Microsoft this week positioned its grounding technology as foundational infrastructure connecting artificial intelligence systems to authoritative information across the web. The announcement, made by Jordi Ribas, Corporate Vice President of Search & AI, marks the company's first comprehensive public explanation of technology that already powers most AI assistants despite operating largely behind the scenes.

"Microsoft grounding powers nearly every major AI assistant in the market," according to the announcement published on the Bing Search Blog. The technology functions as what Ribas described as "connective tissue between generative models and the world's information," ensuring AI responses draw from current, verified sources rather than relying solely on training data.

The disclosure arrives as Microsoft simultaneously introduced new visibility features in Bing Webmaster Tools designed to help content owners understand how their materials contribute to AI-generated experiences. These capabilities provide what the company characterized as "early insight into how content contributes to AI-generated experiences, including citation and grounding signals."

Microsoft has operated large-scale search and information systems through Bing for decades. That infrastructure now supports grounding mechanisms across multiple AI products and third-party systems, though the company has historically provided limited public information about these technical implementations. The announcement represents Microsoft's most detailed explanation of grounding's role in the AI ecosystem.

The infrastructure shift driving GEO emergence

The announcement positions grounding as essential infrastructure for what Microsoft calls Generative Engine Optimization - a practice focused on understanding how content participates in AI-driven experiences rather than traditional search rankings. According to the company, "In an AI-first world, visibility is no longer defined only by rankings or clicks. It's about how content contributes to answers, citations, reasoning, and ultimately, outcomes."

This characterization differs fundamentally from conventional search engine optimization. Traditional SEO prioritizes page rankings and click-through rates. GEO instead emphasizes citation opportunities, answer contributions, and how AI systems reference content when generating responses. The distinction reflects changing patterns in how users interact with information.

Microsoft described the web entering a new operational phase. "Since the early days of the Internet, users have been browsing with typical patterns: typing queries, clicking on results, and selecting content that best shapes their needs," according to the announcement. "However, as AI assistants do more of the work, it's the agents doing the browsing - and with far more precision - acting more as retrievers, drawn to structured, verifiable, and applicable content."

The company's grounding infrastructure connects AI models to billions of publicly available web pages. This technology operates across Microsoft's own products including Copilot and within partner systems that license Microsoft's search capabilities. The infrastructure handles real-time data retrieval, source verification, and attribution mechanisms that enable AI systems to cite original sources.

Webmaster Tools updates expose AI citation patterns

The new Bing Webmaster Tools capabilities represent the first time publishers can systematically track how AI systems utilize their content. Microsoft just introduced AI Performance to the platform two days ago, providing citation frequency metrics and grounding query data.

According to Microsoft, the tooling provides "a first window into a broader GEO toolset, one that will continue to evolve as AI becomes a more central interface to information." The dashboard shows publishers which pages receive citations, what search phrases triggered content retrieval, and temporal patterns in citation activity.

These metrics operate independently from traditional search performance indicators. A webpage might receive extensive citations without generating significant traffic through conventional blue links. Conversely, pages driving substantial traffic might receive minimal citation activity from AI systems. This divergence creates new analytical requirements for content owners evaluating performance.

The technical implementation differs from standard Bing Webmaster Tools capabilities that have focused on impressions, clicks, and rankings. Citation tracking monitors how frequently AI systems reference content as source material when generating answers. Grounding queries reveal the specific phrases AI systems used when retrieving referenced content.

Microsoft acknowledged these metrics represent samples of overall citation activity rather than comprehensive records. The company plans additional data processing refinements as the system matures. Publishers accessing the dashboard receive visibility into patterns that previously operated as what industry observers have characterized as a "black box" for attribution.

Commercial context and competitive positioning

Microsoft's grounding infrastructure supports substantial commercial activity. The company's Copilot advertising business surpassed $20 billion in annual revenue by April 2025, with search and news advertising revenue climbing 21 percent in recent quarters. Research published by Microsoft Advertising showed Copilot achieving 73 percent higher click-through rates compared to traditional search advertising.

These financial results demonstrate the commercial viability of AI-powered search experiences. However, Microsoft's infrastructure serves competitors alongside its own products. Yahoo's Scout, launched in January 2026, leverages Microsoft's Bing grounding API to supplement its proprietary data ecosystem with open web search capabilities.

The competitive landscape shifted substantially when Microsoft ended Bing Search APIs on August 11, 2025. The company redirected customers toward "Grounding with Bing Search" as part of Azure AI Agents, with the alternative costing 40-483 percent more than retired APIs depending on the pricing tier comparison. This transition consolidated access to Microsoft's search infrastructure through its grounding service rather than direct API calls.

The infrastructure consolidation created opportunities for alternative providers. Brave launched its AI Grounding servicein August 2025, positioning itself as an independent option after Microsoft's API retirement. Brave claimed 94.1 percent accuracy on standard tests while offering pricing structures competitive with Microsoft's grounding service.

Google and Microsoft represent the two dominant suppliers of syndication services for organic and paid search results. France's competition authority in November 2025 examined Microsoft's market position when privacy-focused search engine Qwant filed an antitrust complaint. The regulatory body determined Qwant failed to provide sufficient evidence demonstrating Microsoft holds a dominant position in the search syndication market.

