Glossary
Microsoft Copilot (Copilot)
Microsoft's AI answer engine in Bing and Windows, which generates cited answers from Bing's search index — the index IndexNow pings directly.
By Teeming Chew, Founder Last updated
Microsoft Copilot (formerly Bing Chat) is the generative answer layer built into Bing and Windows. It composes answers with inline source citations drawn from Bing's web index, so being well-indexed in Bing is the prerequisite for being cited in Copilot.
How do you get cited in Copilot?
Rank and index well in Bing, structure content as direct answers, and ship valid schema. Because Copilot cites Bing's index, classic Bing SEO and AI crawler access for Bing's bots are the foundation.
Why does IndexNow help with Copilot?
IndexNow is Microsoft's instant-indexing protocol — pinging it pushes new URLs into Bing within minutes, so Copilot (and the ChatGPT/Perplexity retrieval that also leans on Bing) can cite fresh content almost immediately.
Is Copilot the same as ChatGPT?
No. Copilot is Microsoft's product; it has used OpenAI models but runs on Bing's index and Microsoft's own retrieval and citation stack. Optimizing for Bing is what moves Copilot citations.
Part of the Cite Hustle GEO glossary — definitions for generative engine optimization and AI search. See how it fits the bigger picture in the GEO methodology.