How Microsoft Copilot Decides Which Businesses to Recommend

Microsoft Copilot recommends businesses based on what it can find and understand from the web, largely through Bing search, along with the knowledge in its underlying models. There is no program that lets a business pay to be included in its answers. If you want Copilot to mention you, start by making sure Bing indexes your site well and that your business information is clear and consistent.

Where Copilot gets its information

Microsoft has said that Copilot uses Bing to ground many of its answers in current web content, and it shows links to sources. That means two things matter: whether Bing has found and understood your pages, and whether those pages are a good match for the question. The model’s own training also plays a part for general knowledge.

The two main Copilot experiences

Consumer Copilot

This is the Copilot people use on the web, in Windows, in the Edge browser and in mobile apps. When someone asks “best electrician in Manchester for rewiring an old house”, Copilot can search the web and summarise options. This is where public business visibility matters.

Microsoft 365 Copilot at work

In workplace versions, Copilot can also draw on a company’s own documents, emails and data, depending on settings. For B2B brands, this means a buyer may ask Copilot to compare vendors using both web results and internal notes. Clear public information about your company helps in either case.

What makes a business more likely to be mentioned

• Being indexed in Bing. If Bing has not crawled your key pages, Copilot is less likely to use them.
• Clear service descriptions. Pages that state what you do, for whom and where.
• Accurate listings. Bing Places for Business and major directories with the same details as your site.
• Independent mentions. Reviews, press, industry associations and partner pages.
• Current facts. Up-to-date prices, hours and offers.

Why B2B companies should pay attention

Many businesses use Microsoft tools every day. A procurement manager might ask Copilot inside Edge or Microsoft 365 for “ISO-certified packaging suppliers in northern Italy”. Detailed capability pages, certifications listed in text, and an accurate LinkedIn company page can all help your business be described correctly. See AI visibility for B2B companies for more.

A first-week action list

1. Search for your business name and main service in Bing. Note what appears and what is wrong.
2. Verify your site in Bing Webmaster Tools and submit your sitemap.
3. Claim or update your Bing Places listing.
4. Ask Copilot three questions your buyers ask and record which businesses and sources appear.
5. Fix the clearest gap you find, such as a missing service page or wrong address.

For the technical details of Bing indexing, read how Copilot sources are chosen and how to improve yours.

Common reasons businesses are left out

The most frequent causes are simple: the website was never verified in Bing, the Bing Places listing was never claimed, key service pages are vague, or old directory listings show outdated details. None of these need a big budget to fix. Start with the cheapest fixes, then look at content and outside mentions once the basics are in place.

Remember that answers change over time and from one session to another. A single check that shows no mention is not a final verdict. Track the same questions monthly and look for a trend.

How Keboost helps

Keboost tracks the prompts your customers ask in Copilot as well as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity, so you can see where your business is mentioned and who appears instead. It also creates and distributes focused content to make your business easier to find and cite. Keboost is not affiliated with Microsoft. Run a free AI visibility check to see your Copilot presence.