Publishers now get deeper insights into how their content appears in AI-generated answers. New tools reveal citation context, topic clusters, and visibility trends. Early preview features are rolling out globally.
Microsoft has expanded its AI Performance Report in Bing Webmaster Tools, introducing four new preview features designed to help publishers understand how their content is cited and displayed in AI-generated answers. The new tools—Intents, Topics, Citation Share, and Compare—are now available globally in preview, offering site owners a more detailed look at their presence across Microsoft Copilot, Bing, and select partner AI experiences.
The original AI Performance Report answered a key question for publishers: where is my content being cited in AI-generated responses? With this update, Bing Webmaster Tools now goes further, helping users understand why their content is surfaced, which broader topics they are gaining visibility in, how their citation share compares to others, and how these patterns shift over time.
As AI-powered search evolves, traditional metrics like keyword rankings are no longer enough. AI-generated answers synthesize information from multiple sources, making it essential for publishers to see beyond simple citation counts. The new features provide deeper insights into query context, thematic groupings, relative citation share, and time-based changes, giving publishers actionable data to refine their content strategies.
The Intents feature classifies grounding queries into categories such as Informational, Commercial, Navigational, Learn and Solve, Research, Creation, and Local. This helps publishers understand the broader context behind each citation, revealing which types of user intent are driving their content’s visibility in AI-generated answers. For example, an e-commerce site might see strong representation in shopping-related queries, while an educational publisher could find their content frequently cited in research or learning contexts.
Topics, another new capability, groups related queries into broader thematic clusters. Instead of analyzing visibility one query at a time, publishers can now see which subject areas are driving citation activity. This thematic approach mirrors how modern AI systems organize information, helping publishers identify emerging areas of authority and gaps in their topical coverage.
Citation Share shows the percentage of citations attributed to a publisher’s site for a specific grounding query, compared to all other cited sources. This metric helps publishers gauge their relative visibility within AI-generated answers, highlighting areas where their content has a strong presence or where visibility is more fragmented. Citation Share is intended as an observational tool, not a ranking system, and does not expose competitor domains or represent traffic share.
The Compare feature allows publishers to overlay previous time periods onto current reports, making it easier to spot trends and shifts in citation activity. Users can compare the current 30-day period to the previous 30 days or select custom date ranges to track changes that may result from content updates, seasonality, or broader ecosystem shifts.
These new features are part of Microsoft’s ongoing effort to increase transparency around how content appears in AI-powered experiences. By providing more context, topic analysis, and visibility metrics, Bing Webmaster Tools aims to help publishers make informed decisions about their content strategies in an evolving AI landscape.
Intents, Topics, Citation Share, and Compare are rolling out in preview to all Bing Webmaster Tools users worldwide. Microsoft encourages publishers and site owners to explore these features and provide feedback through the AI Performance Dashboard’s new feedback interface. As more data is collected and user engagement grows, Microsoft expects the quality and precision of these tools to improve further.
Microsoft Bing, launched in 2009, is one of the world’s largest search engines, serving hundreds of millions of users each month. Bing Webmaster Tools is a free platform used by site owners globally to monitor site performance, optimize for search, and now, track AI-driven content visibility. Microsoft continues to invest in AI-powered search and reporting tools as part of its broader strategy to shape the future of web discovery.
