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How to get your business mentioned in ChatGPT
The way people search online is changing. Google may still have a vice-like grip on most searches for the time being, but it’s no longer the only place people go when they want to find a business, compare options or get a recommendation.
More and more, your potential customers are turning to AI platforms to find the answers they need, asking AI services like ChatGPT questions that once would have gone straight into a search bar. This is why AI SEO is becoming an increasingly important part of how businesses approach online visibility.
This creates a new challenge for businesses regarding their online visibility. It’s no longer enough to think only about traditional search rankings, and soon enough, businesses unaware of the shift to AI could start missing valuable opportunities.
But just how urgent is this? Well, the good news is that ChatGPT and SEO are not two separate worlds, as many of the same principles that help your business perform well in traditional search results can also support stronger visibility in AI.
Can your business actually appear in ChatGPT?
Absolutely. When someone asks ChatGPT to recommend a supplier, compare businesses or answer a question, it can mention companies by name and, when using web search, it can cite the websites it has used to create its response.
Unlike traditional search, though, businesses don’t “rank” in one fixed position, and asking the same question but in a slightly different way can change the answer, along with any businesses or sources that appear.
So, when people ask how to rank in ChatGPT search, the better way of thinking about it is how to make your business more likely to be understood, trusted and shown when the right searches do happen.
That visibility can come from your own website, but also from the wider information available about your business online. The stronger and clearer that overall picture is, the better placed you are to be part of the answer. Sound familiar? If it does, it may be because this has quite a lot in common with traditional SEO, as we’ll discuss later in the post.
Why does being mentioned in ChatGPT even matter?
Because showing up where your customers are searching gives you a better chance of being considered and puts you ahead of your competitors.
A traditional Google search could take the form of something short like “accountants in Birmingham”. In ChatGPT and other AI engines, that same search can be asked much more specifically, such as “Which Birmingham accountants work with growing ecommerce businesses and offer ongoing advice?”
All this extra detail helps narrow the field much more quickly. If your business offers exactly what’s being asked for, you deserve to be part of that answer. If you don’t appear, one of your competitors could shine through instead.
This is why ChatGPT and SEO matter commercially. This isn’t about chasing AI hype, but making sure your business has done what it needs to do to be found wherever potential customers are researching problems that your business could solve.
Does SEO help you get mentioned in ChatGPT?
Yes! Good SEO does much of the groundwork needed to help search platforms understand what your business does, who you serve and why your website deserves visibility.
The great news is that ChatGPT and SEO don't need to be treated as two separate strategies. Phew, right? Put simply, a website with strong technical foundations, useful content, clear expertise and a healthy online reputation is already giving the emerging AI platforms much of what they need to work with.
As we’re about to discuss, AI search does introduce some new considerations, but you don’t need to rip up everything you’ve already done with your SEO and start again, especially if your foundations are already strong. At Sherbet Donkey, our SEO services focus on building those foundations properly while adapting strategies as the way people search continues to change.
This helps build a clearer picture of your website’s authority and highlights opportunities that may not be obvious through automated tools alone.
What helps your business get found in ChatGPT?
As with SEO, there’s no guaranteed formula for how to rank on ChatGPT search, and anyone promising one is almost certainly talking rubbish. What you can do, however, is make your business easier for search engines and AI services alike to understand and trust, increasing your chances of being “surfaced” or recommended.
Many website owners are unaware these issues exist until rankings begin to decline, making a technical SEO audit an essential part of any long-term SEO strategy.
Create genuinely useful content
If you’ve done even the most rudimentary research into SEO, you’ll be familiar with this vital approach. Genuinely useful content gives both search engines and AI platforms something worthwhile to work with. By answering genuine customer questions, explaining your services clearly and showing that you actually know your industry, you are more likely to be shown in results.
That could mean answering questions like:
- What a warehouse and logistics company should consider when choosing a racking system
- What a vending operator should recommend to clients looking for the ideal machine for their workplace
- How an IT services company can support a growing business
This is where E-E-A-T comes in: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. In plain English, prove you know what you’re talking about. Original insights, real examples, accurate information and useful advice all help build your credibility.
For example, case studies can demonstrate real results, testimonials add independent validation and thought leadership or PR content can show that your business has something worthwhile to say about its industry.
Clear author bios also help put genuine expertise behind the content, particularly when advice is being written by someone with first-hand knowledge or relevant professional experience.
Build authority beyond your own website
Your website isn’t the only place that shapes your online reputation. Reviews, backlinks, business directories and genuine mentions elsewhere on the web can all help reinforce your trust signals, ensuring potential customers understand who you are and what you do.
And your online reputation works both ways. Consistently poor reviews or negative discussion about your business can influence how AI platforms see your business, so monitoring what people are saying about your brand matters too.
Get the foundations right
There’s still plenty happening behind the scenes too, and it's vital to get it right. Your website needs to be accessible, technically sound, clearly structured and filled with accurate, up-to-date information.
That doesn’t mean you need to start studying robots.txt files over breakfast. Our AI SEO services combine technical SEO expertise with quality content, topical authority and an ongoing strategy, helping your business stay visible as the way people search continues to change.
Where do AEO and GEO fit into all this?
AEO and GEO sound more complicated than they need to, but the important bit is that neither of them replaces SEO:
- Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO): This focuses on helping content answer specific questions clearly, such as in FAQ sections.
- Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO): This is about improving the chances of your content being mentioned or cited in AI-generated answers.
Both work best when they build on the same foundations: useful content, technical performance, clear expertise and a strong online reputation – everything we’ve spoken about in this blog. That’s why we treat AEO and GEO as part of your wider search strategy, not shiny new services that make everything else irrelevant.
Our thorough AEO vs GEO guide goes into much more detail on this point. For most businesses, the takeaway is simple: good SEO still does the heavy lifting, as evidenced in our case studies.
How do you know if you’re getting seen in ChatGPT?
Don’t search for your own company name. That rather defeats the point! Instead, ask ChatGPT some of the questions your potential customers would genuinely use to find a business like yours. For example, if you were a vending and coffee machine rental company in Derby that also did replenishment and repairs, you could try asking:
- Which companies offer vending and coffee machine rental for workplaces in Derby?
- Who can supply and regularly replenish vending machines for a business in Derby?
- Can you recommend a Derby vending machine company that also provides repairs and ongoing maintenance?
Look at which businesses appear, whether your business is mentioned, which websites are cited and how consistently you and your competitors show up across similar searches. One result won’t paint the full picture, so AI visibility needs monitoring over time rather than treating a single answer as a permanent win.
Want more people to find your business through AI search?
You don’t need to be an AI search expert to make it work for your business, but you do need a professional SEO strategy that keeps pace with how your customers are finding, researching and choosing businesses like yours online.
At Sherbet Donkey, we combine all the SEO fundamentals that matter with the fresh opportunities created by ChatGPT, AI Overviews and other AI-powered search tools. We handle the technical work, content, authority building and ongoing monitoring, so you can focus on running your business.
If you’re wondering how to rank on ChatGPT search, don’t chase shortcuts. Build the right foundations and keep adapting as search evolves. That’s exactly what our team is here to help you do, so get in touch with us today or request your free SEO audit below.
