- Bing Webmaster Tools now shows Citation Share: the percentage of all citations for a given query that go to your site in AI answers. It is free, and Google does not offer anything like it.
- It sits in the AI Performance report alongside three other new views: Intents, Topics, and Compare. Together they show what AI cites you for and whether that is rising or falling.
- Citation Share is observational, not a competitor scoreboard. It does not name rivals. Used right, it tells you exactly which topics to defend and which to go and win.
For two years the question every SEO has asked is the same: am I actually showing up in AI answers? Until now you could only guess. Bing just made it measurable. The AI Performance report in Bing Webmaster Tools now shows your Citation Share, the slice of the citation space you own for a given query, for free. Google offers nothing like it.
Here is what the report shows, what Citation Share really means (and what it does not), and how to turn it into moves that grow your AI visibility.
The Metric Google Will Not Give You
Google Search Console tells you about clicks and rankings on the classic results page. It tells you nothing about whether ChatGPT, Copilot, or an AI summary cited you. That has been the blind spot: AI answers are eating the click, and the people losing visibility could not even see it happening.
Bing's AI Performance report closes that blind spot. It summarises and aggregates how your content is cited in AI-generated answers across Microsoft Copilot, AI-generated summaries in Bing, and select partner AI integrations. In June 2026 Bing added four capabilities on top of the raw citation counts: Intents, Topics, Citation Share, and Compare. That fourth-and-final layer, Citation Share, is the one that changes the game, because it moves you from "was I cited" to "how much of the answer was me".
The Four New Things in the Report
Every one of these is now live in preview inside Bing Webmaster Tools. Here is what each shows and what to do with it.
| Metric | What it shows | What to do with it |
|---|---|---|
| Citation Share | The percentage of all citations shown for a grounding query that are attributed to your site. | Defend the queries where your share is high. Grow the ones where it is low but the query has real citation volume. |
| Intents | The category behind each grounding query: Informational, Commercial, Navigational, Learn and Solve, Research, Creation, Local, and more. | Check whether you are cited for commercial intent (close to revenue) or only informational. Chase the commercial gaps. |
| Topics | Grounding queries grouped into broader themes, the way AI systems reason (solar panels plus residential solar map to Solar Energy). | Find the themes you already own, and the adjacent themes with citations where you are absent. That is your content backlog. |
| Compare | Overlays a previous period (last 30 days vs the prior 30, or custom) onto the current view. | Spot the topics where your share is falling and plug the leak before chasing new wins. |
How to Find Your Citation Share
You need a verified site in Bing Webmaster Tools. If you have one, this takes a minute.
- Sign in at bing.com/webmasters and select your site.
- Open the AI Performance report from the left navigation.
- Set the date range. 30 days is a good baseline. 7 days, 3 months, and custom ranges are also available.
- Open the grounding queries view and look for the Citation Share column, then the Intents and Topics tabs. Use Compare to overlay the prior period.
Important: if your site is brand new to Bing or barely cited, the report will be thin. Citation activity needs both crawl access and time. If you see zero citations, that is usually a crawl problem, not a content one. Check the AI Crawler Access Checker first.
What Citation Share Is (and Is Not)
This is where most coverage gets it wrong, so be precise. Citation Share is the percentage of citations attributed to your site out of all citations shown across all sites for the same grounding query. If an AI answer for a query cites ten sources and two of them are you, your Citation Share for that query is meaningful, not just a yes or no.
What it is not, in Bing's own words: it is an observational metric, not a ranking system or a competitive scoreboard. It does not expose competitor domains, it does not represent traffic share, and it does not assign quality scores. So ignore anyone selling it as a "see exactly who is beating you" leaderboard. You do not see named rivals. What you see is how much of the citation space you hold, query by query, which is the number that actually tells you where to push.
How to Read Intents, Topics and Compare
Citation Share is the headline, but the other three turn it into a plan.
Intents classify each grounding query by what the searcher wanted. The move: find the commercial, local, and learn-and-solve queries where your share is low. Those sit closest to a buying decision, so a point of share there is worth more than a point on a purely informational query.
Topics roll your grounding queries into the themes AI reasons across. The move: identify the themes you already own (protect them) and the adjacent themes that show citation activity but no presence from you (your highest-confidence content backlog, because AI is already answering those questions, just not with you).
Compare overlays the prior period. The move: a falling Citation Share on a commercial topic you used to own is the most urgent thing in the whole report. Fix the leak before you chase anything new. Citation activity can move because of model updates, competing content, freshness, or shifting demand, so investigate before assuming the worst.
The 3-Layer AI Visibility Stack
Citation Share is the top of a three-layer stack. You cannot win a layer until the one below it works, and Hawk Academy has a free tool for each.
Layer 3: Are you cited? (this guide)
Bing Citation Share shows how much of the AI answer is you. The Citation Share Auditor skill turns the report into a ranked plan.
Layer 2: Do bots crawl you?
The Microsoft Clarity AI Bot Activity dashboard shows whether AI crawlers actually visit your pages.
Layer 1: Can bots crawl you?
The AI Crawler Access Checker reads your robots.txt to confirm AI bots are even allowed in.
If your Citation Share is zero, do not start with content. Start at Layer 1 and work up. AI cannot cite what it cannot crawl.
What to Do This Week
- Pull the report and sort by citation volume. Find the grounding queries with the most citations, then read your share on each. High volume plus low share is your biggest opportunity.
- Filter to commercial and local intent. Those are the queries closest to revenue. A low share there is worth fixing before any informational gap.
- Run Compare and find the leaks. Any commercial topic where your share is falling gets a refresh first: strengthen the cited page, confirm it is still crawlable, and reinforce the answer.
FAQ
Is the Bing AI Performance report free?
Yes. It is part of Bing Webmaster Tools, which is free. You just need a verified site. Citation Share, Intents, Topics, and Compare are all included in the preview at no cost.
Does Citation Share show my competitors?
No. Bing is explicit that Citation Share is observational, not a competitive scoreboard. It does not expose competitor domains, traffic share, or quality scores. It shows how much of the citation space for a query is yours, not who the other cited sites are.
Why is my Citation Share zero?
Usually a crawl problem, not a content one. AI can only cite pages it can reach. Check the AI Crawler Access Checker and the Clarity AI Bot Activity dashboard before assuming your content is the issue.
Does Bing data reflect ChatGPT and other assistants?
The report covers Microsoft Copilot, AI-generated summaries in Bing, and select partner AI integrations. It is the clearest free signal available, but it is a Bing-side view, not a complete cross-assistant picture. Treat it as the scoreboard you can see, not the only game.
How often should I check it?
Monthly is enough for most sites. Use the 30-day range and the Compare view so you are reading a trend, not a single noisy week.