Key takeaways
- ChatGPT reached 900 million weekly users in early 2026, and many use it to research purchases.
- If your robots.txt blocks OpenAI's search crawler, your site can't appear in ChatGPT search answers.
- Brand mentions across the web are the factor most strongly linked to AI visibility in Ahrefs' research.
- Content with statistics, quotations and cited sources is more likely to be used in AI answers.
Ask ChatGPT "who's the best roofer in Dallas?" or "what's the best accounting software for a small agency?" and you'll get a short list of names. If your business isn't on that list, you're invisible to that buyer before they ever reach Google.
That audience is large. OpenAI said in February 2026 that ChatGPT had reached 900 million weekly active users. Perplexity, Gemini and Copilot add millions more.
No one can force an AI to recommend them. But there are clear, practical steps that make it much more likely.
1. Make sure AI crawlers can reach your site
OpenAI uses a crawler called OAI-SearchBot to find pages for ChatGPT's search features. OpenAI says sites that block it won't appear in ChatGPT search answers. Check your robots.txt file (yoursite.com/robots.txt) and make sure you aren't blocking OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot or Google's crawlers by accident.
Also check that your important content is in the page's HTML. Some websites load text with JavaScript that many AI crawlers don't run.
2. Describe your business the same way everywhere
AI models build a picture of your business from many sources: your website, Google Business Profile, LinkedIn, directories, review sites and press mentions. If your name, services, locations and specialties differ from place to place, the picture gets blurry.
Write one clear description of what you do, who you serve and where, and use it consistently. Add Organization and LocalBusiness schema markup to your site so machines can read the same facts.
3. Write content AI can quote
The 2023 research paper that coined the term "generative engine optimization" tested which content changes increased visibility in AI answers. The winners were:
- Adding quotations from credible people (about 41% better than baseline)
- Adding statistics (about 31% better)
- Citing sources (about 27% better)
Keyword stuffing made visibility worse. In practice: put a clear answer at the top of each page, back it with specific numbers, and link to where they came from.
4. Get mentioned on the sites AI tools trust
Ahrefs analyzed 75,000 brands to see what's linked to appearing in Google's AI Overviews. The strongest factor by far was branded web mentions (correlation 0.664), ahead of backlinks and domain authority.
That means being talked about matters: reviews on G2, Capterra, Yelp or Google; inclusion in "best of" lists in your industry; genuine discussion on Reddit and forums; quotes in news articles; and listings in the directories your buyers use.
5. Build pages for the questions buyers ask AI
People ask AI tools longer, more specific questions than they type into Google. "Best CRM" becomes "best CRM for a five-person real estate team that uses Gmail". Create pages that answer those specific situations: comparison pages, "best for" pages, pricing explanations and detailed FAQs.
6. Keep reviews coming
For local businesses especially, AI assistants lean on review platforms and Google Business Profiles. A steady flow of recent, detailed reviews helps both Google's map rankings and AI recommendations.
7. Track it like any other channel
Write down the 20 to 30 questions your buyers are most likely to ask. Run them in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google every month, and note whether you're mentioned, cited or missing, and who appears instead. AI answers vary between runs, so look for trends over several checks rather than one screenshot.
In Google Analytics 4, you can also watch for referral traffic from chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai and gemini.google.com.
What not to do
- Don't publish dozens of thin, AI-generated pages. They rarely get cited and can drag down your site's quality.
- Don't buy fake reviews or mentions. Platforms remove them, and they can damage your reputation.
- Don't expect overnight results. AI visibility builds as your content, mentions and reviews build.
If you want to see what AI tools currently say about your business and your competitors, my AI visibility audit runs your key buying questions across the major platforms and shows you exactly where the gaps are.
Sources
SEO and AI search consultant with 8+ years of experience helping US businesses get found on Google and in AI answers. Top Rated on Upwork with a 100% Job Success Score.
About Taha