Does ChatGPT recommend your business? How to check your AI search visibility

Why this matters now

Assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity now decide which web pages people see as sources when they ask for a recommendation. If a buyer asks "who can help us digitise purchase approvals in Mauritius?", the answer names a few businesses and links a few pages. Being absent from that short list is the new version of not ranking on Google.

How to check your visibility in five steps

1. Write 10 to 20 real buyer questions. Use your customers' words: problems, locations, comparisons ("best X for Y in Z", "alternative to ...", "who can help with ...").
2. Ask each question several times on each assistant. Use a fresh conversation each time, and note the date. Answers vary between runs, so one result proves little.
3. Record who is named. Your business, competitors, directories, marketplaces. Note the position in the answer.
4. Record which pages are cited. Are they your pages, a directory listing, a review site, a news article?
5. Repeat after changes. Re-run the same questions after you publish or fix pages, and compare.

What actually drives citations?

A study published in October 2026 (Chen and Koudas, "What Drives AI Citations?") analysed 158,099 answers with 468,037 citations to commercial questions. Its main findings:

Finding	What it means for you
Every page ChatGPT cites is one its own search retrieved. Which pages that search retrieves explained 32% of the variation in citations, against 2.8% for page properties.	Being found by the assistant's search for the sub-questions it writes comes first. Page polish comes a distant second.
Comparing pages of the same website, pages whose title and paragraphs match the questions people ask are cited more.	Write one clear page per real question, with the question in the title and a direct answer near the top.
FAQ blocks, structured data, summary boxes and page speed appeared effective only across websites, not between pages of the same site.	They are not a shortcut. Use them where they help readers, not as a visibility trick.
ChatGPT writes brands it knows into its searches, prefers websites it knows, and names brands without any supporting page.	Being known matters: listings, mentions and coverage on other sites help the model recognise your name.

The assistant's sub-queries also "rarely coincide with Google's or Bing's results", according to the study, so a good Google ranking does not guarantee a mention.

Practical fixes that follow from the evidence

• Let AI search crawlers in. OpenAI says sites that block OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers. Check your robots.txt and your firewall.
• Be indexable on Google. Google says there are no special requirements for its AI Overviews and AI Mode beyond normal Search eligibility: the page must be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet.
• Publish question-shaped pages. One question per page, a direct answer at the top, then the detail and sources.
• Get your name onto other trusted sites. Directory listings, partner pages and genuine reviews where your buyers look.
• Keep pages dated and current, so readers and assistants can tell how fresh they are.

Frequently asked questions

Can anyone guarantee that ChatGPT will recommend my business?

No. Answers vary between runs and change over time, and the assistants' internals are not public. Anyone promising a guaranteed ranking in AI answers is overselling.

Does adding FAQ schema get me cited by ChatGPT?

Not on its own, according to the 2026 study: comparing pages within the same site, FAQ blocks and structured data did not explain which pages were cited. Matching the question in your title and paragraphs did.

Should I block GPTBot?

That is a separate choice. OpenAI uses GPTBot for model training and OAI-SearchBot for search; you can allow one and block the other. Blocking OAI-SearchBot removes you from ChatGPT search answers.

How often should I re-check?

Monthly is a reasonable rhythm for most small businesses, and always after publishing significant new pages.

Can Linkgrow help with this?

Yes, as part of our AI work: we can run the check for your buyer questions, list who gets named instead of you, and suggest the pages and listings to fix. Ask us.