Harnessing Bing Grounding Custom Search for Smarter Azure AI Agents

Bing Grounding Custom Search in Azure AI Foundry redefines how intelligent agents interact with the web, providing tailored, secure, and highly relevant access to online information for enterprise automation. This feature allows organizations to configure agent knowledge boundaries, ensuring responses are always grounded in trusted, up-to-date sources. 

What Is Bing Grounding Custom Search?

Bing Grounding Custom Search empowers Azure AI Agents to query a customizable set of public web domains. Rather than a generic web search, admins define domains, subdomains, or even specific pages so agents answer strictly from reliable, indexed sources. This ensures every agent response is enterprise-grade–no off-topic or untrusted results. 

Setting Up Bing Grounding Custom Search

  • Resource Creation 
    Begin by creating a “Grounding with Bing Custom Search” resource in the Azure Portal. Choose regions, assign a clear resource name, and select pricing based on anticipated usage. 
  • Configuration 
    Define allowed and blocked domains-including subfolders and individual pages-to control what your agent searches. For example, restrict to company docs or preferred tech sites and block low-quality information sources. 
  • Search Slices 
    Configure different “slices” for specialized information-product documentation, community forums, or code samples-to maximize context and quality for each workflow. 

Integrating Bing Grounding with Azure AI Agents

  • Connection 
    In the Azure AI Foundry portal, add the Bing Custom Search resource as a connected asset for your agent. Choose the proper authentication and reference connection names in your code or portal setup. 
  • Agent Configuration 
    Under the agent’s knowledge settings, select Bing Custom Search and pick the relevant configuration. You can specify how many results to retrieve, preferred languages, markets, and freshness filters. 
  • Workflow Orchestration 
    Once integrated, Azure AI Agents will decide when to leverage Bing Custom Search for user queries, fetching the most relevant results from the configured set. Chunks of sourced knowledge from Bing get cited in the agent’s replies, keeping outputs traceable and credible. 

Best Practices

  • Strategic Domain Selection: Choose only trusted, current domains for grounding. Use slices to organize sources by topic or workflow need. 
  • Continuous Updates: Review domains and configurations regularly to keep agent knowledge fresh and aligned to business priorities. 
  • Security Awareness: Understand that searches happen outside Azure’s compliance boundary-assess requirements before deployment and monitor usage carefully.