How to get your business recommended by ChatGPT
Yeheli Sampson · · 4 min read
The short answer
Let AI crawlers into your site, make sure it is in both Google and Bing, write pages that answer questions directly with specific details, add structured data and FAQs, and keep the same details everywhere online. Nothing can guarantee a place in the answer, but you can be a good source.
More and more people ask ChatGPT, Gemini or other AI tools questions like where to hold a birthday in Tel Aviv, or which pilates studio in Florentin is good. The answer is short, with a few names, and there is no page two.
Nobody can guarantee your business will appear in the answer. But there are clear steps that make your site a source these tools can easily understand and quote. Here they are.
How AI tools find businesses
When a tool like ChatGPT searches the web to answer, it relies on search results and on pages it crawls. So the base is the same as SEO: pages that can be crawled, that appear in search engines, and that clearly answer questions.
Step 1: Allow crawling
Check your site's robots.txt (at /robots.txt) and make sure it does not block AI crawlers. For example, OAI-SearchBot is the crawler OpenAI uses for ChatGPT search.
User-agent: *
Allow: /
Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xmlSome site builders and security plugins block crawlers by default. Worth checking.
Step 2: Be in Google and in Bing
AI tools rely partly on search engine indexes. Connect your site to Google Search Console and to Bing Webmaster Tools, and submit your sitemap in both.
Step 3: Write like an answer, not an ad
AI tools read a site like a menu: a heading, and a clear fact under it. A long paragraph mixing five topics is hard to quote. A short heading with a direct answer below it is easy.
- 1
Headings shaped like questions
For example: How many people fit in the studio? Or: Is there parking nearby?
- 2
The answer in the first sentence
The answer itself first, then the explanation.
- 3
Specific details
Numbers, hours, neighborhood, who it is for. A specific answer matches a specific question.
Step 4: Win the small question
For a broad question like the best place in Tel Aviv, AI tools tend to answer from big ranking sites and guides. For a precise question, with a neighborhood, a group size or a specific need, a small business has a better chance, if its site states exactly that answer.
Write down five questions real customers ask, in their own words, and check whether your site has a page that answers each one.
Step 5: Structured data and FAQs
Structured data (Schema.org) tells these tools explicitly who the business is, what it offers, where, and when it is open. Add LocalBusiness or a more specific type, and an FAQ page marked up as FAQPage.
Step 6: An llms.txt file
llms.txt is a proposed plain-text file at /llms.txt that summarises your site for language models: what you do, your key pages, and how to get in touch. It is not an official standard yet, but it is easy to add and does no harm.
Step 7: Consistency across the web
The same name, services and details on your site, your Google Business Profile, your social profiles and any directories you appear in. When sources agree with each other, they are easier to trust.
How to check
Open a fresh ChatGPT chat and ask the questions your customers ask, in their exact words. Note who shows up. Repeat the check now and then after you improve pages, and see what changed.
Questions on this topic
Can I pay ChatGPT to appear in answers?
Not in its regular answers. Appearing there comes from content and sources, not payment.
Is this different from Google SEO?
The base is very similar: a crawlable site, clear content and consistent sources. The difference is that AI tools prefer direct, precise answers that are easy to quote.
How long until I see a change?
It varies and cannot be promised. Check now and then with the same questions, and improve pages based on what you see.