# ChatGPT SEO: how to get your brand mentioned and cited in ChatGPT answers

> ChatGPT SEO is getting your brand named and your pages cited when ChatGPT answers a buyer's question. What OpenAI says about eligibility, what makes a page quotable, and how to measure it.

Source: https://terradium.io/chatgpt-seo

Last updated 3 November 2026 · Prices checked 3 November 2026

![ChatGPT SEO: eligible, quotable, mentioned elsewhere, measured over time, Terradium](https://terradium.io/media/guides/chatgpt-seo.png)

**The short answer**

ChatGPT SEO is the work of getting your brand named, and your pages linked as sources, when ChatGPT answers the questions your buyers ask. OpenAI's own guidance sets the floor: to be eligible for ChatGPT search results, allow OAI-SearchBot to crawl your site and make sure your host or CDN doesn't block OpenAI's published search-bot IP addresses. Past that, OpenAI says it ranks results using multiple factors and placement is not guaranteed. What you can control is whether your pages answer the question clearly, whether the rest of the web describes you the same way, and whether you measure the outcome over many samples instead of one screenshot.

## What people find when they search "ChatGPT SEO"

The US results are step-by-step guides from SEO and marketing platforms ("how to rank in ChatGPT", "how to show up in ChatGPT results"), answer engine optimization explainers, and guides on earning third-party mentions. Most agree on the same checklist: let OpenAI's crawler in, put the answer first, earn mentions elsewhere, and track prompts. This page keeps to what OpenAI itself documents, and is explicit about what nobody can promise.

## Mentioned vs. cited: the two outcomes that matter

A ChatGPT answer can include your brand in two different ways:

- **Mentioned.** Your brand is named in the answer text, for example in a shortlist of tools or vendors.
- **Cited.** One of your pages is a linked source. OpenAI's help center notes that responses using web search may include citations, and a Sources view with cited sources and other relevant links.

They don't always come together. You can be mentioned because other sites name you, without your own page being cited. You can be cited for a fact without being recommended. Track both.

## Step 1: Be eligible for ChatGPT search

From [OpenAI's ChatGPT search help article](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/9237897-chatgpt-search): to make a website eligible for inclusion, allow OAI-SearchBot to crawl the site, and confirm that the website host or content delivery network allows traffic from OpenAI's published search-bot IP addresses.

Three things to check:

1. **`robots.txt` allows `OAI-SearchBot`.** It is a separate token from `GPTBot`, OpenAI's training crawler. Blocking GPTBot opts you out of training; blocking OAI-SearchBot takes you out of ChatGPT search. See [GPTBot vs OAI-SearchBot](https://terradium.io/gptbot). OpenAI lists its crawler tokens at [https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/bots](https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/bots).
2. **Your firewall or bot protection doesn't block it.** A `robots.txt` that allows the bot doesn't help if the CDN rejects the request.
3. **The page has text in the raw HTML.** Most AI crawlers don't run JavaScript, so a page that only renders client-side gives them little to read.

Terradium's free [AI crawler checker](https://terradium.io/tools/ai-crawler-checker) checks all three for one URL: `robots.txt` rules for 13 AI user agents (including OAI-SearchBot, GPTBot and ChatGPT-User), `llms.txt`, and whether the page is server-rendered when fetched as an AI crawler. It also flags a firewall that blocks AI crawlers.

## Step 2: Make pages ChatGPT can quote

OpenAI's help article also explains that when ChatGPT search uses a search partner, it typically rewrites the user's question into one or more targeted queries, then may send more specific follow-up queries after reviewing the first results. So a single buyer question can turn into several narrower searches (see [query fan-out](https://terradium.io/query-fan-out)). Pages that answer one of those narrower questions directly are easier to pick up.

What that means in practice:

- **One page per buyer question,** with the answer in the opening lines.
- **Plain structure:** a short definition, a comparison table, numbered steps, an FAQ.
- **Specifics a model can repeat:** what you sell, who it's for, what it costs, where it's documented.
- **Up to date.** Old prices or features on your own pages get repeated as if they were current.

