AI Citation Share Ships, New Data Doubts LLMS.txt – SEO Pulse

Microsoft rolled out AI Citation Share and other features in Bing Webmaster Tools, while new data from Google and Ahrefs cast doubt on the effectiveness of llms.txt for AI search visibility. Google, Microsoft, and others published new AI agent specifications, and the UK set new ranking rules for Google Search.

Welcome to Pulse: this week’s updates touch how you measure AI visibility, what to expect from llms.txt, and where the agentic web heads next. Microsoft shipped new AI citation tools, fresh data landed on llms.txt, Google and two coalitions published agent specs, and the UK set new ranking rules for Google Search. Here’s what matters for you and your work. Bing Rolls Out AI Citation Share In Webmaster Tools Microsoft is rolling four new features into the Bing Webmaster Tools AI Performance dashboard. Citation Share, Intents, Topics, and Compare are all in preview for now. Key facts: Citation Share reports the percentage of AI citations your site captures for a given grounding query, while Intents and Topics group those queries to ease a data limit in the current dashboard. Compare lets you lay a past period over the present one. All four are beginning to roll out globally, still in preview. Why This Matters Citation Share is the first metric in Bing Webmaster Tools to show your AI visibility against competitors’, not just whether you were cited. The catch is that it’s Bing data only, covering Copilot and Bing’s own answers, so it says nothing about Google, where Search Console still offers no citation-style counts. What SEO Professionals Are Saying Gianluca Fiorelli https://www.linkedin.com/posts/gianlucafiorelli bing-webmaster-the-google-search-console-share-7472697801353773057-ebzv/ , Founder of ILoveSEO.net, wrote on LinkedIn: “Bing Webmaster The Google Search Console we would like to have.” Read our full coverage: Bing Rolls Out AI Citation Share In Webmaster Tools https://www.searchenginejournal.com/bing-rolls-out-ai-citation-share-in-webmaster-tools/579547/ Google And Ahrefs Data Narrow The Case For llms.txt llms.txt took two hits this week. Google’s John Mueller said the file can’t help an LLM tell one site from another, and new Ahrefs data showed the bots that matter barely fetch it. Key facts: Speaking on Search Off the Record, Mueller argued that llms.txt can’t differentiate sites for discovery, because the file is self-reported by the very site hoping to be chosen, and he pointed back to ordinary HTML and internal links instead. The Ahrefs data lands in the same place. Across 137,000 domains, 97% of llms.txt files drew zero requests, and the retrieval bots that generate citations, like ChatGPT and Perplexity, made up just 1% of the fetches that did happen. Why This Matters Both findings point the same way. A self-reported file can’t make an LLM choose you, and the bots that generate citations barely fetch it, so don’t expect llms.txt to move your AI search visibility. It still earns a narrow place with the coding agents and training crawlers that read it, which keeps it cheap to maintain, the same conclusion SE Ranking’s look at 300,000 domains https://www.searchenginejournal.com/llms-txt-shows-no-clear-effect-on-ai-citations-based-on-300k-domains/561542/ reached months ago. What SEO Professionals Are Saying Nat Miletic https://www.linkedin.com/posts/natmiletic new-ahrefs-data-97-of-llmstxt-files-got-share-7472704604670070785-t2vc/ , Founder at Clio Websites, summed up the takeaway on LinkedIn: “llms.txt is low cost to publish, fine to have. Just don’t expect it to move AI visibility right now.” Read our full coverage: Google’s Mueller Says llms.txt Can’t Help LLMs Differentiate Sites https://www.searchenginejournal.com/googles-mueller-says-llms-txt-cant-help-llms-differentiate-sites/579304/ and 97% Of llms.txt Files Got No Requests, Ahrefs Data Shows https://www.searchenginejournal.com/97-of-llms-txt-files-got-no-requests-ahrefs-data-shows/579478/ Google, Microsoft, And Others Publish New AI Agent Specs Two agent specifications landed within days of each other. Google Cloud published the Open Knowledge Format, and a coalition that includes Google, Microsoft, GitHub, and Hugging Face followed with Agentic Resource Discovery. Key facts: The Open Knowledge Format, or OKF, is a markdown format for packaging organizational knowledge, things like datasets, metrics, and runbooks, in a way AI agents can read. Agentic Resource Discovery, or ARD, is a draft spec for how agents find and verify tools, skills, and other agents. Both are early, with OKF at version 0.1 and ARD at 0.9. Why This Matters Neither spec asks anything of you this week. Both repeat the move llms.txt made, a structured file on your own domain for software to read, and the same unsettled question of adoption hangs over them. Watch which formats catch on before committing to any. What SEO Professionals Are Saying Martin Jeffrey https://www.linkedin.com/posts/martin-jeffrey-630577152 agenticseo-agenticoptimisation-share-7473094831162982400-G-gK/ , Founder and Strategic Lead at Harton Works, compared ARD to the early days of search on LinkedIn: “It is the sitemap, reborn for capabilities rather than pages.” Suganthan Mohanadasan https://www.linkedin.com/posts/suganthan-mohanadasan google-shipped-a-standard-for-the-thing-i-activity-7472177160347160576-i-Vr , Co-founder at Snippet Digital, who built two free tools for the format, tempered expectations: “This is not a magic mushroom and won’t increase your AI visibility overnight.” Read our full coverage: Google Cloud Announces The Open Knowledge Format https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-cloud-announces-the-open-knowledge-format/579253/ and Google, Microsoft Back Draft AI Agent Discovery Spec https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-microsoft-back-draft-ai-agent-discovery-spec/579894/ UK Orders Google To Rank Search Results Fairly The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority CMA set new rules for Google Search. Google must rank organic results on objective criteria and give notice before significant changes. Key facts: The Fair Ranking requirement covers UK organic results, including AI Overviews but not ads, and obliges Google to use objective, non-discriminatory criteria, give advance notice of significant changes, and offer a route to raise ranking concerns. A second requirement turns Google’s voluntary UK data portability tool into a legal obligation. Google disputed the premise, saying its ranking is already fair and transparent. Why This Matters The advance-notice and complaints requirements are the parts that could touch daily work, replacing the black-box core update with warning and a way to push back. Fair ranking also reaches inside AI Overviews, and like the CMA’s early-June opt-out requirement https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-must-let-websites-opt-out-of-ai-search-features-in-uk/577970/ it applies only in the UK, with the real impact down to how Google chooses to implement it. What SEO Professionals Are Saying Laura Iancu https://www.linkedin.com/posts/laura-iancu-seo cheesy-image-to-grab-your-attention-if-you-share-7473028907773005824-2hBd/ , Founder of Searchpedia, put it more bluntly on LinkedIn: “No more ‘oopsie, we just dropped another core update.'” Chloe Smith https://www.linkedin.com/posts/chloeivyrose the-uk-cma-has-ruled-that-google-must-provide-share-7472952276735688704-G4zm/ , Strategic SEO Lead at Blue Array, expects pushback: “I expect Google will try to find a way around this.” Read our full coverage: Google Must Give Notice Before Significant Ranking Changes https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-must-give-notice-before-significant-ranking-changes/579696/ Theme Of The Week: The Structured-File Ask Keeps Growing Most of the week circles the same request. Publish a structured file for AI to read, and host it on your own domain. llms.txt is the cautionary tale here. The file already exists, yet Google says it can’t tell sites apart and the data says the bots barely read it. OKF and ARD are that same request arriving fresh, their adoption still unproven, while Bing’s new tools sit on the far side of the bargain, measuring whether any of this publishing actually turns into citations. The request is becoming routine even where the payoff isn’t. Which of these formats earns its keep is still being decided, and sorting the winners from the files nobody reads is the work this week hands you. Top Stories Of The Week: Bing Rolls Out AI Citation Share In Webmaster Tools https://www.searchenginejournal.com/bing-rolls-out-ai-citation-share-in-webmaster-tools/579547/ Google’s Mueller Says llms.txt Can’t Help LLMs Differentiate Sites https://www.searchenginejournal.com/googles-mueller-says-llms-txt-cant-help-llms-differentiate-sites/579304/ 97% Of llms.txt Files Got No Requests, Ahrefs Data Shows https://www.searchenginejournal.com/97-of-llms-txt-files-got-no-requests-ahrefs-data-shows/579478/ Google Cloud Announces The Open Knowledge Format https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-cloud-announces-the-open-knowledge-format/579253/ Google, Microsoft Back Draft AI Agent Discovery Spec https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-microsoft-back-draft-ai-agent-discovery-spec/579894/ Google Must Give Notice Before Significant Ranking Changes https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-must-give-notice-before-significant-ranking-changes/579696/ More Resources: What The Latest Web Almanac Report Reveals About Bots, CMS Influence, And llms.txt https://www.searchenginejournal.com/what-the-latest-web-almanac-report-reveals-about-bots-cms-influence-llms-txt/565958/ How AI Agents Decide Which Brands To Recommend: Trust Is The New Ranking Factor https://www.searchenginejournal.com/how-ai-agents-decide-which-brands-to-recommend-trust-is-the-new-ranking-factor/568067/ What Is The Agentic Web? https://www.searchenginejournal.com/what-is-the-agentic-web/574224/ Featured Image: PeopleImages/Shutterstock