Direct answer
Bing launched Topics Portfolio Beta in Webmaster Tools AI Performance on October 13, 2026. It groups a site's grounding queries into broader topics and adds Topic Size, Sites Cited, Queries, the site's own citations and Opportunity Queries. Global brands can use it to distinguish themes where they already earn citations from adjacent questions where other sites appear, but the metrics are directional signals produced by AI classification and ecosystem aggregation, not exact traffic, rankings, market share or automatic content instructions. Map every topic back to pages, evidence, target markets and buyer decisions, then validate changes with fixed windows and control pages.
Facts and background
Microsoft Bing announced Topics Portfolio Beta inside the Bing Webmaster Tools AI Performance report on October 13, 2026. The original AI Performance report helps site owners observe total citations, cited pages and grounding queries across Microsoft Copilot, AI-generated summaries in Bing and select partner experiences. Topics Portfolio adds a higher analytical layer by grouping related grounding queries into broader themes, showing the thematic shape of a site's visibility in AI Search.
This is not a generic industry keyword database. Bing states that topics and opportunity queries are personalized from the site's own presence and activity in AI Search. The Topics Portfolio tab appears only when the site has sufficient data. Sites with limited presence or insufficient ecosystem activity may see a short list or may not see the feature yet.
What the four portfolio fields mean
| Field | Official meaning | Useful for | Do not treat it as |
|---|---|---|---|
| Topic | A broad thematic cluster of related grounding queries | Seeing which knowledge areas contain the site's AI citations | The brand's only valid taxonomy or complete market demand |
| Topic Size | Approximate total citations across all sites in the topic during the selected period | Estimating how active a topic is across supported Bing AI surfaces | Search volume, clicks, revenue or addressable traffic |
| Sites Cited | Approximate number of sites appearing for queries in the topic | Observing whether the cited-source space is concentrated or crowded | An exact competitor list, market share or ranking difficulty |
| Queries | Approximate number of distinct grounding queries in the topic | Estimating the breadth of the question space | All user prompts or complete long-tail demand |
A topic detail view also shows Topic Size, the site's own citations and the number of queries. It separates Your Grounding Queries, where the site already appears, from Opportunity Queries, where other sites appear and the site does not. The portfolio landing page provides Top Opportunity Queries across topics. Citation volume for opportunity queries is shown as ranges rather than exact counts.
These fields should be read as a directional portfolio view, not a new SEO score. A large Topic Size does not prove commercial value. A low Sites Cited value does not prove that citations are easy to win. An Opportunity Query does not automatically justify a new page. Action still depends on target market, product scope, factual evidence, buyer decision value and whether an existing authority page already answers the question.
Topics Portfolio and the original AI Performance report operate at different levels
The original report answers which pages were cited, which grounding queries were associated with those citations and how citation activity changed. Topics Portfolio answers which broader themes those queries form, how the site's thematic footprint is distributed and where adjacent gaps may exist. Teams need both levels: the portfolio determines what to investigate, while query and page data identify the content that actually supports the theme.
| Layer | Primary object | Reasonable question | Common misuse |
|---|---|---|---|
| Topic portfolio | Topic, Topic Size, Sites Cited and Queries | Which themes already have a citation footprint and merit review? | Publishing precise industry rankings from approximate aggregates |
| Query opportunity | Your Grounding Queries and Opportunity Queries | Which questions are covered and which are absent? | Creating one thin page for every opportunity phrase |
| Page evidence | Cited URLs and page-level citation activity | Which authority page supports the topic and where is the explanation chain broken? | Treating citation count as authority or answer position |
| Business result | Referral visits, key events, leads and orders | Does thematic visibility enter a real decision journey? | Equating a Bing citation with traffic or revenue |
Classify opportunity queries before making content decisions
Opportunity Queries may contain valuable buyer questions, competitor-branded phrases, classification errors or topics outside the business boundary. Bing explicitly notes that branded queries can appear as opportunities and that AI-generated topic classification may be imperfect, particularly in niche domains. Human business and evidence review is therefore mandatory.
| Opportunity type | Condition | Recommended action | Avoid |
|---|---|---|---|
| Authority page exists but is not cited | The question is relevant and the page already has complete facts and evidence | Check crawl, indexation, title, direct answer, internal links and freshness | Creating a near-duplicate page immediately |
| An adjacent question lacks a complete answer | It matters to a buyer decision and existing coverage is partial | Add a method, field table, limitations, evidence or a dedicated technical guide | Expanding only for keyword density |
| Competitor brand or irrelevant demand | The intent is outside the offer or points mainly to another entity | Exclude it, unless a lawful and evidence-rich comparison is genuinely useful | Impersonation, copied facts or thin comparison pages |
| Questionable classification or insufficient data | The topic and query do not fit, or the list is short and volatile | Use the feedback control and extend the observation window | Turning one beta classification into a long-term strategy |
The best initial opportunities are commercially relevant questions for which the brand already has evidence and an authority page that lacks only one clear decision unit. A product page may have specifications but omit market conditions, verification steps or failure boundaries. Strengthening that URL is usually more defensible than creating a duplicate. A genuinely new question cluster should first be mapped to an article, FAQ, evidence and service explanation chain.
Build a thematic baseline with fixed windows
Bing recommends selecting one-, two- or three-month windows in the Topics view. On first use, preserve at least a short window for recent movement and a longer window to filter noise. Record the site, date, window, Topic, Topic Size, Sites Cited, Queries, the site's citations, major grounding queries and opportunity queries. Keep the associated page-level citation data and page versions.
