GEO & AI search
How to get your business recommended by ChatGPT and Perplexity
How AI assistants pick which businesses to name, the crawler setting most sites get wrong, and a 9 step plan to get recommended.
Key takeaways
- AI assistants recommend businesses they can find, understand and trust.
- Allow the AI search crawlers (like OAI-SearchBot and PerplexityBot) or you cannot be cited.
- Describe your business in the same clear sentence everywhere: site, Google, directories, social.
- Publish answer first pages with real numbers, named experts and sources.
- Get mentioned on other trusted sites. AI trusts what others say about you more than what you say.
ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Copilot recommend businesses they can find, understand and trust. To get named, your site must be open to their crawlers, describe what you do in one clear and consistent way, answer real customer questions directly, and be backed up by mentions, reviews and listings on other websites. There is no paid shortcut, but most businesses can make big progress in a few weeks.
Here is how AI assistants choose, the nine steps we use for Webco clients, and how to check where you stand today.
How does ChatGPT decide which businesses to recommend?
When you ask ChatGPT or Perplexity for a recommendation, they usually search the web in real time, read a handful of pages, and write an answer that cites the sources they trust most. So two things matter: whether your pages are in the set they read, and whether those pages (and other sites) make it easy to say what you do and why you are a good choice.
| Assistant | How it finds sources | What to make sure of |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT search | OpenAI's own search crawler (OAI-SearchBot) plus live web search | Allow OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt and in your firewall or CDN |
| Perplexity | Its own crawler (PerplexityBot) plus live search, always shows citations | Allow PerplexityBot; keep pages fast and readable |
| Google Gemini and AI Overviews | Google's normal search index | Normal SEO: indexed, crawlable, helpful pages |
| Microsoft Copilot | Bing's search index | Submit your sitemap in Bing Webmaster Tools |
Why is my competitor recommended and not me?
Usually one of four reasons: the AI cannot read your site, your site does not clearly say what you do, the web has more (and more consistent) information about your competitor, or your competitor has pages that directly answer the question people ask.
- Blocked crawlers. Many sites block AI bots by accident, through robots.txt, a security plugin or CDN defaults.
- Vague positioning. "We deliver innovative solutions" tells an AI nothing. "We build fast, multilingual websites for dental clinics in Canada" does.
- Thin footprint. No Google Business Profile, no directory listings, no reviews, no press. The AI has nothing to confirm you exist.
- No answer pages. If someone asks "how much does a website cost in Toronto?" and your competitor has a clear page about it, they get cited.
What are the 9 steps to get recommended by AI?
These are the steps we run for clients, in this order, because each one builds on the last.
- Open the doors. Allow the AI search crawlers you want (OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot and others) in robots.txt, and check your CDN or firewall is not blocking them. You can still block training crawlers like GPTBot if you prefer: OpenAI treats the two separately.
- Write your one sentence. What you do, for whom, where. Use it on your home page, About page, Google Business Profile, LinkedIn, Instagram and every directory.
- Fix your facts everywhere. Same business name, services, locations, phone and email on every profile. Remove or update old listings.
- Add structured data. Organization, Service, Person (for your experts), FAQPage and BreadcrumbList schema, so machines read your facts without guessing.
- Publish answer pages. One page per real customer question: prices, comparisons, how it works, who it is for. Answer first, details after.
- Show proof. Real numbers, named authors with real bios, case studies, sources. AI models (and people) trust specifics.
- Get listed and reviewed. Google Business Profile, Bing Places, industry directories, and review platforms. Ask happy clients for honest reviews.
- Earn mentions. Guest articles, podcasts, partner pages, local press, community groups. Every trusted mention is a vote AI can see.
- Check monthly. Ask the assistants your customers' questions, note how you are described, and fix what is wrong or missing.
What does a page that AI loves to cite look like?
It answers the question in the first lines, then backs it up. It is easy to scan, has a clear author, and links to sources. This article is built that way on purpose.
| Gets cited | Gets ignored |
|---|---|
| Answer in the first two sentences | Three paragraphs of intro before the point |
| Headings written as real questions | Clever headings that hide the topic |
| Specific numbers, dates and places | Vague claims like "affordable" or "fast" |
| Named author with real experience | No author, or "Admin" |
| Tables, lists and steps | One long wall of text |
| Sources and links to official pages | No evidence at all |
| Updated date that is recent | Last updated years ago |
How do I check if ChatGPT recommends my business today?
Open ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Copilot, and ask the questions your customers ask, in the language they use. Then note whether you are named, what is said, and which sources are cited.
- Ask a recommendation question: "Who are the best [your service] providers in [your city]?"
- Ask a brand question: "What does [your business name] do?" and check the facts.
- Ask a comparison: "[You] or [competitor] for [service]?"
- Write down the sources each assistant cites. Those are the sites you need to be on.
- Repeat monthly and track the changes in a simple sheet.
Also watch your analytics for visits from chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai, gemini.google.com and copilot.microsoft.com. And ask every new lead how they found you.
How long does it take to get recommended by AI?
Fixing crawlers and facts can show results within weeks, because AI search tools read the live web. Building enough reputation to be recommended for competitive questions usually takes several months of steady content, listings and mentions. OpenAI notes that robots.txt changes can take about 24 hours to affect ChatGPT search.
How does Webco help businesses get recommended?
We build sites with SEO, AEO and GEO in from the first line of code: open crawlers, full structured data, answer first pages and fast mobile performance. Then we grow your footprint month by month with content, listings and reports on how AI assistants describe you. If you want to understand the bigger picture first, read SEO vs AEO vs GEO, or see what this typically costs in our 2026 price guide.
Frequently asked
Allow OpenAI's search crawler (OAI-SearchBot), make sure your pages are fast and clearly answer real questions, keep your business facts consistent across the web, and earn mentions on trusted sites. There is no ranking list to buy into: ChatGPT cites the sources it finds and trusts.
Not in its normal answers. Recommendations come from what the assistant can find and trust on the web. You earn them with a clear site, consistent facts and real proof.
That is your choice. GPTBot is used for training OpenAI models, while OAI-SearchBot is used for ChatGPT search. OpenAI treats them separately, so you can block training and still appear in ChatGPT search answers.
Yes, especially for local questions. It is one of the clearest, most trusted sources of facts about your business, and Google's own AI features draw on Google's data.
No. AI assistants answer in many languages and prefer sources in the language of the question. A properly built page in German, Greek, Spanish or any other language can be cited for questions in that language.
It builds on SEO. SEO gets your pages found and ranked. GEO makes sure AI models understand your brand and have enough trusted evidence to recommend it.
Agencies in the US, UK and Australia often charge from about $1,500 a month on top of SEO. Webco builds it into the site and the monthly plan, priced around your business. See our price guide for ranges by country.
Sources
- OpenAI: Overview of OpenAI crawlers (OAI-SearchBot, GPTBot, ChatGPT-User)
- Perplexity: Perplexity crawlers
- Google Search Central: AI features and your website
- Google Search Central: Introduction to structured data
- Bing Webmaster Tools
- Aggarwal et al.: GEO, Generative Engine Optimization (arXiv 2311.09735)
- Help Net Security: Cloudflare blocks AI crawlers by default (July 2025)