How to get your business recommended by ChatGPT: a practical guide

Business owners ask us the same thing: "How do I get ChatGPT to recommend my business?" The honest answer is that nobody controls what ChatGPT says. But you control whether your business is easy to find, easy to understand, and easy to trust, and those are the things that decide whether you can be mentioned at all.

This guide covers seven steps, in the order we would do them.

Step 1: Let OpenAI's search crawler in

OpenAI uses different crawlers for different jobs, and its crawler documentation explains each one.

Crawler	What OpenAI says it is for	Does blocking it affect ChatGPT search?
OAI-SearchBot	Showing websites in ChatGPT's search features	Yes. Sites that opt out will not appear in ChatGPT search answers, though they can still show up as links
GPTBot	Collecting content that may be used to train OpenAI's models	OpenAI says blocking it does not by itself affect search appearance
ChatGPT-User	Actions that a user starts, such as visiting a page they asked about	It is not used to decide search appearance, and robots.txt rules may not apply

So if you want to appear in ChatGPT search, make sure your robots.txt allows OAI-SearchBot. Whether you also allow GPTBot is a separate choice about training. OpenAI says changes to robots.txt can take about 24 hours to be reflected for search.

Also check that your hosting provider, CDN, or security plugin is not blocking these crawlers. Our guide how to let AI crawlers read your website walks through it.

Step 2: Make sure your pages are indexed

An assistant cannot cite a page that search engines do not have. Add your site to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, submit your sitemap, and check that your key pages are indexed. If your site does not show up on Google at all, read why is my website not showing on Google.

Step 3: Say clearly who you are and where you work

Many businesses lose out because an assistant cannot tell who they are. Put this on your website, as plain text:

Your business name, exactly as you use it everywhere.
What you do, in one clear sentence.
Where you work: your city, and the areas you serve.
Who runs it, with a name and a short background.
How to contact you.

Use the same details on your Google Business Profile, LinkedIn, and any directory. A common name or an unclear description is the main reason an assistant mixes a business up with someone else.

Step 4: Answer the questions your customers ask

Assistants write answers to questions. Pages that answer one question clearly, near the top, are easier to quote. For each service, write down the five questions customers ask before they buy, and answer them in plain sentences. Google's advice on helpful, people-first content applies here too.

Step 5: Earn mentions on other sites

A business that only describes itself on its own site is easy to doubt. Mentions elsewhere help an assistant trust you:

A complete Google Business Profile, and genuine customer reviews.
A LinkedIn profile or company page with the same description.
Listings in relevant directories.
Mentions in local news, industry sites, or community pages.

Never buy or write reviews, and avoid link schemes. Google's spam policies explain what to avoid.

Step 6: Keep everything consistent and current

Check that your opening hours, phone number, prices, and services match on every site. Out-of-date or conflicting information makes an assistant less likely to use you.

Step 7: Test with a fixed set of questions

You cannot improve what you do not measure. Write down 15 to 25 questions a real customer would ask, such as "best [your service] in [your city]". Ask them in a ChatGPT Temporary Chat with search on, and in other assistants, and record:

whether your business was mentioned,
whether your website was cited with a link,
whether the description was accurate.

Repeat every two weeks. If you appear in 4 of 20 questions, your mention rate is 20%. That is your own tracking number, not an official score. Our article why doesn't ChatGPT mention my business explains how to run the test properly.

What not to expect

A guarantee. What ChatGPT shows depends on the question, the place, and the day, and it can change.
Fast results. For a new business, expect weeks before pages are indexed and months before an assistant mentions you for competitive questions.
A secret setting. There is no special file or code that forces a recommendation. The research paper GEO: Generative Engine Optimization studies what helps content get cited, and it points to clear, sourced, useful content.

A one-page checklist

robots.txt allows OAI-SearchBot
Hosting and security do not block the crawlers you want
Pages are indexed in Google and Bing
Business name, location, services, and contact details are clear on the site
Same details on Google Business Profile, LinkedIn, and directories
Each service page answers real customer questions
Genuine reviews and mentions are being collected
A fixed list of test questions, repeated every two weeks

Sources and further reading

Not sure how ChatGPT sees your business today? Request a free audit call, or read about our GEO service and method.