To get your brand mentioned by ChatGPT, your name has to show up in the pages it reads when it answers questions in your market. That means your own site, and also review sites, lists, forums and press that talk about you. In practice, how to get your brand mentioned by ChatGPT comes down to six steps: let it read your site, find the sources it uses for your buyers' questions, publish pages that answer those questions, earn mentions on those sources, keep your facts the same everywhere, and fix wrong claims where they started.
Nobody can promise you a mention, and you can't buy one inside an answer. You can give ChatGPT good reasons to name you. This guide shows how, whether you run a local business, an online shop, a SaaS, a media site or an agency.
Two of these steps happen on your own site, and they take the most writing: answer pages for every buyer question, and facts that stay correct over time. That's the part AI SEO Crew takes off your plate. Our LLM SEO page shows how the crew researches, writes, checks and publishes sourced articles built to be read by AI search.
Mentioned, cited, recommended: three different wins
People use these words as if they meant the same thing. They don't, and each one needs different work.
- Mentioned: ChatGPT writes your brand name in its answer, with or without a link.
- Cited: ChatGPT links to one of your pages as a source. That depends mostly on the passages on your own pages.
- Recommended: ChatGPT names you as an option when someone asks "what's the best X for Y". This is the one that brings customers, and it depends a lot on what other sites say about you.
This guide is about mentions and recommendations, so it spends most of its time off your site.
Why it's worth the effort
People already use ChatGPT to find things to buy. In an Adobe survey of 1,000 people in the U.S. who use ChatGPT as a search engine (800 consumers and 200 marketers and small business owners, run on May 29, 2025), 36% said they had discovered a new product or brand through ChatGPT. When your buyers ask, you want to be one of the names.
How to get your brand mentioned by ChatGPT in 6 steps
Step 1: Check that ChatGPT can read your site
According to OpenAI's crawler documentation, sites that block OAI-SearchBot are not shown in ChatGPT search answers. Open yoursite.com/robots.txt and check that OAI-SearchBot isn't blocked. Also check that your firewall, CDN or security plugin doesn't block it. You can block GPTBot (training) and still allow search. Our guide on how to get indexed by ChatGPT covers the full setup.
Step 2: Find the sources ChatGPT uses for your buyers' questions
Ask ChatGPT, with search on, about 10 questions a buyer would ask before buying ("best X for Y", "X vs Y", "how much does X cost in Z"). Run each one a few times, because answers vary. The goal here isn't only to see if you're named. You want the list of sources it shows. Those pages are your target list for Step 4.
| Question | Are we named? | Sources ChatGPT shows | What it gets wrong about us |
|---|---|---|---|
| best dentist for nervous patients in Leeds | No | A review site, a local news article | n/a |
| best unscented soy candles UK | Yes, 4th of 5 | A gift guide, a Reddit thread | Says we ship only to the US |
Example, not real data.
For a repeatable way to run this test, see how to check if ChatGPT cites your website.
Step 3: Publish pages that answer, in plain words
When ChatGPT searches, it looks for clear statements it can reuse. A vague homepage ("we empower growth") gives it nothing to say about you. These pages help most:
- An About page that says exactly who you are: what you sell, to whom, where, since when. Write one sentence ChatGPT could copy as is. An invented example: "Northside Candle Co. makes unscented soy candles in Manchester and ships across the UK."
- A pricing page, even with ranges or "from" prices. If you don't publish a price, other sites will guess one.
- Fair comparison pages: "X vs Y", or "which one is right for you".
- One answer page per buyer question, with the answer in the first two sentences.
How you write each passage decides whether ChatGPT can quote it. Our guide on how to get cited by ChatGPT explains how to write them. To build your list of buyer questions, start from what people really type: our free keyword generator gives you search ideas for your topic.
Step 4: Earn mentions on the sites ChatGPT reads
Most brands skip this step, and it's the one that turns "mentioned" into "recommended". Go back to your sources column. For each source that keeps showing up, find a fair way in:
- "Best of" lists and gift guides. Email the author. Say what makes you different and give one fact they can check. Ask to be considered. Don't demand a spot.
- Review and directory sites in your niche. Claim your profile, fill every field, and ask real customers for a review after a good experience.
- Reddit and forums. Answer questions in your field under your real name and say you work there. Help first. Only mention your product when it truly answers the question. One useful reply in a thread that ranks beats ten "check out my tool" comments that get removed.
- Niche press, podcasts and newsletters. Bring something they can't get elsewhere: your own data, a clear opinion, a how-to from your daily work.
- Partners and associations. Supplier pages, integration directories, trade bodies, local chambers of commerce.
Look for sources that answer the exact question. A roundup called "best candles for allergy sufferers" matters more for that question than a general home decor site with more traffic.
Each mention should say the same few things about you: who you are, who you're best for, and one specific strength. ChatGPT pulls together what several independent pages say. If five sources say "the unscented option for small flats", that's what it will repeat.
Step 5: Keep your facts the same everywhere
ChatGPT combines what it reads. Say your site says "founded 2019", your directory listing says 2021 and an old article uses your former name. The answer gets fuzzy, or wrong.
