How to get your business recommended by ChatGPT

You can’t apply, submit or pay to be recommended in ChatGPT’s answers. What you can do is make your business easy for it to find, read and verify – on your own site and on the other websites it relies on.

Last updated 15 October 2026 · Written by GPT Visibility

The short answer

Let ChatGPT’s search crawler in. Allow OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt and make sure your host or CDN doesn’t block it.
Get indexed beyond Google. Verify your site in Bing Webmaster Tools and claim your Bing Places listing as well as your Google Business Profile.
Say plainly what you do, for whom, and where. Services, towns, prices or starting prices, opening hours – as text, not only in images.
Keep your details identical everywhere. Same business name, address and phone number on your site, profiles and directories.
Be mentioned by other people. Reviews that describe the work, professional and local directories, and “best X in [town]” roundups.
Measure it properly. Ask the questions your customers ask, several times, and track how often you’re named.

How ChatGPT finds businesses to recommend

When ChatGPT searches the web, OpenAI says it “typically rewrites your query into one or more targeted queries” and sends them to search partners, then reads the pages it gets back and cites them. It may also use your approximate location, so “an accountant near me” becomes a search for your town.

That has two consequences. First, your pages must be crawlable by OpenAI’s search bot. OpenAI’s documentation is explicit: Sites that are opted out of OAI-SearchBot will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers. Second, ChatGPT tends to build a shortlist from the pages that come back for those rewritten searches – which are often directories, review sites and roundups, not only your homepage.

Answers also vary from run to run, so being named once (or missed once) tells you very little.

Step 1: Let OAI-SearchBot crawl your site

OpenAI runs separate bots. OAI-SearchBot surfaces sites in ChatGPT search; GPTBot collects content that may be used for model training. They’re controlled independently, so you can allow search while opting out of training. OpenAI notes robots.txt changes can take around 24 hours to take effect for search.

The common hidden problem isn’t robots.txt – it’s a firewall, CDN or “bot protection” setting that returns an error to bots. OpenAI recommends allowing requests from its published IP ranges. See our guide to AI crawlers and robots.txt for the exact lines.

Step 2: Be findable by the search engines ChatGPT uses

OpenAI says ChatGPT search partners with other search providers, and lists Microsoft’s privacy statement among them. It’s sensible to make sure Bing can see you: verify your site in Bing Webmaster Tools, submit your sitemap, and claim your listing at Bing Places for Business. Search Bing for site:yourdomain.co.uk and check your key pages appear.

Step 3: Make your website easy to describe

An assistant can only recommend you for things it can read. On your homepage and service pages, state in plain words:

what you do and who it’s for (“bookkeeping and VAT returns for sole traders and small limited companies”);
the towns or areas you cover;
prices or starting prices, if you’re comfortable sharing them;
opening hours, how to get in touch and how to book.

Add accurate LocalBusiness structured data (for accountants, the AccountingService type) whose details match the visible page.

Step 4: Keep your details consistent

Use one business name, one address format and one main phone number on your website, Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Companies House-linked listings and directories. Inconsistent details make it harder for any system to be sure the listings refer to the same business.

Step 5: Earn mentions on the sites AI reads

Your own website is one voice. Independent pages that describe you – reviews, professional directories, local press, trade bodies and roundups – carry weight because they corroborate what you say. A practical method: ask ChatGPT and Perplexity your customers’ questions, open the sources they cite, and work out which of those pages you could reasonably appear on. Ask happy customers for reviews that describe the work and the place (“sorted our self-assessment in Leeds”), and never buy or write fake reviews.

Step 6: Measure a rate, not a screenshot

Write 10–20 questions your customers would actually ask, without your business name in them – for example “recommend a bookkeeper for a small café in Bristol”. Ask each one several times on ChatGPT (with search), Perplexity and Gemini, and record how often you’re named and who appears instead. Re-test monthly. That’s exactly what our audit automates.

What doesn’t work

Paying someone who promises a “guaranteed ChatGPT ranking”. OpenAI states placement is not guaranteed.
Hidden text or instructions aimed at AI, keyword stuffing, or mass-produced listicles.
Assuming an llms.txt file alone will get you recommended. It’s harmless and can be useful, but no major engine documents it as a ranking signal.

Frequently asked questions

Can I pay to be recommended by ChatGPT?

No. ChatGPT has no submission or payment route into its organic recommendations, and OpenAI says placement in search results is not guaranteed. You can only improve the signals it reads.

Does blocking GPTBot stop my business appearing in ChatGPT?

Not by itself. OpenAI documents GPTBot (training) and OAI-SearchBot (search) as independent. To appear in ChatGPT search answers, OAI-SearchBot needs to be allowed.

How long does it take to start being recommended?

Fixing crawler access can take effect within about a day for ChatGPT search, according to OpenAI. Being named more often usually takes weeks to months because it depends on other websites mentioning you.

Does ranking well on Google mean ChatGPT will recommend me?

Not necessarily. ChatGPT uses its own search process and search partners, and often draws on directories and review sites, so Google rankings and ChatGPT recommendations can differ.