Grounding with Bing Search, explained for marketers.
A developer feature in Microsoft's AI platform quietly decides which websites many AI agents can see. Here is what it is, in plain terms, and what it means for your site.
Most marketers have never heard of it. Many of the AI agents and chatbots their customers use are built on it.
What it is
Grounding with Bing Search is a tool developers can connect to AI agents on Microsoft's AI platform (Azure AI Foundry). When a user asks something that needs current information, the agent decides whether to search; if it does, it sends a query to Bing, gets back relevant results, and writes its answer from them.
How it works, step by step
- A user asks the agent a question.
- The agent's model decides a web search is needed and writes a Bing query.
- Bing returns relevant results from its index.
- The model writes an answer grounded in those results.
- The answer includes citations linking to the websites used, plus a link to the Bing query.
Microsoft's documentation says these citations must be retained and displayed in the form Microsoft provides. Only the search query and tool parameters go to Bing, not the end user's identity.
Why it matters for your site
- It replaced the public Bing APIs. Microsoft retired the Bing Search APIs on 11 August 2025 and directed developers to Grounding with Bing Search. Many third-party AI products that used the old APIs now ground through this route or alternatives.
- It reads Bing's index. If a page isn't indexed by Bing, a Bing-grounded agent can't find or cite it.
- Freshness is a filter. Developers can ask for results Bing discovered in the last day, week or month. Pages Bing found late can be filtered out of time-sensitive answers.
- Citations are visible. Grounded answers show source links, so being cited can send real visits.
What to do
- Verify your site in Bing Webmaster Tools and submit your sitemap. See our checklist.
- Use IndexNow so Bing discovers new and updated pages quickly; that matters when developers filter by freshness.
- Make sure Bingbot isn't blocked by robots.txt, your CDN or your firewall.
- Write pages with clear titles and answer-first structure, so a model can lift them.
Microsoft now recommends a newer Web Search tool for its agents alongside Grounding with Bing Search, and its "classic" agents are being retired in 2027. The details change; the principle doesn't: Bing's index is one of the main doors into AI answers.
Questions people ask
What is Grounding with Bing Search?
A Microsoft tool that lets AI agents search Bing in real time and generate answers from the results, with citations to the websites used.
Did Microsoft retire the Bing Search API?
Yes. The public Bing Search APIs were retired on 11 August 2025, and Microsoft pointed developers to Grounding with Bing Search for AI use cases.
How do I get my site used by Bing-grounded AI agents?
Be indexed in Bing: verify in Bing Webmaster Tools, submit a sitemap, use IndexNow and make sure Bingbot can crawl your pages.
Want this mapped onto your product?
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