ChatGPT search may use Bing: the OpenAI pages we read name Bing only for Enterprise and Edu workspaces, where queries may be shared with Bing. Bing Webmaster Tools reports how Microsoft's AI answers, and select partner integrations, cite your pages, IndexNow notifies Bing and participating engines of changes, and no page we read says either changes what ChatGPT cites.
- OpenAI's help page for Enterprise and Edu workspaces says ChatGPT may share disassociated search queries with the Bing search engine to return web results (OpenAI, Help Center, read 30 October 2026).
- OpenAI's general help page on web search says ChatGPT search sometimes partners with other search providers and does not name Bing (OpenAI, Help Center, read 30 October 2026).
- Bing's AI Performance help page lists Microsoft Copilot, AI-generated summaries in Bing and select partner AI integrations, and it does not name ChatGPT (Microsoft, Bing Webmaster Tools Help, read 30 October 2026).
- IndexNow accepts up to 10,000 URLs per post, and an HTTP 200 response only means the search engine received them (IndexNow.org, read 30 October 2026).
- IndexNow's home page lists support from Microsoft Bing, Naver, Seznam.cz, Yandex and Yep, and none of the three IndexNow pages we read names Google (IndexNow.org, read 30 October 2026).
Does ChatGPT search use Bing?
ChatGPT search may use Bing, but the OpenAI pages we read name Bing only for Enterprise and Edu workspaces. The help page for those workspaces says ChatGPT may share disassociated search queries with the Bing search engine to return web results
, and adds that Healthcare workspaces do not use Bing for web search
. The general help page does not name Bing; it says ChatGPT search sometimes partners with other search providers
.
| OpenAI page | Names Bing? | What it says about providers |
|---|---|---|
| Searching the web with ChatGPT (help page) | No | Sometimes partners with other search providers; links Microsoft's privacy statement and Shopify's privacy policy |
| ChatGPT search for Enterprise and Edu (help page) | Yes | May share disassociated search queries with the Bing search engine; Healthcare workspaces do not use Bing |
| Introducing ChatGPT search (launch post, 31 October 2024) | No | Refers to third-party search providers and to content provided directly by partners |
| ChatGPT release notes | 2023 only | Entries from May to October 2023 name Bing, about an earlier browsing feature and a Bing plugin |
We do not read the 2023 release-note entries as describing ChatGPT search today; that reading is ours. The OpenAI pages we read also do not say which provider answers a given query, so they cannot show which source supplied a particular answer.
What does OpenAI tell publishers to do?
OpenAI recommends that publishers allow its own search crawler, OAI-SearchBot, and its crawler page does not mention Bing. The page says Sites that are opted out of OAI-SearchBot will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers, though can still appear as navigational links
, and recommends allowing OAI-SearchBot in your site's robots.txt file
. It adds that a robots.txt change can take about 24 hours to reach its search systems. The launch post says Any website or publisher can choose to appear
in ChatGPT search, and its words "choose to appear" link to that crawler page.
OpenAI describes two routes, its own crawler and its search partners, and the pages we read do not say how they combine; treating both as possibly relevant is our reasoning, not an OpenAI statement. Our guide to which crawlers to allow for AI search covers each vendor's crawler rules.
What does Bing Webmaster Tools report about AI?
Bing Webmaster Tools has an AI Performance report that counts how often AI answers cite your pages. Microsoft announced it in public preview in February 2026, saying it shows how publisher content appears across Microsoft Copilot, AI-generated summaries in Bing, and select partner integrations
. In June 2026 it announced four more preview capabilities: Intents, Topics, Citation Share and Compare.
| Part | What Microsoft says |
|---|---|
| Surfaces | Microsoft Copilot, AI-generated summaries in Bing and select partner AI integrations |
| Citations | The total number of citations displayed as sources in AI-generated answers during the selected time frame |
| Grounding queries | The key phrases the AI used when retrieving content that was referenced in AI-generated answers, not full user questions or prompts |
| Citation Share | How much of the citation space your site receives for a specific grounding query; observational, not a traffic share |
| Refresh and export | Refreshed daily with a short processing delay; exports in CSV and Excel formats |
| Eligibility | Reflects only content that is eligible for indexing |
A citation is not a visit: Microsoft's help page says a citation does not represent traffic, clicks, or user engagement
. None of the three Microsoft pages we read on the report names ChatGPT, and the words "select partner integrations" do not say which partners count, so we read the report as a count of Microsoft's own AI answers. Our guide to Search Console's Generative AI performance report covers Google's side.
