ChatGPT SEO: How to Get Your Business Found in ChatGPT
ChatGPT SEO can help your business become easier for ChatGPT to find, understand and recommend when people ask about your products or services.
But you need to get it right.
If a potential customer asked ChatGPT for the best company in your field today, would it mention you, recommend a competitor or give an inaccurate answer?
You cannot buy a guaranteed ChatGPT ranking or submit your company to one universal business list.
You can improve your chances by making your website accessible, explaining your business clearly, answering relevant customer questions and building credible evidence across the web.
There is also no true ‘ranking’ for ChatGPT. We run query fan-outs all the time, and they constantly change and evolve.
What is a query fan-out I hear you cry?
It’s essentially a google search on steroids, please click the link to understand one of the most important fundamentals of ChatGPT and AI search. Then we’re ready to move on!
How to get your business found on ChatGPT
Start with these seven actions:
- Test the questions your customers ask. Check whether ChatGPT mentions you, your competitors or neither.
- Inspect the sources. Look at the websites, directories, reviews and articles ChatGPT uses to support its answers.
- Check technical access. Confirm that OAI-SearchBot can reach your important pages.
- Clarify your business information. State exactly what you offer, who it is for, where you work, what it costs and why someone should trust you.
- Answer buying questions. Create useful content about prices, comparisons, problems, alternatives and choosing the right provider.
- Strengthen independent evidence. Earn relevant reviews, links, mentions and business listings beyond your own website.
- Measure and repeat. Monitor ChatGPT referrals and regularly retest the prompts that matter to your business.
You do not need hundreds of AI-written articles, a complicated GEO platform or a complete website rebuild.
In my experience, a few excellent service pages, accurate business information, credible third-party proof and genuinely useful answers can achieve far more than mass-produced content. For an example of third-party proof, check out the Found First reviews here.
We can also do a full and detailed audit for you – complete with roadmap and content plan. You’ll know exactly what steps to take next to bring your business up to AI-scratch.
A useful ChatGPT visibility test you can do today
Open a new ChatGPT conversation and try five prompts. If possible do this incognito and signed out of your account so it is not influenced by memory:
Who are the best [your service] providers in [your location]?
Then record:
Do not treat one answer as a permanent ranking. Test several natural variations and record the date, because results can change according to the wording, conversation context, location and sources available.
If your competitors repeatedly appear and you do not, you now have something specific to investigate.
Why being found in ChatGPT matters
Imagine someone asking ChatGPT, “Can you recommend an affordable accountant for a small business in Manchester?” They are looking for someone to hire. If your firm is a good fit, you would want them to be able to discover it and understand why.
People use ChatGPT to explore options, compare providers and decide what to do next. OpenAI said in August 2026 that ChatGPT was available to more than one billion weekly active users. That figure does not tell us how many are searching for your particular service, but it shows why this is worth checking. Source: OpenAI
The immediate question is simple: when someone asks ChatGPT about a problem you solve, does it mention your business, mention your competitors or miss you altogether?
You do not need to learn a collection of new marketing acronyms to investigate that. Start with the questions your prospective customers would actually ask, then check whether the information ChatGPT finds about your business is accurate and convincing.
Can you rank in ChatGPT?
You can improve your visibility in ChatGPT, but there is no single fixed ranking equivalent to a traditional Google results page.
The answer may change according to:
An accountancy firm might be recommended when someone asks for “an affordable accountant for a new sole trader in Manchester”, but not for “the best international tax adviser for a large corporation”.
The two people need very different expertise, so appearing in one answer but not the other does not necessarily mean anything is wrong.
How does ChatGPT find businesses?
ChatGPT can answer using its existing model knowledge, information supplied during a conversation or current sources found through web search.
OpenAI describes ChatGPT Search as providing answers with links to relevant web sources. ChatGPT may decide to search according to the question, or the user can activate web search directly. Source: OpenAI
OpenAI does not publish a complete ranking formula showing precisely why one company is mentioned and another is not. Anyone claiming to know the exact algorithm is making assumptions.
However, several practical factors can make a business easier to discover, understand and trust.
1. Make sure ChatGPT Search can access your website
This might be obvious, but… make sure you’re set up right technically!
OpenAI uses a crawler called OAI-SearchBot to surface websites in ChatGPT Search. According to OpenAI’s documentation, websites that opt out of OAI-SearchBot will not appear in ChatGPT search answers, although they may still appear as navigational links. Source: OpenAI crawler documentation
Your robots.txt file can explicitly allow it:
User-agent: OAI-SearchBot
Allow: /
The crawler also needs to be able to reach important pages without being blocked by a firewall, CDN or security plugin.