## Step 3: Be described the same way everywhere

If your site, your profiles, and your structured data describe your brand differently, it's harder for any engine to connect a question to you. Use the same one-line description of what you do and who it's for on your homepage, about page, directory listings, and social profiles. An [`llms.txt`](https://terradium.io/llms-txt-example) file can point AI tools at the pages that describe you best.

## Step 4: Get mentioned on the pages ChatGPT already reads

ChatGPT answers often lean on third-party pages: comparisons, reviews, roundups, and forum threads. Before you write a new page, run your buyer questions in ChatGPT and look at which sources it cites. If a roundup that's cited for your category leaves you out, or describes you wrongly, that page is a better target than another post on your own blog.

## Step 5: Measure it as a rate, not a rank

ChatGPT's answers vary from run to run (see [does ChatGPT give the same answers to everyone?](https://terradium.io/does-chatgpt-give-the-same-answers)). One check is a snapshot. A useful measurement asks a fixed set of questions on a schedule and reports how often you show up:

| Metric | What it tells you |
| --- | --- |
| Appearance rate | Share of sampled prompts where your brand is mentioned or cited |
| Citation share | How often your domain is the named source |
| Share of voice | Your slice of the cited sources versus competitors for the same prompts |
| Average position | Where you tend to land among the cited sources |

To check one question right now, Terradium's free [AI visibility checker](https://terradium.io/tools/ai-visibility-checker) asks ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews and shows whether each answer mentions your brand and cites your domain.

For tracking over time, [Terradium](https://terradium.io/pricing) samples your questions on the engines you choose (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews or Gemini, three on the $29 plan) and reports appearance rate, citation share, share of voice and average position as trends. It also drafts answer-ready articles for the questions where you're missing, and attributes visitors who arrive from an AI answer through the Embed SDK (more in [AI traffic analytics](https://terradium.io/ai-traffic-analytics)).

## What ChatGPT SEO can't promise

- **No guaranteed placement.** OpenAI says so directly: placement is not guaranteed.
- **No fixed rank.** Answers change between runs, so "position #1 in ChatGPT" isn't a stable number.
- **No shortcut through training data.** Allowing GPTBot is a separate decision about model training; it isn't what puts you in today's search answers.

## FAQ

**What is ChatGPT SEO?**

The work of getting your brand mentioned, and your pages cited, in ChatGPT's answers to the questions your buyers ask.

**How do I make my site eligible for ChatGPT search?**

OpenAI says to allow OAI-SearchBot to crawl your site and to make sure your host or CDN allows traffic from OpenAI's published search-bot IP addresses.

**Does blocking GPTBot remove me from ChatGPT?**

Not from ChatGPT search. GPTBot is OpenAI's training crawler. Search eligibility depends on OAI-SearchBot, which has its own `robots.txt` token.

**How do I get mentioned by ChatGPT?**

Answer your buyers' questions directly on your own pages, describe your brand consistently across the web, and get named on the third-party pages ChatGPT already cites for your category.

**How do I get cited by ChatGPT?**

Be eligible (OAI-SearchBot allowed, not blocked by your CDN), have the answer in server-rendered HTML near the top of the page, and keep the facts on the page current.

**Can I check whether ChatGPT mentions my brand?**

Yes. The free [AI visibility checker](https://terradium.io/tools/ai-visibility-checker) asks one question and shows whether ChatGPT mentions your brand and cites your domain. For a trend, sample a fixed set of questions every week.

**Is ChatGPT SEO different from regular SEO?**

The basics overlap: crawlable pages, clear answers, a consistent brand. The difference is the outcome. You're measured on whether you're named and cited in a generated answer, not on a position in a list of links.

## Check if ChatGPT mentions you

[Check if ChatGPT mentions you, free](https://terradium.io/tools/ai-visibility-checker) · [Start the 7-day free trial](https://terradium.io/pricing)