How to Get ChatGPT to Recommend Your Business: 5 Checks

How to get ChatGPT to recommend your business comes down to five checks, and the first one is access: OpenAI says sites that block its OAI-SearchBot crawler "will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers." After that come your business listings, plain text answers on your website, reviews and mentions, and a 10 minute test you repeat every month.

I've spent nearly 20 years in digital marketing and AI. Every check below comes from OpenAI's or Google's own documentation, which I read again on October 30, 2026, and the video above walks through all five in 8 minutes.

My Main Points:

• ChatGPT search looks businesses up live: OpenAI says it rewrites a question like "good restaurants near me" into a search like "top restaurants San Francisco" and sends it to search partners.
• Blocking OAI-SearchBot removes your site from ChatGPT search answers, while blocking GPTBot only keeps your content out of AI training.
• ChatGPT gets nearby business listings from trusted third party providers, so complete, matching listings across the big platforms matter.
• Google says a page needs to be indexed and allowed to show a snippet to appear as a supporting link in AI Overviews or AI Mode, with no extra requirements.
• Google's review rules forbid discounts for reviews, asking only happy customers, and telling customers what to write.
• OpenAI says placement is not guaranteed, so be careful with anyone who promises you the top spot in ChatGPT.

In this guide, I'll show you how ChatGPT picks businesses and the five checks that make yours easy to pick. If you also care about Google's AI answers, my guide on how to rank in AI Overviews covers that side in more depth.

How ChatGPT Search Picks Businesses to Recommend

ChatGPT search picks businesses by searching the web at the moment someone asks. According to OpenAI's help center, when you ask "What are some good restaurants near me?", ChatGPT can use your approximate location from your IP address, rewrite the question into a search like "top restaurants San Francisco", send it to its search partners, and read what comes back.

Google's AI Mode works in a similar way. Google says AI Overviews and AI Mode may run many related searches across subtopics at once, a technique it calls query fan out, and then show the pages that support the answer.

So AI doesn't know your business by heart. It looks you up, and the five checks below help it find the right facts when it does. In the video, this part starts at 0:26.

Check 1: Let OAI-SearchBot and Googlebot Into Your Website

OAI-SearchBot is the crawler ChatGPT search uses to find and show websites, and OpenAI is blunt about it: if your site blocks OAI-SearchBot, it won't be shown in ChatGPT search answers. It can still appear as a plain navigational link, but it won't be part of the answer.

OpenAI runs several crawlers with different jobs, so a site that blocks AI bots to stay out of AI training can drop out of ChatGPT search by accident. OpenAI says each setting is independent: you can block training and stay in search.

Bot	What it does	If you block it
OAI-SearchBot	Finds and shows websites in ChatGPT search	Your site isn't shown in ChatGPT search answers
GPTBot	Crawls content that may be used to train OpenAI's models	Your content stays out of training; search isn't affected
ChatGPT-User	Visits a page when a user asks ChatGPT to	Not used to decide what appears in search
Googlebot	Crawls pages for Google Search, AI Overviews and AI Mode	Without a snippet, a page can't be a supporting link in Google's AI answers

To check your own site, type your domain followed by /robots.txt into a browser. Look for OAI-SearchBot and Googlebot. If you see "Disallow: /" under either name, or under "User-agent: *" (the star covers every bot that doesn't have its own rules), that's the problem, and a web developer can fix it in a couple of minutes. Here is what a robots.txt file looks like when it stays in ChatGPT search but opts out of training:

User-agent: OAI-SearchBot
Allow: /

User-agent: GPTBot
Disallow: /

User-agent: Googlebot
Allow: /

OpenAI also asks site owners to make sure their web host or CDN allows traffic from OpenAI's published IP addresses, so ask your host whether its firewall blocks AI bots. If you're on Cloudflare, my breakdown of Cloudflare's AI bot settings shows which options block search crawlers. OpenAI says changes to robots.txt can take about 24 hours to show up in ChatGPT search.

Google Search Central says that to be shown as a supporting link in AI Overviews or AI Mode, a page must be indexed and eligible to show a snippet, with no additional technical requirements. In the video, check 1 starts at 0:49.

Check 2: Complete the Business Listings ChatGPT and Google Read

Business listings are where AI learns the basics about you: your name, what you sell, where you are and when you're open. OpenAI says ChatGPT may share your approximate location with trusted third party providers to get nearby business listings, and for restaurants it can show availability from OpenTable, Resy or Yelp.

Google points the same way: its list of SEO basics for AI Overviews and AI Mode includes keeping your Business Profile information current.

Nobody outside these companies knows exactly which source every AI uses for every question, so cover the big ones:

• Google Business Profile: claim it and fill in everything, including services, hours and photos.
• Bing Places and Apple Business Connect: claim them with the same details.
• Yelp: claim your page, especially if you run a restaurant or local service.
• The top directory in your industry: the one your customers already use.

Then make the facts match everywhere: same name, same address, same phone number, same hours. If one site says you close at 5 PM and another says 7 PM, you're making AI guess. Google's Business Profile help says businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to show up in local search results. My local SEO checklist for small businesses covers the full listing setup.

To find the mistakes fast, ask ChatGPT what it knows about your business by name. If it gets your hours or your address wrong, look at the sources it cites and fix the facts on those sites. In the video, check 2 starts at 2:03.

