How to appear in ChatGPT depends on which kind of answer you want to be part of. When ChatGPT answers only from what the model learned in training, a company can’t do anything about it. When it searches the web, the site needs to let the OAI-SearchBot crawler in through robots.txt, and the company needs to be found and well described on trustworthy pages. OpenAI says placement in results is not guaranteed, so no one can promise that ChatGPT recommends specific companies.
This text uses only what OpenAI wrote on its crawlers page and in its help center article on web search. Where OpenAI says nothing, the text marks it as our own reading.
Model answer or answer with search
ChatGPT has two ways of answering. In the first, it uses what the model learned in training. In the second, it searches the web and brings back links. The difference changes everything for business owners.
| Without web search | With web search | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the answer comes from | From what the model learned in training | From pages found on the spot, with links |
| Can a company influence it? | Only indirectly, and OpenAI doesn’t document how | Yes, through what exists on the web and the crawler’s access |
| Visible signal | No search citations | Citations and a sources button, when available |
OpenAI explains that ChatGPT can search the web automatically when a question benefits from current information, and that users can also turn on search manually. Answers with search can include citations, and the page itself warns that results and citations may be incomplete, outdated or wrong.
ChatGPT also has a feature called memory, which stores the preferences of whoever uses it. That’s something else. Here, “model memory” means what it learned in training.
OpenAI doesn’t publish when ChatGPT decides to search or how training sees a small company. That’s why this guide focuses its effort where there is documentation, which is search.
What OpenAI documents about ChatGPT search
ChatGPT search rewrites the user’s question into more targeted queries and sometimes sends them to partner search providers. The help page gives the example of a question about restaurants that becomes a query with the city name, inferred from the IP address of the person asking.
For local queries, the page also says ChatGPT may share the location with third-party providers that help with local information, such as listings of nearby businesses. OpenAI doesn’t say which providers or which sources feed those listings.
On ranking, the text is short and worth reading carefully. ChatGPT orders search results by several factors, designed to help users find relevant and trustworthy information, and placement is not guaranteed. The list of factors doesn’t appear on either page.
Anyone promising a ChatGPT ranking formula is making it up, because it hasn’t been published. The same goes for so-called LLM SEO, optimization for language models. The name is new, and what’s documented comes down to letting the crawler in and being found on the web.
How to appear in ChatGPT starts with OAI-SearchBot
The first technical step is to let OAI-SearchBot visit your site. OpenAI describes this bot as the one used to show websites in ChatGPT search results. Sites that block OAI-SearchBot do not appear in search answers, although they can still show up as navigation links.
OpenAI maintains four bots, each with its own role and its own independent setting in robots.txt.
| Bot | What it’s for | Role in search |
|---|---|---|
| OAI-SearchBot | Shows websites in ChatGPT search results | It decides whether you appear in search |
| GPTBot | Collects content that may be used to train the models | Blocking it does not remove your site from search |
| ChatGPT-User | Actions requested by a user, such as opening a page | It does not decide whether your content appears in search |
| OAI-AdsBot | Validates pages submitted as ads in ChatGPT | It only visits pages submitted as ads |
Two details in the table tend to cause confusion.
- Blocking GPTBot is a decision about training, not about search. OpenAI says the settings are independent: your site can allow OAI-SearchBot to appear in search and disallow GPTBot to signal that your content should not be used to train the models.
- ChatGPT-User acts when a person asks for something, and OpenAI warns that robots.txt rules may not apply to it. To control search, the guidance is to use OAI-SearchBot.
To check your site, open your robots.txt address, which sits at the root of the domain, and look for OAI-SearchBot. If there is a Disallow for it, or a general Disallow for all bots, your site is out. After you change the file, OpenAI says its systems take about 24 hours to adjust.
Allowing it in robots.txt may not be enough. The help page also says to confirm that your hosting server or content delivery network (CDN) accepts traffic from the IP addresses OpenAI publishes for OAI-SearchBot. In your access logs, the bot shows up as OAI-SearchBot in the user agent.
Why what other sites say about you counts
OpenAI does not publish how much weight a mention on a third-party site carries. What it does document is that search brings in web pages with citations, and from that documentation comes a reading that is ours, not OpenAI’s.
When someone asks which company to hire, the answer with search is built from the pages the search finds. One of them is your own site, which is you talking about yourself. Other pages show up too: industry directories, associations, local news, partners, review platforms. If only your site mentions your company, there is one voice. If other pages describe the company the same way, there are several.
