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AI platform features change quickly. This article describes what was verified on the date of the last update. Check the provider's current documentation before making an implementation decision.
Getting recommended by ChatGPT means getting AI systems - ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews - to name your company in answer to your prospective buyers' questions. This is not SEO. Google ranks pages by links and relevance. ChatGPT generates recommendations from what it "knows" about your brand from training data and available sources.
Companies that understand the difference build an advantage before the market saturates. Companies that wait lose B2B buying enquiries that appear in no analytics report, because the user never visited their site. If you want to hand the process to specialists, see how our ChatGPT visibility service works.
How does ChatGPT decide which companies to recommend?
ChatGPT has no ranked list as Google does. It generates an answer from patterns in training data supplemented with current web data when browsing is used. That means your company appears in an answer if: it is mentioned often enough in credible sources across the web; its site has content AI can cite without risk of error; and AI associates the brand with a specific specialisation and geography.
The key difference: Google ranks pages. ChatGPT recommends brands. Optimising for ChatGPT concerns how AI perceives the brand, not only site technicalities.
Step 1: define how AI should describe you
Before optimising anything, answer this: when a buyer asks ChatGPT "recommend a [your specialisation] agency in [your city]", what answer do you want to hear? That is your goal. Now check what ChatGPT actually says today - enter five to ten different buying questions from your category and note whether your company appears and how it is described.
Step 2: make the service page a citable fact
ChatGPT cites content that meets one condition: it can be read in 30 seconds and makes clear what the company does, for whom and how it differs from competitors. A service page optimised for ChatGPT should have: a definition of the service in the first paragraph, the scope and exclusions, pricing or price ranges (AI trusts transparent companies), an FAQ with five to eight buying questions, and contact details and location.
- A service definition in the first paragraph - one sentence on exactly what you do
- Scope and exclusions - what you do not do, since AI reads precision as an authority signal
- Pricing or ranges - transparency improves citability
- An FAQ with buying questions - "How long does it take?", "Which companies is it for?"
- Contact details and city - location is decisive for local prompts
Step 3: position through specialisation, not generality
ChatGPT tends to recommend brands it associates with a specific niche, not with "comprehensive services". When a buyer asks "recommend a digital agency", ChatGPT names the largest players. When they ask "recommend a digital agency specialising in SEO for e-commerce", the odds of a smaller specialist being recommended rise dramatically. The fastest route into ChatGPT answers is therefore narrowing and deepening the specialisation in your content.
Step 4: external mentions - why content alone is not enough
ChatGPT's training data comes from the whole web, not only your site. A company written about by industry publications, LinkedIn, topical forums and media is treated as more credible than a company with an excellent site and no external mentions. That is one of the main reasons new companies are hard to position in ChatGPT even with great content: AI does not know about them from sources other than their own site.
A first mention in a respected trade publication, even a short one, can have more effect than ten new articles on your own blog.
Step 5: schema.org and structured data
Schema.org describes entities and content types to search systems. Use Organization on the home page, Person on author profiles and Article on publications, always matching the visible content. There is no special schema required for ChatGPT or Google AI Overviews.
Step 6: content that answers B2B buying questions
A buyer asking ChatGPT about a service provider asks buying questions: how much does it cost, how long does it take, what distinguishes the best firms, what should I ask in a meeting. If your blog answers those questions specifically, with data and without padding, ChatGPT can cite you exactly when the buyer is most ready to purchase. That is the essence of this work: not being everywhere, but being there when the buyer decides.
Step 7: monitoring and measurement
This requires different measurement from SEO. There is no "position one" - there is Share of Model: how often your company appears in answers to a set of control queries from your category. The minimum is 20 to 50 prompts reflecting real buying questions. You can measure manually or with tools such as Profound, Peec AI or Otterly.AI. The baseline before optimisation is the reference point for everything that follows.
How long does this take?
First effects appear faster than in SEO, but the mechanism differs. ChatGPT updates its training data every few months, so site changes affect the model only at the next training cycle. Models with browsing - ChatGPT with search, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews - can take new content into account within days or weeks. A realistic time to the first measurable effect, meaning a rise in Share of Model, is four to eight weeks after on-page changes, and two to three months if you start by building mentions.
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Frequently asked questions
How does this differ from SEO?
SEO optimises a page for Google rankings, where technology, links and keywords count. Getting recommended by ChatGPT means building AI's knowledge of your brand, where content citability, external mentions, structured data and specialisation count. The two strategies complement each other but require different work.
How do I check whether my company appears in ChatGPT?
Open ChatGPT and ask a few questions buyers might ask when looking for a supplier. Record the complete answers, the date and the mode. An audit extends that test with an agreed sample, a benchmark, sources and coding rules.
What does this cost?
The investment depends on the starting point and the goal. An AI Visibility Snapshot is PLN 1,500-2,900 net, a strategic audit PLN 2,900-4,900 net, an implementation sprint PLN 8,900-19,900 net, and continuous monitoring PLN 2,900-7,900 net per month.
Does this work for small companies?
Yes, and it can deliver an advantage faster for small companies than for large ones. Large firms have domain authority but can be too general. A small firm with a narrow specialisation and well-described services can appear in ChatGPT on niche queries before market leaders optimise.
What is Share of Model and how do I measure it?
Share of Model is the percentage of AI answers in which your brand appears across a set of control prompts. For example: across 50 buying questions from your category, ChatGPT recommended your company 12 times, giving a Share of Model of 24%. Measure it manually by entering the prompts, or with tools such as Profound or Peec AI.
How do I appear in ChatGPT answers?
To appear in ChatGPT answers you need to: build brand mentions on external sites (Reddit, LinkedIn, industry publications); create content in a question-and-answer format with specific data; add schema.org and llms.txt to the site; and build a specialisation, because AI recommends firms with clear expertise in a narrow field rather than generalists.