AI Engine · by Microsoft
How Microsoft Copilot chooses which brands to recommend
- Where it gets sources
- Bing index
- How it attributes
- Numbered source links
How it picks who to name
Bing's index is upstream of everything. Pages Bing has not crawled or has ranked poorly are effectively invisible to Copilot.
Bing weights exact-match relevance and on-page clarity somewhat more than Google, which rewards straightforward headings and terminology.
It surfaces sources prominently, so being cited carries more visible attribution than on engines that summarise without emphasis.
How to get cited by Microsoft Copilot
- 1
Verify in Bing Webmaster Tools
Submit your sitemap and check the index coverage report. This single step resolves most Copilot invisibility.
- 2
Allow Bing's crawlers
Bingbot for indexing, and check that no bot-protection rule is blocking it — Bing is disproportionately caught by presets tuned for Googlebot.
- 3
Use plain, matching terminology
Name things the way your buyers name them rather than in internal product language.
What makes Microsoft Copilot different
The only major engine where a single administrative step — verifying and submitting in Bing Webmaster Tools — routinely produces a visible jump in citations.
Does Microsoft Copilot name you?
We ask real buyer questions and show you the answer, the brands named instead, and every source cited.
Related questions
Usually one of four reasons: your site blocks AI crawlers, your content only renders in JavaScript, nothing independent has been published about you, or your brand name is ambiguous enough that the model cannot resolve which company you are. The first two are technical and fixable in a day.
Retrievability, independent corroboration, extractable answers, entity clarity, and freshness. In rough order of leverage: be crawlable and server-rendered, be described consistently by sources other than yourself, answer specific questions directly near the top of a page, resolve unambiguously as an entity, and show recent dates.
Not if you want to appear in AI answers. Blocking GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, or Google-Extended removes your pages from the retrieval pool those engines draw on, which removes you from the answers. Blocking is a defensible choice for publishers protecting licensable archives, and a self-inflicted wound for almost everyone else.
Other AI engines
Frequently asked about Microsoft Copilot
How does Microsoft Copilot decide which brands to recommend?+
Copilot is grounded in the Bing index, which makes Bing visibility the prerequisite most brands overlook. A site well optimised for Google but never submitted to Bing Webmaster Tools can be substantially less visible in Copilot than its Google performance would suggest.
How do I get cited by Microsoft Copilot?+
Verify in Bing Webmaster Tools: Submit your sitemap and check the index coverage report. This single step resolves most Copilot invisibility. Allow Bing's crawlers: Bingbot for indexing, and check that no bot-protection rule is blocking it — Bing is disproportionately caught by presets tuned for Googlebot. Use plain, matching terminology: Name things the way your buyers name them rather than in internal product language.
Where does Microsoft Copilot get its information?+
Bing index. Citations: numbered source links.
What makes Microsoft Copilot different from other AI engines?+
The only major engine where a single administrative step — verifying and submitting in Bing Webmaster Tools — routinely produces a visible jump in citations.