You can't buy a position in ChatGPT, and there's no page two. When someone asks an AI assistant for a recommendation, it searches the web, reads the pages it trusts, and writes one answer that names a handful of businesses. To be one of them, three things have to be true: your website answers the question in plain words, the facts about your business match everywhere they appear, and other sites the AI trusts mention you.
That work has two names you'll hear a lot: GEO (generative engine optimization) and AEO (answer engine optimization). Both mean the same practical thing: making your business the easy, safe answer for an AI to give. Below: how the AI picks, why businesses get left out, how to check where you stand, and the fixes in order.
How ChatGPT and other AI assistants choose who to name
Ask ChatGPT "which hospital in Kuala Lumpur is best for knee replacement?" and it doesn't recall an answer from memory alone. For questions about current options, ChatGPT search, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot and Google's AI Overviews look things up on the web first, then write an answer from what they found, often with the sources linked underneath.
In practice, that comes down to three steps:
- It reads your website. Can it find a page that clearly says what you do, for whom, where, at what price, and with what proof?
- It checks what others say. Do reviews, directories, news sites, comparison articles and forums say the same things about you?
- It names who it trusts. The businesses that come through both checks clearly get named. The rest are left out, even when they rank on Google.
The AI is cautious. If it can't confirm a fact, it would rather name a competitor it's sure about than risk being wrong about you.
Why your business gets left out
Your pages don't answer the question
Most service pages open with a slogan, a photo and "contact us". A buyer asking an AI wants a direct answer: how much, how long, for whom, how you compare. If that answer isn't written on your page in plain sentences, the AI takes it from a page that has it, usually a competitor's or a comparison site's.
Your business facts don't match
Your website says one address, your Google Business Profile another, and an old directory still lists the phone number from two years ago. Different service names, prices or opening hours across sites look like uncertainty to an AI, and uncertain businesses don't get recommended.
Nobody else talks about you
AI answers lean on third parties: review sites, industry directories, "best of" lists, press coverage, Reddit and other forums. A business that only describes itself, on its own site, gives the AI nothing to cross-check.
AI crawlers can't read your site
Some sites block AI crawlers in their robots.txt file without knowing it, often through a security plugin or a copied template. Others load their main content with JavaScript that crawlers don't run. Either way, the AI can't read what you wrote.
You're tracking Google rankings, not AI answers
A rank tracker tells you where you sit on Google. It can't tell you whether ChatGPT names you, which competitor it names instead, or which sources it cites. Without that, you're fixing things blind.
How to check where you stand
You can do a first check in an afternoon:
- List 20 questions your buyers ask before they choose: "best orthopaedic surgeon in Jakarta for ACL", "how much does a villa in Uluwatu cost", "X vs Y". Use the words your sales team hears, not your internal service names.
- Ask each one in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot and Google AI Mode. Use a fresh session, and note who gets named and which sources are linked.
- Score each answer: named, cited (your site is linked as a source), or absent. Note who appears instead.
- Open the cited sources. These are the pages AI trusts for your category. They become your target list.
- Check your robots.txt (yourdomain.com/robots.txt) for lines that block the crawlers listed below.
- Compare your facts (name, address, phone, hours, services, prices) across your website, Google Business Profile and the top three directories in your industry.
One warning: AI answers vary between runs, locations and wordings. One answer proves nothing. Look at the share of answers that name you across many questions, and repeat the check every week.
| Check | What good looks like |
|---|---|
| Answers on your pages | Each key page answers its main question in the first two sentences, with prices, locations and proof |
| Business facts | Name, address, phone, hours and services identical on every site that lists you |
| Third-party mentions | You appear on the review sites, directories and articles AI cites for your category |
| Crawler access | OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot, Googlebot and Bingbot allowed; key content readable without JavaScript |
| Tracking | The same set of buyer questions checked weekly across every major AI assistant |
How to fix it, in order
1. Rewrite your key pages answer-first
Start every service page with a short, direct answer to the question a buyer would ask, then the specifics: who it's for, where, how long it takes, the price range, and proof with real numbers. Add a frequently-asked-questions section using the questions buyers actually type, and mark it up with FAQ schema. Write so a single paragraph could be quoted on its own and still make sense.
