On October 13, Microsoft added a beta Topics Portfolio tab to the AI Performance report in Bing Webmaster Tools. It groups by topic the grounding queries for which the site is cited and shows, for each topic, its size, the number of sites cited and the number of queries. A list of opportunity queries shows where other sites appear without yours, with volumes given as ranges over a window of one to three months. The tab only appears if Bing has enough data on the site, and Microsoft presents the figures as directional signals.
Contents
On October 13, 2026, Microsoft added a beta Topics Portfolio tab to the AI Performance report in Bing Webmaster Tools.1 Search Engine Land reported the announcement the same day, and Search Engine Journal on October 14.23 The report gives a site the list of queries on which Bing's AI cites it, grouped by topic, and the list of queries where other sites appear without it.1 This article details what the tab shows, the limits Microsoft announces and how to read it for a small business website.
01What Topics Portfolio adds to the AI Performance report
Topics Portfolio is one more tab in a report that has been in place since February. It builds on grounding queries, which the report already displayed.4
What the report already showed
Microsoft launched AI Performance as a public preview in February 2026. The report shows when a site's pages are cited in answers generated by Microsoft Copilot, in Bing's AI summaries and in some partner integrations.4
It displays the total number of citations, the average number of pages cited per day, grounding queries, page-by-page citation activity and trends over time.4 Grounding queries are the phrases the AI used to retrieve the content cited in its answers, and Microsoft specifies that the data shown is a sample of total activity.4
On June 16, Microsoft added four preview features: Intents, Topics, Citation Share and Compare.5 Intents sorts grounding queries into categories such as informational, commercial, navigational or local. Citation Share is the share of a grounding query's citations that goes to the site, calculated over all citations shown for that query. Compare overlays a previous period on the period displayed.5
| Date | Feature | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| February 20264 | AI Performance, public preview | total citations, cited pages, grounding queries, trends over time |
| June 16, 20265 | Intents, Topics, Citation Share, Compare | query categories, topic grouping of cited queries, citation share, comparison with a previous period |
| October 13, 20261 | Topics Portfolio, beta | size of topics across all sites, queries where other sites appear without yours |
What the tab changes
According to Search Engine Journal, the June topics grouped the grounding queries for which the site was already cited.3 Topics Portfolio adds the total citations of all sites at topic level, as well as queries for which the site is not cited.3
Microsoft presents three contributions: an overview of the site's footprint in AI search, ecosystem context with the size and crowding of each topic, and specific queries on which to make progress.1 Topics and opportunity queries are drawn from the site's own presence and activity in AI search.1
02Reading the topics table and the opportunity queries
The report opens from Bing Webmaster Tools, under AI Performance: the Topics Portfolio tab sits next to Citations & Pages.12 If the tab is missing, Bing does not have enough data on the site, Search Engine Land notes.2 The analysis window can be set to one, two or three months.1
The topics table
The first page lists the topics where, according to Microsoft, the site has a significant presence. Three ecosystem measures accompany each topic.1 Microsoft gives football, taxes and AI chatbots as examples of topics.1
| Column | What it shows according to Microsoft |
|---|---|
| Topic | a broad thematic grouping of grounding queries on which the site appears |
| Topic Size | the approximate number of citations, across all sites, over the chosen period: a measure of AI search demand for that topic |
| Sites Cited | the approximate number of sites appearing on the topic's queries, which shows how crowded it is |
| Queries | the approximate number of distinct grounding queries in the topic |
Opportunity queries
Below the table, the Top Opportunity Queries section brings together the strongest queries across the whole portfolio on which other sites appear without yours.1 Microsoft describes it as a quick read, across all topics, of where the site could make progress, and citation volumes are given there as ranges.1
A topic's detail page
Clicking a topic opens its page. Three cards show the topic's size, the site's citations within the topic and the number of queries.1 Below, two tables: Your Grounding Queries lists the main queries in the topic on which the site already appears, consistent with the Citations & Pages data, and Opportunity Queries lists those where other sites appear without it, with citation ranges.1 Microsoft sees them as the two halves of a topic: what the site already owns and what remains open.1
03The beta's limits and how a small business can use it
Microsoft ships the tab with a beta label. The view relies on an AI-produced classification and on ecosystem aggregates, and the company asks users to read the figures as directional signals for planning.1
Four limits announced by Microsoft
Microsoft lists its limits in the announcement post.1 Search Engine Journal notes that Bing's help page on AI Performance did not yet cover Topics Portfolio when its article was published, and that the announcement gives no date for leaving beta.3
| Limit | Microsoft's explanation |
|---|---|
| AI classification | it can be imperfect: a query may land in a topic the site would have labeled differently |
| Data threshold | topics without enough presence or activity are not displayed; small sites may see a shorter list, or not see the feature at all |
| Branded queries | they can appear among the opportunities: on a running shoes topic, a site may be offered a competitor's branded query |
| Approximate figures | Topic Size, Sites Cited and Queries are approximate, and citation volumes for opportunities are deliberately given as ranges |
Each topic row and each opportunity query carries a thumbs up and a thumbs down. Microsoft says this feedback goes to the team in charge of classification and of selecting opportunities.1
Reading the report for a small business website
Microsoft advises starting from the topics where the site's citations are already concentrated, then drilling down into the opportunity queries.1 The next step is to set aside branded queries, which Microsoft says can appear in the list, then check whether the site already has a page for each query retained.1
To link the pages of the same topic together, the article on internal linking describes silo or topic cluster architecture.
For pages that are indexed but rarely cited, Microsoft listed content leads in February: clear headings, tables and FAQ sections, claims backed by data and sources, and content kept up to date.4 The audit checklist details how to check heading structure and meta tags. Microsoft also mentions IndexNow, which notifies participating engines when content is added, changed or deleted.4
What the report does not provide
Barry Schwartz, of Search Engine Land, points out that Bing does not provide click data.2 The article on GEO describes how to isolate visits coming from answer engines in your analytics tool, through their referrers: tracking traffic from AI.
Citation Share does not reveal competitors' domain names, according to Bing's help page as cited by Search Engine Journal.3 For a local business, Microsoft also recommends signing up for Bing Places for Business, so that the address, opening hours and contact details stay up to date and eligible for AI-generated answers.4