How to Get Recommended by Copilot

How Copilot Actually Works

Copilot combines OpenAI’s language models with Bing’s live search infrastructure. When a user asks a question, Copilot runs a Bing search, retrieves results, and generates a grounded answer. This makes it closer to Perplexity in mechanics than to a pure training-data model like Claude.

Because the grounding layer is Bing, your Bing visibility directly determines whether Copilot can find and recommend you. Many Singapore businesses optimize only for Google and are effectively invisible to Copilot.

Copilot is embedded across Microsoft’s products — Edge, Windows, and Microsoft 365 — which means it reaches users inside the tools they already use for work. When someone asks Copilot for a business recommendation, it pulls from Bing’s index, reads the top results, and synthesises a grounded answer with citations. If Bing cannot find your business, Copilot cannot recommend it. Full stop.

Bing Quietly Powers the Non-Google AI Ecosystem

Copilot is not the only AI tool that leans on Bing. Bing quietly powers most of the non-Google AI ecosystem. ChatGPT’s live search runs on Bing — OpenAI’s Microsoft partnership means when ChatGPT searches the web, it pulls from Bing’s index, and studies show ~87% of ChatGPT’s citations match Bing’s top results. Many smaller AI search products also license Bing’s index rather than crawling the web themselves. Bing is the only serious alternative index to Google.

The practical takeaway: when you optimize for Bing, you are not just optimizing for Copilot — you are optimizing for ChatGPT’s browsing mode, Copilot, and a long tail of AI tools that depend on Bing’s API. Perplexity is the exception, running its own crawler, but for everything else, Bing is the shared backbone.

The SME-pitch version is simple: everyone optimizes for Google; almost nobody optimizes for Bing — yet Bing decides whether ChatGPT can recommend you. It is the cheapest arbitrage in GEO right now.

What Copilot Prioritises When Recommending

Copilot inherits Bing’s ranking priorities, then applies language-model synthesis on top. The businesses it recommends are those Bing surfaces as relevant and authoritative for the query.

• A clean, indexed presence in Bing (verified via Bing Webmaster Tools).
• Structured data that Bing can parse — schema.org is well-supported.
• Entity clarity: consistent business details across the web.
• Page quality and relevance signals similar to traditional SEO.
• Recency for time-sensitive and local queries.

The Optimization Logic for Copilot

Start with the basics most businesses skip: submit your site to Bing Webmaster Tools, verify it, and check that Bing has indexed your key pages. Bing’s index is smaller than Google’s, which means less competition — a real opportunity for SMEs willing to do the work.

From there, apply the same structured-data and entity-clarity principles that help ChatGPT and Gemini. Schema markup, consistent NAP, and direct-answer content all help Copilot parse and recommend your business. Because Copilot reaches users inside Edge, Windows, and Microsoft 365, the audience it reaches is often professional and B2B-leaning.

Why Bing Visibility Is an Underrated Opportunity

Most Singapore SMEs have never looked at Bing. That means the businesses that do submit to Bing Webmaster Tools and maintain a clean Bing presence stand out in a much less crowded index. For B2B and professional services — where many users sit inside Microsoft 365 and Edge — Copilot is a meaningful channel competitors are ignoring.

Bing’s index is significantly smaller than Google’s, which cuts both ways: fewer pages compete for each query, but also fewer businesses have invested in being properly indexed. A Singapore SME that submits its site, fixes basic technical issues, and maintains schema markup can achieve Bing visibility that would take far more effort to replicate on Google. This asymmetry is the core opportunity.

Bing Webmaster Tools: The First Step Most SMEs Skip

Bing Webmaster Tools is free, takes under 30 minutes to set up, and is the single highest-leverage action for Copilot visibility. Yet most Singapore SMEs have never opened it. The tool lets you submit your site for crawling, see which pages Bing has indexed, identify crawl errors, and monitor how your business appears in Bing’s results.

Once verified, you can submit your sitemap directly, request indexing of key pages, and see exactly where Bing is struggling to parse your content. This visibility is invaluable — you cannot fix what you cannot see, and Bing Webmaster Tools shows you what Bing sees.

• Create a free Bing Webmaster Tools account and add your site
• Verify ownership via meta tag, HTML file, or DNS record
• Submit your XML sitemap so Bing knows your full page structure
• Check the Index Explorer to confirm your key pages are indexed
• Review crawl errors and fix any blocking issues (robots.txt, noindex tags)
• Use the Keyword Research tool to see what Singapore users search for on Bing

How Copilot Reaches Singapore B2B Buyers

Copilot is embedded across Microsoft’s ecosystem — Edge browser, Windows search, and critically, Microsoft 365 apps used by the majority of Singapore enterprises. When a corporate buyer uses Copilot inside Excel, Word, or Teams to research a vendor or service provider, the results come from Bing’s index. This makes Copilot a uniquely powerful channel for B2B and professional services in Singapore.

The audience Copilot reaches is different from ChatGPT or Gemini users. They are often at work, inside enterprise software, making procurement decisions. A Singapore accounting firm, IT services company, or corporate secretarial service that appears in Copilot responses reaches buyers at the exact moment they are researching vendors — a higher-intent moment than most social media or display advertising can deliver.

Prioritized Action Plan

Sorted by impact and effort — start with the quick wins at the top.

Frequently Asked Questions