How to get your business recommended by ChatGPT

When someone asks ChatGPT "who is a good accountant in Hastings" or "best CRM for a small recruitment agency", it names a short list. Being on that list is the 2026 version of ranking first, and hardly anyone in most local and B2B markets is competing for it yet.

ChatGPT assembles that list from two layers. The first is training data: the model's memory of the web, which rewards businesses that appear consistently across trusted sources. The second is live retrieval: when the question needs current information, ChatGPT searches (using OAI-SearchBot and partner indexes, with Bing among them) and cites pages it can read and trust. You work on both layers at once, but the live layer pays back first.

Step 1: Make sure ChatGPT can fetch you and Bing has indexed you

Check robots.txt and your firewall allow OAI-SearchBot and ChatGPT-User (see our robots.txt guide). Then set up Bing Webmaster Tools, import your site from Search Console, submit your sitemap and check your key pages are indexed. A surprising number of businesses that rank well in Google have thin or stale Bing coverage, and that alone can keep them out of ChatGPT's live answers.

Step 2: Put the facts a buyer asks for in plain HTML

ChatGPT answers specific questions: what you do, who for, where, how much, how fast, what is included. If those facts are missing, vague or rendered by JavaScript, it cannot use your page and it will quote whoever states them plainly, often a directory or a competitor.

On each service or product page, make sure the raw HTML contains: a one-sentence description of the service, who it is for (and not for), the areas or sectors you serve, a price or price range, typical timescales, and proof (named clients, numbers, review counts). Test with View Source, not Inspect.

Step 3: State who you are, identically, everywhere

The model resolves "your business" as an entity by matching facts across sources. Write a 25-word description of the company and use it verbatim on your About page, LinkedIn company page, Google Business Profile, Bing Places, directory listings and your Organization schema. Same name, same address format, same phone number, same founding year, same founder names. Inconsistency is not a small problem; it can stop the model connecting your website to the mentions of you elsewhere.

Step 4: Build the corroboration layer ChatGPT trusts

Studies of hundreds of millions of ChatGPT citations in 2025 and 2026 show the same pattern: Wikipedia, LinkedIn, Reddit, established editorial sites and review platforms dominate, and brand-owned pages are underrepresented. You do not need Wikipedia (most SMBs will never qualify). You do need:

• LinkedIn: a complete company page and regular posts and articles from the founders. LinkedIn moved sharply up the ChatGPT citation rankings between late 2025 and early 2026, driven by published posts rather than profile pages.
• Reviews on platforms the engine reads: Google, Trustpilot, Yelp (which has a licensing agreement with OpenAI for local answers, announced July 2026), and G2 or Capterra for software.
• Directories and trade bodies: your Chamber of Commerce, industry associations, Checkatrade or similar for trades, Clutch for agencies.
• Press and local media: a named mention in a local paper or trade title is worth more than ten blog posts on your own site.

Step 5: Get onto the "best of" lists the engine already cites

Ask ChatGPT your own buyer questions and note which pages it cites. Many will be listicles: "best X in Y", "top 10 Z providers". Contact the publishers of those lists and make a case for inclusion. This is old-fashioned outreach and it works precisely because the engine has already decided those pages are trustworthy.

Step 6: Publish comparison and "alternatives" content

Buyers ask ChatGPT to compare. "Xero vs QuickBooks for a UK sole trader", "[competitor] alternatives", "is [service] worth it". Honest comparison pages that name competitors, state trade-offs and include a table are heavily cited because they answer the exact shape of the question. Be fair; the engine can read the competitor's page too.

Step 7: Ask the same questions every month and log the answers

Build a list of 20 prompts your customers would use, including the town or sector. Run them monthly in ChatGPT with search on, and record whether you are mentioned, cited, or absent, and who is named instead. Track it in a spreadsheet. Over three to six months you will see which fixes moved the needle. Our guide on measuring AI visibility has a template.

Realistic expectations

Several 2026 studies found ChatGPT cites only a small fraction of the pages it retrieves, so even a well-built page will not appear every time. What you are aiming for is consistent presence across your core questions, not a permanent slot. Local and niche B2B businesses get there faster than crowded consumer categories because the field is thinner.

Common mistakes

• Optimising for Google and assuming ChatGPT follows. It does not; check Bing.
• Publishing more blog posts on your own site while your About page, pricing and reviews stay thin. Corroboration beats volume.
• Different company descriptions on every platform.
• Never asking ChatGPT the questions yourself. You cannot fix what you have not observed.