To appear in Microsoft Copilot’s answers, make sure your site is well indexed in Bing, because Copilot grounds its web answers in Bing search results. That means verifying your site in Bing Webmaster Tools, submitting your sitemap, using IndexNow so Bing learns about changes quickly, allowing Bingbot through your CDN and firewall, and writing pages that answer questions directly. Many sites focus on Google and never check Bing, which leaves Copilot with an outdated or incomplete view of them.
How Copilot finds information
Microsoft Copilot, in Bing, in Windows, in Edge and in Microsoft 365, uses web search results from Bing to ground answers about current topics and cites the pages it uses. Bing’s index is therefore the gateway. Bing’s index is also one of the sources other AI products can draw on, so Bing visibility helps beyond Copilot.
Step 1: Bing Webmaster Tools
- Sign up at Bing Webmaster Tools and add your site. You can import sites directly from Google Search Console, which verifies them automatically.
- Submit your XML sitemap.
- Check the Site Explorer and indexing reports for pages Bing has not indexed or has errors on.
- Use URL Inspection for key pages to confirm Bing sees them correctly.
Step 2: IndexNow
IndexNow lets your site notify Bing and other participating engines the moment a page is added, updated or deleted. Bing is a founding member of the protocol. On WordPress, Microsoft’s IndexNow plugin does it automatically; for other platforms see setting up IndexNow on Next.js and Laravel. Faster indexing shortens the time Copilot may show outdated information about you.
Step 3: allow Bingbot
- Check robots.txt does not block Bingbot on important sections.
- Check your CDN and firewall do not challenge it. Verify genuine Bingbot visits in your logs; its hostnames end in search.msn.com. See verifying crawler visits.
- Make sure content is in the HTML. Bing can render JavaScript, but server-rendered content is indexed more reliably.
Step 4: follow Bing’s guidance on content
Bing’s Webmaster Guidelines ask for clear, unique content written for people, descriptive titles and meta descriptions, and a logical site structure. Microsoft has also said that schema markup helps its systems, including its language models, understand content. Accurate Organization, Product, Article and LocalBusiness markup that matches the visible page is worth having.
Step 5: Bing Places for local businesses
For local questions, Copilot can use Bing’s local data. Claim your listing in Bing Places for Business; it can import details from your Google Business Profile. Keep name, address, phone and hours identical to your website.
Step 6: answer the questions directly
Copilot, like other assistants, quotes passages that answer the question clearly. Put the answer in the first sentence of each section, with specific facts, and cover the sub-questions buyers ask. See 10 before-and-after rewrites.
Step 7: measure
- Bing Webmaster Tools reports clicks and impressions from Bing search.
- Visits from copilot.microsoft.com and bing.com appear in analytics; group Copilot with other AI assistants.
- Test your buyer questions in Copilot monthly, several times each.
Frequently asked questions
Does Bing still matter if most people use Google?
Yes, for AI visibility. Copilot depends on Bing’s index, and Bing’s results feed other products too.
Is optimising for Bing different from Google?
Mostly not. The same technical health, content quality and structure work for both. The differences are the tools: Bing Webmaster Tools, IndexNow and Bing Places.
Do Microsoft ads affect Copilot’s organic answers?
Ads can appear in Copilot experiences, but they are separate from the web sources its answers cite.
Sources
- Bing Webmaster Guidelines
- Bing Webmaster Tools help: site import, sitemaps and URL Inspection
- IndexNow documentation, indexnow.org
- Bing Places for Business help