Complete Guide to Bing Webmaster Tools AI Performance Dashboard

Key Takeaways:

Bing Webmaster Tools has launched the first official AI citation analytics tool from Microsoft. This dashboard will give webmasters detailed performance information about how their content appears in AI-generated responses generated through Microsoft Copilot, Bing's AI-generated summary content and other partners. With this new technology, we see a drastic shift from traditional SEO practices to what SEO experts refer to as Generative Engine Optimization (GEO).

Here's what you need to know:

• Track citation activity across multiple ai experiences for the first time
• Monitor new metrics like grounding query phrases and average cited pages
• Available now in public preview for all verified sites
• Represents the future of search visibility beyond traditional blue links
• Essential for staying competitive as AI answers become the norm

What is AI Performance in Bing Webmaster Tools?

On February 10, 2026, Microsoft’s Bing went live with AI Performance, the first glimpse into how website owners will see how their content is used by AI systems.

Traditionally, Webmaster Tools has focused on tracking clicks and rankings for traditional search engine results. Now, with AI Performance, it’s all about how often your content is cited by AI-generated responses to user queries.

The tool covers three main areas:

• Microsoft Copilot conversations and responses
• Bing AI summaries that appear in search results
• Select partner integrations across ai platforms

This isn’t simply another analytics report; Microsoft has recognized that visibility is no longer solely defined by having the number 1 ranking on a search engine results page. AI Performance will tell you if Copilot references your content when it responds to a user query.

Understanding AI Performance Dashboard Metrics

The AI performance dashboard has added in five new key measures that were not previously tracked: 

Total Citations - The total number of times that your site has been used by AI as a reference in its responses during the date range selected by you. Each citation reflects an instance where AI used your content to provide an answer.

Average Cited Pages - The average number of unique URLs from your site that are referenced daily in AI-generated responses within your date range. Use this info to understand the overall reach of your content in AI-generated outputs.

Grounding Query Phrases - The internal search phrases created by an AI system for information retrieval to answer a user query. Otterly AI explains that these grounding phrases will not be the user's original search term but are the specific phrases used by AI to locate relevant content.

Page-Level Citation Activity - The performance of each URL on your site that is most frequently referenced by AI across all experiences. Use this to identify your highest-valued content within the AI world.

Visibility Trends Over Time - How the way in which your content is being referenced is changing over time so that you can spot trends and evaluate the effectiveness of content optimization efforts. 

How Citation Activity Works Across AI Experiences

Learning how the AI systems utilize references can provide you with assistance. The steps to reference correctly are: 

When you ask a question to Microsoft Copilot, Microsoft doesn't just search the internet as traditional search engines do, but instead creates grounding queries for more specific types of searches to match very specific questions. 

For example, when someone asks " which project management software is best for remote teams". Copilot will create grounding queries like: 

• "remote team project management tools comparison"
• "best project management software 2026"
• "project management tools remote work features"

The AI will then look for each piece of content across the supporting ai platforms to determine if it contains the necessary resources to support the user (authoritative, well organized and answer directly to the grounding query). When your content is selected, it will be referenced as a citation in the ai produced response.

This process happens across multiple ai experiences:

• Direct Copilot conversations
• Bing webmaster integrated AI summaries
• Partner platform integrations

Accessing Your AI Performance Data

Getting started with the ai performance dashboard is straightforward:

1. Log into Bing Webmaster Tools Visit bing.com/webmasters and sign in with your Microsoft account
2. Verify Your Site If you haven't already, verify ownership of your website through HTML file upload, meta tag, or DNS verification
3. Navigate to AI Performance Look for the new "AI Performance" option in the left sidebar under the Performance section
4. Set Your Date Range Choose your analysis period - data is available from February 2026 forward
5. Review Your Metrics The dashboard shows your citation activity with visual charts and detailed breakdowns

The tool currently shows data for generated answers during the past 90 days, with plans to extend historical data as the feature develops.

Optimizing Content for Better AI Performance Insights

Getting more citations across ai experiences requires understanding what ai systems value:

Structure for AI Consumption AI prefers content that's easy to parse and understand. Use:

• Clear headings and subheadings
• Bullet points and numbered lists
• Short paragraphs (2-3 sentences max)
• Logical information flow

Answer Questions Directly AI generated answers work best when your content directly addresses common questions. Structure content to provide immediate answers, then expand with details.

