Microsoft recently showcased four innovative AI reporting features for Bing Webmaster Tools. These enhancements include Citation Share, Grounding Query Intent Labels, Grounding Query Topic Labels, and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)-Focused Recommendations. Each of these tools aims to provide deeper insights for webmasters and content creators.
Krishna Madhavan, Principal Product Manager at Microsoft AI and Bing, introduced these features during a presentation at SEO Week in New York City. Attendees shared slides on X, highlighting four new additions to the AI Performance dashboard.
Citation Share will display the percentage of citations garnered by a site for specific grounding queries, alongside the existing raw citation counts on the dashboard.
Grounding Query Intent will categorize queries into 15 predefined intent labels, including Learning, Informational Search, Navigational, Research, Comparison, Planning, Conversational, and Content Filtered, as shown in the screenshots shared by attendees.
Grounding Query Topic will further classify queries under topic labels, providing an additional layer to the existing intent classifications.
The final feature, GEO-focused Recommendations, aims to provide guidance related to AI visibility. Areas highlighted in the slide include content structure, crawlability, indexing and canonicalization signals, structured data adoption, and the quality of structured data.
Currently, Microsoft has not released an official blog post regarding these new features. The information available is primarily derived from attendee screenshots from the presentation.
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Why This Matters
The AI Performance dashboard was launched in public preview back in February, providing users with initial insights into how often Microsoft Copilot and Bing AI summarize their content. The dashboard received an update in March that mapped grounding queries to specific pages cited in those summaries.
The introduction of Citation Share expands upon this functionality. While citation counts indicate visibility, the share metric offers competitive context, revealing whether a site garners most citations or competes with others for specific queries.
Additionally, the intent and topic classifications address data limitations within the dashboard. As queries often vary in phrasing, spotting trends can be challenging. By grouping queries by intent and topic, sites can assess visibility in relation to shared categories rather than just individual phrases.
The GEO recommendations are the least defined of the new features. Although the labels suggest a focus on common SEO fundamentals like crawlability and indexing, Microsoft has yet to clarify how these recommendations will be generated or when they’ll be activated.
Looking Ahead
As of now, Microsoft has not specified any release dates for these features. Detailed information regarding the calculation of Citation Share, the taxonomies for intent and topic, and the methodology for GEO recommendations remains unpublished.
Consider these features as previews rather than finalized offerings. Official announcements from the Bing Webmaster or Microsoft Advertising blogs will be necessary to confirm the scope and timeline of these updates.
