Get recommended on Bing
Bing reached 1 billion monthly users in 2026 and supplies the web results behind Microsoft Copilot. It also gives site owners the most detailed AI citation reporting of any major search engine.
What the data says
How people use Bing to search in 2026
Most people reach Bing through Microsoft's own products rather than by typing bing.com. Bing is the default search in Edge and Windows, and it supplies web results to Microsoft Copilot. Satya Nadella said on Microsoft's April 2026 earnings call that Bing monthly active users reached 1 billion for the first time, and that Edge had taken share for 20 consecutive quarters. Other services draw on Bing too: DuckDuckGo's help center says Bing supplies most of its traditional links and images.
This matters for B2B because Microsoft's tools sit where work happens. A buyer in Outlook, Teams or Windows can ask Copilot to research suppliers or explain a specification, and Copilot turns to Bing for current web information. For buying committees inside companies that run on Microsoft, Bing and Copilot can be part of the research even when the buyer never opens a search engine.
How Bing and Copilot find and cite sources
Microsoft's documentation describes the process: when web search is enabled, Copilot identifies parts of a prompt where web information would help, generates a short search query and sends it to the Bing search service, then uses the results to compose its answer. The exact queries Copilot sent to Bing are shown in the citation section of the response. Microsoft Advertising goes further, stating in March 2026 that 'Microsoft's grounding powers nearly every major AI assistant in the market,' though it does not name them.
Bing is also unusually open about AI citations. The AI Performance report, launched in public preview in Bing Webmaster Tools on February 10, 2026, shows total citations, average cited pages, citations per URL and the grounding queries that led AI systems to your content, across Microsoft Copilot, AI summaries in Bing and select partner integrations. A June 2026 update added intent and topic groupings, a Citation Share metric for each grounding query and period-over-period comparison. Google Search Console's AI report, by contrast, shows impressions only, without clicks or queries.
How to earn visibility on Bing
Verify your site in Bing Webmaster Tools
Set up Bing Webmaster Tools, submit your sitemap and open the AI Performance report to see which pages are already cited in Copilot and Bing AI answers.
Study your grounding queries
Review the grounding queries and their intent labels to learn what AI systems searched for when they cited you, then find the commercial questions where you have no citations.
Use IndexNow for updates
Microsoft recommends IndexNow so Bing discovers changes quickly and AI systems reference the current version of a page, which matters for pricing, specs and availability.
Structure pages around evidence
Bing's own guidance favors depth on a subject, clear headings, FAQ sections and claims backed by evidence. Give each buyer question a page that answers it plainly.
Keep business details accurate
Claim Bing Places for Business for each location so Copilot and Bing AI answers show correct names, addresses and service areas for local and regional queries.
Track citation share against pipeline
Use Citation Share and the Compare view to watch trends, then tie cited pages to form fills and CRM opportunities so effort goes where it produces qualified leads.
It is not just about traffic
Bing is often overlooked, which is exactly why it is worth attention: it feeds Microsoft Copilot, reaches buyers inside the tools they work in, and is the one major engine that tells you which pages AI cites and why. AlchemyLeads is a revenue-first AI search agency. We use Bing's citation and grounding-query data to find gaps in commercial topics, fix the pages that should be cited, and report results as qualified leads and pipeline rather than rankings. We work with B2B companies between $5M and $150M in revenue.
Straight answers
Does Microsoft Copilot use Bing?
Yes. Microsoft's documentation says that when web search is enabled, Microsoft Copilot and Copilot Chat generate a search query from the user's prompt and send it to the Bing search service, then use the results to compose the answer. The queries sent to Bing are shown in the response's citation section. If your pages are not indexed and visible in Bing, Copilot has less reason to cite them.
What does the Bing Webmaster Tools AI Performance report show?
Launched in public preview in February 2026, it shows total citations, average cited pages, citations for each URL and the grounding queries AI systems used when they cited your content, across Microsoft Copilot, Bing AI summaries and select partner integrations. A June 2026 update added intent and topic groupings, Citation Share for each grounding query and period comparisons.
Is Bing's AI reporting better than Google's?
It is more detailed today. Bing reports citations, cited pages and the grounding queries behind them. Google Search Console's Generative AI performance report, available to all sites since August 31, 2026, shows impressions in AI Overviews and AI Mode by page, country and device, but not clicks or the prompts behind them. Using both gives the fullest picture.
Which other services use Bing results?
Microsoft Copilot uses Bing for web grounding, according to Microsoft's documentation. DuckDuckGo's help center says Bing supplies most of its traditional links and images. Microsoft Advertising says its grounding powers nearly every major AI assistant on the market but does not name them, so treat claims about specific third-party assistants as unconfirmed unless the provider states it.
How many people use Bing?
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said on the company's April 2026 earnings call that Bing monthly active users reached 1 billion for the first time. Microsoft also reported 10% year-over-year growth in search and news advertising revenue, excluding traffic acquisition costs, for the quarter ended June 2026. Much of that use comes through Windows, Edge and Copilot.
Sources
- Microsoft FY26 Q3 earnings conference call, Apr 2026
- Microsoft FY26 Q4 earnings press release (SEC Form 8-K, Ex. 99.1), Jul 2026
- Bing Webmaster Blog, Introducing AI Performance in Bing Webmaster Tools (public preview), Feb 2026
- Bing Blog, New AI visibility insights in Bing Webmaster Tools: Intents, Topics, Citation Share, Compare, Jun 2026
- Microsoft Advertising Blog, The AI Performance dashboard, Mar 2026
- Microsoft Learn, Data, privacy, and security for web search in Microsoft Copilot and Microsoft Copilot Chat, Oct 2026
- DuckDuckGo Help, Where do DuckDuckGo search results come from?, Oct 2026
- Google Search Console Help, Generative AI performance report (Search), Aug 2026
Show up where your buyers actually search
We map where your buyers research, then build the visibility that turns those moments into qualified pipeline.
