Microsoft has failed to deliver on its promise of including Bing Chat data in Bing Webmaster Tools by May 2023. Despite ongoing discussions of this feature since February, Bing has remained silent on the matter.
Microsoft’s current stance is one of limited communication. When queried about Bing Chat data in Bing Webmaster Tools, a Microsoft representative informed Search Engine Land that there was nothing new to share on the topic. However, Microsoft later followed up by stating their commitment to launching Bing Chat data in Webmaster Tools.
Recently, Bing’s Fabrice Canel announced that Bing Chat data would be added to Bing Webmaster Tools. However, he did not provide a specific timeline for its inclusion.
Subsequent tweets from Canel clarified that Bing Webmaster Tools UX and Bing Webmaster Tools API would receive the update in May, and reporting on clicks and impressions in Bing Chat would follow in the weeks after. The tweets indicate the company’s intention to fulfill their promise.
Despite the anticipation, Bing has yet to release the feature. A screenshot shared by Fabrice Canel at the end of May suggests that the Bing Webmaster Tools team had already built the functionality, but it was never made available to the public.
While the reasons behind the delay are unclear, it appears that Microsoft may be hesitant to provide site owners with access to Bing Chat data. Speculation suggests that revealing the potentially low click-through rates could have a negative impact on their public image. Additionally, concerns from publishers and site owners about AI-generated answers reducing the need to visit the source may have influenced the decision not to release the feature.
Many were hopeful that Bing would share this data in a transparent manner, unlike Google’s approach with Google Search Console. Unfortunately, Microsoft Bing has been less transparent than desired, leaving us without access to Bing Chat data in Bing Webmaster Tools and refusing to comment on the feature’s status.
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