Pick one version of each fact and use it everywhere:
- Brand name, spelled exactly the same
- A one sentence description
- What you sell and your main offer
- Address, area served and opening hours, if you have a physical business
- Founder or team names, if you use them
Then check the places people forget: old press releases, your social bios, marketplace listings, partner pages, and your own old blog posts. Add Organization structured data to your site (or LocalBusiness for a shop or clinic), with a sameAs list of your official profiles. It tells machines which profiles belong to you.
Step 6: Fix wrong claims at their source
If ChatGPT says something false about you, changing your own site won't fix it. The claim lives somewhere else. Here's how to deal with it:
- Find the source. Use the sources ChatGPT shows for that answer. Ask the question a few more times to see which page keeps coming back.
- Fix it there. Update the directory listing. Reply publicly to the review with the correct fact. Email the author or editor with a short, checkable correction.
- Publish the right fact clearly on your site, in one sentence that's easy to quote: "We ship to the UK, the EU and the US."
- Recheck after a few weeks, with the same questions.
The same goes for old prices, products you stopped selling, or a service area that changed. Each stale page is a source ChatGPT can still read.
How to get your brand recommended by ChatGPT, not just named
Being named once in a long list is a start. Being the one ChatGPT suggests for a specific need is better.
- Own a narrow use case. "Accounting software" is crowded. "Bookkeeping for UK sole traders who invoice in two currencies" is a question a clear, specific page can win.
- Say who you're for, and who you're not for. Put it on your site and in every pitch to a list author. Honest limits make it easier to recommend you.
- Collect the proof that matches that use case. Reviews and articles that mention the exact need ("great for small flats") support the recommendation better than general praise.
How to get your business mentioned by ChatGPT: where to focus by type of site
| Type of site | Pages to have on your site | Third party places to earn |
|---|---|---|
| Local service (clinic, plumber, salon) | Service pages, prices or ranges, area served, About | Google Business Profile, local directories, local news, community forums |
| Online shop or brand | Product guides, ingredient or sizing pages, shipping and returns | Gift guides, review roundups, niche subreddits, creator reviews |
| SaaS or app | Pricing, use case pages, comparisons, docs | Software review sites, integration directories, user communities |
| Media or newsletter | Clear About page, topic hubs, author pages | Newsletter directories, podcast guest spots, roundups |
| Agency or freelancer | Pages showing real work, pricing approach, team | Agency directories, partner listings, industry events |
If you run a local business, our page on SEO for local businesses shows how the crew writes for your area.
What not to do
- Fake reviews and planted forum posts. They get removed, and once people spot them, the fake reviews become the story about your brand.
- Mass thin AI content. Hundreds of empty pages give ChatGPT nothing to say about you. Google has clear rules against content made at scale mainly to rank, explained in scaled content abuse and AI articles. Useful, sourced, reviewed content at a steady pace is a different thing.
- Blocking every AI bot "to be safe". Blocking OAI-SearchBot takes you out of ChatGPT search answers.
- Judging from one test. One chat on one day tells you very little.
How long it takes and how to measure it
There's no official timeline. 20North estimates 3 to 6 months to see visibility improve (20North). That's an estimate from experience, not a measured rule. OpenAI says robots.txt changes take about 24 hours to be picked up (source). New pages first have to be found. Third party mentions are the slowest part, because they depend on other people publishing.
Rerun your 10 questions once a month. Track three things: how many questions name you, where you appear in the list, and how many of the sources now mention you. If ChatGPT starts sending visits, follow them with our guide to tracking ChatGPT traffic in Google Analytics 4. Some of the value will stay invisible: someone can hear your name in ChatGPT, then search for it on Google a week later.
How AI SEO Crew handles the on site part
Steps 3 and 5 take the most writing, and that's where most brands stall. AI SEO Crew finds the real searches in your market and writes researched articles with their sources. Every fact and every link gets checked, internal links point to your service pages, and each article gets published on WordPress, Shopify, Webflow, Wix, Framer, GitHub or by webhook. Then it resubmits your sitemap to Google and pings IndexNow. Mentions on other sites (Step 4) are still yours to earn. Your site gets a steady flow of clear answers for ChatGPT and Google to read.
Start free and see your SEO plan in a few minutes, no card needed.
Frequently asked questions
Can I pay to get my brand mentioned by ChatGPT?
There's no published way to pay OpenAI to have your brand named in an answer. Put your money into the work that leads to mentions instead: clear pages on your site and real coverage on lists, review sites, communities and press. Be wary of anyone selling "guaranteed ChatGPT placement".
How do I get my company mentioned on ChatGPT if I'm a small local business?
Use the same name, address and area served on your site, your Google Business Profile and local directories. Then ask questions like "best [service] near [area]" and work on the sources ChatGPT shows for them: local directories, review sites, local news.
What if ChatGPT says something wrong about my brand?
Find the page the claim comes from in the sources ChatGPT shows, and correct it there. Publish the right fact clearly on your site too, then test again a few weeks later.
Does ChatGPT give the same answers to everyone?
No. Answers change from one chat to the next, between users, and as the web changes. Run each question several times and track how often you appear.