2. Make your facts consistent everywhere
Pick one source of truth for your name, address, phone, hours, services and prices. Update your Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Apple Business Connect and the main directories in your industry to match it exactly. Add Organization (or LocalBusiness) schema to your site, with links to your official profiles.
3. Earn mentions where AI already looks
Go back to the sources you found in step 4 of the check. Get listed on the directories and review sites that keep appearing, pitch the comparison articles that leave you out, and publish data or opinions a journalist could quote. Ask happy customers for reviews on the platforms AI cites, not just the one you like best.
4. Open the door to AI crawlers
Allow OAI-SearchBot (used by ChatGPT search), PerplexityBot, Googlebot (which also feeds AI Overviews) and Bingbot (which feeds Copilot). GPTBot collects data to train OpenAI's models and is a separate choice. Blocking it doesn't remove you from ChatGPT search. Make sure your main content is in the page's HTML, not loaded later by scripts. An llms.txt file, a plain list of your key pages for AI tools, is cheap to add, but no AI company has confirmed it affects answers, so treat it as a small extra.
5. Track it every week
Run the same set of buyer questions across every major AI assistant each week (AI visibility tracking automates this). Track how often you're named (your share of voice), whether your pages are cited, and what the AI says about you. Then tie it to revenue: add "AI assistant (ChatGPT, Gemini…)" to the "how did you hear about us?" question on your forms and in WhatsApp, and watch referral traffic from chatgpt.com and perplexity.ai in your analytics.
Find out which AI answers leave you out
We run your buyers' questions across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot and Google AI Mode, and show you who gets named instead and why. Delivered in 5 working days, walked through on a 30-minute call, and yours to keep.
See AI Search OptimizationDoes Google SEO still matter for AI answers?
Yes. Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode are built on Google's own search index, and the other assistants lean on search results too. Pages that rank well and answer clearly are the pages AI tends to read first. GEO doesn't replace SEO. It builds on it.
We built medifly.ai, a platform that helps patients find the right surgeon abroad, and run its SEO and GEO with exactly this groundwork: answer-first pages, consistent facts, and steady content. Comparing two-week averages from mid-June to late September 2026, Medifly's organic clicks from Google grew about 4× (from roughly 22 to 89 a day) and its search impressions about 5.6× (from roughly 1,480 to 8,320 a day), measured in Google Search Console.
Frequently asked questions
Can you pay to rank in ChatGPT?
No. You can't pay to be named inside ChatGPT's answers. Where AI tools show ads, they're labelled and kept apart from the answer itself. Being named in the answer comes from your website, your facts and what other sites say about you.
How long does it take to show up in AI answers?
Changes to your own pages can be picked up as soon as they're crawled again, often within weeks. Third-party mentions and reviews take longer to build, usually months. Because answers vary, judge progress on weekly tracking across many questions, not on a single answer.
What's the difference between SEO, GEO and AEO?
SEO (search engine optimization) gets your pages ranked in search results. GEO (generative engine optimization) gets your business named and cited in answers written by AI, such as ChatGPT or Gemini. AEO (answer engine optimization) is a near-synonym for GEO, with a focus on being the direct answer to a question. In practice, the same work serves all three.
Should I block GPTBot?
It's your choice, and it's separate from being found. GPTBot gathers data to train OpenAI's models. ChatGPT search uses a different crawler, OAI-SearchBot. If you want to appear in ChatGPT's search answers, make sure OAI-SearchBot is allowed, whatever you decide about GPTBot.
Does schema markup help with AI answers?
It helps machines read your facts precisely: your business type, address, services, prices and FAQs. It's not a guarantee of being named, but it removes guesswork, and guesswork is what keeps businesses out of AI answers. Organization, LocalBusiness, Product and FAQ schema are the ones worth adding first.
How do I know if ChatGPT sends me customers?
Look for referral traffic from chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai and gemini.google.com in your analytics. Links clicked in ChatGPT often arrive tagged with utm_source=chatgpt.com. Many AI-driven buyers type your name into Google instead of clicking, so also add an "AI assistant" option to "how did you hear about us?" on your forms and in your sales chats.
