How do I get my business recommended by ChatGPT?

Can ChatGPT actually read my website?

Start here, because nothing else matters if the answer is no. ChatGPT search uses a crawler called OAI-SearchBot. OpenAI says sites that block it will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers, apart from a bare navigation link.

Check your robots.txt file and your firewall or hosting settings. Blocking GPTBot (used for training) is a separate choice and doesn't stop you appearing in search answers.

Sources: OpenAI: Overview of OpenAI crawlers · OpenAI Help Center: Publishers and developers FAQ

What does ChatGPT look at before naming a business?

It needs to describe you with confidence: who you are, what you do, where you work and who you serve. If those details differ between your website, Google profile, directories and social pages, it has less reason to trust any of them.

It also looks for agreement across the web. Ahrefs studied 75,000 brands and found that mentions of a brand around the web, especially on YouTube, track AI visibility far more closely than backlinks or the number of pages on a site. That's correlation, not proof of cause, but it matches what I see in client work. I call this agreement Machine Trust.

Sources: Ahrefs: Top brand visibility factors in ChatGPT, AI Mode and AI Overviews · Ahrefs: An analysis of AI Overview brand visibility factors (75K brands)

What should I fix first?

First, your identity: one business name, one clear category and one short description, used everywhere. Second, pages that answer real buyer questions in their first two sentences. Third, mentions on sites AI already trusts: industry directories, publications, review platforms, podcasts and YouTube.

Alli Berry of Search Engine Journal suggests a simple starting test: ask ChatGPT "Tell me about [your company]" and "What are the best brands in [your category] and why?", then look at which sources it cites. Those are the pages shaping how it sees you.

Sources: Search Engine Journal: How to get brand mentions in generative AI (Alli Berry)

Do I need to say something new?

Yes. Rewriting what every competitor has already published gives AI no reason to quote you. Original data, clear opinions and specific case results do.

Sources: Search Engine Journal: How to get your content (& brand) recommended by AI & LLMs (Andreas Voniatis)

Can I pay ChatGPT to recommend me?

Yes, through ads, but not inside the answer itself. OpenAI began testing ads in ChatGPT in the US on 9 February 2026, for people on the Free and Go plans. Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu accounts don't see ads, and ads are rolling out to more countries over time.

Ads are labelled Sponsored and shown separately from the answer. They aren't shown to under-18s or next to sensitive topics such as health, which matters if you run a clinic.

So you can pay for visibility in ChatGPT, but being named in the answer itself still has to be earned. We can run your ChatGPT ads as part of our package, alongside the work that earns the recommendation.

Sources: OpenAI Help Center: Ads in ChatGPT · TechCrunch: ChatGPT rolls out ads (9 Feb 2026)

Is there a framework for this?

Yes. The AI Search Flywheel has six stages, from Be Understood to Be Proven, with Machine Trust at the centre. The 127-Point AI Search OS turns it into a checklist.