by AI systems across Microsoft platforms. This covers Microsoft Copilot, Bing AI summaries, and certain partner platforms. Unfortunately, it does not include traditional click-through rate (CTR) or traffic data, a gap that marketers and SEOs are eager to see fulfilled in future iterations.
Key metrics that the AI Performance Report provides include:
- Total number of citations for your site or specific URLs.
- Breakdown of citation activity at the page level.
- Visibility trends over time to track changes in citation frequency.
- Grounding queries that display the user intent tied to the citations.
This information is especially useful for business owners, startups, and content creators who want clarity about their content’s role within AI-driven search results.
Why Does This Report Matter in 2026?
Search behavior is shifting rapidly as users interact more with AI summaries and generative tools rather than traditional search engine results pages (SERPs). Conceptually, this changes what search visibility means. Where SEO professionals previously tracked clicks and impressions to understand performance, AI-generated answers live in a “walled garden,” where engagement happens without necessarily leading users to click links or browse websites.
The introduction of a citation-specific report provides early transparency into how AI systems “consume” web content. Visibility within AI engines like Microsoft Copilot might not directly correlate with traffic, but it influences brand authority, content demand, and even future user behavior. This is critical for entrepreneurs and marketers trying to adapt their SEO strategies to AI-driven contexts.
What Are the Drawbacks of the AI Performance Report?
Despite its potential, the report lacks several essential elements:
- No click-through rate (CTR) data to show how citations drive user engagement.
- Limited clarity on which AI partner platforms contribute to citation data.
- No insight into user behaviors or actions triggered by citations.
Without click and traffic metrics, businesses are left guessing whether these citations translate to tangible outcomes, such as sales leads, newsletter sign-ups, or loyal customers. As I’ve discussed in my Fe/male Switch platform, actionable data is the backbone of decision-making for founders, especially when pivoting or scaling their ventures. Without a full picture of AI’s impact, that decision-making remains constrained.
How Should You Adapt to AI-Driven Search Visibility?
For startups and business owners, adapting to this transparency shift means making content specifically designed to be recognized and utilized by AI systems. Based on analysis from Search Engine Land and other authoritative platforms, here are some steps to stay ahead:
- Create structured and authoritative content: AI relies heavily on actionable and trusted sources to generate its responses. Content should be well-organized with informative headers and clear, concise language.
- Understand grounding queries: Use the grounding query data provided by the AI Performance Report to identify the intent behind user searches and ensure your content matches those intents.
- Optimize existing content: Focus on updating older content to make it more AI-friendly by adding relevant keywords, addressing FAQs, and refining readability.
- Experiment with answers designed for zero-click environments: Include engaging and accurate snippets that maximize your chances of being cited in AI-based summaries while still adding enough value to encourage clicks.
- Track additional metrics: Use tools like Google Analytics or similar platforms to manually monitor behaviors like direct traffic growth or increases in brand search queries after AI exposure.
What Does This Mean for Google’s Next Moves?
Many commentators, including search expert Barry Schwartz, have noted that Google has similarly withheld data from its Search Generative Experience (SGE). As the direct competitor to Bing, it is possible that Google will face pressure to adopt a similar transparency model for AI-powered search results in response to this new Microsoft initiative. But until these data become fully accessible, we remain in a phase where guessing plays a role, much to the frustration of data-driven entrepreneurs.
Final Thoughts: A Long-Awaited Step
As a founder deeply invested in creating ecosystems where education and technology empower entrepreneurs, I see immense value in tools like Bing’s AI Performance Report. It’s a step forward in addressing a monumental shift in how visibility is measured, especially with the growing prominence of AI-generated search behaviors. Still, the lack of visitor data highlights how far we still have to go in achieving full transparency and accountability in search ecosystems dominated by AI.
For now, businesses, startups, and content creators must remain proactive: optimize for entity-level recognition, track indirect metrics, and use every citation as a clue to refine your content further. In a world shifting rapidly towards AI-driven search, the ability to adapt is not just useful, it’s survival.
Curious about strategy bundles tailored to AI-driven economics? Discover our tools and guides for women-first founders at Fe/male Switch.
