How to get your business recommended on ChatGPT
People ask ChatGPT the way they'd ask a friend for a recommendation, and the answer comes back as a short list. Here's how to give it what it needs to find your business and trust what it reads.
The honest answer first
No one can guarantee that ChatGPT will recommend your business, and be careful with anyone who says they can. AI tools decide their own answers. What you can control is what they find when they look you up, and that's what this guide covers.
How ChatGPT finds businesses
When ChatGPT searches the web to answer a question, it reads what it can find about the businesses it might name: your website, your Google profile, your reviews, your listings and other sites that mention you. These are the same things Google reads, so the work helps you on Google too. It's not either/or.
OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, says its search crawler is called OAI-SearchBot, and that sites that block it "will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers." (Source: OpenAI's page on its crawlers.)
8 steps you can take
- See what ChatGPT says today. Turn on web search and ask what your customers would ask, like "Who's the best [kind of business] in [your town]?" Screenshot the answer. That's your before.
- Make sure your website doesn't block it. Your site's robots.txt file shouldn't block OAI-SearchBot, Googlebot or Bingbot. Your web person can check it, or we'll check it in the free Check.
- Finish your Google Business Profile. The right category, your services, the areas you serve, your hours and real photos.
- Get a steady flow of real Google reviews. Ask every customer, with a link, and never pay for reviews. Our reviews guide has texts you can copy.
- Use the same name, address and phone everywhere. Google, Bing, Apple Maps, Facebook, Yelp, the BBB and anywhere else you're listed should match word for word.
- Say it plainly on your website. What you do, where you do it and how to reach you, near the top of your home page, with your phone number as text people can tap.
- Get mentioned on other trusted sites. Real memberships, real news stories and real partner pages. Never buy links.
- Check again every month. Reviews and mentions build month by month, so ask the same questions and compare the answers.
What about "schema code"?
You may hear that AI tools read a special code first and pick whoever has it. That's not true. Google's own guidance on AI search says there's no special schema.org code you need to add. (Source: Google, AI features and your website.) Business info code on your site is good housekeeping, and it's one small item on our list, not the whole job.
Not showing up on Google either?
The same basics feed both. Our guide on why a business doesn't show up on Google covers the most common reasons.