LLM Optimisation
Why Bing Is Critical for Visibility in ChatGPT and AI Search
As AI-powered search and conversational tools like ChatGPT become more central to discovery, content visibility isn’t just about Google any more. One name that keeps cropping up in recent research is Bing. Not just as a secondary search engine, but as a primary lever for being cited in AI answers.
19 September 2025
10 min read
A meta-analysis by OrganicLabs “Optimizing for AI Search Engines" lays out a number of content & brand signals that correlate with higher visibility in LLM-generated responses.
One of those signals, Rapid indexing & Bing optimisation, is especially important if your aim is to be cited or surfaced in ChatGPT, Copilot, Perplexity, or similar tools.
Here are the key reasons why optimising for Bing should now be part of your AI visibility playbook, followed by what you can practically do about it.
What the Research Shows
1. High overlap: ChatGPT’s (SearchGPT) citations almost always match Bing’s top results
A study by Seer Interactive found that over 87% of SearchGPT citations match Bing’s top organic results for the same queries.
Comparatively, these same queries had only about 56% match with Google’s top results. That means even if you rank well in Google, if you’re not appearing in Bing’s top spots, you may be largely invisible to SearchGPT’s citation logic. Seer Interactive
2. Indexing speed & coverage in Bing modulates eligibility
The OrganicLabs meta-analysis found “Rapid indexing & Bing optimisation” as one of the tactics with moderate correlation (~0.42) with visibility in AI search outputs. In short: if Bing doesn’t index your content quickly (or at all), you’re less likely to be picked by systems that pull from Bing. organiclabs.ai
Protocols like Bing's IndexNow help reduce lag between content publishing/updates and when Bing actually knows about them, which in turn impacts how quickly your content becomes eligible for citation by AI chat systems.
3. Bing’s ranking factors are thus de facto AI visibility factors
Because SearchGPT (and some other ChatGPT configurations) use Bing’s index / web results when doing web-search-backed responses, whatever helps you rank well in Bing helps you get cited.
That includes:
-> Structured content (schema markup, FAQ blocks)
-> Well-organised, authoritative content
-> Good site health, crawlability, and indexing
-> Signals of credibility (brand presence, mentions, entity authority)
-> Freshness / recency, especially for topics that evolve quickly
Why this Matters
If you're a brand or content owner trying to be visible in the ChatGPT / AI-search space, here’s what’s at stake:
Citation & exposure: Being cited in ChatGPT responses means exposure to users that may prefer conversational/AI search over traditional search.
Traffic and trust: Citations tend to increase credibility; some users will follow those references. Also, being visible in AI answers could help with downstream traffic.
Competitive advantage: Many publishers are still focused heavily on Google. Optimizing with Bing in mind gives you a differentiator.
A Warning: It’s Not All Static
The AI search landscape is evolving fast. Some analyses show ChatGPT and related models gradually increasing alignment with Google’s index over time for certain queries. But even so, Bing is still heavily represented for queries where web-search is used in ChatGPT.
Not all queries in ChatGPT or other LLM tools trigger web search. If the answer is drawn purely from training data, then Bing’s ranking won’t help. It’s the hybrid / web search / browsing mode of ChatGPT where Bing plays a role.
Ethical and quality considerations remain: content that is misleading, low-credibility, or poorly sourced may be penalised or simply omitted. It’s not enough to just “game” Bing; trust, clarity, structure still matter.
Conclusion
Bing has emerged from the shadows of traditional SEO to become a cornerstone of AI search visibility in tools like ChatGPT. Given the evidence, optimising for Bing isn’t optional for brands that want to show up in AI-powered answers. It is essential.
One of those signals, Rapid indexing & Bing optimisation, is especially important if your aim is to be cited or surfaced in ChatGPT, Copilot, Perplexity, or similar tools.
Here are the key reasons why optimising for Bing should now be part of your AI visibility playbook, followed by what you can practically do about it.
What the Research Shows
1. High overlap: ChatGPT’s (SearchGPT) citations almost always match Bing’s top results
A study by Seer Interactive found that over 87% of SearchGPT citations match Bing’s top organic results for the same queries.
Comparatively, these same queries had only about 56% match with Google’s top results. That means even if you rank well in Google, if you’re not appearing in Bing’s top spots, you may be largely invisible to SearchGPT’s citation logic. Seer Interactive
2. Indexing speed & coverage in Bing modulates eligibility
The OrganicLabs meta-analysis found “Rapid indexing & Bing optimisation” as one of the tactics with moderate correlation (~0.42) with visibility in AI search outputs. In short: if Bing doesn’t index your content quickly (or at all), you’re less likely to be picked by systems that pull from Bing. organiclabs.ai
Protocols like Bing's IndexNow help reduce lag between content publishing/updates and when Bing actually knows about them, which in turn impacts how quickly your content becomes eligible for citation by AI chat systems.
3. Bing’s ranking factors are thus de facto AI visibility factors
Because SearchGPT (and some other ChatGPT configurations) use Bing’s index / web results when doing web-search-backed responses, whatever helps you rank well in Bing helps you get cited.
That includes:
-> Structured content (schema markup, FAQ blocks)
-> Well-organised, authoritative content
-> Good site health, crawlability, and indexing
-> Signals of credibility (brand presence, mentions, entity authority)
-> Freshness / recency, especially for topics that evolve quickly
Why this Matters
If you're a brand or content owner trying to be visible in the ChatGPT / AI-search space, here’s what’s at stake:
Citation & exposure: Being cited in ChatGPT responses means exposure to users that may prefer conversational/AI search over traditional search.
Traffic and trust: Citations tend to increase credibility; some users will follow those references. Also, being visible in AI answers could help with downstream traffic.
Competitive advantage: Many publishers are still focused heavily on Google. Optimizing with Bing in mind gives you a differentiator.
A Warning: It’s Not All Static
The AI search landscape is evolving fast. Some analyses show ChatGPT and related models gradually increasing alignment with Google’s index over time for certain queries. But even so, Bing is still heavily represented for queries where web-search is used in ChatGPT.
Not all queries in ChatGPT or other LLM tools trigger web search. If the answer is drawn purely from training data, then Bing’s ranking won’t help. It’s the hybrid / web search / browsing mode of ChatGPT where Bing plays a role.
Ethical and quality considerations remain: content that is misleading, low-credibility, or poorly sourced may be penalised or simply omitted. It’s not enough to just “game” Bing; trust, clarity, structure still matter.
Conclusion
Bing has emerged from the shadows of traditional SEO to become a cornerstone of AI search visibility in tools like ChatGPT. Given the evidence, optimising for Bing isn’t optional for brands that want to show up in AI-powered answers. It is essential.