How ChatGPT decides which businesses to recommend
When someone asks ChatGPT “who is a good dentist in Bhubaneswar” or “best accounting software agency for a UK startup”, it usually runs a live web search and then writes an answer from what it finds. The businesses it names are the ones that turn up in those results and look trustworthy and relevant.
That means ChatGPT recommendations are built on the same foundations as normal search visibility. If Google and other search engines struggle to understand your site, an AI assistant will struggle too.
In my work I look at three things before anything else:
- Access: can OpenAI’s search crawler actually read your website?
- Clarity: does your site say plainly what you do, where you do it and who it is for?
- Corroboration: do other sites, directories, reviews and articles confirm the same facts about you?
If you are new to this area, my explainer on what AI SEO is and how to get recommended by ChatGPT, Gemini and Google covers the wider picture. This post focuses on the practical steps for ChatGPT.
One more point that surprises many owners: ChatGPT does not have a business listing you can claim, and there is no way to pay for a recommendation inside its answers. You cannot submit your company to it the way you submit a site to a directory. Everything you do happens on your own website and on the wider web, which is why the steps below look a lot like good, old-fashioned SEO with a few extra checks.
Step 1: Make sure OpenAI's crawler can read your site
OpenAI uses different crawlers for different jobs. According to OpenAI’s own crawler documentation, OAI-SearchBot is the one used to surface websites in ChatGPT’s search features, while GPTBot is used for training models. You can allow one and block the other.
I regularly find business websites where a security plugin, a hosting firewall or an old robots.txt rule blocks AI bots completely. The owner has no idea, and then wonders why ChatGPT never mentions them.
Quick checks you can do today
- Open yourdomain.com/robots.txt in a browser and look for any line that disallows OAI-SearchBot or blocks all bots.
- Ask your developer or hosting provider whether a firewall (for example a “block AI bots” setting) is switched on.
- Make sure your important pages are not hidden behind logins, pop-ups or content that only loads after heavy JavaScript.
If you do not want your content used for model training, you can block GPTBot and still allow OAI-SearchBot. That is a business decision, but blocking the search crawler means you are opting out of being shown in ChatGPT search answers.
Want more customers from Google?
Message me on WhatsApp with your website and I’ll tell you what’s holding it back and where to start.
Step 2: Write pages that answer real customer questions
ChatGPT tends to quote and summarise pages that answer a question directly. A homepage that only says “Welcome to excellence” gives it nothing to work with.
Think about the questions customers ask you on the phone or on WhatsApp, then make sure your website answers them in plain words. For each main service, I usually recommend a dedicated page that covers:
- What the service is, in one or two simple sentences at the top.
- Who it is for (for example “small clinics in Odisha” or “e-commerce brands in the UK and UAE”).
- Where you work: city, region or “remote, worldwide”.
- How the process works, step by step.
- Typical timelines and what affects cost, without inventing fixed promises.
- A short FAQ section with the questions people genuinely ask.
Google’s guidance on AI features and your website makes a similar point: there is no special trick for AI answers, and the same people-first content and technical basics still apply. I find that reassuring for small businesses, because it means good, honest pages help everywhere.
Example of a weak line versus a clear one
Example only. Weak: “We provide world-class solutions for all your needs.” Clear: “We are a physiotherapy clinic in Brahmapur offering sports injury rehab, back pain treatment and home visits within 10 km.”
The second version tells both a person and an AI exactly when to recommend you.
Step 3: Keep your business details consistent everywhere
When ChatGPT is unsure, it leans on information that appears in several places. If your website says one address, your Google Business Profile says another and a directory still shows your old phone number, you look less reliable.
Here is the consistency checklist I use:
- Business name written the same way on your site, Google Business Profile, social profiles and directories.
- Same address format and phone number everywhere.
- Same list of core services, described with similar words.
- An About page that names the owner or team and explains your experience.
- Organisation or LocalBusiness structured data on your site that matches the visible details.
For local businesses, your Google Business Profile matters a lot here because it is one of the most widely copied sources of business information. My guide on how to rank your Google Business Profile in the Maps top 3 walks through the setup in detail.
Step 4: Earn mentions on other trusted websites
Recommendations feel safer when other people back them up. AI assistants often pull from “best of” lists, local news, industry directories, review platforms and forum discussions to decide which names to include.
You do not need to chase hundreds of links. A handful of genuine, relevant mentions usually does more than a pile of low-quality ones. Practical places to start:
- Respected industry or professional directories in your field.
- Local business associations, chambers of commerce or city portals.
- Guest articles or expert quotes in publications your customers read.
- Partners and suppliers who can list you on their websites.
- Genuine reviews on Google and on platforms that matter in your industry.
Avoid buying fake reviews or paying for spammy “top 10” lists. Apart from breaking platform rules, they can damage trust if customers spot them, and they are not a stable foundation.
Common mistakes that keep businesses out of ChatGPT answers
These are the problems I see most often when a business owner asks why ChatGPT recommends competitors but not them:
- Blocking AI crawlers by accident through a plugin, CDN or robots.txt rule.
- Thin service pages with two lines of text and a contact form.
- Vague location signals, such as never mentioning the city or regions you serve.
- Everything in images or PDFs, so the text cannot be read easily.
- Outdated information on old directory listings and social profiles.
- Expecting instant results. AI answers change as the web changes, so this is ongoing work, not a one-off fix.
It is also worth testing regularly. Ask ChatGPT the questions your customers would ask, note which businesses it names and which sources it links to, and look at what those sources have in common.
How to run a simple monthly test
Keep a short spreadsheet with ten prompts a real customer might type, such as “best wedding photographer in Cuttack” or “reliable SEO consultant for a small business in Australia”. Each month, run them in ChatGPT with search switched on and record three things: whether you are mentioned, which competitors are named, and which websites are cited as sources.
Over a few months this shows patterns. If the same directory or blog keeps appearing as a source, that is a clear hint about where you should be listed or featured. Answers can vary between sessions, so look at trends rather than one result.
Practical next steps for your business
If you want to start this week, here is a simple order of work that I would follow for most small and mid-sized businesses, whether you are in India or serving clients abroad:
- Check robots.txt and firewall settings so OAI-SearchBot can reach your site.
- Rewrite the top of each service page so it clearly says what you do, for whom and where.
- Add an FAQ section answering five to ten real customer questions.
- Fix inconsistent business details across your website, Google Business Profile and directories.
- Pick three to five trusted websites where you could realistically earn a mention this quarter.
- Test a few customer-style prompts in ChatGPT every month and track what changes.
In effort terms, the technical checks take an hour or two, while content and reputation work is a steady monthly commitment. If you would rather have someone handle it, my AI SEO services cover crawler access, content and entity signals, and my SEO packages combine this with regular search work.
Not sure where you stand right now? Request a quick SEO audit or message me on WhatsApp, and I will tell you honestly what is stopping ChatGPT from recommending your business.
Want help getting more customers from Google?
Message me on WhatsApp with your website. I’ll reply with a quick review and the first things I would fix.