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How do I get my business on ChatGPT?

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When ChatGPT searches the web, it can only name businesses it can find. Make sure OpenAI's crawler, OAI-SearchBot, is allowed to read your site, and get listed in Bing too, since Microsoft is one of the search providers OpenAI lists. Then put the answer to a customer's question plainly on the page, with the same details you use everywhere else. Placement is not guaranteed.

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Check that ChatGPT is allowed to read your site

Open your own site's /robots.txt in a browser. If it disallows OAI-SearchBot, or disallows everything under User-agent: *, ChatGPT search will not show your pages in its answers, except possibly as a plain link. Blocking GPTBot only stops your content being used for training; it does not keep you out of search. Some site builders and security plugins add these blocks by default without saying so.

OpenAI also asks that your host or CDN let its published search-crawler IP addresses through.

Get into Bing, not only Google

ChatGPT's search uses OpenAI's own crawler, OAI-SearchBot, and sometimes sends queries to partner search providers; OpenAI lists Microsoft among them and names Bing directly for its Enterprise and Edu plans. Bing Webmaster Tools is free, and if your site is already verified in Google Search Console you can import it, along with the sitemaps you submitted there, instead of verifying it again.

Put the answer at the top of the page

Answer the question early, in plain words, under a heading that asks it, with real prices and details. It helps readers first, and it leaves nothing for an assistant to guess at.

Make your details agree everywhere

Your business name, location, phone number and what you do should read the same on your site, your Google Business Profile and any directory you are listed in. When sources disagree, an engine is more likely to hedge or leave you out than to guess.

Then ask it, more than once

Ask ChatGPT the question your customers would ask, in the words they would use, and note whether you are named. Ask again another day. The answers change between runs, so one result in either direction proves little; a pattern over a few weeks is what tells you it is working.

Questions people ask

Can I pay to have ChatGPT recommend my business?

Not into its answers. OpenAI does sell labelled, sponsored ads in ChatGPT, including to businesses in Canada; they appear below a response for Free and Go users, and OpenAI says advertisers cannot shape or rank what ChatGPT says. Anyone selling a guaranteed recommendation in the answer itself is selling something they do not control.

How long does it take to start showing up?

There is no published timeline. Once OAI-SearchBot can reach the site, it can start appearing, but OpenAI says placement is not guaranteed, and the same question can name you one day and not the next.

Does the same work help with Google's AI Overviews?

Partly. AI Overviews draw on Google's own Search index, so the page has to be indexed and eligible to show a snippet in Google. Google says no special markup or AI-specific writing is needed; clear, useful pages written for people are what it rewards.

Does ChatGPT use Google?

OpenAI does not name Google. Its help page on ChatGPT search says it sometimes sends rewritten queries to partner search providers, linking Microsoft's and Shopify's privacy policies, and OpenAI names Bing only in its Enterprise and Edu documentation. What OpenAI does require is that your site lets its crawler, OAI-SearchBot, in. Being listed in Bing as well as Google is free, so it is worth doing.

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