OpenAI itself tells users to open the cited source and check that it supports the answer. That says how the answer should be read, not how it is ranked.
What you can do with this reading, without promising results:
- Check where your company already appears and whether the name, address, phone number and description of services are the same everywhere.
- Join real directories and associations in your industry and your city, where the listing can be verified.
- Have service pages that clearly say what the company does, for whom and in which city, in text and not only in images.
- Avoid buying mentions in bulk. A page created only to say good things about you does not help any reader.
The guide on SEO for AI covers content for ChatGPT, Gemini and Google in general. This one sticks to what OpenAI documents.
Business profile and reviews
For a local business, your Google Business Profile and reviews are the most concrete thing you can take care of, even though OpenAI does not confirm they are a source. It says it uses location and local information providers, but it does not say that Google Business Profile or Google reviews are part of that.
So why take care of them? For three reasons that do not depend on OpenAI.
- Your Profile and reviews are what customers read before they call.
- They hold basic facts, such as name, category, address, hours and services, which any listing provider tends to collect.
- In its documentation on AI Overviews in its own search, Google lists Business Profile among the information that should be kept up to date. The article on AI Overview has the details.
For restaurants, the help page mentions a specific case. ChatGPT can show reservation times from OpenTable, Resy and Yelp, depending on the country and the restaurant. If you own a restaurant, check whether your business is on these services.
If your Profile is not in order yet, start with the Google Business Profile guide. For reviews, see how to get Google reviews without buying them. What affects your position on the map is in the local SEO guide.
What no one can promise
No one can promise that ChatGPT will recommend your company. OpenAI says placement is not guaranteed and does not publish the list of factors. A guarantee of appearing in ChatGPT answers sold by a third party contradicts OpenAI’s own documentation.
We also can’t say that the llms.txt file works. On the two OpenAI pages used here, which cover search and crawlers, it does not appear as a way to get into the results. Google, which has equivalent documentation for its AI summaries in search, says you don’t need to create text files for AI.
There is also an ads channel in ChatGPT, which the crawlers page mentions when describing OAI-AdsBot. It is a separate topic from organic search.
Step by step to appear in ChatGPT
- Open your site’s robots.txt and look for OAI-SearchBot, GPTBot and a general Disallow.
- Decide separately about training and about search. To appear in search, OAI-SearchBot must be allowed.
- Ask whoever manages your hosting or CDN to confirm that the IP addresses published by OpenAI are not being blocked.
- Review the company’s name, address, phone number and description on your site, on your Google Business Profile and in the directories where you are listed.
- Publish clear service pages, with city, scope and direct answers.
- Ask ChatGPT real questions about your industry in your city, write down the answers and repeat after a few weeks. Also note whether there were citations, which indicate search.
Results vary from question to question and from conversation to conversation. Treat the test as a thermometer, not a scoreboard.
Frequently asked questions
How do you appear in ChatGPT search? Let OAI-SearchBot access your site through robots.txt and your server, keep your company information clear and consistent across the web, and take care of your Profile and reviews. Placement is not guaranteed.
Does ChatGPT really recommend companies? In answers with search, it cites pages and may list companies. OpenAI does not publish its selection criteria, so there is no way to predict or guarantee a recommendation.
What is OAI-SearchBot? It is OpenAI’s bot used to show websites in ChatGPT search results. If you block it in robots.txt, you do not appear in search answers, although your site may still show up as a navigation link.
Does blocking GPTBot remove my site from ChatGPT answers? Not necessarily. According to OpenAI, GPTBot is an independent setting tied to model training, and OAI-SearchBot decides whether you appear in search.
Do I need to create an llms.txt to appear in ChatGPT? OpenAI’s search and crawler pages do not say so. We can’t say that it works.
Is LLM SEO different from SEO? The term usually refers to optimizing for language models like ChatGPT. What OpenAI documents fits within traditional SEO: an allowed bot, clear content and a trustworthy presence on the web.
Want to know how to appear in ChatGPT with your site?
Checking your robots.txt, your server and your company information shows whether something is blocking access. To have us look at yours, request an SEO analysis on WhatsApp. No promise of appearing, just what is on your site today and what can be fixed. For the basics, see what an SEO agency delivers in the first month.