AI Performance in Bing Webmaster Tools: What Website Owners Need to Know
The world of search as we know it is undergoing a massive transformation. Now, you’re no longer optimizing your content solely for SEO; you’re also optimizing for AI. Generative engine optimization (GEO) is the next evolution in search, and it’s already here.
To that end, Bing Webmaster Tools has introduced a new AI Performance report in public preview. The feature is designed to help site owners understand how their content appears and performs within Bing’s AI-powered search experiences, including AI-generated answers and chat-based results.
As AI-driven search becomes a necessity in ensuring your web content gets discovered, this report provides early insight into a growing traffic and visibility channel that sits outside traditional organic search.
What Is the AI Performance Report?
The just-released AI Performance report shows how Bing’s AI systems surface, cite, and link to your content in AI-generated search responses, such as those seen in Bing Chat.
It focuses specifically on AI-related exposure rather than standard rankings or search results.
Key Features
AI-specific performance metrics: Offers performance data tailored to AI search contexts, separate from traditional organic search metricserface readable by AI agents — without the fragility of UI automation or the overhead of maintaining a separate API.
AI impressions tracking: Displays how often your content appears within AI-generated answers in Bing Search
Click-through data from AI results: Tracks clicks from AI-generated responses to your website, providing visibility into AI-driven referral traffic
Content citation analysis: Identifies which pages on your site are cited or referenced by Bing’s AI when generating answers
Why This Matters for SEO and Content Strategy
Some website owners are beginning to ask themselves, “If my site isn’t picked up in an AI answer, does it even exist?” Of course, your website exists outside of AI, just as it always has. But the more critical question is this: will it still be found?
The answer to that, unfortunately, is a resounding … maybe. The truth is, your site is far more likely to be discovered if it appears in an AI-generated response, which reduces reliance on traditional search result pages. As a result, visibility within AI responses is becoming an important complement to rankings and impressions.
Bing wants to be front-and-center in this brave new world of search, which is why it designed the AI Performance report to help publishers and marketers:
- Understand how visible their content is within AI-powered search
- Identify which pages are most likely to be cited by AI systems
- Evaluate AI-driven traffic as a distinct performance channel
- Inform content optimization strategies focused on clarity, authority, and relevance
This data adds a new dimension to search performance analysis and GEO, particularly for informational and evergreen content.
Where Can I Find the AI Performance Report?
There isn’t much you need to do to access the AI Performance report. It’s currently in public preview and is available to all Bing Webmaster Tools users. No additional setup is required beyond having a verified site in Bing Webmaster Tools. It’s free, simple, and ready for you to explore.
How to Import Data from Google Search Console
Bing Webmaster Tools also allows users to import verified sites directly from Google Search Console, streamlining onboarding and reducing manual setup.
What gets imported:
- Verified sites
- Sitemaps
- User permissions and roles
Up to 100 sites can be imported at once.
Step-by-Step Importing Instructions from Google Search Console
- Sign in to Bing Webmaster Tools using the same Google account associated with Google Search Console
- Select Import from Google Search Console during site setup
- Grant Bing permission to access your Search Console data
- Select the sites you want to import and confirm
Sites are automatically verified as part of the import process.
Bing Looks to the Future of Search
AI-driven search represents an opportunity, not a threat. This new AI Performance report provides visibility into this broader shift toward AI-generated answers. For website owners and SEO teams, it’s a valuable tool that provides early visibility into how your content is being used and cited by AI systems, alongside traditional organic search performance.
The way people search for and discover information is on a new path. Make sure your website can meet them where they are. AI will continue to influence how users search and consume information, meaning tools like this will become increasingly important for measuring and optimizing search visibility.
Ready to Stay Ahead of the Curve?
Search isn’t slowing down. And if AI-driven discovery is already influencing visibility, the smart move is to adapt before your competitors do.
If you want to make sure your site is set up to capitalise on updates like this, and actually turn them into measurable growth, speak to LOCOMOTIVE.
We’ll help you understand what these changes mean for your visibility, your traffic, and your bottom line and build a strategy that keeps you ahead of where search is heading next.
