For years, "how did we do in AI search" was a question no dashboard could answer. That changed on 10 February 2026, when Microsoft launched a report that finally puts a number on it.
Microsoft released the AI Performance report in Bing Webmaster Tools as a public preview. It is the first dashboard from a major search engine built specifically to track how often your pages are cited as sources inside AI-generated answers. If your firm has been publishing content and hoping it shows up when someone asks Copilot for an accountant, a solicitor, or a clinic, you can now start to see whether it actually does.
What changed
On 10 February 2026, Microsoft introduced the AI Performance report into Bing Webmaster Tools in public preview, as announced on the official Bing Webmaster blog. The report tracks citations across Microsoft Copilot, AI-generated summaries in Bing search, and a set of select partner integrations.
The core metrics, detailed in Search Engine Land's coverage (note that Search Engine Land is owned by Semrush), are:
- Total Citations: how many times your content appears as a source in AI answers over a chosen period.
- Average Cited Pages: the number of unique pages from your site shown as sources per day.
- Grounding Queries: the key phrases the AI used when retrieving your content, which is the closest thing yet to "keywords for AI answers."
- Page-level citation counts: citation activity broken down by individual URL.
- Visibility trends: how your citation activity moves over time.
Microsoft framed the release as an early step toward Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) measurement, the practice of understanding how your content is picked up by AI systems rather than only by traditional search rankings. Search Engine Roundtable also reported on the launch.
One expansion, reported around 16 June 2026 by secondary sources only, is said to have added intent labels, topic groupings, citation share, and comparison tools. Treat that as reported rather than confirmed, because Microsoft's own announcement covers the February feature set above.
What it means for your firm being found
Until now, AI visibility was a black box. You could see Google and Bing rankings, but you could not see whether Copilot or an AI summary was quoting your pricing page, your service explainer, or a competitor's blog instead. This is the first mainstream way to measure AI citations directly from the source, and that matters for professional-services firms whose buyers increasingly ask an assistant before they ask a person.
For Australian firms, this is a practical starting point rather than a full picture. Bing and Copilot hold a smaller share of local search than Google, so the numbers will represent a slice of AI activity, not all of it. Even so, the Grounding Queries view is genuinely useful: it tells you the phrasing that surfaced your content, which helps you write pages that answer the questions buyers actually put to an assistant.
For UK firms, the reporting question is about to get sharper for regulatory reasons. On 3 June 2026, the Competition and Markets Authority ordered Google to give publishers more control and clearer metrics around AI Overviews, including an opt-out from AI features, clearer attribution, and detailed engagement metrics. Measuring how AI answers use your content is moving from a nice-to-have to an expectation, and Google is now being pushed the same way Microsoft moved first.
The honest limitation, as Search Engine Land notes, is that a citation count is not a click. The report tells you how often you were cited, not whether that citation sent anyone to your site or won you the work. Read it as a visibility signal, not a revenue figure.
What to do now
Verify your site in Bing Webmaster Tools if you have not already, then open the AI Performance report and note your baseline for Total Citations and your top Grounding Queries. That single snapshot, taken now, is what lets you tell in three months whether your content is gaining ground in AI answers or losing it.
If you want a picture that reaches beyond Bing, Amina's AI Visibility Check measures how often you are cited across the major AI answer engines, so you can see where your firm shows up and where a competitor is being quoted instead.
FAQ
Is the AI Performance report free?
Yes. It is part of Bing Webmaster Tools, which is free to use, and the AI Performance report launched as a public preview on 10 February 2026.
Does it track Google AI Overviews or ChatGPT?
No. It tracks Microsoft surfaces: Copilot, AI-generated summaries in Bing search, and select partner integrations. It does not report on Google AI Overviews or other AI assistants, so it shows one part of your total AI visibility.
We are an Australian firm and get little Bing traffic. Is this still worth checking?
Yes, as a baseline. The citation counts will be modest, but the Grounding Queries reveal the exact phrasing that pulled your content into an AI answer, which is useful input for how you write and structure pages regardless of search engine share.