FAQ on Bing Webmaster Tools' New AI Performance Report
What is the Bing Webmaster Tools AI Performance Report?
The AI Performance Report is a new feature enabling content owners to track their citation presence in Microsoft Copilot and Bing AI platforms. While offering visibility metrics, it lacks essential data like click-through rates. Explore AI SEO strategies for startups.
Why does this report matter for startups in 2026?
With users increasingly interacting with AI-generated answers, traditional SEO is evolving. This report highlights citation trends, helping startups adapt strategies to remain visible in AI search. Learn about adapting to AI-driven search.
How can startups use the grounding queries from this report?
Grounding queries reveal the user intents behind citations. Startups can analyze these to better understand AI-related needs and optimize content accordingly. Leverage these tips to enhance your AI content.
What are the key metrics provided by the report?
The report measures total citations, page-level breakdowns, visibility trends, and grounding queries. However, it does not include CTR metrics, limiting insight into actual traffic. Here’s why multiple SEO tools are essential.
What strategic actions should startups take now?
Focus on AI-friendly content creation, including structured data, concise language, and entity-specific optimization. These practices make content more likely to be cited by AI platforms. Discover how AI integrates with SEO.
How does the report help optimize for brand visibility?
Tracking citation frequencies builds insight into your brand's role within AI-generated answers, improving authority and potentially leading to growth in indirect metrics. Learn about leveraging brand visibility metrics.
What are the drawbacks of this report for effective SEO?
While it introduces transparency, its lack of click and engagement data means there's no direct measure of how AI citations influence traffic or conversions, creating gaps in decision-making. Dive into free tools that enhance clarity in SEO.
How should startups prioritize AI-driven SEO in their strategies?
Startups should update old content to align with AI preferences, track incremental brand metrics, and monitor AI keyword trends for strategic improvements. Access our Bootstrapping Startup Playbook for foundational tips.
How does this signal a shift in SEO analytics?
With a focus on citations over traffic or clicks, SEO pivots towards AI-content optimization instead of traditional web-driven metrics. This shift demands innovation and adaptability in strategies. Learn about evolving AI search trends.
Will Google follow Bing’s lead in AI reporting?
While Bing’s initiative sets a benchmark, Google has withheld specific AI insights but may eventually face pressure to disclose more data on AI-generated search exposure.
About the Author
Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. Throughout her startup experience she has applied for multiple startup grants at the EU level, in the Netherlands and Malta, and her startups received quite a few of those. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely.
Violetta is a true multiple specialist who has built expertise in Linguistics, Education, Business Management, Blockchain, Entrepreneurship, Intellectual Property, Game Design, AI, SEO, Digital Marketing, cyber security and zero code automations. Her extensive educational journey includes a Master of Arts in Linguistics and Education, an Advanced Master in Linguistics from Belgium (2006-2007), an MBA from Blekinge Institute of Technology in Sweden (2006-2008), and an Erasmus Mundus joint program European Master of Higher Education from universities in Norway, Finland, and Portugal (2009).
She is the founder of Fe/male Switch, a startup game that encourages women to enter STEM fields, and also leads CADChain, and multiple other projects like the Directory of 1,000 Startup Cities with a proprietary MeanCEO Index that ranks cities for female entrepreneurs. Violetta created the “gamepreneurship” methodology, which forms the scientific basis of her startup game. She also builds a lot of SEO tools for startups. Her achievements include being named one of the top 100 women in Europe by EU Startups in 2022 and being nominated for Impact Person of the year at the Dutch Blockchain Week. She is an author with Sifted and a speaker at different Universities. Recently she published a book on Startup Idea Validation the right way: from zero to first customers and beyond, launched a Directory of 1,500+ websites for startups to list themselves in order to gain traction and build backlinks and is building MELA AI to help local restaurants in Malta get more visibility online.
For the past several years Violetta has been living between the Netherlands and Malta, while also regularly traveling to different destinations around the globe, usually due to her entrepreneurial activities. This has led her to start writing about different locations and amenities from the point of view of an entrepreneur. Here’s her recent article about the best hotels in Italy to work from.
