When people talk about AI search, they usually mean ChatGPT and Perplexity. But there's a platform that reaches hundreds of millions of users that's often overlooked: Microsoft Bing Copilot.
Integrated into Windows 11, Microsoft Edge, Microsoft 365, and available at bing.com, Copilot is AI-powered search that answers questions — including business recommendations — for a massive audience of enterprise users, Windows users, and Edge browser users.
Here's how it works for local business recommendations, and what you can do to appear more often.
How Bing Copilot Finds and Recommends Businesses
Copilot is built on a combination of:
- Bing's search index — Copilot can browse the web in real time, pulling from Bing's live index
- Microsoft's AI models — Copilot uses GPT-4 technology (Microsoft is a major OpenAI investor) to synthesize search results into answers
- Bing Maps and local data — For local business queries, Copilot pulls directly from Bing Places for Business data
This architecture is important: unlike ChatGPT (which relies primarily on training data and web browsing), Copilot always has access to current web data. This means your online presence right now matters more for Copilot than for other AI platforms.
Who Uses Bing Copilot?
Understanding the Copilot user base helps you understand the opportunity:
- Windows 11 users — Copilot is built into the taskbar on Windows 11, making it the default AI assistant for ~1 billion Windows users
- Microsoft Edge users — Copilot is built into the browser sidebar, accessible on every webpage
- Microsoft 365 subscribers — Copilot is integrated into Word, Excel, Outlook, and Teams
- Enterprise workers — Microsoft's enterprise relationships mean Copilot has strong penetration in corporate environments
For B2B businesses and professional services (law firms, accountants, financial advisors, IT services), Copilot's enterprise audience is particularly valuable.
How to Optimize for Bing Copilot
Step 1: Claim and Complete Your Bing Places for Business Listing
Bing Places is the local business data source that Copilot references first. If you haven't claimed your listing:
- Visit bingplaces.com
- Search for your business
- Claim it with your Microsoft account or phone number
- Complete all fields: name, address, phone, hours, website, category, services
- Add photos (Copilot may surface these in responses)
This is the single highest-impact action for Bing Copilot visibility.
Step 2: Optimize Your Website for Bing's Crawler
Unlike Google, Bing uses its own Bing Webmaster Tools. Register your site at webmaster.bing.com and:
- Submit your XML sitemap
- Use the URL inspection tool to ensure key pages are indexed
- Check for crawl errors
- Monitor your site's Bing search performance
Bing Copilot can only recommend your business if Bing can find and index your website.
Step 3: Implement Comprehensive Schema Markup
Copilot heavily weights structured data. The same schema markup that helps ChatGPT and Google AI also helps Copilot:
LocalBusinessschema (or specific subtype)PostalAddressOpeningHoursSpecificationAggregateRatingReviewschema for individual reviews
If you've implemented schema for Google SEO purposes, you're already ahead. If not, Scope's Schema Pack installs all of this automatically.
Step 4: Build Your Bing Maps Presence
Bing Maps data flows directly into Copilot local results. Beyond claiming Bing Places, ensure your business appears correctly in Bing Maps by:
- Verifying your business address pin is accurate
- Adding your website URL to Bing Maps
- Ensuring your business category is correct
Step 5: Generate Reviews Across Multiple Platforms
Copilot synthesizes reviews from multiple sources including Bing itself, TripAdvisor, Yelp, and others. Diversifying your reviews beyond just Google helps Copilot build a more complete picture of your business quality.
Step 6: Create Content That Answers Local Questions
Copilot is designed to answer questions with synthesized responses. Create content on your website that directly answers the questions your customers ask:
- "How much does [service] cost in [City]?"
- "What to expect when [visiting / calling / hiring] a [business type]?"
- "How do I know if I need [service]?"
Copilot will cite your content when it answers these questions for users.
Copilot vs. ChatGPT vs. Perplexity: Key Differences for Business Visibility
| Feature | Bing Copilot | ChatGPT | Perplexity | |---------|-------------|---------|-----------| | Real-time web access | Always | Optional (with browsing) | Always | | Primary data source | Bing index + Bing Places | Training data + web | Web crawling | | Local business data | Bing Places | Google + web citations | Web citations | | User base | Windows/Microsoft users | General consumer | Research-oriented | | Enterprise penetration | High | Medium | Medium |
The key takeaway: Copilot is the most important platform for B2B businesses and professional services because of its enterprise user base. For consumer local businesses, ChatGPT and Perplexity may have larger reach — but Copilot shouldn't be ignored.
How Scope Monitors Bing Copilot
Scope's AI visibility monitoring covers the four major AI platforms: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity. Bing Copilot uses many of the same underlying signals (Bing Places, schema markup, web citations) as these platforms — so improvements to your core AI visibility score will also improve your Copilot presence.
For a complete picture of your AI visibility including Copilot-relevant signals, run a free Scope scan to see your baseline.
The Bottom Line on Bing Copilot
Most businesses focus entirely on ChatGPT and Google AI while overlooking Microsoft's AI ecosystem. This creates an opportunity:
- The enterprise audience using Copilot is often higher-value than general consumer AI users
- Copilot optimization requires many of the same actions as other AI platforms (schema, Bing Places, web citations) — so the work is efficient
- Competition is lower — fewer businesses have actively optimized for Copilot
For professional services (legal, accounting, financial, IT), healthcare, and B2B companies, Copilot may be your highest-ROI AI visibility investment.
Q: Does Bing Copilot use Google data to recommend local businesses?
A: No. Bing Copilot uses Bing's own index and Bing Places for Business data — not Google My Business data. This is why claiming and optimizing your Bing Places listing separately from your Google Business Profile is essential.
Q: Do Bing Webmaster Tools help Copilot visibility?
A: Yes. Registering with Bing Webmaster Tools and submitting your sitemap ensures Bing can crawl and index your pages — which directly improves how Copilot can find and reference your business content.
Q: Is it worth optimizing for Bing Copilot if I have few Bing search visitors?
A: Yes — Copilot users aren't necessarily Bing "search" users. They're Windows 11 users, Edge browser users, and Microsoft 365 subscribers who access Copilot through those products, often without ever navigating to bing.com. The Copilot user base is much larger than the Bing search user base.