Allowing the crawler does not guarantee that ChatGPT will recommend or cite you. It simply removes one possible barrier.
OpenAI says robots.txt changes can take around 24 hours to be reflected in its search systems.
2. Explain clearly what your business does
ChatGPT should not have to infer your services from vague marketing copy.
Your website should make the following information easy to identify:
Clear information is particularly important for prompts containing qualifiers such as “affordable”, “UK-based”, “for small businesses”, “B2B”, “near me” or your location.
If your website says you provide “transformational digital solutions”, that could mean almost anything.
Specific language gives search engines, AI systems and potential customers more useful information.
3. Answer the questions customers genuinely ask
SEO for ChatGPT is partly about creating strong answers to real customer questions.
A service page may establish what you sell, but supporting content can demonstrate when your service is appropriate, how it works and what customers should consider before buying.
Useful topics might include:
Words such as “best”, “cheap” and “affordable” are not forbidden SEO words. People really use them when researching purchases.
The important thing is to answer honestly.
A useful “best” page explains the criteria and trade-offs. A useful “cheap” page helps the reader understand what can realistically be delivered at a lower price.
4. Build evidence beyond your own website
Any company can describe itself as the best. Independent evidence is more convincing.
Depending on your market, useful external signals may include:
Your name, services and important business details should be reasonably consistent across these sources.
This is not about buying hundreds of low-quality links or submitting your company to every directory you can find.
In my experience, a smaller number of relevant, credible references is far more useful.
5. Strengthen your normal SEO foundations
ChatGPT SEO is not a replacement for conventional SEO. Please look here for SEO services.
The fundamentals still matter as much as ever:
ChatGPT Search can use third-party search providers and information from the web. Improving your wider search visibility therefore gives your business more opportunities to be discovered as a relevant source.
I think this is where many GEO campaigns go wrong. They package established good practice under a new name and then add unnecessary technical work to justify a fashionable service.
The work should begin with the business question, not the acronym.
If you need help with your SEO you can contact us right here.
6. Make your expertise specific and verifiable
Generic AI-generated content gives an AI system little reason to cite you.
Include information that comes from genuine work:
At Found First SEO, I draw on more than 12 years of building search-led projects and businesses. This includes co-founding and growing Hurry The Food Up before its sale in 2025. We built our yearly site visits to over six million a year through a wide variety of methods.
Those experiences very much influence how I approach ChatGPT optimisation.
I am interested in whether the work helps the right people find and choose a business, not whether we can produce another impressive-looking checklist.
7. Keep important information current
Outdated prices, services, biographies and contact details can create inconsistent answers.
Review pages containing:
Showing a sensible published or updated date can help readers understand when information was checked.
Do not change dates simply to make old content appear fresh. Update the substance first.
If you're showing company reviews
8. Test the questions that matter
One generic prompt is not enough to evaluate ChatGPT visibility.
Build a set of realistic questions covering different stages of the customer journey. For example:
Test variations rather than repeating the same wording. There are many, many examples similar to the above list.
Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. What would you really ask ChatGPT if you were in their situation?
Then record:
Results can vary between sessions, models, locations and users. Treat the test as a snapshot, not a permanent ranking report.
ChatGPT Search and AI training are different
A common misconception is that allowing ChatGPT Search automatically gives OpenAI permission to use your pages for model training.
OpenAI provides separate controls:
OAI-SearchBot and GPTBot perform different jobs. OAI-SearchBot is used to help surface websites in ChatGPT Search, while GPTBot is associated with the collection of content that may be used to improve OpenAI’s generative models.
The controls are independent. A website can allow OAI-SearchBot while blocking GPTBot if it wants to remain accessible to ChatGPT Search without allowing that crawler for model improvement. Source: OpenAI crawler documentation
This distinction is worth checking before making a blanket decision to block every AI-related crawler.
Are there cheap or free ways to improve ChatGPT visibility?
Yes. Many of the best first steps are free, apart from the time required to complete them properly.
You can:
Cheap work becomes risky when it means mass-producing generic articles, buying artificial mentions or promising guaranteed ChatGPT rankings.
An affordable strategy should prioritise the changes most likely to improve discovery and customer confidence. It does not need to include every possible GEO tactic.
Useful metrics and how to measure them
The good news is that you can start measuring without paying for a GEO platform.
Bing Webmaster Tools
In Bing Webmaster Tools, open the AI Performance report. It shows which of your pages are cited in AI answers across Microsoft Copilot, Bing and selected partner experiences.
