How to get your business recommended by ChatGPT

More customers now ask ChatGPT "who's a good electrician in Preston?" instead of searching Google. ChatGPT can search the web when it answers, and you can make your business easier for it to find, understand and recommend.

Last updated · By the XKey team

How does ChatGPT find businesses to recommend?

When a question needs up-to-date or local information, ChatGPT searches the web and reads pages before answering, then shows links to its sources. It relies partly on search partners, including Bing, and partly on its own search crawler, OAI-SearchBot. Without search, it answers from what it learned in training, which may be out of date or missing small businesses entirely.

Which crawlers should my site allow?

  • OAI-SearchBot – used to show your site in ChatGPT search results. Allow it.
  • ChatGPT-User – visits a page when someone asks ChatGPT about it. Allow it.
  • GPTBot – collects data to train OpenAI's models. Blocking it doesn't stop you appearing in ChatGPT search; it's your choice.
  • Bingbot – keep it allowed, and set up Bing Places and Bing Webmaster Tools.

Check yours with the robots.txt tester, and read blocking AI training bots if you want to block training only.

What makes ChatGPT recommend a business?

  • Clear facts on your site: what you do, where, prices or price ranges, opening hours and contact details, in plain text rather than images.
  • Pages that answer questions directly: "How much does a boiler service cost in Blackpool?" answered in the first sentence.
  • Mentions on other trusted sites: reviews, directories, local news and trade bodies. AI tools favour businesses that many independent sources agree on. See business directory listings.
  • Reviews on Google and elsewhere that describe what you did and where.
  • Structured data such as LocalBusiness markup – see schema markup.

How do I check if ChatGPT recommends my business?

Ask ChatGPT the questions your customers would, with search switched on, and note which businesses and sources it cites. Look for visits from chatgpt.com in your website analytics. Our AI SEO checker tests whether your pages are ready for AI search, and the wider AI search optimisation guide covers Gemini, Copilot and Perplexity too.

Frequently asked questions

Can I pay to be recommended by ChatGPT?

There's no way to pay for a place in ChatGPT's answers. Be wary of anyone selling guaranteed AI recommendations.

Do I need an llms.txt file for ChatGPT?

It isn't required, and there's no evidence ChatGPT relies on it today. See our llms.txt guide for the details.

Does good Google SEO help in ChatGPT?

Mostly, yes. Clear, crawlable pages, strong reviews and mentions on trusted sites help on both.

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