What is Microsoft Copilot?

How Microsoft Copilot works

Microsoft Copilot works by combining a large language model with Bing search. Microsoft launched it as Bing Chat in February 2023 and renamed it Copilot in November 2023. Microsoft built it largely on OpenAI's GPT models.

When a question needs current information, Copilot generates search queries, retrieves results from the Bing index and uses them to write its answer, with links to the sources it used. This process is called grounding.

You can reach Copilot in many places:

• Windows: from the taskbar, and with a dedicated Copilot key on some keyboards.

• Microsoft Edge: in the browser sidebar.

• Bing: alongside search results.

• Apps and web: the Copilot website and apps for iOS, Android and macOS.

• Microsoft 365: inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams for eligible plans.

That reach makes Copilot one of the most widely available assistants, especially on work computers.

Why Bing visibility feeds Copilot visibility

Bing visibility feeds Copilot visibility because Copilot's web answers are built from the Bing index. If Bing has not crawled and indexed a page, Copilot cannot retrieve it as a source.

Many SEO teams focus on Google and treat Bing as an afterthought. For Copilot, that is a risk. A page that is blocked, slow to be crawled or poorly indexed in Bing can be missing from Copilot answers even if it ranks well in Google.

Be honest about the limits, though. Ranking first in Bing does not guarantee a mention in Copilot. The model chooses which retrieved results to use and how to describe them, and it can also draw on what it learned in training. Bing visibility is a requirement for being cited, not a promise of it. Track both your Bing performance and your Copilot answers to see where they diverge.

Copilot vs Microsoft 365 Copilot

Copilot and Microsoft 365 Copilot share a name but serve different needs. The difference matters for which answers you can influence.

• Copilot: the consumer assistant, with free and paid options, signed in with a personal Microsoft account.

• Microsoft 365 Copilot: the assistant for work, business and education, built into Microsoft 365 apps and signed in with a work account.

• Data sources: Microsoft 365 Copilot can also draw on an organization's own files, emails and chats through Microsoft Graph, with enterprise data protection.

For brand visibility, the public web is what you can influence. When either version answers a question using web results, those come from Bing. Answers based on an organization's internal documents are outside your control.

How to improve your visibility in Microsoft Copilot

Improving your visibility in Microsoft Copilot starts with Bing, then extends to the content and sources Copilot uses.

1. Verify your site in Bing Webmaster Tools: check indexing, crawl errors and which pages Bing has found.

2. Submit sitemaps and updates: keep your XML sitemap current, and consider IndexNow, a protocol Bing supports for notifying it of changed URLs.

3. Check crawler access: make sure robots.txt does not block Bing from the pages you want cited.

4. Write clear answers: structure pages so a single section answers a single question.

5. Track Copilot prompts: run your key prompts in Copilot and compare them with other engines.

Fixing Bing indexing is often the quickest win, because it affects every Copilot answer that relies on the web.