Guide

How to get your site cited in Microsoft Copilot and Bing's AI answers

Copilot's web answers are built on Bing's search index, so the work starts with Bing, not with Copilot. Here's what Microsoft's own guidelines say makes a page eligible to be cited, the meta tags that can quietly limit or block it, how to tell Bing about new pages fast, and the free report that shows where you're already cited.

Updated October 22, 2026 · By the Footnotely team

The short answer

Microsoft says experiences "like Microsoft Copilot" are "powered by Bing's search index" (Microsoft Advertising blog, Oct 2025). Bing's Webmaster Guidelines say the same thing in plainer terms: Bing and Copilot "rely on the same core crawling, indexing, and ranking foundation as traditional search."

So to be cited in Copilot, a page needs to be:

Found and indexed by Bing.
Free of tags that keep it out of Copilot answers.
Clear and specific enough that it's a good source for the question.

None of this guarantees a citation. Bing's guidelines say it directly: "GEO does not guarantee grounding or citations in AI experiences." (In Microsoft's terms, "grounding" means the AI looking up web pages to base its answer on.)

Step 1: Get your site into Bing Webmaster Tools

Many small sites set up Google Search Console and never touch Bing. Bing Webmaster Tools is Bing's version of Search Console. There are two ways to add a site (Bing's help page):

Import from Google Search Console. If your site is already verified in Search Console, Bing can import it. Bing says imported sites are verified automatically and your sitemaps come with them.
Add it by hand. Enter the URL, then verify ownership with a DNS record, an XML file, or a meta tag.

Bing says it usually takes about 48 hours after adding a site before its reports fill in.

Step 2: Make sure Bing can find and read your pages

Bing's guidelines list four ways it discovers URLs: IndexNow, XML sitemaps, crawlable internal links, and links from other relevant websites. In practice:

Don't block Bingbot. The guidelines list "blocking Bingbot in your robots.txt file" as something to avoid. Check your CDN or firewall too. Our free AI crawler checker tests Bingbot along with the AI bots.
Submit a sitemap with only your canonical URLs, and accurate lastmod dates. Bing says to remove deleted or redirected URLs from it promptly.
Link to important pages with normal <a href> links from other pages on your site.
Don't hide the main content behind JavaScript. Bing warns against "hiding critical content behind client-side rendering," and says content it can't reliably render "may not be indexed or selected for grounding results."
One URL per page. Bing says duplicate URLs "reduce Bing's confidence in selecting a URL for grounding results or citations." Use canonical URLs, and a 301 redirect when a page moves for good.

Step 3: Check the tags that limit Copilot

Bing reads a few robots meta tags differently for Copilot than for regular search. From the Webmaster Guidelines:

Tag	What Bing says it does in Copilot
`noindex`	Keeps the URL out of Bing search, Copilot, and grounding results entirely.
`noarchive`	Prevents the content from being used in Copilot responses and grounding results.
`nocache`	Copilot can use only the URL, title and snippet, "reducing citation depth and answer quality."
`nosnippet` / `data-nosnippet`	Stops Bing showing captions, and "may limit Copilot citation quality."

Microsoft's 2023 announcement of these controls adds two details: pages with NOCACHE or NOARCHIVE still appear in regular Bing results, and a page with both tags is treated as NOCACHE. Microsoft also notes that many paywalled sites use NOARCHIVE. If you have a paywall or members area, or just aren't sure, view the source of a few key pages and search for noarchive and nocache.

Step 4: Tell Bing when pages change (IndexNow)

Bing recommends IndexNow to tell it when URLs are added, updated or removed, so Copilot is less likely to repeat outdated information. How it works:

If your CMS, host or SEO plugin supports IndexNow, turn it on there. You don't need to set anything else up.
If not, you create a key (8 to 128 characters), put it in a text file at your site's root, and send changed URLs to one IndexNow endpoint. That one submission is shared with all participating search engines, including Bing.
The IndexNow FAQ is clear that submitting a URL "does not guarantee immediate indexing." It also counts toward your crawl quota, so send real changes, not every small edit.