Check 3: Make Your Website Answer the Questions Customers Ask

Your website has to answer the search ChatGPT actually runs. If a customer asks for a bakery near them, ChatGPT may search for something like "top bakeries" plus their city, so your pages need to say what you do and where you do it, in plain words.

Give every main service its own page and put the answer in the first line. For a bakery in Denver, that means "Custom birthday cakes in Denver, ready in 48 hours" instead of "Welcome to our family." The first line should say what you do, where you do it and why customers pick you.

As a quick test, read the first line of your homepage out loud. If a stranger couldn't tell what you sell and where, AI has to guess too.

Then add the questions customers really ask, such as:

• Do you have gluten free options?
• Do you deliver?
• How far ahead should I order?

Answer each one in one or two clear sentences that make sense on their own, the kind of line an AI answer can quote.

Keep the important information as real text. Google tells site owners to make sure important content is available in text form, and a price list that only lives inside a photo is much harder for any system to read. If you use structured data, Google says it has to match the visible text on the page. In the video, check 3 starts at 3:35.

Check 4: Earn Reviews and Mentions the Honest Way

Reviews and mentions are how other people vouch for your business. OpenAI says ChatGPT ranks search results using multiple factors meant to help users find relevant, reliable information, and Google is specific about local results: prominence is based on things like how many websites link to your business and how many reviews you have, and more reviews and positive ratings can help.

Mentions come from places customers already trust:

• A story in your local news
• A "best of" list for your city
• A supplier or partner who links to you
• Your chamber of commerce

Then ask for reviews, and follow the rules while you do. Google's Maps content policy spells them out:

Review practice	Allowed by Google?
Asking every customer for an honest review	Yes
Offering a discount, a freebie or money for a review	No
Asking only your happy customers	No
Telling customers what to write	No
Replying to reviews, good and bad	Yes, Google recommends it

So ask everyone, every time, with one simple review link. Then reply to your reviews, the good ones and the bad ones. Google says replies show customers that you value their feedback. In the video, check 4 starts at 4:57.

Check 5: Run the 10 Minute ChatGPT Recommendation Test

The 10 minute ChatGPT recommendation test shows you where you're missing. Open ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and Perplexity, and ask each one the question your customer would ask, for example "best bakery in Denver for a birthday cake."

Use a temporary chat or a logged out browser first. OpenAI says ChatGPT can use your saved memories when it rewrites a search, so your own history can change the answer. My post on what ChatGPT saves explains how temporary chats work.

Then write down two things:

1. Which businesses get named.
2. Which websites the answers cite as sources.

Those cited sites are your to do list. If every answer cites the same local blog, the same directory or the same review site, that's where you need to be listed, reviewed or mentioned. Say every answer keeps citing a "best bakeries in Denver" article from a local magazine: your next email goes to that magazine.

Run the same test every month and watch what changes. If you'd rather not do it by hand, our tool PageCue checks whether AI search answers cite your site. In the video, check 5 starts at 6:00.

How to Get ChatGPT to Recommend Your Business: The 5 Step Checklist

How to get ChatGPT to recommend your business fits on one short list:

1. Let OAI-SearchBot and Googlebot into your website.
2. Complete your business listings, with the same facts everywhere.
3. Answer real customer questions on your site, in plain text.
4. Earn reviews and mentions, the honest way.
5. Run the 10 minute AI test every month.

No one can guarantee the result. OpenAI says it plainly in its help center: placement is not guaranteed. Be careful with any agency or tool that promises you the top spot in ChatGPT. What you can do is make your business the easiest one for AI to find, understand and trust. In the video, the recap starts at 7:11.

FAQ

How do I get ChatGPT to recommend my business?

To get ChatGPT to recommend your business, let its OAI-SearchBot crawler into your website, complete your business listings with the same facts everywhere, answer customer questions in plain text, and earn honest reviews and mentions. OpenAI says placement is not guaranteed, so treat these steps as ways to improve your odds.

Does ChatGPT use Google Business Profile?

OpenAI doesn't name the providers behind ChatGPT's local results; it says ChatGPT may share your approximate location with trusted third party providers for nearby business listings. Google tells site owners to keep their Business Profile current for AI Overviews and AI Mode, so a complete profile helps on Google either way.

How long does ChatGPT take to notice a robots.txt change?

OpenAI says it can take about 24 hours from a robots.txt update for ChatGPT search to adjust. Check again the next day before you assume something is still blocked.

How do I rank in ChatGPT search?

To rank in ChatGPT search, your site has to allow OAI-SearchBot, and your host or CDN has to allow OpenAI's published IP addresses. After that, OpenAI says ChatGPT ranks results using multiple factors meant to find relevant, reliable information.

Can anyone guarantee ChatGPT will recommend my business?

No. OpenAI says placement in ChatGPT search is not guaranteed, so be careful with any agency or tool that promises your business the top spot in ChatGPT.

Final Thoughts

Getting ChatGPT to recommend your business starts with letting OAI-SearchBot into your site and ends with honest reviews and a monthly look at what AI says about you. None of these checks needs a paid tool, and each one helps your regular SEO as well.

If you'd like a team to run these checks and fix what they find, take a look at our marketing and SEO services.