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Bing, ChatGPT, and SEO: Why Bing Rankings Matter Again
by the AEO GEO Labs team5 min read
Bing ChatGPT SEO is the practice of making your site strong in Bing so it can surface in ChatGPT and other AI answers that draw on Bing's index. As of October 2026, Bing's exact share of ChatGPT search is unclear, since OpenAI also runs its own crawler and index. Bing still directly powers Microsoft Copilot and many AI agents, which makes an hour of Bing work cheap insurance.
This post is part of our LLM SEO guide. It separates what is confirmed from what is reported, then lists the Bing fixes worth doing.
Does ChatGPT use Bing?
ChatGPT has used Bing as a search partner, but it does not rely on Bing alone, and the balance has shifted toward OpenAI's own systems. Here is what is known, as of October 2026, and how sure we can be.
| Claim | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT search uses third-party search providers alongside its own crawling | Confirmed | OpenAI's announcements and help center |
| OpenAI runs OAI-SearchBot to surface sites in ChatGPT search | Confirmed | OpenAI crawler docs |
| Bing has been one of those providers | Confirmed at launch | OpenAI said in 2024 that Bing was an important one of its search services |
| OpenAI has been building its own search index since 2023 | Stated under oath | Testimony by ChatGPT head Nick Turley in the U.S. v. Google remedies trial, April 2025 |
| Bing now supplies only a small share of ChatGPT results | Reported, not confirmed | Third-party analyses in 2026; OpenAI has not published a split |
The honest summary: Bing is one input among several, OpenAI's own index is growing, and nobody outside OpenAI knows the exact mix. Anyone who tells you "rank in Bing and you will rank in ChatGPT" is overselling. Anyone who says Bing no longer matters is overselling in the other direction.
The step that is fully in your control is OpenAI's own crawler. Its documentation says sites that block OAI-SearchBot will not appear in ChatGPT search answers. Check that first, as our guide to ranking in ChatGPT explains.
Why Bing rankings matter again
Bing rankings matter again because Bing's index now feeds AI answers well beyond bing.com. Even if ChatGPT's reliance on Bing shrinks, three uses are confirmed by Microsoft:
- Microsoft Copilot. Copilot answers draw on Bing. Microsoft's AI Performance report, launched in public preview on 10 February 2026, shows citations "across Microsoft Copilot, AI-generated summaries in Bing, and select partner integrations." Copilot SEO covers that surface in detail.
- AI agents built on Azure. Microsoft retired its general Bing Search APIs on 11 August 2025 and points developers to Grounding with Bing Search, which lets AI agents search the public web through Bing and cite the sites they use. Every company building an agent this way is reading Bing's index.
- Bing's own AI summaries. Bing shows AI-generated answers on its results pages, with citations, much like Google's AI Overviews.
There is also a practical reason. Bing is the one major engine that reports AI citations directly to site owners. Google Search Console blends AI Overviews traffic into the normal "Web" numbers. Bing breaks out citations and the "grounding queries" its AI used to find your page.
Our view: Bing is the cheapest AI visibility work you can do. The setup takes an hour and is free, the downside is zero, and the upside covers Copilot, Bing's AI summaries and a share of ChatGPT that may be small but is not nothing.
Bing ChatGPT SEO: 5 fixes for ChatGPT and Copilot
Bing SEO for ChatGPT and Copilot comes down to five tasks, most of which take minutes.
- Verify your site in Bing Webmaster Tools. Bing Webmaster Tools is free and can import your verified sites from Google Search Console in a few clicks.
- Submit your sitemap. Make sure it lists only canonical, indexable URLs with accurate last-modified dates. The sitemap validator catches broken entries before Bing does.
- Turn on IndexNow. IndexNow lets you ping Bing, plus Naver, Seznam, Yandex and Yep, the moment a URL changes, instead of waiting for a crawl. Many CMS platforms and CDNs offer it as a plugin or toggle.
- Check that Bingbot and OAI-SearchBot are both allowed. Look at robots.txt and at your CDN or firewall bot rules. "Block AI bots" switches sometimes catch search crawlers too.
- Watch the AI Performance report. Note which pages get cited and which grounding queries lead to them. Pages that rank but are never cited usually need a clearer direct answer near the top.
Bing's ranking signals overlap heavily with Google's: crawlable HTML, clear titles and headings, relevant content and links from other sites. If your Google SEO is in order, most of the work is setup and monitoring, not new content.
How to check your Bing visibility for AI answers
You check Bing visibility for AI answers in two places. First, Bing Webmaster Tools: the Search Performance report shows your Bing rankings and clicks, and the AI Performance report shows citations. Second, run your key buyer questions in Copilot and in ChatGPT, note who is cited, and compare against your Bing rankings for the same topics. If you rank on Bing but never appear in Copilot, the page is findable but not quotable. If you do not rank on Bing at all, start with indexing.
Frequently asked questions
Does ChatGPT still use Bing in 2026?
ChatGPT likely still uses Bing for some searches, but OpenAI has not published how much. As of October 2026, OpenAI says ChatGPT search uses third-party search providers alongside its own crawler, OAI-SearchBot, and has been building its own index since 2023. Treat Bing as one input among several rather than the gateway to ChatGPT.
Is Bing SEO different from Google SEO?
Bing SEO is mostly the same as Google SEO: crawlable pages, clear titles, relevant content and links. Practical differences are in the tools. Bing offers IndexNow for instant URL submission and an AI Performance report showing citations in Copilot and Bing's AI answers. Google offers neither as of October 2026.
Does Microsoft Copilot use Bing?
Microsoft Copilot uses Bing to ground its answers in current web results. Microsoft's Bing Webmaster Tools AI Performance report, in public preview since February 2026, tracks how often your content is cited across Copilot, Bing's AI-generated summaries and select partner integrations. Being indexed and well-ranked in Bing is the starting point for Copilot visibility.
What is IndexNow and do I need it?
IndexNow is an open protocol that lets you notify participating search engines, including Bing, Naver, Seznam, Yandex and Yep, as soon as a URL is added, updated or deleted. You do not strictly need it, but it speeds up discovery of new and changed pages. Many CMS platforms and CDNs offer it as a simple setting.
Should I block Bingbot to keep content out of AI?
Blocking Bingbot removes your site from Bing search and, with it, from Copilot answers and any AI agent grounded in Bing. That usually costs far more visibility than it protects. If your concern is model training rather than search, look at training-specific crawlers such as GPTBot, which are separate from search crawlers.
If you want Bing, ChatGPT and Copilot visibility handled together, AEO GEO Labs runs GEO, AEO and SEO programs for B2B and SaaS teams. See our services.