Step 5: Write pages that are easy to cite

Bing's guidelines have a section on what makes content more likely to be "selected for grounding queries and citations." The main points, in plain words:

Put the answer near the top. Bing says to "avoid long introductions before addressing the main topic."
Make each page about one thing, with the title, heading and content all matching.
Spell facts out. The page should make sense on its own, with important information "visible on the URL itself," not implied or linked away.
Use the same names everywhere for your company, products and locations.
Keep it current. Update or remove outdated facts like old prices so they don't get repeated in answers.
Use real text. Microsoft's content guide says not to keep key answers only in images or PDFs, and warns that AI systems "may not render hidden content" in tabs or expandable menus.
Clear headings, lists and tables help. Microsoft's AI Performance announcement says these "make content easier for AI systems to reference accurately."

If you're a local business, the same announcement suggests keeping your address, hours and contact details current in Bing Places for Business.

What Bing says to avoid

The guidelines list practices that can reduce "grounding visibility" or get a site removed from the Bing index. The ones most often pitched as AI tricks:

Writing to trigger AI answers. Bing says content should be for users, "not to manipulate ranking systems or trigger citations or AI responses."
Prompt injection. Hidden text meant to steer Copilot or other language models "may result in reduced visibility or removal."
Mass-produced pages generated without editorial review, and lightly rewritten copies of other sites.
Bought links and fake popularity. Link buying, private networks and "artificial social promotion schemes."
Showing crawlers something different from visitors (cloaking), and structured data that doesn't match the visible page.

Step 6: See where you're already cited

In February 2026 Bing added an AI Performance report to Bing Webmaster Tools, in public preview (Bing's announcement). It covers Microsoft Copilot, AI-generated summaries in Bing, and "select partner integrations," and shows:

Total citations: how often your pages were shown as a source in AI answers.
Average cited pages: how many different pages of yours were cited per day.
Grounding queries: the phrases the AI searched for when it found your content. Bing notes this is a sample.
Page-level citations and a trend over time.

Bing is careful to say these counts don't show ranking or placement inside an answer. The most useful way to read it: pages that get cited are working, and pages on your key topics that never show up are the ones to check against Steps 2 to 5.

A quick checklist

Site added and verified in Bing Webmaster Tools (import from Search Console is the fastest way).
Sitemap submitted, canonical URLs only.
Bingbot allowed in robots.txt and by your CDN or firewall.
No noindex, noarchive or nocache on pages you want cited.
Main content is in the HTML, not only in images, PDFs or collapsed tabs.
IndexNow turned on if your platform supports it.
Check the AI Performance report every few weeks.

Copilot is one assistant. Google's AI features and ChatGPT find sources in their own ways; see our guides on Google AI Overviews and checking if ChatGPT mentions your brand.

Sources

Checked October 22, 2026. Bing Webmaster Tools menus and preview features change; the linked pages have the current details.

FAQ

Does Copilot use Bing to find sources?

Yes. Microsoft says experiences like Microsoft Copilot are powered by Bing's search index, and its Webmaster Guidelines say Bing and Copilot rely on the same crawling, indexing and ranking foundation. So getting indexed by Bing is the first step.

What does the NOARCHIVE tag do in Copilot?

Bing's Webmaster Guidelines say NOARCHIVE prevents content from being used in Copilot responses and grounding results. Microsoft has said pages with NOARCHIVE still appear in regular Bing search results. Check for it if you want to be cited.

What's the difference between NOCACHE and NOARCHIVE for Bing?

NOCACHE still allows Copilot to use your page, but only the URL, title and snippet, which Bing says reduces citation depth. NOARCHIVE keeps the content out of Copilot answers. If a page has both, Microsoft says it is treated as NOCACHE.

Do I need IndexNow to be cited in Copilot?

No, it isn't required. Bing lists IndexNow alongside XML sitemaps, internal links and links from other sites as ways it discovers URLs. IndexNow just lets you tell Bing about new, changed or deleted pages right away. Submitting a URL doesn't guarantee it gets indexed.

Does getting into Bing also get me into ChatGPT search?

Not on its own. OpenAI's crawler docs say sites that block OAI-SearchBot will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers (they can still appear as navigational links). So allow both Bingbot and OAI-SearchBot if you want to show up in both.

Track it every week instead of checking by hand

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