How to show up in ChatGPT search results.
ChatGPT search reads a handful of pages and writes one answer. To be in it, ChatGPT has to be allowed to read your site, find a page that answers the question, and trust what it reads. Here is each step, from OpenAI's own pages and recent studies.
5 things that decide whether ChatGPT can use you.
Let OAI-SearchBot read your site
OAI-SearchBot is the agent behind ChatGPT search. OpenAI says sites that opt out of it are not shown in ChatGPT search answers. A robots.txt change takes about 24 hours to reach it (OpenAI's page on its programs).
Answer the question in the first lines
Put a direct answer under each heading, then the detail. A page that makes the reader dig is easy to pass over for one that doesn't.
Keep the page current
In Ahrefs' study of 17 million citations, ChatGPT was the assistant most likely to cite newer pages. Update the pages that matter, and show the date.
Be named on the sites ChatGPT reads
In Ahrefs' study, only 8% of the pages ChatGPT cited were in Google's top 10 for the same question. Reviews, comparisons, forums and the trade press in your field count for more than a Google position.
Check what it says
Ask the questions your buyers ask and read the answers. Visits from ChatGPT arrive tagged utm_source=chatgpt.com, so your analytics can count them (OpenAI's publisher FAQ).
Blocking GPTBot doesn't hide you.
GPTBot collects pages to train OpenAI's models. OAI-SearchBot fetches them for ChatGPT search, and OpenAI treats each setting on its own. You can block training and stay in ChatGPT's answers. Should you block GPTBot sets out what each AI company's agents do.
Every answer ChatGPT gives about you.
Visibian asks ChatGPT your buyers' questions through OpenAI's API with web search on, daily or weekly, and keeps every answer with the pages it cited. You see when you are named, who is named instead, and the page that won. ChatGPT brand monitoring has the detail.
Asked before you ask.
How do I get my business to show up in ChatGPT?
Let OAI-SearchBot read your site, publish a page that answers the question plainly, keep it current, and be named on the review sites, comparisons and forums ChatGPT reads.
Does a high Google position get me into ChatGPT?
Less than you might expect. In Ahrefs' study, only 8% of the pages ChatGPT cited appeared in Google's top 10 for the same question.
How long does it take to show up in ChatGPT search?
OpenAI says a robots.txt change takes about 24 hours to reach ChatGPT search. A new or updated page can be cited once ChatGPT finds it, and how fast that happens varies.
Will blocking GPTBot keep me out of ChatGPT?
No. GPTBot is for training. ChatGPT search uses OAI-SearchBot, and OpenAI treats each setting separately.
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