Bing now tells you which pages AI cites for you — the first real free GEO tool is here

In March 2026, Microsoft updated its AI Performance Dashboard in Bing Webmaster Tools with a feature GEO practitioners had been waiting for since the dashboard's February launch: direct linking between grounding queries and cited pages. The update was announced on the Microsoft Advertising Blog and covered by Search Engine Journal.

In practice: you can now click a grounding query to see which pages on your site Copilot cited for that query — and conversely, select a page to see which queries drive its citations. This is the first truly operational free GEO tool available to webmasters.

What exactly is a "grounding query"?

Be careful not to confuse this with standard user queries. A grounding query is the phrase that Bing's retrieval system generates internally to construct an AI answer. When a user asks Copilot a question, the AI doesn't search the web directly for the question — it generates intermediate queries to find relevant sources.

These queries often differ significantly from what the user typed. Knowing which ones trigger citations of your site means having access to the "secret language" the AI uses to talk about your content.

What changed from the initial dashboard

When Microsoft launched the AI Performance Dashboard in February, it showed two separate views: grounding queries on one side, cited pages on the other. No link between them. You could see the puzzle pieces, not the assembled puzzle.

The March update connects them. One grounding query can map to multiple pages, and one page can appear across multiple queries. That granularity is what makes GEO optimization actionable.

The dashboard covers Bing AI experiences: Copilot, AI summaries in Bing Search, and select partner integrations.

What this means for your GEO strategy

To understand the stakes, remember how GEO works today. Most brands optimize blindly: they create structured content, add schema.org markup, hope to be cited — and get no direct feedback on what works.

This Bing update breaks that cycle. With query ↔ page mapping, you can:

• Identify your "GEO champions" — pages regularly cited, and understand why
• Detect gaps — queries where you should be cited but aren't
• Understand the AI's "vocabulary" in your sector — the phrasings Copilot uses to discuss your topics
• Prioritize your efforts — instead of optimizing everything, focus on pages close to citation

How to enable and use this feature

The update is available now in Bing Webmaster Tools for verified sites. If you haven't verified your site yet, now's the time — it's free and takes 5 minutes.

Once in the dashboard, under "AI Performance":

1. Click any grounding query → see which URLs on your site were cited for it
2. Click any page → see which queries generate its citations
3. Export the data and cross-reference with your content → identify patterns (format, length, angle)

This is also a signal that Microsoft considers GEO an official optimization category — Bing even integrated "GEO" into its official webmaster guidelines in parallel with this launch.

What Google isn't doing (yet)

Google Search Console includes AI Overviews and AI Mode in standard performance reports, but without a separate AI citation report or page-level citation counts. Bing is currently more transparent about its AI mechanics than Google. That's a window of opportunity to understand AI citation patterns before everyone has this data.

Our take at Cicéro: this type of tool will become the norm. In 12 to 18 months, Google will offer an equivalent view. Better to learn to read the signals now, with Bing, before the competition catches on.

Alexis Dollé

CEO & Founder

Growth and SEO content strategist, I founded Cicéro to help businesses build lasting organic visibility — on Google and in AI-generated answers alike. Every piece of content we produce is designed to convert, not just to exist.

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