ChatGPT SEO: how to get named in ChatGPT's answers
What ChatGPT reads before it recommends a B2B tool, and the steps that put your company in the answer.
The short answer
For most buying questions ChatGPT searches the web. It crawls with OAI-SearchBot and uses outside search providers, Bing chief among them, so your pages must be open to that crawler and indexed in Bing.
It then names the companies the pages it reads keep mentioning. Publish pages that answer buyer questions plainly, and get mentioned on the roundups, review sites and threads ChatGPT cites for your category.
When ChatGPT searches
Ask ChatGPT "which payroll tool suits a team in two countries?" and it usually searches first: you see the sources it read under the answer. That live search is where ChatGPT SEO works, because a page can be found and cited within weeks.
Without a search, ChatGPT answers from what the model learned in training. That only changes when a new model ships, and you can't edit it directly. Being mentioned widely on the web is what feeds both.
Let the right crawler in
OpenAI runs three crawlers. Only one decides whether you appear in search answers.
| Crawler | What it does | What to do |
|---|---|---|
OAI-SearchBot | Finds and indexes pages for ChatGPT search answers. | Allow. Blocked sites are left out of search answers. |
ChatGPT-User | Fetches a page when a person asks ChatGPT to open it. | Allow. |
GPTBot | Collects pages to train future models. | Your choice. It does not decide search answers. |
Check robots.txt, and also your firewall or CDN: bot protection often blocks these crawlers without anyone noticing. Then load your key pages with JavaScript turned off. If the text disappears, the crawler sees an empty page.
Get indexed in Bing
Many SaaS teams only ever look at Google. For ChatGPT, Bing matters as much.
- Verify your site in Bing Webmaster Tools. You can import it from Google Search Console.
- Submit your sitemap and fix the pages Bing reports as not indexed.
- Turn on IndexNow, so new and updated pages are picked up in days rather than weeks.
- Search your brand and your main pages on Bing to confirm they show.
Pages ChatGPT cites
ChatGPT quotes pages that answer the exact question in the first lines, in plain words, with facts it can lift: who it is for, what it costs, what it connects to. Five page types do most of the work for B2B SaaS:
- Alternatives pages. Buyers often ask for alternatives to the category leader. Say who you suit better, and who you suit worse.
- Comparison pages. You against each main competitor, in a table: price, who it is for, key features, integrations. Fair, so it can be quoted.
- Use case pages. One page per buyer type or job ("payroll for remote teams"), opening with a sentence that answers the question outright.
- A pricing page with prices. Assistants are asked about cost all the time. Without a number on your site, they quote someone else, or a stale figure.
- Integrations. A plain list of what you connect to. "Works with" questions are easy wins.
Keep your company name, category and prices the same on every page and profile. Mark the basics up with structured data (Organization, SoftwareApplication or Product, FAQ) so the facts are unambiguous.
Mentions on other sites
Your own site tells ChatGPT how to describe you. Whether it names you at all depends mostly on other sites. For each buyer question, look at the sources ChatGPT cites and sort them:
- Roundups ("best tools for…"): pitch the author with a fair, specific reason to include you.
- Review sites: complete your profiles, with the same category and pricing as your site.
- Community threads: answer honestly where your product fits, as yourself.
- Outdated facts about you: ask for a correction.
Measure it
There is no rank in ChatGPT. Ask your buyer questions logged out, several times each, and count the share of answers that name you. Track the same questions every month. The free check runs one round across ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Gemini.
Questions
If I block GPTBot, will ChatGPT stop citing me?
No. GPTBot collects training data. ChatGPT search uses OAI-SearchBot, and OpenAI says sites that block it are not shown in search answers. You can block GPTBot and still allow OAI-SearchBot.
Can ChatGPT name me without searching?
Yes, from what the model learned in training. That changes only when a new model ships, so for most companies the faster lever is the live search: the pages ChatGPT reads when it looks up a question.
How do I see whether ChatGPT names me?
Ask the questions your buyers ask, logged out, several times each, and count how often you are named. The free check does one round of that across four assistants.