Why Is Bing Not Showing Grounding Queries for My Site?

You're in Bing Webmaster Tools, you've found the grounding queries section, and it's showing nothing or close to nothing. 

No data, no queries, no sign that Copilot is using your content at all. This is frustrating, especially when you know your pages are indexed and your content is solid.

Before you assume something is badly broken, it's worth understanding what grounding queries actually are, why they're different from regular search queries, and what's most likely keeping your site out of the report.

What are Grounding Queries?

When Copilot generates a response, it often needs to look beyond its training data to find current, specific, or authoritative information. To do this, it runs what Bing calls grounding queries, which are searches it performs behind the scenes to find relevant web pages before composing its answer.

If your page gets pulled in as a source during that process, it shows up in your grounding queries report. This is subtly different from being cited: grounding is about being retrieved and considered; citation is about being credited in the final answer. A page can be grounded without being cited, though citation almost always follows grounding.

So if your grounding queries report is empty, it means Copilot isn't retrieving your pages at all, not just that it isn't crediting them. Here’s why this may be happening:

Your site may not be indexed properly

This is the first and most common culprit. Grounding queries rely on Bing's index. If your pages aren't indexed or if they're indexed but flagged with crawl issues, they simply won't be retrieved during the grounding process.

Check the following in Bing Webmaster Tools:

• Use the URL inspection tool to confirm your key pages are indexed

• Look for crawl errors in the crawl report, especially 4xx errors or redirect chains

• Check whether robots.txt or noindex tags are accidentally blocking pages you want Copilot to use

Even one misconfigured directive can exclude large sections of your site from both search and grounding.

Your content doesn't match how Copilot searches

Copilot's grounding queries are phrased the way a person would naturally ask a question, not the way traditional SEO targets keywords. If your content is built around short keyword strings rather than answering full questions, Bing's internal queries may simply not match your pages.

Think about the difference between a page optimised for "best project management software" versus one that clearly answers "what's the best project management software for a small remote team?" The second is far more likely to surface during grounding because it maps more directly to how Copilot phrases its internal lookups.

Review your headings and opening paragraphs. If they don't clearly signal the question your page answers, rewrite them so they do.

Your search volume may be too low to report

Bing suppresses data when query volumes fall below a certain threshold. This means grounding queries may actually be happening; that is, Copilot could be retrieving your pages, but if the volume is low enough, nothing shows up in the report.

This is particularly common for:

• Niche B2B sites with small but targeted audiences

• Local businesses where the relevant queries are geographically limited

• New content that hasn't had time to accumulate enough grounding activity

If you're in one of these categories and your site is otherwise healthy, patience may be the main thing you need. The data will appear once the volume crosses Bing's reporting threshold.

Bing doesn't trust your site yet

Grounding isn't random. Bing's AI favours sources it considers authoritative. These are sites with strong backlink profiles, a track record of accurate content, and signals of genuine expertise. A newer site or one with limited external recognition is less likely to be retrieved during grounding, regardless of how well-written the content is.

This is essentially the AI equivalent of domain authority. The good news is that the same things that build trust in traditional SEO, quality backlinks, expert authorship, and consistent publishing,  also build trust for grounding. There's no shortcut, but there is a clear path.

Your pages are hard for AI to process

Copilot needs to read and understand your pages quickly and accurately. If your content is buried in JavaScript, relies heavily on images to convey information, or lacks a clear structure, Bing's retrieval systems will struggle to make sense of it.

The most grounding-friendly pages tend to share a few qualities:

•  A clear H1 that directly states the topic

•  H2s that break the content into named, answerable sections

•  Text-based answers that appear early in each section — not buried after long preambles

•  Clean HTML with no excessive scripts blocking the main content

If you're unsure whether Bing can read your pages, use the URL inspection tool in Webmaster Tools and check the rendered page view. What you see there is roughly what Bing's systems see.

The Grounding Queries feature is still maturing

It's also worth acknowledging that grounding query reporting in Bing Webmaster Tools is a relatively new feature. Data coverage isn't always complete, reporting can lag, and some sites report delays of several weeks between grounding activity and it appearing in the dashboard.

If everything else looks correct — your site is indexed, your content is well-structured, and you have some domain authority — give it time. Check back weekly rather than daily, and compare month-over-month trends rather than looking for immediate changes.

What to actually do about it

If you want to start seeing grounding queries for your site, here's where to focus:

• Confirm all target pages are indexed and free of crawl errors using Bing Webmaster Tools

• Rewrite content to answer specific, naturally phrased questions, not just target keywords

• Structure pages with clear H1 and H2 headings that signal exactly what each section covers

• Build external links and brand mentions from credible sources in your industry

• Make sure your pages are fully readable as HTML with no critical content hidden in scripts or images

• Check back regularly and compare trends over time rather than expecting overnight results

At Embarque, grounding query visibility is something we track alongside traditional citation data because together they tell you whether Copilot is finding your content at all, and whether it's using it when it does. Getting grounded is step one. Getting cited is step two. Both start with the same foundation: content that's easy to find, easy to read, and clearly answers something real.

The bottom line

If Bing isn't showing grounding queries for your site, the most likely causes are indexing problems, content that doesn't match the way Copilot searches, low query volume, limited site authority, or pages that are difficult for AI to process.

Most of these are fixable. Start with your index health, then look at your content structure, then build your authority over time. Grounding query data tends to follow once the fundamentals are in place.