Get ChatGPT to recommend you: the 4-step playbook.

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When ChatGPT searches the web, it names the brands its source pages name and describes them the way those pages do. If it can't read your site, your facts don't match across the web, or the few pages it cites skip you, you won't make the shortlist. This page walks you through the four fixes and gives you the tools to check if they worked.

Where to start

Never checked your robots.txt or firewall for AI bots? Start at Step 1. A blocked bot rules you out of ChatGPT search.
ChatGPT mentions you but gets your price, product or audience wrong? Go to Step 2.
ChatGPT recommends competitors and skips you? Go to Step 3 and find the pages it cites.
Not sure how often it names you? Run the Step 4 repeat test first.

Step 1 of 4 · 5 minutes

Let ChatGPT's search bot read your site

ChatGPT search fetches pages with a bot called OAI-SearchBot. OpenAI's crawler docs say sites that block it will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers. GPTBot is a different bot: it collects training data, and blocking it does not hide you from search. Open yoursite.com/robots.txt and look for a Disallow under User-agent: OAI-SearchBot or under User-agent: *. To test it line by line, use the robots.txt checker in free guide 01.

The fix: add these lines to robots.txt

User-agent: OAI-SearchBot
Allow: /

User-agent: ChatGPT-User
Allow: /

Then check what the bot actually sees. Vercel's December 2024 analysis found that OpenAI's crawlers fetched JavaScript files but did not run them. If your price, sizes or ingredients only appear after a script loads, the bot may never see them. Open your product page, press Ctrl+U (Cmd+Option+U on Mac) to view the source, and search for your price. If it isn't there, ChatGPT's bot may not see it either.

Allow OAI-SearchBot. Shopify: edit robots.txt.liquid in your theme. WordPress: Yoast or Rank Math file editor. Webflow: Site settings → SEO → robots.txt. Check your firewall. In Cloudflare, look at Security → Bots and any "Block AI bots" setting. OpenAI asks sites to allow its published search bot IP ranges. Put key facts in the HTML. Price, pack size, who it's for and delivery areas as text, not only inside images, carousels or scripts. Answer first. On your main pages, use the buyer's question as a heading and answer it in the first two sentences.

Step 2 of 4 · 10 minutes

Write one set of brand facts and paste it everywhere

ChatGPT can build its description of you from several pages at once. If your site says one price, a marketplace says another, and LinkedIn describes a different product, the answer may repeat the wrong version or drop the detail. Fill in the fields below once. You get a one-line description, an About paragraph, a fact list and Organization schema, all saying the same thing.

Brand facts builder Example brand

Runs in your browser. Nothing is sent anywhere. Your answers are saved in this browser only.

Brand name

Website

What you sell

Who it is for

What makes it different (a checkable fact)

Who should pick something else

Price and size

Where to buy

Founded (year)

Based in

Proof (certification, test, award)

Your profile links, one per line

One-line description

About paragraph

Fact list for About pages and directories

Organization schema (paste in your homepage <head>)

BeforeClearleaf is the world's best clean skincare brand, loved by thousands.

AfterClearleaf makes a fragrance-free foaming face wash for people with oily, acne-prone skin, priced at $14 for 150 ml.

The "after" version gives ChatGPT facts it can repeat and check against other pages. OpenAI doesn't say whether ChatGPT reads schema, so add it for Google and keep every fact in visible text too.

Homepage and About page. Use the one-liner near the top and the fact list on About. Profiles. LinkedIn, Instagram bio, Google Business Profile, Crunchbase or G2: same one-liner, same founding year. Marketplaces. Amazon, Etsy, Walmart or Flipkart: the same product names and pack sizes as your store. Price changes. When a price moves, update every listing in the same week.

Step 3 of 4 · 10 minutes

Find the pages ChatGPT cites, then get onto them

Each ChatGPT answer cites a small set of source links. When those few pages are best-of lists that name your competitors, the answer names your competitors. Ask your buyers' questions in a clean session, open every source link, and note the pages that skip you. Those are your targets.

ChatGPT test prompt pack

Runs in your browser. Nothing is sent anywhere. The first list never contains your brand name, because a question that names you will mention you.

Visibility prompts: count these

Diagnostic prompts: never count these

Run them clean. Use a logged-out window at chatgpt.com, or a Temporary Chat, which OpenAI says does not use your saved memories. Turn web search on. ChatGPT can also use your approximate location, so turn off any VPN and test from the country you sell in.

Log every source link. For each answer, list the cited pages and mark the ones that name a competitor but not you. Best-of lists. Email the author with facts they can check: price, what is different, your fact list from Step 2 and a sample. Marketplaces. Complete your listings where your buyers shop and ask real customers for reviews. Forums. Answer Reddit or Quora threads from a named brand account and say who you are. No fake accounts. Your own comparison page. Compare yourself honestly with your top rival, including who should pick them instead.

Step 4 of 4 · 15 minutes, then monthly

Run the repeat test to see if it worked

One screenshot proves nothing. ChatGPT can name a brand in one answer and skip it in the next, so a single check can wrongly say it ignores you. Ask the same question 5 to 10 times, each in a fresh clean chat, and tick every brand each answer names. The tracker turns that into a mention rate with a 95% range.

Repeat test tracker Example numbers

The example numbers are made up to show how the tracker works. Put your brand on the first line. Saved in this browser only.

Question you asked (word for word)

Brands to track, one per line (yours first, up to 8)

How many times you asked

Date	Question	Brand	Named in	Rate	95% range	Rank

Freeze your questions. Same wording, country and language every month, so changes come from your work, not your prompt. Test several questions. 5 questions × 5 runs gives 25 answers. More answers give a narrower range. Judge changes by the range. A move counts only when this month's range and last month's don't overlap.

Reality check. Your results depend on your questions, country, language and wording, so test your own prompts and trust your own log over any general claim. Logged-in users with memory may see different brands. OpenAI publishes no ranking formula and no timeline for answers to change, and no tool can promise a recommendation.

Does ChatGPT give the same answer to everyone?

No. ChatGPT can name different brands each time you ask the same question. Memory, location and wording add more variation for real users. That is why Step 4 asks the same question several times.

If I block GPTBot, will ChatGPT stop recommending me?

Not in search answers. GPTBot collects training data. OAI-SearchBot is the bot ChatGPT search uses, and it has its own robots.txt rule.

Does adding stats or quotes to my pages help?

In a research setup using GPT-3.5, adding citations, quotations and statistics raised a page's visibility in AI answers by up to about 40% (Aggarwal et al., KDD 2024). Treat it as a direction, not a promise for ChatGPT today.

Data: Crawler rules: OpenAI crawler docs. Memory: OpenAI Memory FAQ. JavaScript rendering: Vercel analysis, Dec 2024. Stats and quotes research: Aggarwal et al., KDD 2024. Free guide by SEO to GEO HQ.

Get ChatGPT to recommend youthe 4-step playbook.