How to get your business recommended by ChatGPT and AI search
There is no switch that puts a business inside ChatGPT's answers. There is a set of signals that makes it easy for AI to find, understand and trust you.
In summary
- AI assistants recommend businesses they can find through search, understand clearly and see confirmed by other sources.
- Be crawlable: content in the HTML, search and AI crawlers allowed, nothing blocking them at the server.
- Describe the business the same way everywhere, and back it with structured data.
- Earn reviews and mentions on other sites; independent sources carry the most weight.
How do you get recommended by ChatGPT?
To get your business recommended by ChatGPT and other AI assistants, make it easy for them to find, understand and trust you: keep your site crawlable by search engines and AI crawlers, describe the business clearly and consistently everywhere, answer the questions buyers ask in short self-contained passages, and earn reviews and mentions on other sites. Nobody can guarantee a recommendation, but these signals decide who gets cited. The practice is called GEO, generative engine optimization.
How do AI assistants find businesses to recommend?
When someone asks an assistant for a recommendation, it searches the web, reads the pages it finds and writes an answer from them. Each one uses its own crawlers and search sources. ChatGPT search uses OpenAI's crawler, OAI-SearchBot, together with third-party search providers. Perplexity runs its own crawler. Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode draw on Google's index.
| Assistant | Where it reads from | What to make sure of |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT search | OpenAI's crawler and third-party search providers, including Bing | OAI-SearchBot allowed; site verified in Bing Webmaster Tools |
| Perplexity | Its own crawler and web search | PerplexityBot allowed |
| Google AI Overviews and AI Mode | Google's index | Indexable pages in Google Search Console |
| Microsoft Copilot | Bing's index | Site verified in Bing Webmaster Tools |
The consequence is practical: an assistant can only recommend what it can find. GEO builds on the same foundation as SEO, with more weight on clear facts about the business and on what other sources say.
Step 1: is your site crawlable by AI?
- The main content is in the HTML the server sends, not only rendered by JavaScript afterwards. Many AI crawlers do not run JavaScript.
- robots.txt allows the crawlers you want, such as Googlebot, Bingbot, OAI-SearchBot and PerplexityBot.
- Your hosting or CDN does not block or challenge legitimate crawlers. Test with the URL inspection tools in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
- A sitemap lists every page, and new pages are submitted quickly, for example with IndexNow for Bing.
Step 2: does the web describe your business clearly?
Write one sentence that defines the business: what you do, for whom, and where. Use it on the home page, the About page and every profile: Google Business Profile, LinkedIn, directories. When every source describes you the same way, an assistant can describe you accurately instead of guessing.
- Same business name, phone and email everywhere.
- An About page with plain facts: who runs the business, where it is based, what it does and for whom.
- Structured data (Organization, Service, FAQ) so machines read the same facts the visitor reads.
Step 3: do your pages answer the questions buyers ask?
People ask assistants complete questions: how much does it cost, how does it work, which option is better for my case. Pages that answer those questions directly, in short self-contained passages, are the ones that get quoted. Put the answer first, then the detail, and use the question itself as the heading.
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Step 4: what do other sites say about you?
Assistants give weight to independent sources: reviews on Google, profiles on directories such as Clutch, articles, interviews and lists of providers. A business that only describes itself on its own site is harder to trust than one that others describe too. Ask satisfied clients for reviews, keep profiles consistent, and contribute useful articles where your buyers read.
Step 5: should you add llms.txt, and how do you measure results?
An llms.txt file summarises the site for AI tools. Adoption by the major assistants is still uncertain, but it costs little to publish. To measure results, track visits referred by chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai, copilot and similar sources in GA4, and ask new customers how they found you.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Can anyone guarantee that ChatGPT will recommend my business?
No. Nobody controls how an assistant writes its answers. What can be done is make the business easy to find, understand and trust, which raises the chance of being cited.
Is GEO different from SEO?
It builds on SEO. Crawlability, good content and a clear site structure serve both. GEO adds a focus on clear facts about the business, self-contained answers and mentions across the web.
Should I block AI crawlers to protect my content?
That is a business decision. Blocking them also removes the chance of being cited or recommended by those assistants.
How long does it take to show up in AI answers?
It depends on how quickly your pages are crawled and how much the web already says about you. Technical fixes help quickly; reputation builds over months.
Does Bing matter for ChatGPT?
Yes. ChatGPT search draws on third-party search providers including Bing, and Copilot uses Bing directly. Verify the site in Bing Webmaster Tools and keep it indexed.
Next step
Want AI assistants to find and cite your business?
Delos works on SEO and GEO from the same foundation: technical health, structured data and content that answers buyers.
See SEO and GEO
