Does Bing's AI Performance report include ChatGPT citations?

99Visibility Research · Updated October 21, 2026 · 4 min read

Short answer

No, not as documented. Microsoft scopes Bing's AI Performance report to Microsoft Copilot, AI-generated summaries in Bing, and select partner integrations. ChatGPT is not named anywhere in that scope. Treat the report as a Copilot and Bing measurement. In Otterly's 2026 test, two sites that stayed in Bing's index drew thousands of Copilot citations and effectively zero from ChatGPT. Measure ChatGPT separately.

Key takeaways

Microsoft scopes the AI Performance report to Copilot, Bing AI summaries and unnamed select partner integrations, and ChatGPT is not documented as one of them.
Being in Bing's index did not translate into ChatGPT citations in Otterly's two-site test, even with ChatGPT's crawlers visiting.
The report's real value is Copilot data you cannot get elsewhere, especially grounding queries, the phrases the AI actually searched.
ChatGPT visibility depends on its own controls, starting with whether OAI-SearchBot can reach your pages.

The answer, and why it holds

Bing's AI Performance report does not document ChatGPT coverage. Microsoft describes the report as covering "Microsoft Copilot, AI-generated summaries in Bing, and select partner integrations." ChatGPT is not listed, and Microsoft does not name the partners.

That matters because ChatGPT runs its own search layer. OpenAI says ChatGPT search rewrites a user's prompt into one or more targeted queries and sends them to providers it "sometimes partners with." Even if some of those queries reach Bing, nothing Microsoft publishes says the resulting ChatGPT citations are counted in your report.

So the safe reading is simple. The numbers in the report describe Microsoft's surfaces. They tell you nothing reliable about ChatGPT. If you want the full picture of what the report covers, reading Bing's AI Performance report walks through each panel.

What the report does count

As of October 2026, the report sits in Bing Webmaster Tools. It launched in public preview on 10 February 2026 and was expanded in June 2026. It shows:

Total Citations and Average Cited Pages for your site
Page-level citation activity, so you can see which URLs get cited
Grounding queries, the key phrases the AI used when retrieving content it then cited
Intents and Topics for those queries
Citation Share and a Compare view

Grounding queries are the standout. Every prompt tracker tests prompts its vendor chose. This panel shows the searches the AI actually ran, which is the only window of its kind in the industry. Our page on seeing which queries Copilot used to cite you covers how to read them.

Two caveats travel with the data. Microsoft states the grounding query panel shows a sample of citation activity, a disclosure scoped to that panel rather than the whole report (see whether the data is complete or sampled). And Microsoft frames Citation Share as observational, not a ranking or a competitive scoreboard.

The evidence: Bing visibility did not become ChatGPT citations

OtterlyAI ran a public experiment in 2026 with two new domains, each loaded with about 1,000 AI-generated posts. Google removed both sites from its index. Bing kept both, and combined Bing impressions reached 119,935 in July, per Otterly's write-up.

The citation split followed the index split:

Microsoft Copilot produced 2,718 of the 3,934 citations Otterly tracked for one site, about 69%.
Microsoft's own AI Performance report credited that site with 42,817 citations.
ChatGPT cited the sites effectively zero times, even while they ranked in Bing and ChatGPT's crawlers kept visiting.

The lesson is direct. "ChatGPT uses Bing" is not a strategy, and a healthy Bing report is not a proxy for ChatGPT. The gap between 42,817 and 3,934 also shows that any prompt-based tracker sees a sample, though the time windows may not match.

The test has limits. It is one pair of sites, on a low-stakes informational topic, run by a vendor that sells AI tracking. It shows the two can diverge. It does not measure how often they do.

Edge cases worth knowing

"Select partner integrations" is undefined

Microsoft does not list which partners are included. Do not assume any third-party assistant is counted unless Microsoft names it.

Bing's index still matters upstream

Bing's index backs Copilot and Azure's Grounding with Bing Search. It is a documented path into Microsoft's answers. Its link to ChatGPT is documented only in hedged terms and has never been measured.

No API, yet

As of our last evidence check in August 2026, the report had no API, so data comes out through the interface or exports. Check the current state in whether there is an API for the report.

Competitor data is absent

Microsoft states Citation Share does not expose competitor domains. See whether the report shows competitor citations.

What to do next

Use the report for what it covers, and measure ChatGPT on its own terms.

Set up Bing Webmaster Tools if you have not. Setting up Bing Webmaster Tools for AI reporting covers verification.
Export grounding queries regularly. They tell you which topics Copilot associates with your pages and which real searches retrieve you.
Check ChatGPT access separately. OpenAI's bots page says OAI-SearchBot controls ChatGPT search inclusion, and GPTBot governs training only. Confirm your robots.txt allows OAI-SearchBot and that your CDN or firewall does not return a 403 to it.
Track ChatGPT referrals. OpenAI says ChatGPT adds utm_source=chatgpt.com to referral links, though tagging is incomplete.
Sample ChatGPT answers directly. The free checker on this site shows whether ChatGPT names you for up to three buyer questions, as a one-time snapshot.

None of this guarantees a citation. It removes the blocks you control and gives you per-engine numbers you can trust.

Frequently asked questions

Does the AI Performance report include Bing Chat or Copilot in Windows?

Microsoft's stated scope is Microsoft Copilot, AI-generated summaries in Bing, and select partner integrations. Copilot is named directly. Microsoft does not break the totals out by Copilot surface or app, so treat the report as one combined view of Microsoft's AI answers rather than a per-app breakdown.

If I rank well in Bing, will ChatGPT cite me?

Not necessarily. In Otterly's 2026 test, two sites ranked in Bing and drew thousands of Copilot citations while ChatGPT cited them effectively zero times. OpenAI says ChatGPT search sometimes partners with other providers, but it publishes no ranking factors beyond "multiple factors." Check ChatGPT access and answers separately.

Where can I see ChatGPT citation data from OpenAI?

OpenAI does not offer a publisher citation report comparable to Bing's. What you can see is referral traffic tagged utm_source=chatgpt.com in your analytics, which OpenAI says it appends, though some clicks arrive untagged. For answer content, you need to sample ChatGPT responses to the questions your buyers ask.

Why are Bing's citation counts higher than my tracker's?

Your tracker only counts answers to the prompts it asks, so it sees a sample. In Otterly's test, Microsoft's report credited one site with 42,817 citations against 3,934 logged by Otterly's tracker, though the time windows may not match. Where an engine publishes its own count, that count sees more.

Sources

This page is AI-assisted. It was written from a verified evidence base and checked against our editorial policy. Engine behaviour changes often; facts are as of October 21, 2026.