# Web grounding

> Copilot basing its answer on current web search results and citing them, something Copilot Chat often does by default without you asking.

**Category:** Copilot

**Web grounding means Copilot checks the web before it answers.** When web content would help, Copilot sends Bing a short search query generated from your prompt, not the full prompt itself, and builds its answer on the results, with **citations** attached. In Copilot Chat this often happens by default. In Claude, [web search](/glossary#web-search) is something you switch on.

Admins can turn web search off for the whole organisation, and it is off by default in some government clouds. So trust, but verify: a citation means Copilot found a source, not that it read it correctly or that the source is reliable. Open it before you repeat a figure to a colleague or a client.

## At work

Asked for a competitor's current pricing, Copilot replies with a figure and a source link. One click shows the source is a two-year-old reseller page, so the figure never reaches the client email.

## Often confused with

[Grounding](/glossary#grounding) in your work data. Web grounding draws on public web results; grounding through Work IQ and Microsoft Graph draws on your own mail, files and meetings, and needs the paid add-on.

## Related terms

- Grounding
- Web search
- Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat
- Hallucination

## See it in a lesson

[Copilot modes and grounding](/en/learn/copilot/getting-started/modes-and-grounding)

## Further reading

- [How grounding works with a work or school account (Microsoft Support)](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/how-grounding-works-with-a-work-or-school-account-a3ccafb3-7fd3-4d51-bbd2-4245a7a1ef16): Which sources Copilot grounds on, depending on your licence.
- [Data, privacy, and security for web search in Microsoft Copilot and Microsoft Copilot Chat (Microsoft Learn)](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/copilot/manage-public-web-access): What is sent to Bing, how citations show the query, and how admins control web search.
- [Overview of Microsoft Copilot Chat (Microsoft Learn)](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/copilot/overview): Why Copilot Chat is primarily web grounded.

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Last updated: 14/10/2026  
Source: Rollo Academy glossary