Guide

ChatGPT SEO: how to get cited by ChatGPT

ChatGPT SEO means making your website easy for ChatGPT to find, read and quote. In short: let OpenAI's crawlers in, describe your business plainly, mark it up with structured data, and publish pages that directly answer the questions your buyers ask.

How ChatGPT picks its sources

When ChatGPT searches the web, it fetches pages at question time and builds its answer from the clearest, most relevant passages. Pages that are blocked, hard to parse or vague about who the business is are less likely to be used, however well they rank on Google.

1. Let OpenAI's crawlers in

OpenAI uses OAI-SearchBot for search results and GPTBot for training. ChatGPT-User fetches pages when a user asks it to. Check your robots.txt doesn't block them:

User-agent: OAI-SearchBot
Allow: /

User-agent: GPTBot
Allow: /

User-agent: ChatGPT-User
Allow: /

2. State clearly who you are

Use the same brand name and category everywhere: page titles, your About page, social profiles. Add Organization JSON-LD so the facts are machine-readable, and an llms.txt file summarising what you do.

3. Answer real buyer questions

People ask ChatGPT short, casual questions: "best accounting software for freelancers", "x vs y". Make pages that answer them, with a direct two-sentence answer at the top and descriptive headings. Comparison pages, pricing explainers and how-to guides tend to get quoted.

How to get cited by ChatGPT: checklist

• OAI-SearchBot, GPTBot and ChatGPT-User are allowed in robots.txt.
• Your key pages load real content without needing JavaScript to run.
• Organization structured data is on every page; Product or FAQ data where it fits.
• An llms.txt file lists your most important pages.
• Each key page opens with a direct, quotable answer.
• You have pages for the comparisons and "best X for Y" questions buyers ask.
• You re-test those questions regularly and watch which competitors are cited instead.

Measure it

Xcite runs your buyer questions through ChatGPT and records whether you're mentioned, at what position, and which competitors appear. When you're missing from an answer, it suggests what to publish to get cited for that prompt. See also our Perplexity SEO guide.