Why Bing Matters for ChatGPT and AI Search
For many years, most businesses focused almost entirely on Google when thinking about SEO and website visibility. However, artificial intelligence is changing how search works online. Platforms such as ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews are now helping people discover businesses, services and information in new ways.
If you have already read our guide on how to get your business found on ChatGPT and AI platforms, you will know that AI search is becoming an increasingly important part of online visibility. One area that many businesses overlook, however, is the growing role Bing now plays within the AI search ecosystem.
As a result, Bing has become increasingly important for businesses that want to appear in AI-powered search results.
What Is Bing?
Bing is Microsoft’s search engine. Like Google, it crawls websites across the internet, indexes pages and tries to provide the best answers for users searching online.
Although Bing has a smaller market share than Google, it powers a growing number of AI tools and search experiences. Microsoft has invested heavily in artificial intelligence, particularly through its partnership with OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT.
This means that Bing is no longer just a traditional search engine. It is now part of a much larger AI ecosystem.
Which AI Platforms Use Bing?
Several AI platforms and tools use Bing data, Bing search results or Microsoft’s web index in some form. These include:
- ChatGPT web search features
- Microsoft Copilot
- Bing Copilot Search
- Some AI assistants built into Windows and Microsoft Edge
- Various third-party AI tools that rely on Bing APIs or Microsoft search technology
This is one reason why businesses are increasingly interested in Bing SEO and AI optimisation.
If your website is not properly indexed by Bing, there is a greater chance that your business could be missed by some AI-powered search tools and assistants.
“There are 10 billion search queries a day, but approximately half of them go unanswered. That’s because people are using search to do things it wasn’t originally designed to do.”
(Satya Nadella discussing AI-powered search)
Why Bing Is Important for AI Visibility
AI platforms need access to information in order to answer questions. Much of this information comes from search engine indexes and trusted online sources.
If Bing can easily crawl and understand your website, your content has a better chance of appearing in:
- AI-generated answers
- AI summaries
- AI citations and references
- Conversational search results
- Copilot recommendations
This is especially important for local businesses and service companies that want to increase online visibility beyond traditional Google rankings.
For example, somebody asking ChatGPT:
“Recommend a dog groomer that uses organic products?”
…may receive suggestions based partly on indexed web content, business relevance, authority and accessible search data.
How to Get Your Website Indexed on Bing
The good news is that getting your website onto Bing is usually straightforward.
1. Set Up Bing Webmaster Tools
Bing Webmaster Tools is Microsoft’s equivalent of Google Search Console. It allows you to:
- Submit your sitemap
- Request indexing
- Monitor crawl issues
- View keyword data
- Check indexing performance
If you already use Google Search Console, Bing even allows you to import many settings directly.
2. Submit Your XML Sitemap
An XML sitemap helps Bing discover the pages on your website more efficiently.
Most WordPress SEO plugins such as Yoast SEO automatically generate a sitemap. Once created, you can submit the sitemap URL inside Bing Webmaster Tools.
This helps Bing understand your website structure and find new content faster.
3. Create Helpful, Clear Content
AI platforms favour content that is:
- Helpful
- Well structured
- Easy to read
- Specific
- Trustworthy
- Frequently updated
Pages with clear headings, FAQs, local information and useful explanations are often easier for AI systems to understand.
This is one reason why many businesses are now investing in longer-form SEO content and knowledge-based articles.
4. Keep Your Website Updated
Fresh content signals that your website is active and relevant.
Adding new pages, updating service information and publishing blog articles over time can help both Bing and AI platforms better understand your business.
This is particularly important for businesses trying to improve visibility in ChatGPT and AI-generated search experiences.
“Microsoft’s new Bing and Edge will feature AI copilots for the web.”
(Microsoft announcing AI-powered Bing and Edge).
Bing SEO vs Google SEO
Many traditional SEO principles still apply to both Bing and Google, including:
- Fast website speed
- Mobile-friendly design
- Clear page titles
- Internal linking
- High-quality written content
- Structured headings
- Relevant keywords
- Backlinks and authority
However, Bing sometimes places slightly more emphasis on exact keywords, page clarity and structured information.
Optimising for Bing can therefore complement your wider SEO and AI visibility strategy.
How This Connects to ChatGPT Traffic
Many businesses are now starting to see referral traffic from AI tools inside Google Analytics 4.
As AI search grows, understanding how these visitors arrive on your website will become increasingly important.
You can read our guide on how to track ChatGPT and AI traffic using Google Analytics to learn how to identify AI referrals and monitor visitor behaviour.
You may also find our article on how to get your business found on ChatGPT and AI platforms useful if you want to improve your visibility across AI-powered search tools.
Final Thoughts
Bing is becoming increasingly important in the world of artificial intelligence and conversational search. While Google remains dominant, businesses that ignore Bing may miss opportunities to appear inside AI-powered tools such as ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot.
By ensuring your website is indexed on Bing, creating helpful content and maintaining a strong SEO foundation, you can improve your chances of being discovered across both traditional search engines and emerging AI platforms.
Questions our clients ask
You may find the answers to some common questions about AI and website design in the FAQs below. If you would like more information, please feel free to get in touch.
AI tools such as ChatGPT,
Microsoft Bing powers or influences several AI-driven tools and platforms, including:
- Microsoft Copilot
- Bing AI Search
- Some ChatGPT web search experiences
- AI features inside Microsoft Edge
- Certain third-party AI assistants using Microsoft APIs
Because of this, many businesses are now paying more attention to Bing SEO and AI optimisation.
No. Yoast SEO helps you add the Bing verification code easily, but you still need to create and verify your website inside Bing Webmaster Tools yourself.
Without verification, Bing may still crawl your website naturally, but you will not have access to important tools such as:
- Sitemap submission
- URL inspection
- Crawl reports
- Keyword data
- Indexing requests
- AI performance insights
Yes. Bing Webmaster Tools is completely free to use.
Anyone with a Microsoft account can create a Bing Webmaster Tools account and add websites for indexing and SEO monitoring. The setup process is usually quite straightforward and similar to Google Search Console.
For businesses interested in AI visibility and Bing SEO, it is becoming an increasingly useful platform.
After creating a free Bing Webmaster Tools account, Bing will provide a verification code for your website. In WordPress, you can usually add this code through Yoast SEO by going to:
Yoast SEO → Settings → Site Connections
You then paste the Bing verification code into the Bing field and save the changes. Once saved, you return to Bing Webmaster Tools and click “Verify”.
This is often the easiest way to verify a WordPress website without manually uploading files or editing website code.
It can vary. Some websites are indexed within a few hours, while others may take several days or weeks.
Submitting a sitemap and manually requesting indexing through Bing Webmaster Tools can often speed up the process considerably.
Regularly updated websites with clear content and strong SEO structure are usually crawled more frequently.
Usually, yes. Bing can automatically discover and crawl websites through links, sitemaps and public web content even if you never create a Bing Webmaster Tools account.
However, verifying your website gives you much greater control and can help Bing discover content more efficiently. It also allows you to manually submit pages and monitor indexing performance.
Yes. Although Google remains dominant, Bing still powers millions of searches and AI experiences. Improving your Bing visibility can help local businesses appear in more AI-generated recommendations and conversational search results.
This may become increasingly important as more people use AI tools instead of traditional search engines.