How to get your business recommended by ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity.
Nobody outside these companies can give you a formula, and none can promise a mention. What you control is whether their crawlers can reach your site, whether your pages answer real questions clearly, and whether the facts about your business are correct and consistent everywhere.
By Neural Media Labs6 min read
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Start with what is known
Each assistant decides for itself what to say, and they change often. So we stick to what the companies publish and to the fundamentals that apply to all of them. Anything that claims to guarantee a mention in ChatGPT is a promise nobody can keep.
Step 1: Let the right crawlers in
If an assistant's search crawler cannot reach your pages, you will not appear in its search-based answers. The companies document this:
- OpenAI: OAI-SearchBot is used to surface websites in ChatGPT's search features. OpenAI recommends allowing it in robots.txt. GPTBot is a separate crawler for training, so you can treat the two differently. See OpenAI's crawler overview.
- Perplexity: PerplexityBot surfaces and links sites in Perplexity search results, and Perplexity recommends allowing it in robots.txt. Perplexity-User handles user-requested visits and generally ignores robots.txt. See Perplexity's crawler guide.
- Google: AI Overviews and AI Mode draw on pages that are indexed and eligible to show with a snippet, as set out in Google's AI features guide.
Check your robots.txt, and check any firewall or content delivery network setting that blocks bots. This is the most common reason a business is invisible, and it takes minutes to fix.
Step 2: Write pages that answer questions
Assistants answer questions, so build pages around the questions your customers ask. Put a direct answer in the first paragraph, use a heading that matches the question, and add the detail beneath. Keep important information in normal text on the page, not only in images or videos.
Step 3: Make your facts consistent
If your website, Google Business Profile and directory listings disagree about what you do, where you work or how to contact you, an assistant may repeat the wrong version. Pick one accurate description of each service and use it everywhere. Our local SEO checklist covers the listings side.
Step 4: Earn credible mentions
Being mentioned by trusted, relevant sources, such as industry bodies, local organisations and reputable publications, supports your visibility in every kind of search. Real reviews and genuine case studies help people and machines judge whether to trust you.
Step 5: Test, record and repeat
Write down the 10 to 20 questions a customer would ask when looking for what you sell, in your area. Run them in each assistant on a schedule, and record whether you are mentioned, how you are described and which sources are cited. When the description is wrong, trace it to the source and fix it there.
We run this testing as part of our AI SEO service, and the free AI visibility check is a first pass at it for your business.
What to avoid
- Hidden text or keyword blocks aimed at AI. They do not help and can breach spam policies.
- Invented reviews, ratings or testimonials.
- Mass-produced pages written only to cover keyword variations.
- Anyone promising a guaranteed citation or ranking.
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