Context
Microsoft launched an AI Performance public preview in Bing Webmaster Tools for measuring publisher citations across Microsoft Copilot, Bing AI summaries and select partner integrations, including cited URLs, sampled grounding queries and citation trends.
What changed
The dashboard introduced total citation counts, average cited pages per day, sampled grounding queries, page-level citation activity and trends as first-party AI-answer visibility metrics.
Why it matters
Publishers gained direct observational data on where their pages are referenced in AI-generated answers, distinct from traditional search clicks and rankings. Later Bing reporting features build on this launch.
Visibility OS interpretation
Visibility OS treats these figures as descriptive citation visibility, not ranking, traffic, source authority or full answer prominence. Sampled queries and supported surface coverage limit completeness.
What remains uncertain
What fraction of all supported AI answers is represented? How does citation count relate to user exposure and referral traffic? How consistent are query samples over time?
Evidence claims
On February 10, 2026, Microsoft introduced Bing Webmaster Tools AI Performance public preview with total citations, average cited pages, sampled grounding queries, cited URLs and time trends across supported AI experiences.
Related historical records
Bing AI Performance adds Intents, Topics, Citation Share and Compare previews
That record builds on this event.