Build Authority Signals AI systems prioritize content from trusted sources. Strengthen your authority through:

• Expert author bylines and credentials
• Proper citations and references to reputable sources
• Regular content updates with current information
• Comprehensive coverage of topics

Use Schema Markup Structured data helps ai systems understand your content context. Implement relevant schema types like Article, FAQ, HowTo, and Review markup.

Optimize for Grounding Queries Think about the specific grounding query phrases AI might generate for your topics. Include natural variations of key terms and related concepts throughout your content.

Measuring Success Across Supported AI Platforms

Success in ai performance looks different from traditional SEO metrics:

Key Performance Indicators

• Month-over-month growth in total citations
• Increase in average cited pages
• Expansion of grounding query phrases triggering your content
• Improved visibility trends across different content types

Benchmarking Your Performance While the ai performance dashboard doesn't show competitor data directly, you can benchmark by:

• Tracking your citation growth rate
• Monitoring which content types perform best
• Identifying seasonal patterns in citation activity
• Comparing performance across different topic areas

ROI Measurement Traditional traffic metrics don't apply to ai experiences. Instead, focus on:

• Brand authority and thought leadership indicators
• Correlation between AI citations and overall search visibility
• Lead quality from users who discover you through ai answers
• Long-term brand recognition improvements

Common Challenges and Solutions

Challenge: Low Citation Rates If your content isn't appearing in ai generated answers, the issue might be:

• Lack of clear, direct answers to common questions
• Insufficient authority signals
• Poor content structure for AI parsing

Solution: Conduct an audit of your best performing competitors, determining what makes them worthy of content citations. Create content that is well researched, answering user needs comprehensively.

The Challenge: The amount of content citation activity can vary greatly due to the ever-changing nature of ai systems and how users behave.

Solution: Concentrate your efforts on identifying long-term trends, rather than trying to capture all possible citations on any given day. Establish a comprehensive, diversified content portfolio to obtain citations based on multiple query types and topics.

Challenge: The challenge of Understanding Grounding Queries It can be easy to look at the criteria used in your dashboard for grounding queries, and see those terms as unrelated to your own target keyword terms.

Solution: Keep in mind, how ai systems conduct their search of information are different from how people phrase questions. Use the information to help identify gaps in your content and areas where you may want to make some optimizations.

Future of AI Performance Tracking

Microsoft's ai performance tool is just the beginning. Search Engine Land reports that more features are coming throughout 2026.

Expected Updates:

• Expanded historical data beyond 90 days
• More detailed grounding query phrases analysis
• Integration with traditional search performance data
• Competitive benchmarking features
• AI experiences coverage beyond Microsoft platforms

The Influence of AI on Search Engines. Other search engines may imitate Microsoft. In particular, Google is feeling pressure to produce insight as to how their AI search features and Bard will come together. 

Analyzing Your Growth Start measuring AI performance from now so you can have an established baseline. As AI continues to learn and evolve, the amount of AI-generated responses will likely increase exponentially, and the value of your optimization efforts will compound over time. 

Conclusion 

The AI performance dashboard in Bing Webmaster Tools is a major shift in measuring search success. With ai systems now being the most common way for people to find information, understanding the volume of citations you receive will be just as critical to measuring your success as tracking your traditional ranking positions.

Immediate Action Items:

1. Set up AI Performance tracking in your bing webmaster account
2. Analyze your current citation activity to establish baselines
3. Identify top-performing content and understand why it succeeds
4. Optimize underperforming pages using AI-friendly content structures
5. Monitor grounding query phrases to discover new content opportunities

Long-term strategies: Develop and deliver authoritative content that provides clearly defined answers to the user's questions. As more ai experiences come to life on different platforms, the optimization fundamentals from Bing's tool will be relevant for all of those platforms.

The future of search visibility will no longer be defined by where you rank in a traditional way, but rather by establishing yourself as a credible source that ai systems will reference regularly.

Ready to Optimize Your AI Search Performance?

Knowing how to measure AI performance is very different than having the ability to implement an optimization strategy that includes all areas of your business. Your organization will need expert help as search engine optimization continues to transition to an AI-based experience.

Vasundhara Infotech LLP is an organization that has expertise in providing advanced SEO techniques and artificial intelligence optimization solutions to companies throughout the UK and US. We work with you on everything from technical implementation to optimizing your content marketing strategy so that you are operating with maximum efficiency, whether using traditional or AI-generated search methods.

Contact us at Vasundhara Infotech LLP to create a complete AI Performance optimization strategy that will position your organization for future success.