ChatGPT Search runs on Bing's index. If your pages are not indexed in Bing, ChatGPT cannot find, cite, or recommend them, no matter how well you rank on Google. Bing Webmaster Tools indexing is the free way to fix that: you check what Bing has stored, submit the pages it is missing, and confirm they get picked up. This guide walks through the full process, plus a new report that shows when AI cites you.
Why Bing Indexing Decides Whether ChatGPT Sees Your Brand
ChatGPT Search fetches live results from Bing's index, so a page missing from Bing is invisible to ChatGPT. Microsoft and OpenAI made Bing the default search engine for ChatGPT's browsing in 2023, according to GeekWire. Bing indexing is a prerequisite for that AI visibility, not an optional extra.
OpenAI's own ChatGPT Search help page still describes the feature as using third-party search providers, and names Bing among them. Bing is the search layer ChatGPT reads from when it answers with live web results.
This is why a strong Google ranking does not carry over. Google's index and Bing's index are separate systems, which is one of the key differences between AEO and SEO. A page Google ranks on page one can be absent from Bing entirely, which leaves ChatGPT with nothing to cite. Getting indexed in Bing is the step that puts your pages in front of the model.
How to Check if Your Website Is Indexed in Bing
Sign up for Bing Webmaster Tools, verify your site, then use URL Inspection to see the indexing status of any page. The tool is free, and you can import your existing verification straight from Google Search Console instead of setting it up from scratch.
Start at bing.com/webmasters and add your domain. Bing gives you three verification options: import from Google Search Console, add an XML file, or place a meta tag or DNS record. The GSC import is the fastest for most brands because it carries over your verified property in one step.
Once verified, open URL Inspection under Tools, paste a page URL, and select Inspect. Bing reports whether the page is indexed and shows crawl details. For a rough check without signing in, search `site:yourdomain.com` on Bing and compare the result count against the number of pages you expect to see.
How to Check Whether All Your Pages Are Indexed
Compare the number of pages Bing has indexed against the number you submitted, using the Sitemaps and Site Explorer sections in Bing Webmaster Tools. A gap between submitted and indexed pages tells you which parts of your catalog Bing has not stored yet.
Submit your XML sitemap first, under Sitemaps, so Bing knows the full set of URLs you want indexed. The dashboard then shows how many URLs it discovered versus how many it indexed. Site Explorer breaks this down by folder, so you can spot whether product pages, blog posts, or category pages are the ones missing.
For an ecommerce brand, this gap matters most on product and collection pages, because those are the URLs ChatGPT needs to recommend specific items. A category that shows submitted but not indexed is a category the model cannot pull from.
How to Submit Pages to Bing and What to Expect
Use the Submit URLs tool in Bing Webmaster Tools to push pages directly into the crawl queue, with an allowance of up to 10,000 URL submissions per day. Submitting a URL asks Bing to crawl it, but indexing still depends on whether the page meets Bing's quality and structure checks.
Expect a wait. New pages can take days to weeks to move from submitted to indexed, and thin or hard-to-parse pages can stall longer. Our own pilot with Three Squared Nine started with zero pages indexed in Bing, and resubmission alone did not move the number. Indexing only picked up after about a month of cleaning up schema, metadata, and sitemaps. That work took the site from zero indexed pages in Bing to fully indexed.
The lesson is that submission is the trigger, not the guarantee. If pages stay unindexed after resubmission, the fix is usually on the page: correct schema and structured data, clean metadata, and a sitemap that matches your live URLs.
Advanced: Automate Indexing With IndexNow
IndexNow is a free protocol that notifies Bing the moment you add, update, or remove a page, so you stop waiting for the crawler to find changes on its own. According to Bing Webmaster Tools, you generate an API key, host it on your domain, then post changed URLs to the IndexNow endpoint.
Most platforms remove the manual work. WordPress, Shopify, and Wix offer IndexNow through a built-in setting or plugin, so a new product or article pings Bing automatically on publish. This keeps a fast-moving catalog current in the index without a person submitting URLs by hand.
IndexNow speeds up discovery, but it does not override the quality checks. In the Three Squared Nine pilot, IndexNow pings alone did not get pages indexed until the underlying schema and metadata issues were fixed, so treat it as the fast lane rather than a bypass.
New: Track AI Citations With the Bing AI Performance Report
Bing Webmaster Tools now shows when AI answers cite your content, through the AI Performance report launched as a public preview on 10 February 2026. It reports citations across Microsoft Copilot, Bing's AI summaries, and select partner integrations. Metrics include total citations, cited pages, and grounding queries.
Read the numbers as a directional signal, not a full count. Microsoft states that the data "represents a sample of overall citation activity," so the report shows a subset of where you are cited rather than everything. It is still the first free window any major search engine has given publishers into AI citations.
The report is expanding. In June 2026, Microsoft added Intents, Topics, Citation Share, and Compare, according to Bing. Intents classifies grounding queries into categories like informational and commercial. For a fuller picture across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity, pair it with dedicated AI citation tracking, since the Bing report covers Microsoft surfaces only.
FAQs
Does ChatGPT use Google or Bing?
ChatGPT Search uses Bing. OpenAI's help documentation describes ChatGPT Search as using third-party search providers and names Bing. Microsoft and OpenAI made Bing the default search engine for ChatGPT's browsing in 2023, according to GeekWire.
If my site ranks well on Google, do I still need Bing indexing?
Yes. Google's index and Bing's index are separate systems, so a page that ranks on Google can be absent from Bing, which means ChatGPT cannot cite it. Bing indexing is what makes a page reachable for ChatGPT Search.
How long does Bing take to index a new page?
New pages usually move from submitted to indexed within days to a few weeks. Pages with thin content or broken structure can take longer, and in the Three Squared Nine pilot indexing took about a month while schema and metadata were fixed.
Does IndexNow guarantee my page gets indexed?
No. IndexNow tells Bing to crawl a changed URL quickly, but indexing still depends on the page passing Bing's quality and structure checks. Crawling a page and indexing it are separate steps.
Is the Bing AI Performance data accurate?
It is a sample, not a complete count. Microsoft states the report "represents a sample of overall citation activity," so use it to spot trends and cited pages rather than as an exact total of every AI citation.
Getting Indexed Is the Starting Line
Bing indexing puts your pages where ChatGPT can reach them, and the AI Performance report now shows when that reach turns into a citation. The pages that get cited are the ones that are indexed, structured cleanly, and easy for a model to read. That is the same work behind GEO for ecommerce brands. Start by confirming what Bing has stored, then fix the pages it is missing. If you want to check whether AI is already recommending your brand, test a few prompts across ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity before and after.