If you run a website, you are probably wondering what the new Bing with AI chat means for your traffic. Microsoft announced it yesterday, 7 February 2023. The short answer: Bing can now write answers in a chat box using content from the web, and it shows links to the pages it used. Your pages can still get clicks, but the way people find them is starting to change.
Below I explain what Microsoft launched, how the AI answers work, what it could mean for clicks, and what I would do on a site this week. I will stick to what Microsoft has said and keep my own opinions clearly marked as opinions.
What Microsoft Announced on 7 February
At an event at its offices in Redmond, Microsoft showed a new version of its Bing search engine and its Edge browser. Both now include AI that can chat with you and write answers. Microsoft calls the pair “your copilot for the web”.
Here are the main facts from Microsoft’s official announcement:
- The AI model: Bing runs on a new OpenAI large language model (an AI system trained on huge amounts of text to predict and write language). Microsoft says it is more powerful than ChatGPT and made specifically for search.
- Prometheus: Microsoft built its own layer around that model, which it calls the Prometheus model. It connects the AI to Bing’s search index so answers can use fresh information from the web.
- Better core ranking: Microsoft also applied the AI to its normal ranking system. It says this gave the largest jump in relevance in two decades.
- Citations: Microsoft says the new Bing cites all its sources, so users can see links to the web content it used.
- Availability: It is a limited preview on desktop at Bing.com, with a waitlist for full access. Microsoft plans to grow the preview to millions of people in the coming weeks, with a mobile version in preview soon.
This came one day after Google announced its own AI chatbot. I covered that in what Google’s Bard announcement means for search. Put together, the two biggest search companies have both made AI answers part of their plans in the same week.
How the New Bing With AI Chat Works
The new Bing is not one feature. It is a mix of normal search results and AI that sits next to them or replaces them, depending on what you do.
Search Results With an AI Answer Beside Them
For simple questions like sports scores, stock prices or the weather, Microsoft says you still get regular results, just more relevant ones. For longer questions, Bing can show a written answer in a panel next to the results.
That answer is a summary. Bing reads results from across the web and writes one reply that pulls the key points together. Small numbered notes in the text point to the pages it used.
The Chat Mode
You can also switch into a full chat. Here you can ask a question, then keep asking follow-ups to narrow things down. Microsoft’s examples include planning a trip or researching which TV to buy.
This is the big change. In normal search, you type a new query and scan new links. In chat, you refine one conversation, and Bing keeps the context from your earlier questions.
Writing and Creating Content
Bing can also write things for you, such as an email, a travel plan, interview prep or a quiz. These tasks don’t send anyone to a website at all. They compete more with ChatGPT than with search.
The AI Sidebar in Edge
The Edge browser gets a sidebar with two tools: Chat and Compose. Chat can summarise the page you are reading, such as a long report, and answer questions about it. Compose helps write posts, like a LinkedIn update, and lets you change the tone, format and length.
For site owners, the summary feature is worth thinking about. A visitor can land on your page and ask the browser to sum it up instead of reading it all. They are still on your site, but they may scroll less and click less.
What Changes for Websites
Nobody outside Microsoft has traffic data yet. The preview is only a day old and access is limited. So everything in this section is about likely effects, not measured ones.
Fewer Clicks for Simple Answers
If Bing writes a full answer, some people will be happy with it and leave. We already see this with featured snippets and answer boxes. AI answers can cover longer and more complex questions, so this “zero-click” effect could reach more types of queries.
In my experience, the pages most at risk from any answer feature are the ones that only restate a basic fact. Think “what time zone is Dubai in” or “how many ounces in a cup”. If your traffic depends on pages like that, AI answers are a real concern.
Citations Are the New Way In
The good news is that Bing links to its sources inside the answer. That gives sites a new kind of visibility. Your page may not be the top blue link, but it can still be one of the few cited sources.
I think these citations will matter most for questions where people want to check the detail or go deeper. If someone asks Bing to compare two laptops, they may still click to read the full review before they buy.
Longer, More Detailed Questions
Chat invites people to type the way they talk. Instead of “best running shoes flat feet”, someone might type a full question with their budget, their weight and how far they run.
That favours content that covers a topic in depth and answers specific situations. Thin pages built around one short keyword have less to offer when the question is long and detailed.
Bing’s Share of Search Still Matters
Bing is much smaller than Google in most countries, so do not panic about traffic from one launch. But Bing also powers results in other places, and Microsoft is clearly pushing to grow. I’d treat this as an early signal of where search is going, not a crisis.
Classic Search vs the New Bing
This table sums up the main differences as Microsoft has described them so far.
| Area | Classic search results | New Bing with AI chat |
|---|---|---|
| What the user sees | A list of links and snippets | Links plus a written AI answer |
| How users refine | Type a new query | Ask a follow-up in the same chat |
| How sites get credit | Ranking position and click | Ranking plus citations inside the answer |
| Best-fit content | Pages matching a keyword | Clear, detailed pages that answer real questions |
| Risk for sites | Losing rankings | Users getting the answer without clicking |
What I Would Do About the New Bing This Week
You don’t need to rebuild your site. Most of what helps in AI answers is good SEO you should already be doing. Here are the steps I would take now.
