Does ChatGPT use Bing?
Which AI tools search Bing, Google or Brave, what that means for your website, and the simple steps that keep you visible.
Steen Stones · Reviewed
Photo: cottonbro studio / Pexels
Partly. OpenAI says ChatGPT search sends questions to outside search providers, and the one it names is Microsoft, which runs Bing. It does not say Bing is the only one, and tests in 2025 suggested that Google results reach ChatGPT too. Microsoft’s Copilot, by contrast, searches Bing directly. So the safe approach is to keep your website healthy in both Bing and Google, and to let ChatGPT’s own crawler read it.
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Two different questions
People often mix up two things. One is whether ChatGPT uses Bing to find web pages. The other is whether Bing uses OpenAI’s technology. Microsoft’s Copilot, which grew out of Bing Chat, was built on OpenAI’s models. That is a separate fact from where ChatGPT gets its search results, and it is why so many answers online seem to contradict each other.
Which AI tools search where
| AI tool | Where its web answers come from | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Copilot, including Copilot at work | Bing, according to Microsoft | Your visibility in Bing matters directly. |
| ChatGPT search | Outside search providers; Microsoft is the one OpenAI names | Be visible in Bing, and let OpenAI’s crawler read your site. |
| Google AI Overviews and AI Mode | Google Search | Your visibility in Google matters. |
| Gemini | Google Search | Your visibility in Google matters. |
| Claude | Brave Search and other providers, according to Anthropic | Check that your key pages appear in Brave Search. |
Claude is the odd one out. Anthropic lists Brave Search among the companies behind Claude’s web search, along with two other providers. Brave runs its own index, separate from Google and Bing.
Why Bing matters for IT and cyber security companies
Many of your buyers work in Microsoft 365. Microsoft says that when web search is on, Copilot sends a short search query to Bing and builds its answer from the results. So when a buyer asks Copilot at work which IT support or security provider to consider, the answer starts with what Bing knows about you.
What to do
Verify your website in Bing Webmaster Tools. The quickest way is to import it from Google Search Console. Then submit your sitemap.
Turn on IndexNow. Many website platforms and plugins support it. It tells Bing and several other search engines when a page is added or changed. Google does not use it, so keep your sitemap up to date for Google.
Let the right crawlers in. Your robots.txt file should allow Bingbot and OAI-SearchBot, and your firewall or content delivery network should not block OpenAI’s published addresses. Companies with strict bot rules can block these by accident without noticing. Our guide to AI crawlers explains the settings.
Read Bing’s AI Performance report. Bing Webmaster Tools now shows how often Copilot and Bing’s AI summaries cite your pages, and which topics competitors are cited for when you are not. It does not cover ChatGPT.
Search for your company on Brave Search. Brave has no equivalent of Bing Webmaster Tools, so search for your company name and your main services at search.brave.com and check that your key pages appear.
Check ChatGPT and Claude separately. Ask the questions your buyers ask and see which pages each one cites. Our guide to checking what AI says about your company shows how.
Bing’s AI Performance report
Microsoft’s example, shown for a sample website.
Open full-size screenshot in a new tabSelect the screenshot to enlarge it.
- Grounding queries
- The searches Copilot and Bing used when they cited your pages.
Bing is one part of the picture
Being visible in Bing helps, but OpenAI has not said it is required, or enough on its own. What gets a company recommended is much the same in every AI tool: clear pages about what you do, and good evidence about you on other websites. Our AI SEO guide shows how the pieces fit together, and our guides to whether ChatGPT searches the web and query fan-out explain how AI tools search.
Avouch can set up and check this for you as part of website and SEO, and produce content that answers buying questions, with scope and price agreed before we start.
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