What does IndexNow do?
IndexNow lets a site notify participating search engines that a URL has been added, updated or deleted. Its home page calls it a simple ping so that search engines know that a URL and its content has been added, updated, or deleted
and says it has support from Microsoft Bing, Naver, Seznam.cz, Yandex, Yep
. Its documentation says participating engines agree to share submitted URLs with each other, so one submission is meant to reach all of them.
The documentation allows up to 10,000 URLs per post
and says an HTTP 200 response only indicates that the search engine has received your URL
, and the FAQ says Submitting a URL does not guarantee immediate indexing.
Google is not named on the three IndexNow pages we read, so we do not treat IndexNow as a way to reach Google. Microsoft's announcement says IndexNow helps keep information fresh across search and AI experiences by notifying participating search engines whenever content is added, updated, or removed
; the same post never mentions ChatGPT, so we do not read "AI experiences" as a ChatGPT claim.
Should you set up Bing Webmaster Tools and IndexNow?
Yes if you want Microsoft's AI citation data, or want Bing and the other IndexNow engines told about changes, but not as a ChatGPT tactic, because no page we read documents either tool as a ChatGPT control. The advice below is our reasoning from those pages, not a statement by OpenAI or Microsoft.
- Bing Webmaster Tools. Set it up if you want the AI Performance report (the pages we read do not say which sites can see it), and export what it shows before you change anything. Microsoft says
Historical data is available only for the time ranges shown in the dashboard
, so do not count on looking further back later. - IndexNow. Set it up if your site adds, changes or removes many URLs, which is what it exists to announce; a site that rarely changes has little to announce.
- Robots.txt. Check it for rules that block Bingbot, Microsoft's standard crawler. Microsoft says
Bing respects all content owner preferences expressed through robots.txt and other supported control mechanisms
, and that the reportreflects only content that is eligible for indexing
.
One indirect reason to care about Bing for ChatGPT is our reasoning, not an OpenAI statement. Where OpenAI says queries may be shared with Bing to return web results, a page missing from Bing's index cannot be one of those results. Being in Bing's index is a precondition for that route, not a way to be cited, and IndexNow does not promise indexing. To see what ChatGPT cites, ask it repeatedly, as our guides on how to check whether ChatGPT recommends your brand and how to measure AI visibility explain.
Example (illustrative numbers)
These numbers are invented and are not data from any site. A site changes the template on 23,640 URLs, sends them to IndexNow, and then reads Bing's AI Performance report.
The submission. IndexNow takes up to 10,000 URLs per post, so 23,640 ÷ 10,000 = 2.364, which rounds up to 3 posts.
| Post | URLs |
|---|---|
| 1 | 10,000 |
| 2 | 10,000 |
| 3 | 3,640 |
| Total | 10,000 + 10,000 + 3,640 = 23,640 |
Three HTTP 200 responses would mean the search engine received the URLs. They would not mean that any URL is indexed.
The citations. The report shows 206 citations in the 28 days before the submission and 235 in the 28 days after, so the change is (235 − 206) ÷ 206 = 29 ÷ 206 = 14.1%. As a rough check, which is our own arithmetic and not Microsoft's, suppose the two periods were independent random counts. The gap between them would then have a standard deviation of about √(206 + 235) = √441 = 21, so the gap of 29 is 29 ÷ 21 = 1.4 standard deviations, inside the range of 2 that random counts usually stay within. Real counts usually vary more than random counts do, so this check is generous to the rise.
Microsoft's help page lists user demand, content freshness, model updates, partner refresh cycles and shifts in the topics users ask about as reasons citation volume changes. Even a larger gap would therefore be timing evidence, not proof that IndexNow caused it.
What this cannot tell you
The pages we read cannot tell you which search provider supplied any one ChatGPT answer. As our methodology page says, we observe what an engine answered, not why, and the OpenAI pages we read do not fill that gap.
- They cannot tell you whether Bing's AI Performance report covers ChatGPT. No Microsoft page we read names it, and "select partner integrations" does not say which partners count.
- They cannot tell you who can see the report. The three Microsoft pages on the report do not say which sites may use it, and Microsoft calls its newer insights a preview, so they may change.
- They cannot give you a complete count. Microsoft's help page says the report's data is a sample of overall citation activity, not a complete log of every time content was referenced, so any two counts you compare are samples.
- They cannot show a cause. Microsoft says
Changes in citation trends are observational and do not indicate the impact of any single update, model change, or content modification.
