Bing's new Topics Portfolio shows which AI search topics cite your site and which cite only rivals. Here is how to read it and turn it into a content plan.
On 13 October 2026, Microsoft added a beta feature called Topics Portfolio to the AI Performance report in Bing Webmaster Tools. It groups the queries that lead AI answers to cite your site into themes, and it lists queries where other sites get cited and you do not (Search Engine Roundtable).
That is the first time a major search engine has handed site owners something close to a gap analysis for AI answers. It is imperfect, and Microsoft says so. But if your buyers research vendors with Copilot or Bing's AI results, it is a free look at where you are missing from the shortlist.
What Topics Portfolio actually shows
The AI Performance report already listed the "grounding queries" behind your citations, meaning the searches an AI system ran before it quoted or linked your pages. The new tab rolls those into topics, such as taxes or football in Microsoft's examples, so you can judge your presence by theme instead of scrolling a flat query list.
Each topic comes with four numbers:
- Topic: a cluster of related queries that cite your site.
- Topic Size: estimated citations across all sites for that topic, a rough read on how much AI demand exists.
- Sites Cited: an estimate of how many sites get cited, which tells you how crowded the topic is.
- Queries: the approximate number of distinct queries inside the topic.
Then comes the part most owners will care about. Top Opportunity Queries lists queries where other sites are cited and yours is not, with citation volumes shown as ranges (PPC Land). Each topic also has its own opportunity list beside your existing queries.
Read the limits before you act on it
Microsoft calls the figures directional signals for planning, not precise data. A few cautions follow from its own notes (PPC Land):
- The tab only appears if Bing has "sufficient data" for your site, and no threshold is published. A small site may see a short list or nothing.
- Topic labels are assigned by a classification system and can be off. Microsoft's own June notes say some labels may be broad for niche subjects (Bing).
- Opportunity lists can include queries tied to a competitor's brand name, and there is no filter to remove them.
- It does not name the rival sites, and there is no click data yet.
It is also Bing and Microsoft's AI surfaces only. Treat it as one sample of how AI systems pick sources, not a verdict on your whole AI visibility.
Why this matters beyond Bing
Earlier in the year Bing added Intents, Topics, Citation Share and Compare to the same report. Citation Share is your citations divided by all citations for a single query, and Microsoft describes it as observational, not a competitive scoreboard (Bing). Compare lets you set one date range against another, though it shows change without explaining the cause.
Put together, Bing is building a measurement layer that Google does not yet offer in this form. Most teams still cannot say which topics AI systems associate with their brand. This report gives you a starting list, and a starting list beats guessing.
A practical way to use it this month
- Check access. Open Bing Webmaster Tools, go to AI Performance and look for the Topics Portfolio tab. If it is missing, note the date and check again later.
- Sort topics by commercial value, not size. A big topic with 40 sites cited may be a worse bet than a smaller one where you already earn citations and a few rivals do not.
- Strip out the noise. Delete competitor-branded queries from the opportunity list and group what is left by the page or service it should map to.
- Match each gap to a page. Decide whether you need a new page, a rewritten section on an existing page, or better proof (data, examples, named experts). Pages that answer one question clearly tend to be easier for AI systems to quote.
- Fix the basics first. Crawlable pages, clean structured data and accurate titles still decide whether you can be cited at all. Our Technical SEO work starts there.
- Re-check monthly. Use the one, two or three month windows and Compare to see whether new content moved your citations.
What a good result looks like
Say you run a B2B accounting software company. The report might show a topic about invoicing automation where you are cited for a handful of queries, while a separate list shows a dozen queries about payment reminders where other sites appear and you do not. That second list is a content brief. You already have authority in the wider area, so a focused page on payment reminders, with real screenshots, steps and a named author, has a fair chance of earning citations.
Now the opposite case: a topic with a large Topic Size, many sites cited, and no citations for you. Chasing that is a long game. Look first for adjacent topics where the field is thinner and your expertise is real.
If the tab does not show up for you
Plenty of sites will see nothing at first. Do not read that as proof you are invisible. Bing's own wording is that a missing topic does not necessarily mean zero citations (PPC Land). In the meantime, ask the questions your customers ask in Copilot and ChatGPT yourself, write down which sources get named, and keep a simple monthly log. It is manual, but it gives you a baseline to compare against once the report does appear.
Where this fits in your wider plan
AI citations are a visibility metric, not revenue. Pair them with branded search, direct traffic and sales conversations so you know whether being cited leads to pipeline. If you want to build content aimed at AI answers, our GEO / AIO Optimisation and SEO Services teams work from exactly this kind of data. If you are unsure how visible your brand already is, an AI Brand Visibility Audit is a quick way to find out.
Key takeaways
- Topics Portfolio, announced 13 October 2026, groups your AI citations by theme and shows queries where only rivals are cited.
- The numbers are estimates and the tab may not appear for low-traffic sites.
- Use it to build a shortlist of content gaps, filter out rival-brand queries, and map each gap to a page.
- Judge success by pipeline, not citation counts alone.
If you would like help turning AI visibility data into a content plan that brings in enquiries, you can get a free quote and we will take a look.
John Doe
Supreb Information. Thanks
15 July 2014 View replies . 1