How to get cited by ChatGPT (and what it pulls from)
ChatGPT now answers many questions by naming specific businesses and linking sources. Getting cited isn't luck — it follows from being reachable, quotable, and trusted. Here's how it works and what to do.
Where ChatGPT pulls from
For web-grounded answers it retrieves from OpenAI's own index — built by OAI-SearchBot — together with its search partners, then synthesizes and attributes. For a local question that usually means your own pages plus the directories and review platforms that already describe you. Be sceptical of any ranked list of 'sources ChatGPT prefers', ours included: our scans recorded which businesses engines named, not which URLs they cited.
1. Let it in
Check yoursite.com/robots.txt for any rule blocking OAI-SearchBot, including a blanket 'Disallow: /' under '*', and check your CDN or WAF for an AI-bot rule doing the same thing invisibly. Unblocking is usually a one-line fix. It is also a rare problem — worth ruling out in two minutes, not worth a strategy.
2. Be quotable
Answer real questions directly, near the top of the page, under a heading phrased the way a customer would ask it. The visible question-and-answer text is what gets extracted; FAQPage markup declares that structure for parsers, but Google retired FAQ rich results in May 2026 and no engine has said it reads the markup when choosing what to quote. Write plainly: a clear sentence is easier to lift than a paragraph of adjectives.
3. Build off-site proof
Claim the directories and profiles relevant to your industry, keep your details consistent, and earn recent reviews. The more trusted places confirm who you are, the more confidently ChatGPT will name you.
4. Check and iterate
Probe ChatGPT monthly with your customers' questions, note where you're missing or mis-described, and fix the underlying gap. Visibility compounds — early citations make later ones easier.
Frequently asked questions
Does ChatGPT crawl my website?
OpenAI operates three agents: GPTBot for model training, OAI-SearchBot for ChatGPT's search index, and ChatGPT-User for fetches a person triggers in the moment. Only OAI-SearchBot governs whether you can be cited in web-grounded answers — and OpenAI notes that sites which opt out can still appear as navigational links. Blocking GPTBot costs you nothing in ChatGPT search.
How do I check if ChatGPT recommends me?
Ask it the way a customer would — 'best [category] in [city]' — with search/browsing enabled, and see whether you're named. Try a few phrasings, since results vary.
Can I pay to be cited?
No. Citations are earned through crawlability, clarity, authority, and reviews — not ads.
Where we apply this
The trades and cities our research covers, and the service behind it.
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