Our guide on attributing AI citations to a content change covers what can and cannot be measured. - They describe pages as they stood on 30 October 2026, and OpenAI, Microsoft and IndexNow can edit them at any time.
Questions people also ask
Does ChatGPT use Bing for web search?
For Enterprise and Edu workspaces, OpenAI says it may: the help page for them describes sharing disassociated queries with the Bing search engine, and it carves out Healthcare workspaces, which it says do not use Bing. For other accounts, the general help page names no search provider, only unnamed partners, so we found neither a flat yes nor a flat no.
What is Bing Webmaster Tools used for?
Bing Webmaster Tools is Microsoft's service for site owners; Microsoft says it has long helped them understand indexing, crawl health and search performance. Microsoft announced the AI Performance report, a count of citations of your pages in AI answers, in public preview in February 2026, and four more preview insights in June 2026: Intents, Topics, Citation Share and Compare. Its help center also describes Bing's crawlers, led by Bingbot, which Microsoft calls its standard crawler.
Does Bing Webmaster Tools show ChatGPT data?
Nothing we read says so. Microsoft's pages on the AI Performance report cover Copilot, Bing's AI summaries and "select partner integrations", and none of the three we read names ChatGPT. We would read the report as Microsoft's own AI answers, and sample ChatGPT directly to see what it cites.
What was Browse with Bing in ChatGPT?
Browse with Bing is the name of an earlier browsing feature that OpenAI's release notes mention in 2023. Those notes name Bing only in entries dated 24 May, 22 June, 27 September and 17 October 2023, and the 24 May entry also describes a Bing plugin. We treat them as history rather than a description of ChatGPT search now.
Sources
- Searching the web with ChatGPT, OpenAI Help Center, OpenAI, read 30 October 2026.
ChatGPT search sometimes partners with other search providers.
- ChatGPT search for Enterprise and Edu, OpenAI Help Center, OpenAI, read 30 October 2026.
ChatGPT searches based on prompts and may share disassociated search queries with the Bing search engine to return web results.
ChatGPT for Healthcare workspaces do not use Bing for web search and do not use specialized data providers.
- Introducing ChatGPT search, OpenAI, read 30 October 2026.
Any website or publisher can choose to appear
- Overview of OpenAI Crawlers, OpenAI developer documentation, OpenAI, read 30 October 2026.
Sites that are opted out of OAI-SearchBot will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers, though can still appear as navigational links.
To help ensure your site appears in search results, we recommend allowing OAI-SearchBot in your site's robots.txt file and allowing requests from our published IP ranges below.
- ChatGPT release notes, OpenAI Help Center, OpenAI, read 30 October 2026.
- Introducing AI Performance in Bing Webmaster Tools Public Preview, Bing Blog (Webmaster), Microsoft, read 30 October 2026.
shows how publisher content appears across Microsoft Copilot, AI-generated summaries in Bing, and select partner integrations
IndexNow helps keep information fresh across search and AI experiences by notifying participating search engines whenever content is added, updated, or removed.
Bing respects all content owner preferences expressed through robots.txt and other supported control mechanisms.
- AI Performance, Bing Webmaster Tools Help, Microsoft, read 30 October 2026.
A citation indicates that your content was visibly referenced or shown in an AI-generated answer. It does not represent traffic, clicks, or user engagement.
As with Bing search, AI Performance reflects only content that is eligible for indexing.
Historical data is available only for the time ranges shown in the dashboard.
Changes in citation trends are observational and do not indicate the impact of any single update, model change, or content modification.
- New AI Visibility Insights in Bing Webmaster Tools: Intents, Topics, Citation Share, Compare, Bing Search Blog, Microsoft, read 30 October 2026.
- Which Crawlers Does Bing Use?, Bing Webmaster Tools Help, Microsoft, read 30 October 2026.
- IndexNow, IndexNow.org, read 30 October 2026.
IndexNow is a simple ping so that search engines know that a URL and its content has been added, updated, or deleted
has support from Microsoft Bing, Naver, Seznam.cz, Yandex, Yep.
- IndexNow documentation, IndexNow.org, read 30 October 2026.
The HTTP 200 response code only indicates that the search engine has received your URL.
You can submit up to 10,000 URLs per post
- IndexNow FAQ, IndexNow.org, read 30 October 2026.
Submitting a URL does not guarantee immediate indexing.
- Methodology: how we measure, and what we can't, Penlid, read 30 October 2026.