Technical implementation and attribution requirements

Microsoft emphasized respect for content owner preferences expressed through robots.txt and other control mechanisms. The announcement stated that Bing "respects all content owner preferences" regarding AI access, addressing publisher concerns about systems accessing content without clear consent frameworks.

Publishers can implement granular control through mechanisms including the data-nosnippet attribute that Microsoft introduced in October 2025. This HTML attribute allows marking specific webpage sections to exclude them from both traditional search snippets and AI-generated answers while maintaining full indexing eligibility.

The company positions these tools as complementary to existing search performance metrics rather than replacement systems. Citations in AI-generated answers operate independently from conventional SEO indicators including click-through rates, impressions, and average positions. Content optimization for AI systems requires different approaches than traditional search engine optimization.

Microsoft's approach to GEO emphasizes structured data, comprehensive product information, and authoritative signals. The company published detailed technical guidance in January 2026 addressing how retailers should structure product feeds and implement schema markup for AI system visibility.

According to that guidance, traditional SEO might describe a product as "waterproof rain jacket" while Answer Engine Optimization expands to "lightweight, packable waterproof rain jacket with stuff pocket, ventilated seams and reflective piping." GEO adds authoritative signals including ratings, review sources, and warranty information that AI systems evaluate when determining citation worthiness.

Industry response and terminology debates

The GEO terminology has generated substantial industry discussion. SparkToro co-founder Rand Fishkin published criticism of search marketing acronym proliferation in May 2025, advocating against replacing SEO with alternatives including GEO, AIO, and LLMEO. Fishkin supported "Search Everywhere Optimization" terminology instead.

Google's John Mueller issued warnings in August 2025 suggesting aggressive promotion of AI search optimization acronyms may indicate spam tactics. "The higher the urgency, and the stronger the push of new acronyms, the more likely they're just making spam and scamming," Mueller stated on Bluesky.

Despite terminology debates, major platforms have acknowledged the technical reality underlying GEO concepts. Content optimization for AI systems requires approaches distinct from traditional search engine optimization, regardless of the acronym used to describe these practices.

Microsoft's publisher tools have evolved substantially throughout 2025. The company retired Bing PubHub submission platform in June 2025, shifting from manual publisher submissions to automated content discovery. This transition paralleled the introduction of AI-focused visibility tools, suggesting Microsoft's strategic emphasis on algorithmic evaluation rather than manual curation.

Strategic positioning and future development

Ribas characterized this moment as setting essential context for the AI ecosystem's development. "Grounding is becoming a foundational layer of the AI ecosystem - the connective tissue between generative models and the world's information," according to the announcement. "As that layer becomes more important, transparency and collaboration with the web community matter more, not less."

The company framed its objective as strengthening infrastructure while providing publishers with clarity about content participation in AI experiences. "Our goal is to keep strengthening this infrastructure while giving publishers clearer insight into how their content participates in AI-driven experiences, and how they can benefit from it," the announcement stated.

Microsoft indicated additional developments coming in subsequent months without providing specific timelines or feature descriptions. The announcement concluded with "There is much more coming in the months ahead. Stay tuned."

The strategic positioning emphasizes Microsoft's role as infrastructure provider for the AI ecosystem rather than simply an AI product company. This framing positions grounding technology as a public good supporting multiple AI systems across the industry, though Microsoft maintains commercial control through licensing arrangements and pricing structures.

The Bing Webmaster Tools updates provide publishers with visibility previously unavailable in AI-powered search environments. However, these tools also establish Microsoft's platform as the primary mechanism through which content owners can understand and optimize for AI system behavior - potentially creating dependency on Microsoft's analytical infrastructure.

The announcement arrives as artificial intelligence systems increasingly mediate information access. Microsoft's positioning of grounding as essential, invisible infrastructure reflects the company's broader strategy of operating critical systems that support the AI ecosystem while remaining largely unseen by end users. Whether this infrastructure approach proves sustainable depends partly on how content owners, regulators, and competing AI providers respond to Microsoft's market positioning.

Timeline

Summary

Who: Microsoft Corporation, through Corporate Vice President of Search & AI Jordi Ribas, announced grounding technology developments alongside Bing Webmaster Tools updates for content owners and publishers.

What: Microsoft publicly positioned its grounding technology as infrastructure powering nearly every major AI assistant while introducing new Bing Webmaster Tools capabilities that provide publishers with visibility into how AI systems cite their content. The announcement defined Generative Engine Optimization as the practice of understanding content participation in AI-driven experiences through citations, reasoning, and contributions to answers rather than traditional search rankings.

When: The announcement was published on February 12, 2026, through the Bing Search Blog, following the February 10, 2026 introduction of AI Performance features to Bing Webmaster Tools.

Where: The grounding infrastructure operates across Microsoft's Bing search platform, Copilot products, Azure AI services, and third-party systems that license Microsoft's search capabilities. The Webmaster Tools updates are available globally to all verified website owners.

Why: Microsoft characterized the disclosure as setting essential context as grounding becomes foundational infrastructure in the AI ecosystem. The company positioned transparency and collaboration with the web community as increasingly important while AI systems become the primary interface through which users access information. The announcement addresses publisher concerns about visibility and attribution in AI-generated content while establishing Microsoft's platform as the mechanism through which content owners understand and optimize for AI behavior.

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