- Check that Bing can crawl and index your site. Set up Bing Webmaster Tools if you haven’t. You can import your sites from Google Search Console, which takes a few minutes. Then look at the crawl and index reports for errors.
- Submit your XML sitemap to Bing. A sitemap is a file that lists the pages you want search engines to find. Bing can only cite pages it has in its index.
- Consider IndexNow. IndexNow is a simple protocol that lets you tell Bing right away when you add, change or delete a page. Many SEO plugins and some hosting platforms already support it, so it may only be a setting to turn on.
- Look at your Bing traffic baseline. Note your clicks, impressions and top pages from Bing today. When the preview grows, you will want a “before” picture to compare against.
- Find your pages most at risk. List pages that get traffic for simple fact questions. Ask yourself what a reader gets from your page that a short AI summary can’t give them.
- Make your best pages easy to quote. Put a clear, direct answer near the top. Use descriptive headings. Keep facts, figures and steps easy to find.
- Add depth that a summary can’t replace. Add your own testing, examples, comparisons, tools or first-hand advice. These are reasons for people to click through after reading the AI answer.
When I look at a site for any new search feature, I start with indexing. It sounds boring, but a page that isn’t indexed in Bing can’t be ranked or cited, no matter how good it is.
How to Write Content That AI Answers Can Use
Microsoft has not published any special rules for appearing in the new Bing’s answers. So I would not chase tricks. I’d focus on content that is useful and easy for any system, human or machine, to understand.
Answer the Question Early
If a page targets a question, answer it in the first few lines. Then explain the detail below. This helps readers, and it makes the key point easy for an AI summary to find and cite.
Use Clear Structure
Use headings that say what each section covers. Use numbered lists for steps and short paragraphs for explanations. Messy pages with the answer buried in the middle of a long block of text are harder to quote.
Show Real Experience
Google added “Experience” to its quality guidelines in December, turning E-A-T into E-E-A-T. I explained that change in E-A-T becomes E-E-A-T. The same thinking applies to AI search. A model can summarise common facts, but it can’t replace your own tests, photos, data or lessons from doing the work.
Write for People, Not Bots
It may be tempting to write pages aimed at AI chat. I’d skip that. Google’s helpful content update already pushes against content made mainly to rank. Content made mainly to be pulled into AI answers has the same problem. Write for your audience first.
Keep Facts Up to Date
Microsoft says Bing’s AI uses fresh information from the web. If your page has old prices, old dates or outdated steps, it is a weaker source. I usually see this problem on older “best of” lists and guides that nobody has touched in a year or more.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
New features always bring rushed reactions. These are the mistakes I’d avoid in the first few weeks.
- Blocking Bingbot out of fear. If you block Bing’s crawler, you lose your normal Bing rankings too. There is no separate setting for AI answers that Microsoft has announced, so blocking is all or nothing for now.
- Mass-producing AI-written pages. More content made quickly with AI won’t make your site a better source. It can make your site look thin and repetitive.
- Ignoring Bing completely. Many sites never set up Bing Webmaster Tools. That was a small loss before. It may be a bigger one now.
- Making big changes based on one day of news. The preview is limited and Microsoft will change things based on feedback. Watch, measure and adjust step by step.
What We Still Don’t Know
There are open questions that matter a lot for site owners. Microsoft has not shared answers to them yet, so I won’t guess.
- How often people will click the cited links in the chat answers.
- Whether Bing Webmaster Tools will show any data about traffic or citations from AI answers.
- How Bing chooses which pages to cite when many pages say the same thing.
- Whether publishers will get any control over how their content is used in AI answers.
- How quickly the preview will grow and when it will reach mobile users.
I’ll be watching referral data from Bing closely over the next few months. If you have Bing Webmaster Tools and your analytics set up, you’ll be able to do the same.
How This Fits With Google’s Plans
Microsoft’s launch puts pressure on Google. Google has announced Bard but has only opened it to trusted testers so far. Google has also said that AI features will come to its search results, but it hasn’t said exactly how they will look.
For most sites, Google is still where the traffic is. So I would not plan only for Bing. The good news is that the work overlaps. Clear structure, real expertise, up-to-date facts and a healthy, crawlable site help in Google, Bing and any AI answer tool that uses the web.
When ChatGPT launched in late November, I wrote about what ChatGPT could mean for search and content. Two months later, that question is no longer theoretical. AI answers are now built into a major search engine.
Conclusion: Treat the New Bing as an Early Warning
The new Bing with AI chat is the first big search engine to put AI-written answers next to its results, with links to the sources it used. For now, it is a limited desktop preview, and there is no traffic data yet. But it shows clearly where search is heading.
Your next step is simple. Set up or check Bing Webmaster Tools today, submit your sitemap, and note your current Bing traffic. Then pick your five most important pages and make sure each one answers its main question clearly and offers something a summary can’t.
