Short answer: To get your business recommended by ChatGPT and AI search, make sure AI search crawlers can reach your site, get indexed in Google and Bing, describe your business the same way everywhere, and earn genuine reviews and mentions on other trusted sites. AI tools recommend brands that the wider web already talks about clearly and positively. There is no paid shortcut and no file that forces a recommendation.
How businesses get recommended by ChatGPT and AI search
When someone asks “who is the best accountant for small businesses in Toronto?”, an AI search tool usually runs one or more web searches, reads a set of pages and writes an answer. OpenAI says ChatGPT search typically rewrites a question into one or more targeted queries and sends them to search providers. The brands it names are the ones that show up clearly and credibly across those sources.
So the question is not “how do I rank in ChatGPT?” It is “when an AI reads the web about my category, does it find me, and does it find good reasons to mention me?” That depends on three things:
- Access: AI crawlers and search indexes can read your pages.
- Clarity: your brand, services and location are described consistently.
- Proof: other sources, such as reviews, directories, articles and forums, mention you positively.
Step 1: let the right crawlers in
Different AI companies use different crawlers for different jobs. Blocking the wrong one can remove you from AI answers.
| Crawler | Company | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| OAI-SearchBot | OpenAI | Surfaces sites in ChatGPT search. If blocked, your pages will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers, though they can still appear as navigational links. |
| GPTBot | OpenAI | Crawls content that may be used to train OpenAI’s models. Blocking it is a training choice, separate from search. |
| ChatGPT-User | OpenAI | Visits pages when a user asks ChatGPT to. OpenAI says robots.txt rules may not apply because the user started the action. |
| PerplexityBot | Perplexity | Surfaces and links sites in Perplexity answers. Perplexity says it is not used to train foundation models. |
| Google-Extended | A control token for whether your content helps improve Gemini apps and Vertex AI. Google says it does not affect inclusion or ranking in Google Search. |
Sources: OpenAI crawler documentation, Perplexity crawler documentation and Google’s clarification on Google-Extended. Google AI Overviews and AI Mode use normal Google Search crawling, so Googlebot access is what matters there.
What I recommend: allow OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot, Googlebot and Bingbot. Decide on GPTBot and Google-Extended separately, based on how you feel about AI training. Then check your CDN or firewall: OpenAI’s help centre notes that your host must also allow traffic from its published search bot IP addresses, and security tools sometimes block AI bots by default.
Step 2: get indexed in Google and Bing
Many site owners ignore Bing. That is a mistake for AI visibility. OpenAI’s help page for ChatGPT search in Enterprise and Edu workspaces says ChatGPT may share search queries with Bing to return web results. For other plans, OpenAI says it uses third-party search providers without promising they are only Bing, and independent tests by Semrush suggest other providers are used as well.
- Verify your site in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
- Submit your XML sitemap to both.
- Use URL inspection in both tools to confirm your key pages are indexed.
- Fix pages that are blocked, duplicated or too thin to be indexed.
- Claim Google Business Profile and Bing Places if you serve local customers.
Step 3: build clear entity and brand signals
AI models need to be confident about who you are before they recommend you. Make that easy:
- Use one business name, one short description and the same contact details on your website, social profiles and directories.
- Have a clear About page that says what you do, for whom, where and since when.
- Create dedicated pages for each main service and location, each with a direct answer at the top.
- Add Organization or Person structured data with sameAs links to your official profiles.
- Show real people: named founders, authors and team members with profile pages.
I explain how structured data and entity consistency fit together in SEO vs AEO vs GEO.
Step 4: earn third-party mentions and reviews
This is the step that matters most and takes longest. When an AI tool answers “best X for Y”, it leans on what other sites say: review platforms, “best of” lists, industry directories, news articles, Reddit and other forums. Your own website can say you are great, but independent sources make the AI believe it.
- Reviews: ask every happy customer for a review on Google and on the platform that matters in your industry. Reply to reviews, including bad ones.
- Directories and associations: get listed where your buyers and journalists look.
- Expert content: contribute useful quotes, data or guides to industry publications and podcasts.
- Community: answer questions honestly on forums where your customers ask for advice. Do not spam.
- Comparison pages: publish fair comparisons and alternatives pages, because buyers ask AI tools “X vs Y” all the time.
Never buy fake reviews or plant fake forum posts. Platforms remove them, and it can damage trust in your brand far more than it helps.
What about llms.txt?
llms.txt is a proposed file, first suggested in September 2024 by Jeremy Howard of Answer.AI, that sits at the root of your site and lists your most important pages in Markdown for language models. It is a proposal, not an adopted standard.
Adoption is uncertain. In June 2025 Google’s John Mueller said no AI system currently uses llms.txt, and Google’s AI features documentation says you do not need AI text files to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode. I have not seen OpenAI or Perplexity document that they read it either. My honest view: adding one is cheap and harmless, especially for software documentation, but do not expect it to change recommendations. Spend your time on steps 1 to 4 first.
How to check what AI says about you
- Build a prompt list. Write 20 to 30 questions buyers ask, such as “best [service] in [city]”, “[your brand] reviews” and “[your brand] vs [competitor]”.
- Test across tools. Run them in ChatGPT with search on, Perplexity, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot and Google AI Mode. Use a logged-out or fresh session where you can, because chat history can personalise answers.
- Record the results. Note whether you are mentioned, which sources are cited, which competitors appear and whether any facts about you are wrong.
- Fix the sources. If an answer is wrong, find the cited page and correct your own content or the outdated listing it came from.
- Track referrals. OpenAI’s publisher FAQ says ChatGPT adds utm_source=chatgpt.com to referral links, so you can see that traffic in GA4. Also watch referrals from perplexity.ai and copilot.microsoft.com.
- Use platform reports. Bing Webmaster Tools has an AI Performance report showing citations in Copilot and Bing AI summaries, and Google Search Console now has generative AI performance reports for AI Overviews and AI Mode impressions.
- Repeat monthly. AI answers vary between runs, so look for trends over several months, not single results.
For more background on the discipline itself, see what is GEO.
Frequently asked questions
How do I get my business recommended by ChatGPT?
Does ChatGPT search use Bing?
Should I block GPTBot?
Will an llms.txt file get me into AI answers?
Can someone help me improve how AI tools describe my business?
Need help getting recommended by AI search?
I’m Saifur Saif, a Google Ads & Meta Ads specialist who also works on SEO, GEO and AEO. I can check your crawler settings, indexing in Google and Bing, entity consistency and what ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Mode say about you today, then give you a prioritised fix list. If you run ads as well, get a free ads audit and I will look at search and paid together.
Sources
- OpenAI: Overview of OpenAI crawlers
- OpenAI Help: Publishers and developers FAQ
- OpenAI Help: ChatGPT search for Enterprise and Edu
- Perplexity: Perplexity crawlers
- Search Engine Roundtable: Google says no AI system currently uses llms.txt
- Search Engine Roundtable: Google-Extended does not affect Google Search