How to get ChatGPT to recommend your business

More people now ask ChatGPT where to go and who to hire: "a good accountant for a small business near me", "the best project management tool for a ten-person team", "a plumber who can come today". If ChatGPT names someone else, you never hear about the lost customer. This guide is for any kind of business: local, service, online store or software. It covers what ChatGPT looks at and the plain steps that make it more likely to name you.

An honest note first: OpenAI doesn't publish exactly how ChatGPT picks businesses, and answers change from one chat to the next. Its own help center says placement in search results "is not guaranteed". What follows is based on OpenAI's documentation and general search practice, and we say which is which.

How ChatGPT decides who to name

ChatGPT answers in one of two ways.

• From memory. The model answers from what it learned in training. Well-known businesses that have been written about for years have an edge, and the facts can be out of date.
• From a web search. When a question needs current information, ChatGPT searches the web and builds its answer from the pages it finds, usually with links. OpenAI's help center says it rewrites the question into search queries for its search partners, and can use a rough location from the person's IP address for local questions, for example turning "good restaurants near me" into "top restaurants San Francisco".

So for most buying questions, the practical question is: when ChatGPT searches, do the pages it finds mention you, and do they describe you clearly?

Step 1: Let ChatGPT read your website

OpenAI's search crawler is called OAI-SearchBot. OpenAI's crawler documentation says sites that block it won't be shown in ChatGPT search answers, apart from plain navigation links.

• Open yourdomain.com/robots.txt and make sure nothing blocks OAI-SearchBot. A rule that blocks all bots counts.
• If you use a firewall or bot protection, check it isn't blocking OpenAI. OpenAI publishes its crawler IP addresses so you can allow them.
• Make sure your main pages show their text without needing lots of JavaScript to load.

Step 2: Be easy to find in regular search

ChatGPT's searches go through search partners, and OpenAI's documentation names Microsoft among them. Being findable in normal search helps.

• Verify your site in Bing Webmaster Tools and Google Search Console and submit a sitemap.
• If you serve customers in one area, claim and complete your Bing Places and Google Business Profile listings: name, address, hours, categories, photos and services.

Step 3: Say plainly what you do, for whom, and where

If your website, listings and reviews describe you in different ways, it's harder for any system to match you to a question.

• Write one plain sentence: "[Business] is a [type of business] for [who you serve] in [where]." Use it on your homepage, your listings and your social profiles.
• Use the same business name, address and phone number everywhere.
• Give each main service or product its own page with prices, areas served and what makes you different, in normal text.

Step 4: Get mentioned on the pages ChatGPT finds

For "best" and "near me" questions, ChatGPT often draws on lists, directories, review sites and local press. If your competitors are on those pages and you aren't, the answer follows the pages.

• Ask ChatGPT the questions your customers ask, with search on, and open the sources it cites.
• If a page is a list or directory you fit, ask to be included and give the facts they need.
• Ask happy customers for honest reviews on the sites that matter in your field.

Step 5: Answer the questions customers really ask

Customers ask specific things: "Do you work weekends?", "How much does it cost?", "Which is better, X or Y?". Pages that answer those directly are easy for any search to use. Put the answer near the top, in plain words.

Step 6: Check, then check again

One chat proves nothing, because answers vary. Pick 10 or so real customer questions, ask them in fresh chats, and write down who gets named. Repeat every week or two. Our guide on how to check if ChatGPT recommends your product explains a fair way to do it, or run a free check.

What not to do

• Don't hide text or instructions for AI. Hidden text breaks Google's spam policies and isn't how answers get built.
• Don't buy or fake reviews. It breaks review sites' rules and can get you removed.
• Don't panic over one answer. Look at the trend over a few weeks.

The short version

Let OpenAI's crawler in, be findable in normal search, describe yourself the same way everywhere, get onto the lists and review sites in your field, and answer real customer questions on your site. Then measure over time.

If you sell software, our guide on getting ChatGPT to recommend your SaaS product goes deeper, and why ChatGPT recommends your competitor helps when someone else keeps getting named.