How to get your company recommended by ChatGPT and other AI assistants

Why it matters now

Buyers increasingly start with an AI assistant rather than a list of links. G2's 2026 research found that 51% of software buyers now start their research in an AI chatbot more often than in Google, and that 69% chose a different vendor than planned because a chatbot recommended it.

When an AI answer appears, people click fewer links: Pew Research found users clicked a result 8% of the time on searches with an AI summary, against 15% without one. Being named inside the answer is becoming the click.

1. Make sure AI can read your site

Each AI engine has its own crawler. OpenAI's OAI-SearchBot decides whether you can appear in ChatGPT search; Anthropic's Claude-SearchBot and Perplexity's PerplexityBot do the same for theirs; Google's AI Overviews use the normal Googlebot index; Bing feeds Copilot. If your robots.txt or firewall blocks them, you cannot be cited.

Two traps catch many sites. Cloudflare has blocked AI crawlers by default on new domains since July 2025, so check its AI bot settings. And AI crawlers generally do not run JavaScript, so a page whose text only appears after scripts run can look empty to them. Serve your important copy in the HTML.

2. Answer the questions buyers actually ask

AI engines assemble answers from passages. Pages that state the answer plainly in the first lines, then give specifics, are easier to quote than pages that open with a slogan.

• —Write a sentence that says exactly what you do, for whom: “X is a systems integration agency for mid-size manufacturers.”
• —Give each service and each industry its own page with real specifics: the systems involved, the problems it solves, the questions buyers ask.
• —Use the buyer's words in headings: “How long does an ERP integration take?” rather than “Our timelines”.
• —Add facts, figures and named sources where you have them; research on generative engines found these raised visibility, while keyword stuffing did not.
• —Keep pages current and dated; AI-cited pages skew fresher than ordinary search results.

3. Get mentioned where AI looks

This is the step most companies skip, and the one that matters most. Muck Rack's 2026 analysis found that around 84% of what AI answers cite is earned media, not companies' own sites. For agency and supplier questions, review directories such as Clutch, independent “best of” lists, Reddit, LinkedIn and trade publications are cited again and again.

• —Create complete profiles on the directories your buyers use, and ask real clients for reviews there.
• —Pitch your real work to the authors of existing “best X” lists in your niche; do not publish lists that rank yourself first.
• —Answer journalists' requests for expert comment (Source of Sources, Qwoted, Featured) and offer data only you have.
• —Take part in the communities your buyers read, under their rules, without dropping links.

4. Measure it honestly

AI answers vary. SparkToro found less than a 1% chance that an AI gives the same list of brands twice for the same question. So a single screenshot of “we are #1 in ChatGPT” means little. Track a fixed set of real buyer questions across several engines, many runs each, and report the share of answers that name you, alongside the AI-referred visits and leads in your analytics and CRM.

What does not move the needle

• —llms.txt files: Google has said it does not use them, and a 2026 Ahrefs log study found 97% of them received no requests at all.
• —Schema markup on its own: Ahrefs found pages that added schema saw no measurable change in ChatGPT or AI Mode citations. It is still worth adding, for clarity about who you are, not as a ranking lever.
• —Hidden text or instructions aimed at AI, fake reviews and planted forum posts. They risk your reputation and, increasingly, your rankings.