Do not subtract approximate totals across unlike windows and call the difference growth. Topics Portfolio remains beta. Topic Size, Sites Cited and Queries are approximate, opportunity volumes are ranges, and AI Performance is aggregated and sampled rather than a complete event log. More reliable interpretation focuses on whether topic order, coverage and cited-page distribution persist across multiple windows.
Convert a thematic opportunity into a small controlled experiment
Select only one or two business-relevant topics per cycle. Freeze the current pages and baseline, classify queries into definition, comparison, implementation, validation, risk and procurement intents, and check whether an authority page already exists. Apply one traceable change to the treatment group, such as a direct answer, field table, evidence links or explicit limitations. Preserve similar pages in the same topic as directional controls.
After publication, use IndexNow or the normal discovery chain to notify changed URLs. Measure crawl and indexation, page citations in AI Performance, thematic coverage in Topics Portfolio, source accuracy in a fixed-question test and on-site business events separately. Even if citations rise, demand shifts, Bing system updates, partner coverage and classification changes may contribute to the result.
| Acceptance layer | Primary evidence | What passing means | What it still does not prove |
|---|---|---|---|
| Technical admission | HTTP 200, crawlability, index eligibility, canonical, robots and sitemap | The page can enter Bing indexing and grounding workflows | That it will be cited |
| Page citation | Pages and Grounding Queries views | The content was recorded as a source on supported AI surfaces | Answer position, clicks or business value |
| Topic coverage | Topics Portfolio and Opportunity Queries | The citation footprint formed or expanded at the theme level | Market share, ranking or causality |
| Answer quality | Fixed questions, source URLs, factual accuracy and context | The citation actually supports the target question | Performance for every user and AI platform |
| Business result | Referrals, key events, leads, orders and lead quality | Thematic visibility entered the business journey | That one Bing feature was the sole cause |
Business impact
Topics Portfolio lets global teams move from asking whether individual pages were cited to asking whether their thematic portfolio is complete. For multilingual, multi-market and multi-product sites, this is closer to a content-investment decision than total citations alone: teams can see where citations concentrate, which queries are already covered, which adjacent questions cite other sources and roughly how many sites participate in a topic. It also exposes operating gaps. A relevant opportunity with no authority page may reveal missing content architecture. An existing page with no sustained citation may require crawl, indexation, fact completeness or internal-link review. A list dominated by irrelevant or competitor-branded queries shows why AI classification must remain separate from the brand's fact boundary. Content, product, local-market, technical SEO and analytics teams need one shared topic-to-page map.
Zhihe Growth assessment
The value of Topics Portfolio is not another GEO score. It turns content planning from purely subjective ideation into hypothesis generation informed by official citation activity. It helps decide which topic to investigate next; it should not independently decide which page to publish next. Priority should combine thematic activity, current citations, buyer decision value, evidence advantage, page gaps and commercial relevance. Zhihe Growth recommends a portfolio-observe, opportunity-filter, page-audit, small-experiment and multi-layer-acceptance loop. Identify stable themes across one- to three-month windows, exclude irrelevant, competitor-branded and misclassified queries, then strengthen authority pages and evidence chains before creating new content. Validate page citations, topic coverage, fixed questions and business events separately so beta aggregates are never presented as exact market share or guaranteed growth.
Recommended actions
- Sign in to Bing Webmaster Tools, confirm whether Topics Portfolio appears in AI Performance, and record the available sites and time ranges.
- Preserve one-, two- and three-month snapshots of Topic, Topic Size, Sites Cited, Queries and the site's own citations as the first portfolio baseline.
- For every priority topic, record Your Grounding Queries, Opportunity Queries and associated cited pages rather than copying only the topic label.
- Add business relevance, target market, buyer stage, evidence readiness, existing authority page and content-gap fields to every opportunity query.
- Flag competitor-branded phrases, out-of-scope demand and obvious classification errors so they do not automatically enter the editorial queue.
- For questions with an existing but absent page, audit Bingbot access, indexation, canonical, title, direct answer, evidence, freshness and internal links first.
- Select only one or two highly relevant topics per cycle and freeze treatment pages, control pages, change type, release time and acceptance window.
- After updating content, use IndexNow or the normal discovery mechanism and retain submission, crawl, indexation and page-version records.
- Reconcile Topics Portfolio with page-level citations, fixed-question tests, referral visits and qualified leads without treating topic metrics as clicks or revenue.
- Review classification and opportunities monthly; use Bing's feedback controls for mismatches and preserve before-and-after screenshots or exports.
Limitations
This article confirms the Topics Portfolio Beta, field definitions, available windows and stated limitations published by Microsoft Bing as accessible on October 16, 2026. Availability depends on existing AI Search activity and data thresholds. Smaller or lightly cited sites may not receive a complete portfolio. Topics are assigned by AI/ML classifiers and may be imperfect, especially in niche or terminologically similar domains. Topic Size, Sites Cited and Queries are approximate ecosystem measures. Opportunity citation volumes are ranges. They are not search volume, rankings, clicks, revenue or exact competitive share. Competitor-branded queries may appear as opportunities. AI Performance aggregates citation activity across Microsoft Copilot, Bing AI summaries and select partner integrations; it is not a complete log of every AI platform, answer or user prompt. Topics Portfolio can generate content hypotheses but cannot prove that a content change caused citation movement. Crawl, indexation, citation, answer context, referral activity and business conversion require separate validation. IndexNow acceptance, structured content and broader topic coverage do not guarantee AI citation.