ChatGPT
ChatGPT SEO: how to be found and recommended by ChatGPT
ChatGPT SEO, as we use the term, is the work of getting a business found, cited and recommended in ChatGPT's answers. It is not the use of ChatGPT to write SEO content.
At a glance
- What it means here
- Being found, cited and recommended by ChatGPT
- What OpenAI says
- Any public website can appear, if its search crawler can reach you
- What we measured
- Nine buyer questions asked of ChatGPT on 4 October 2026
- First programme
- 90 days, then month to month
What ChatGPT SEO means
ChatGPT SEO has two meanings. Most often it means using ChatGPT as a tool for SEO work. On , six of the top ten Google UK results for the phrase were about that.
This page is about the other meaning: how to optimise for ChatGPT (optimize, in US spelling) so that it finds, cites and recommends your business. The same work is also called generative engine optimisation.
It matters because ChatGPT now answers buyers' questions directly, and names suppliers and products when it does.
What OpenAI says
We read OpenAI's two pages for site owners: its crawler overview and its publisher FAQ. This is what they say, and it is less than most guides imply.
| Question | What OpenAI says |
|---|---|
| Can any website appear? | Yes. OpenAI says any public website can appear in ChatGPT search.2 |
| What do I have to allow? | OAI-SearchBot, the crawler used to surface websites in ChatGPT's search features. Do not block it in robots.txt.12 |
| Does blocking training remove me from search? | No. GPTBot collects training data and is a separate crawler.1 |
| How long does a robots.txt change take? | About 24 hours for search results.1 |
| Can I keep a page out? | Yes, with a noindex tag. The crawler must be allowed to reach the page to read the tag.2 |
| Where does it find pages? | By crawling, and it may also obtain a page's address from a third-party search provider.2 |
| How do I see the visits? | Links from ChatGPT search carry utm_source=chatgpt.com, so they show in your analytics.2 |
| Can I pay to appear? | Neither page describes a paid way into search results. Ads on ChatGPT are a separate product with their own crawler, OAI-AdsBot.1 |
Neither page lists ranking factors. Anything beyond this table is observation or opinion, ours included.
What we measured in ChatGPT
On we asked ChatGPT nine questions a UK buyer might ask, with web search on. Three were about business services, three about software and three about products.
Exhibit 1
| What we counted | Result |
|---|---|
| Brands and products named, across nine answers | 77 |
| Named in a single answer | 5 to 11 |
| Websites cited in a single answer, on average | 4.6 |
| Named brands whose own website was cited | 15 of 77 |
| For business services | 10 of 25 |
| For software | 2 of 26 |
| For products | 3 of 26 |
Source: AI Search Ranking research, . Each question was asked once. Six of the nine answers were cut short by a length limit, so the counts are a minimum. Answers vary between runs.
ChatGPT named about nine brands in an answer and cited fewer than five websites. Most of the brands it recommended were not among its sources. Of its 41 citations, 18 were brands' own websites, 9 were publishers and 7 were review or comparison sites.
What a ChatGPT SEO agency does
A ChatGPT SEO agency cannot change what ChatGPT says. It can remove what stops ChatGPT reading you and improve what it finds. We do seven things.
| Part | What it means |
|---|---|
| Access check | We confirm that robots.txt and your firewall allow OAI-SearchBot and ChatGPT-User.1 |
| Baseline | We record what ChatGPT says today in answer to 50 of your buyers' questions, each asked more than once. |
| Corrections | Where it describes you wrongly, we find the page the error came from and fix it there. |
| Source map | We list the websites ChatGPT cites for your category, by type. |
| Citable pages | We give your key pages clear statements, first-hand evidence, dates and sources. |
| Earned mentions | We earn mentions on the sources in the map. You receive a record of what was placed and where. |
| Measurement | We re-run the questions monthly and report them beside your visits from ChatGPT.2 |
This is the same work as our GEO service, measured for one assistant. Most clients have it measured across five.
What to ask anyone who promises ChatGPT placement
On the first Google UK result for 'ChatGPT SEO agency' was a Reddit thread asking whether to trust an agency's placement claims. These four questions sort a method from a promise.
| Ask | A sound answer |
|---|---|
| What does OpenAI itself say about this? | It names OpenAI's crawler and publisher pages, and admits how little they say. |
| How do you measure it? | A fixed set of questions, asked more than once, with the date of each run. |
| Can we see the answers? | Yes: the recorded answer behind every number. |
| What happens if nothing moves? | You are told so in the report, and you can leave at short notice. |
What we will not promise
A recommendation from ChatGPT. No one outside OpenAI controls what ChatGPT says. We promise the work, the method and the reporting.
A paid route in. OpenAI's pages for site owners describe no way to pay for a place in search results, and we do not sell one.12
The same answer twice. ChatGPT's answers change from one run to the next. We report how often you appear, not a single screenshot.
How we measure it
We agree a fixed set of 50 questions your buyers ask and run each one in ChatGPT with web search on, more than once, because its answers change between runs. We record whether you are mentioned, whether you are cited as a source, whether the description of you is accurate, and who is cited instead. We report this beside your visits from ChatGPT, which arrive tagged utm_source=chatgpt.com. In the full programme the same questions are also run in Google's AI Overviews, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude.2
Terms, in plain words
- First programme
- 90 days. Long enough to audit, fix the foundations and measure the first change.
- After that
- Month to month. You can stop with 30 days' notice.
- Who owns the work
- You do. Everything we produce is yours, including your prompt set and its results.
- Fee
- Agreed in writing, with the scope, before any work starts.
- Who you deal with
- Our founders, who lead the work and have more than seven years in SEO.
Questions
Can you use ChatGPT for SEO?
Yes, as a tool. It can draft, summarise and suggest. It cannot crawl your site, read your Search Console data or earn a mention on another website. This page is about a different thing: being recommended by ChatGPT.
What is SEO for ChatGPT called?
It is most often called generative engine optimisation, or GEO. You will also see ChatGPT SEO, AI SEO and answer engine optimisation. The labels overlap, and the work is the same.
How do I optimise my website for ChatGPT?
First allow OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt and at your firewall, which is what OpenAI asks site owners to do. Then make your key pages accurate and worth citing. In US spelling the question is how to optimize for ChatGPT.12
Does ChatGPT use Bing?
OpenAI does not name a search engine in its pages for site owners. It says it may obtain a page's address from a third-party search provider or by crawling other pages.2
Should I block GPTBot?
That is your decision. GPTBot collects content that may be used for training. OpenAI says it is separate from OAI-SearchBot, so blocking GPTBot does not remove you from ChatGPT search.1
How do I see traffic from ChatGPT?
Look in your analytics for visits with utm_source=chatgpt.com. OpenAI says ChatGPT adds that tag to the links in its search results.2
Do I need a ChatGPT SEO agency or will ordinary SEO do?
Ordinary SEO is the foundation. What it does not include is checking what ChatGPT says about you, correcting it and measuring the change. That is the part we add.
How much does ChatGPT SEO cost?
We price it as part of a programme, after a discovery call, with the scope and fee in writing before work starts. Our GEO page sets out what AI assistants and UK agencies say about typical prices.
Do you guarantee that ChatGPT will recommend us?
No. We do not guarantee mentions, citations or positions, and you should be wary of anyone who does. We guarantee the work, the method and honest reporting.
Related guides
Sources
- OpenAI. Overview of OpenAI crawlers. Opened .
- OpenAI Help Center. Publishers and Developers FAQ. Opened .
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