Look at cited pages, total citations and citation trends over time. The sample of grounding queries can also help you understand which topics your content is being used for. Source: Microsoft
Google Analytics 4
In Google Analytics 4, check visits from ChatGPT and other AI services, the pages those visitors land on and what they do next. Are they making enquiries, booking calls or buying? These outcomes matter more than citations alone.
The right metrics depend on your business goals. A local service business may care most about qualified enquiries; an online shop may focus on sales and revenue; a publisher may value engaged readers and subscriptions.
Choose the actions that matter to your business and review them monthly alongside your ChatGPT prompt tests. If you’re not sure what you’re looking for, give me a shout and I’ll point you in the right direction.
One important distinction: Bing’s AI Performance report is not a ChatGPT ranking tracker. A citation shows that a page was used as a source on Microsoft-supported AI experiences, not that ChatGPT recommended your business or that someone became a customer.
ChatGPT SEO services from Found First
Found First helps businesses understand and improve how they appear across Google, ChatGPT and other AI-assisted search experiences.
The Visibility Audit is the best starting point if you want to know:
You receive an in-depth practical report with prioritised recommendations and low-hanging fruits.
Every single audit is done personally by me.
The purpose is to help you decide what to do next, including what is not worth paying for.
Visibility Audit
Suitable for businesses that want an expert assessment before committing to ongoing SEO or ChatGPT optimisation.
Prices exclude VAT where applicable.
Who is ChatGPT SEO suitable for?
ChatGPT SEO may be useful if:
It may be a lower priority if your customers rarely research online, your website does not explain your basic offer or your conventional SEO foundations need urgent attention.
I will tell you if I think another piece of work should come first.
Frequently asked questions
BTW, I have a no-frills FAQ guide to AI SEO right here, and it aims to explain things simply and with reasoning. Check it out if you’re still unsure.
Then on to other questions you may have!
How do I get my business listed on ChatGPT?
There is no general business submission form that guarantees a ChatGPT listing.
Make sure OpenAI can access your website, provide clear and accurate information, build credible references elsewhere and create useful content for relevant customer questions.
How do I get my business to appear in ChatGPT?
Begin by testing relevant prompts and checking the cited sources. Make sure your important pages are accessible, explain your services clearly and strengthen the independent evidence supporting your business.
Appearing for your company name is useful, but appearing for non-branded customer questions can create more valuable opportunities.
How do I get recommended by ChatGPT?
Give ChatGPT credible reasons to consider your business relevant to a particular request.
These can include a clear specialism, suitable location, transparent services, appropriate pricing, independent reviews and evidence of experience.
No consultant can guarantee that ChatGPT will recommend a particular company.
Why is my competitor showing up on ChatGPT but I am not?
Your competitor may have clearer pages, stronger search visibility, more relevant external mentions or a better match for the prompt.
ChatGPT may also be using a source that includes the competitor but does not mention you.
The first step is to inspect several prompts and their cited sources before drawing conclusions.
Does schema markup help with ChatGPT SEO?
Structured data can make information easier for search systems to interpret and can be worth using where appropriate.
It does not guarantee that ChatGPT will cite, list or recommend a business. Anyone who swears it is is trying to sell you something.
How long does ChatGPT optimisation take?
Technical access changes may be recognised relatively quickly. OpenAI says robots.txt changes can take around 24 hours to affect its search systems.
Content, authority and external mentions normally take longer. There is no universal timeframe because ChatGPT answers can draw on multiple changing sources.
Can you guarantee a ChatGPT ranking?
No.
ChatGPT does not have one stable ranking for every user and prompt, and OpenAI does not publish a formula that consultants can control.
I can identify barriers, improve the information available and measure how visibility changes.
Is ChatGPT SEO the same as GEO?
ChatGPT SEO is one part of Generative Engine Optimisation.
GEO can cover visibility across several AI and answer platforms, while ChatGPT SEO focuses specifically on how a business is discovered and represented in ChatGPT.
Should I optimise for ChatGPT or Google first?
For most businesses, the sensible answer is both, with strong SEO foundations first.
Clear, accessible and trustworthy information can support visibility across traditional search and AI-assisted discovery.
Let's Do It Together
Find out how your business appears in ChatGPT
If customers are using ChatGPT to research services like yours, it is worth knowing what they see.
Found First can check your current visibility, compare competitors, identify the sources shaping answers and show you the most useful next steps.
No guaranteed rankings. No bulk AI content. No unnecessary technical theatre.
Just a clearer view of where your business stands and what is worth improving.