How to make ChatGPT recommend your company: a step-by-step plan

When a buyer types "who are the best firms for this?" into ChatGPT, it returns a short list. Most companies never check whether they are on it. This guide is the order we work in when a client asks us to get them there, starting with the checks that take an afternoon and ending with the work that takes months.

First, see what ChatGPT says today

Before changing anything, write down 10 to 20 questions a real buyer would ask. Use their words, not yours. A buyer rarely says "generative engine optimization". They say "who can get us leads from AI search" or "best payroll software for a 50-person company in Texas".

Ask each question in ChatGPT with search switched on, in a fresh chat. Record three things for every answer: whether you are named, who is named instead, and which sources ChatGPT lists. Do this once a week. That list of sources becomes your to-do list.

Step 1. Let ChatGPT read your site

ChatGPT reaches the web through OpenAI's crawlers. OAI-SearchBot fetches pages for search answers, ChatGPT-User fetches a page when someone asks about it directly, and GPTBot collects training data. If your robots.txt or your CDN blocks them, ChatGPT can't quote you, however good the page is.

• Open yoursite.com/robots.txt and check none of these three is disallowed.
• Check your CDN or firewall settings. Some block "AI bots" with one switch, and that switch is easy to miss.
• Make sure the important text is in the HTML. If a page only renders its content with JavaScript, some crawlers see an empty shell.

Step 2. Say plainly what you do and for whom

ChatGPT recommends companies it can describe with confidence. Vague homepages make that hard. Each key page should answer, in the first few lines, what you do, who it is for, where you work and roughly how you charge. If a sentence would fit any company in your industry, it gives ChatGPT nothing to repeat.

Write one clear answer for each buying question near the top of the relevant page, in two or three sentences that make sense on their own. Then add the detail underneath. This is the single biggest on-site change most companies can make.

Step 3. Make your facts match everywhere

ChatGPT cross-checks you. If your site says you serve "mid-market manufacturers", LinkedIn says "enterprise software", and a directory lists an old address, the model has three versions of you and trusts none of them. Pick one description and use it on your site, LinkedIn, Crunchbase, Wikidata, Google Business Profile, G2 or Clutch, and any industry directory you appear in.

Step 4. Get named by other sites

This is the step most companies skip, and the one that matters most. When we ask ChatGPT for recommendations, it usually explains its sources, and they are almost never the companies' own websites. They are review sites, directories, comparison articles and discussions. ChatGPT trusts what others say about you more than what you say about yourself.

• Collect genuine reviews on the review sites that appear in ChatGPT's sources for your category.
• Create or complete profiles on the directories it cites.
• Find the "best X" and comparison articles it quotes, and contact their authors with a fair case for being included.
• Answer questions helpfully, and openly, in the communities buyers use.

Step 5. Don't forget Bing

ChatGPT search has used third-party search providers, Bing among them, alongside its own crawler. A site that is well indexed on Google but barely present on Bing has a gap. Verify the site in Bing Webmaster Tools, submit the sitemap, and switch on IndexNow so new pages are reported straight away.

Step 6. Re-check every week

Run the same questions every week and keep the answers. Changes to your own pages can show up in search-based answers within days or weeks. Changes in what the model already knows only arrive with new model versions, which takes months. Tracking both tells you which work is paying off.

A worked example

Say you run a 40-person IT support firm in Denver. Your buyer question is "Who are the best managed IT providers for law firms in Denver?" ChatGPT names three competitors and cites a local business journal list, two review profiles and a Reddit thread. None mention you.

The plan writes itself. Complete the two review profiles and ask five law-firm clients for honest reviews. Write a page called "Managed IT for law firms in Denver" that says, in the first lines, what you do for law firms, how many you support and how fast you respond. Contact the journal about its next list. Answer the Reddit thread openly, as someone from your company, if you have something useful to add. Then check the same question every week.

Common mistakes

• Writing more generic blog posts instead of the one page that answers the buying question.
• Changing your company description on every profile, so the model never sees a consistent picture.
• Asking ChatGPT once, seeing nothing, and giving up. Answers vary, so track a fixed set every week.
• Ignoring the sources list. It tells you exactly where to work.

If you'd rather have someone run this for you, this is the work we do as a ChatGPT SEO agency, starting with an AI visibility audit of your buyer questions.