ChatGPT SEO: How to Get Recommended by ChatGPT

ChatGPT SEO: how to get your firm recommended by ChatGPT

By James Kevan, founder. Updated 22 September 2026.

To get recommended by ChatGPT, your firm needs to be in what the model already knows and in what it finds when it searches. That means allowing OpenAI's search crawler (OAI-SearchBot), ranking in the search results ChatGPT draws on, being described the same way everywhere, and being mentioned on the directories, reviews and lists it cites. ChatGPT has 900 million weekly users (OpenAI, February 2026). Some of them are your buyers.

How ChatGPT decides who to recommend

From memory. For many questions ChatGPT answers from what it learned in training. A firm that is mentioned often, in consistent terms, on sources that were in that training data is more likely to be named. This changes slowly, over months.

From search. For current, local or comparison questions ("best employment solicitor in Manchester", "CPA for real estate investors in Austin"), ChatGPT searches the web, reads a small set of pages and writes the answer from them, with links. Its search uses OpenAI's crawler, OAI-SearchBot, and third-party search providers. OpenAI says sites that block OAI-SearchBot are left out of ChatGPT search answers. (Source)

What it reads when it searches. Usually a mix of firm websites, directories, review sites and "best firms in [city]" lists. If a list ranks for your category and you are not on it, ChatGPT often repeats the list without you.

The ChatGPT checklist: ten things to do

Allow OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt. Check your CDN or firewall is not blocking it either.

Rank in Bing as well as Google. Verify the site in Bing Webmaster Tools and submit your sitemap.

Write one page per service and location, with the answer in the first 60 words: who you help, where, how much it typically involves, how to start.

Use one set of facts everywhere. Name, address, services, partners, founding year, credentials. Contradictions get repeated.

Get on the sources ChatGPT cites for your category. Ask it the question, click the sources, and work down that list.

Collect reviews that describe the work. "Handled our tribunal claim in six weeks" is quotable. Five stars with no words is not.

Publish numbers others will quote. Fees guides, timelines, outcomes you are allowed to publish, survey data. Cited facts travel.

Name your people. Author bios with credentials and links to their professional listings.

Mark up what is on the page. Organization, Person, Service and FAQPage schema that match the visible text.

Keep it fresh. Dates on pages, a current team, news from this year.

Check your own ChatGPT visibility in ten minutes

Open ChatGPT logged out, or in a temporary chat, so your history does not colour the answer.

Ask the five questions a buyer would ask, in their words: "Who is the best [service] in [town]?", "Which [service] firms specialise in [niche]?", "Is [your firm] any good?"

Ask each question three times. Note who is named, in what order, and which links are cited.

Repeat in Google (look for an AI Overview) and Perplexity.

Count: in how many of the 15 ChatGPT answers were you named?

If the answer is fewer than three, the Search Check will show you why and what to do first.

How to track what ChatGPT sends you

GA4: ChatGPT tags many of the links it sends with utm_source=chatgpt.com. Build a channel group for AI referrals matching chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai, gemini.google.com and copilot.microsoft.com.

Forms: add "ChatGPT or another AI tool" to your "How did you hear about us?" field. Many AI-influenced buyers arrive later by typing your name into Google, so they look like brand search in analytics.

Calls: ask. Write the answer in the CRM.

Customers: mark which of those enquiries became clients, and what they were worth. That is the number to judge ChatGPT SEO by.

What Pieo does

We run the checklist for you, then keep going: a monthly panel of 30 to 60 buyer questions in ChatGPT and the other engines, a source map, page rebuilds, earned mentions and a scorecard that ends in customers. The method is set out on generative engine optimisation; the week-by-week plan is on AI SEO agency.

Questions buyers ask

What is ChatGPT SEO?

ChatGPT SEO is the work of getting your business named and linked when people ask ChatGPT for recommendations. It covers crawl access for OpenAI's OAI-SearchBot, rankings in the search results ChatGPT reads, consistent facts about your firm, and mentions on the sources ChatGPT cites. It is also used to mean using ChatGPT to do SEO tasks.

How do I get my business recommended by ChatGPT?

Allow OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt, rank in Bing and Google for your service and location, describe your firm identically everywhere, and get listed on the directories, review sites and lists ChatGPT cites when you ask it about your category. Then collect detailed reviews and publish facts others quote.

Does ChatGPT use Google or Bing?

ChatGPT's search uses OpenAI's own crawler, OAI-SearchBot, and third-party search providers. OpenAI has not published a full list. We check your visibility in both Google and Bing, because a firm that is hard to find in either is harder for ChatGPT to find.

How long does it take to show up in ChatGPT?

When ChatGPT searches the web, changes to your site and listings can show within weeks. Being named from the model's own memory takes longer, because it depends on mentions across the web building up over months and on when the model is next updated.

Can you pay to be recommended by ChatGPT?

Not in its organic answers. Recommendations come from what the model knows and what it finds when it searches. Anyone selling guaranteed placement in ChatGPT answers is selling something ChatGPT does not offer.

How do I know if ChatGPT is sending me clients?

Track referrals from chatgpt.com in GA4, add an AI option to your enquiry form's source question, ask on every call, and mark in your CRM which of those enquiries became clients. Many AI-influenced buyers later search your name on Google, so asking matters.

Do I need a ChatGPT SEO agency?

Not for the checklist on this page: a capable in-house marketer can do most of it. An agency earns its fee on the ongoing part: running a proper prompt panel monthly, working the source map, earning mentions and tying it all to enquiries and revenue.

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