Ask ChatGPT “Which IT service provider in Manchester is good for mid-sized companies?” and you won’t get a list of ten links – you’ll get an answer with a handful of names. Whether yours is among them isn’t down to an ad. It depends on how well the AI knows your company and how much it trusts it. In this guide I show you where ChatGPT gets its knowledge about businesses, the five signals that matter, what you can do about them and how to track your progress.
How does ChatGPT know about companies?
ChatGPT knows about your company from two sources: the language model’s training data and a live web search. For current and local questions, the web search is what counts.
Training data: the background knowledge
A language model is an AI that has learned from huge amounts of text how language and knowledge fit together. Its training data comes from publicly available sources such as websites, trade articles, forums, news and books – with a cut-off date that is usually months in the past. Your company appears in it if it has an online presence: your own website, press releases, articles, business directories or social media posts.
The limitation: this knowledge is static and only updated with new model versions. Young or less visible companies are often missing or described inaccurately.
Web search: current information
For current questions ChatGPT searches the web. OpenAI uses its own crawler, OAI-SearchBot, alongside data from search partners, and the answers include links to their sources. Web search matters most when people ask about offers, opening hours, new products or providers near them. If you can’t be found in web search, you drop out of those answers.
Location and crawling
For local questions ChatGPT takes the user’s approximate location into account. Whether you get recommended then depends on whether OAI-SearchBot may read your website and whether your location details are clear and consistent everywhere. Example: someone looks for an “IT service provider in Manchester”. If your website lacks clear details about your location and services – or they contradict each other – you won’t be mentioned, even if your office is round the corner.
Which five signals decide your visibility in ChatGPT?
All five are closely related to classic SEO, but the AI weighs them differently.
1. Indexable pages with substance
The baseline is pages that search engines and OAI-SearchBot are allowed to fetch: clean URLs, fast load times, a good mobile experience and HTTPS. Then comes substance. ChatGPT doesn’t look at individual keywords; it looks at whether a page explains a topic clearly and completely. Pages with answers to common questions, detailed product descriptions and real-world examples are more likely to be used as a source.
Example: a manufacturer of industrial equipment adds use cases, FAQs and short explainer videos to its data sheets and keeps everything up to date. That makes its website the obvious source when someone asks about that kind of machine.
2. A clear position and topical focus
ChatGPT recommends companies whose focus is unmistakable. “We do everything” is hard to place; “specialist in control systems for the food industry” is easy. Spell out your core services, industries and strengths clearly, using the terms your customers use.
A common mistake: too many topics on one page. Relevance gets diluted, the AI sees no clear expertise and mentions you less often.
3. Consistent information about your company
To an AI, an entity is a clearly identifiable “thing” – for example your company, with its name, address and services. The more consistently these details appear, the more confidently the AI attributes them to you. That covers the spelling of your company name, your address, phone number and product names – on your website, social profiles and directories. How often, in what context and how consistently you’re mentioned determines whether ChatGPT treats you as a reliable source.
4. Trust from outside
Links from respected websites, reviews and mentions in trade media or industry portals show the AI that others trust you. In B2B, recommendations from industry associations, articles in relevant publications and partnerships with well-known companies carry particular weight. Quality beats quantity: one mention on an established, relevant site does more than lots of random links.
5. Local and industry relevance
For local businesses, complete location data is a must – in your Google Business Profile, industry directories and on your website. That includes your address, opening hours, reviews and local references such as projects in the area. Example: a trades business with three branches keeps a dedicated page for each location with local keywords, references and services, which makes it more likely to be mentioned for regional questions.
What can you do to get visible in ChatGPT?
Get the technical basics right
- Allow the crawlers: check your robots.txt. OAI-SearchBot must be able to fetch your pages, and important pages must not carry “noindex”.
- Improve load times: compress images, use caching, remove unnecessary scripts.
- Put content in the HTML: some AI crawlers don’t read text that only loads via JavaScript.
- Use structured data: schema.org markup for your organisation, location, products and articles makes your details unambiguous – as long as it matches the visible text.
- Optimise for mobile: a site that works well on phones is non-negotiable.
Present your company clearly and consistently
- Use the same full company name everywhere: on your website, in metadata, profiles and directories.
- Keep contact and location details complete and up to date.
- Describe your core services clearly and concisely – ideally on an “About” page with one sentence that defines you unambiguously.
Write content that answers questions
- Answer your customers’ specific questions, each under its own heading with a short answer at the start of the section.
- Use formats such as FAQs, step-by-step guides, comparisons and tables.
- Skip shallow copy and keyword stuffing. Go for depth, first-hand experience and practical examples.
- Update important pages regularly and show the date of the last change.
How to create this kind of content with AI support without it sounding generic is covered in my article on creating content with AI.
Build trust from outside
- Look for partnerships with well-known companies in your industry.
- Publish trade articles and press releases in relevant media.
- Ask happy customers for reviews on Google, industry portals and social media.
Maintain your local data
- Keep your Google Business Profile complete and current.
- Create a dedicated page for each location with local keywords.
- Collect local reviews and respond to them.
More on local signals under local SEO.
What doesn’t work for ChatGPT?
- Keyword stuffing: AI models judge content by meaning, not by how often a word is repeated.
- Manipulation attempts: hidden instructions aimed at the AI, bought reviews or mass-produced pages tend to get noticed – and damage trust in your brand.
- Inaccessible content: content behind logins, in poorly structured PDFs or loaded only via JavaScript often stays invisible.
- Outdated details: because ChatGPT searches the live web, old prices, opening hours or offers lead to wrong recommendations – or none at all.
How do you measure your visibility in ChatGPT?
ChatGPT doesn’t publish rankings. So you measure visibility through regular test prompts, visits from ChatGPT in your analytics and your positions on Google.
Run test prompts regularly
Draw up a fixed list of 10 to 20 typical customer questions and run them once a month. Vary the wording, locations and angles, and record whether and how your company is mentioned. Answers fluctuate, so the trend over several months matters more than any single answer.
Track visits from ChatGPT
Links from ChatGPT carry the source “chatgpt.com”. In Google Analytics or any other analytics tool you can see how many visitors come from ChatGPT, which pages they land on and whether they get in touch.
Watch your Google rankings
Because web search plays a role, strong Google positions are an indirect indicator of your chances in ChatGPT. Keep working on your rankings for important and local keywords.
Monitor Search Console and technical health
Use Google Search Console to check that your pages are indexed, spot crawl errors and follow how clicks develop. Technical problems cost you visibility on Google and in AI search at the same time.
Ask where enquiries come from
Ask new prospects how they found you. If more of them mention ChatGPT or other AI assistants, your work is paying off.
Why is ChatGPT visibility built on good SEO?
Getting visible in ChatGPT isn’t a trick. It’s a process that builds on proven SEO fundamentals and adds a few AI-specific requirements. Companies that strengthen their authority, consistency and relevance are more likely to be recommended to customers who are ready to buy. For local and B2B businesses, well-maintained location data and industry-specific content are especially important.
I explain how optimising for AI search differs from classic SEO in GEO vs. SEO, and how to appear in Google’s AI answers in optimising for Google AI Overviews. You’ll find more guides on the blog.
