Anyone optimizing for Microsoft Copilot specifically? It's bundled with Edge and Office - could be huge

Copilot is indeed under-discussed. Here’s the breakdown:

Copilot’s reach:

How Copilot works:

Copilot is powered by:

1. Bing search (for web information)
2. Microsoft Graph (for user’s own data in 365)
3. OpenAI models (for language processing)

For web citations, Bing is the source.

What appears in Bing search influences what Copilot cites.

Optimization is Bing optimization:

Enterprise/B2B perspective:

Why Copilot matters for B2B:

1. Microsoft 365 dominance - Most enterprises use it
2. Copilot in workplace - Workers ask Copilot work questions
3. Enterprise buyers - Decision-makers in Microsoft ecosystem

Scenarios where Copilot matters:

• Executive asks Copilot: “What are the best [software category]?”
• Analyst asks: “Compare [vendor A] vs [vendor B]”
• Worker asks: “How do I solve [problem]?” - Your solution could be cited

B2B action items:

1. Optimize for Bing (feeds Copilot)
2. Ensure B2B content is Bing-indexed
3. Track Copilot citations alongside ChatGPT
4. Consider enterprise user context

If your buyers work in Microsoft environments, Copilot is where they might ask about you.

Good point about enterprise. Our buyers are definitely in Microsoft 365 all day.

Question: How different are Copilot answers from ChatGPT or Google AI? Is the content the same or do they cite different sources?

Copilot vs other AI platforms:

Source differences:

What this means:

A site that ranks well in Google might not rank well in Bing, and therefore might get cited differently:

• Google AI: Citations
• Copilot: Less or no citations

Real example:

We had a client ranking #1 in Google for a query but #8 in Bing.

• Google AI Overview cited them
• Copilot didn’t

After Bing optimization work:

• Bing rank improved to #3
• Copilot started citing them

Implication:

Don’t assume Google visibility = Copilot visibility. Check Bing specifically.

Technical optimization for Copilot/Bing:

1. Bing Webmaster Tools setup:

• Verify ownership
• Submit XML sitemap
• Check index coverage
• Review any crawl errors

2. Schema markup:

• Bing fully supports schema.org
• FAQPage, HowTo, Organization especially
• Validate with Bing’s markup validator

3. Social signals:

• Bing weights social more than Google
• Active social presence may help
• Shares and engagement matter

4. Content quality:

• Bing uses quality raters like Google
• E-E-A-T principles apply
• Authoritative content wins

5. Page speed:

• Bing considers page speed
• Core Web Vitals matter

Most of this overlaps with good SEO generally. The key is checking Bing specifically rather than assuming it mirrors Google.

Here’s my Copilot optimization checklist:

Immediate:

1. Set up Bing Webmaster Tools
2. Submit sitemap to Bing
3. Check index coverage
4. Compare Bing vs Google rankings for key queries

Short-term:

1. Fix any Bing-specific issues
2. Verify schema is working in Bing
3. Check social signal presence
4. Add Copilot to AI visibility tracking

Ongoing:

1. Monitor Bing rankings alongside Google
2. Track Copilot citations
3. Optimize for Bing where rankings differ from Google

The insight:

Copilot is essentially “Bing AI” with Microsoft distribution. Optimizing for Bing is optimizing for Copilot. This has been on my “someday” list - time to actually do it.

Future perspective on Copilot:

Microsoft’s AI strategy:

Microsoft is embedding AI everywhere:

• Windows (Copilot built in)
• Office (Copilot for Word, Excel, etc.)
• Azure (enterprise AI)
• LinkedIn (Microsoft-owned)
• GitHub (Copilot for code)

The implication:

Microsoft’s AI is woven into productivity tools hundreds of millions use daily. Even if people don’t actively “use AI” like they use ChatGPT, they’ll encounter Copilot naturally.

For B2B especially:

Enterprise workers spend hours daily in Microsoft 365. Copilot is right there. When they need answers, they might ask Copilot rather than leaving to use ChatGPT.

Strategic priority:

For enterprise-focused brands, Copilot may be MORE important than ChatGPT because it’s where your buyers already are.

Don’t sleep on Copilot.

Measuring Copilot visibility:

Challenges:

• Copilot doesn’t have public API
• Harder to track systematically than ChatGPT

Options:

• Am I Cited tracks Copilot alongside other platforms
• Manual testing with Edge Copilot
• Bing rankings as proxy (strongly correlated)

What to track:

1. Copilot citation frequency
2. Comparison to Bing rankings
3. Content that gets cited vs not
4. Competitive share in Copilot

Start with Bing optimization, then layer in Copilot-specific tracking as tools improve.