How Do You Get Mentioned in ChatGPT Results?
If you want your company to show up in ChatGPT results, you need an AI-friendly content structure, a consistent, authoritative brand across the internet, and backend signals that appeal to LLMs. An AI search optimization (AIO) strategy can help you with all of that.
To break it down:
- Writing answer-first, clear content is easier for ChatGPT to understand.
- Building a consistent, positive reputation, using signals like your Google Business Profile and news mentions, reinforces your brand's strength to the AI model.
- Adding your business to relevant listing services like Yext or Yelp helps AI models understand the products/services you provide, while also helping your SEO strength.
ChatGPT particularly prioritizes modern content for mentions when up-to-date information matters to the inquiry, since it primarily searches the web for fresh data.
Table of contents
Is There a Difference Between Mentions and Citations in ChatGPT?
Mentions
- What they are: Any time ChatGPT includes the name of your brand in a response.
- How they function: Mentions tend to be more consistent than citations.
- How it affects your business: This builds trust in potential customers who rely on ChatGPT for recommendations.
Citations
- What they are: Responses from ChatGPT that include links to your website.
- How they function: Citations are good for getting users directly to your site.
- How it affects your business: Visits directly from AI model answers are more likely to close, helping with conversion rate optimization.
Why You Want Both
- Mentions build trust, while citations increase traffic.
- Together, you improve your brand reputation and make it easier for customers to find you.
- Fortunately, a strong AIO strategy will help you with both mentions and citations.
What Happens When Someone Asks ChatGPT a Question?
When someone asks ChatGPT a question, and it requires current information, it frequently searches the web for new information. It does this by rewriting the question into several related search phrases, reviewing the results, and using that information in its response.
Here's how that works in detail:
- The user asks a question.
- ChatGPT searches its existing database to see if it can provide an answer without searching the internet.
- If it can't, it begins Retrieval-Augmented Generation. This starts by accessing Bing and Google to search for answers.
- ChatGPT uses query fan-out to find information. This is essentially sending a large number of search queries that are closely related to your original question.
- When it finds relevant information, the AI model will quickly skim the web page and try to pull out a chunk of information that can provide an answer.
- After completing this process several times, ChatGPT will synthesize an answer from the information and present it to the user.
How ChatGPT and Other LLMs Read Your Page:
ChatGPT and other Large Language Models don't 'read' web pages in the same way that humans do. Instead, they use crawling bots, which systematically examine a page, collect the information from it, and follow links to find new pages. The bots provide any information back to the AI model to use for answers.
- Examining the Page: AI bots don't 'see' page frontends the way people do – instead, they are reviewing the HTML in text form and looking for context surrounding content.
- Gathering the Information: Any relevant information that can be used to either A. train the AI model, or B. provide an answer to the user's question, is taken.
- Further Crawling: By following on-page links and reading their anchor text, AI crawlers can collect more contextual information about how content on your site is related to each other.
How to Write for LLMs
An LLM optimization strategy is built on clear content writing that does the following:
- Addresses real user questions
- Provides answer-first content
- Follows a sectional, logical structure
- Presents data in multiple ways, such as paragraphs and lists
- Includes FAQs, comparisons, and similar sections
Pro Tip: ChatGPT relies on SEO signals like alt text, captions, and the text surrounding an image in order to identify what it is. Properly optimizing this information increases the chances of your image appearing in ChatGPT's responses.
How Does ChatGPT Work Differently From Other AI?
While ChatGPT is perhaps the most well-known AI model, there are many others (like Perplexity and Google AI) available. ChatGPT works differently by prioritizing new, authoritative content, relying on widely agreed upon information, and fast-loading pages.
- New Information: Recently published pages are typically given higher priority by ChatGPT, all else being equal. Regular posts are essential.
- Authoritative Source: ChatGPT seeks to provide users with trustworthy information. Show your authority using bylines and keeping the content on your site consistent.
- General Consensus: When multiple websites are in agreement about a topic, ChatGPT is more likely to state it. Maintaining a consistent, positive online presence helps build this consensus.
- Site Performance: Because ChatGPT wants to provide answers to users quickly, it prioritizes fast-loading pages. Ensuring your site is high-functioning will help AI crawlers read it.
Biggest AI Mention Mistakes to Avoid:
Major AI mistakes to avoid include blocking AI bots from crawling your site, using an unclear content structure, leaving out schema from your pages, and failing to interlink content. Even if you do other things well, just one of these mistakes can create a major setback for your AI visibility.
#1 AI Bots Are Blocked
- If your robots.txt doesn't allow AI bots into your site, many can't access your content.
- This is a relatively easy fix for a developer to implement.
- Bonus Tip: Implement an llms.txt to help guide AI crawlers through your site.
#2 Improper Content Structure
- Large blocks of text without headers make it harder for AI bots to find answers.
- Content writing should focus on shorter segments that provide direct answers.
- Bonus Tip: Use lists and tables to communicate information in multiple ways.
#3 Lack of Interlinked Content
- Without links, AI crawlers struggle to understand how your pages relate to each other.
- Use anchor text that gives context about the destination page.
- Bonus Tip: Create content in 'clusters' surrounding a central theme, and use a hub page to link out to everything in the cluster.
Common Questions About Getting Mentioned in ChatGPT
Does ChatGPT show the same results to everyone?
No – ChatGPT can give different answers to the same questions. Responses are affected by context such as what people were previously discussing, the model version, and updates to ChatGPT's training data.
When does a ChatGPT inquiry trigger a web search?
OpenAI introduced web search to ChatGPT in 2024. Now, it can read live web pages and use them to answer user questions.
ChatGPT is most likely to trigger a web search for questions that require time-sensitive information to answer and for local markets.
How long does it take to get mentioned in ChatGPT?
With a proper AI summary optimization strategy and strong SEO fundamentals, a brand can typically appear in ChatGPT responses within 4-12 weeks.
This can be affected by the level of competition and base SEO strength of your website.
Does ChatGPT offer paid ads?
OpenAI has been testing paid ads in ChatGPT, but these ads are not within the LLM's response. There is not currently a direct way to pay to get your business mentioned by ChatGPT. If that's your goal, you'll need a comprehensive marketing plan geared towards mentions.
Does SEO still matter for ChatGPT?
Yes, SEO still matters for getting into ChatGPT results. This is because ChatGPT uses Google and Bing to retrieve information to answer user inquiries. While not every website that the AI model mentions will rank high in traditional search, the majority will.
Key Page Takeaways
- Clear content that answers real user questions is essential.
- If you want to be mentioned in ChatGPT, you ideally want to be cited as well.
- ChatGPT reads web pages in subsections rather than as a whole; content strategies that segment information like this are more likely to earn mentions.
- Newer information that comes from an authoritative source is the most likely to end up in ChatGPT answers.
- It's important to set up your site's backend to succeed, including the robots.txt file, schema implementation, and overall site structure.
- Many of the key practices to show up in ChatGPT answers are good for building your brand's reputation in general.
Enhance Your Brand's Presence on ChatGPT
If you want to get mentioned in ChatGPT, you must have a plan that specializes in AI search optimization. It's not enough to only rank on search engines anymore: You also need to earn AI recommendations. As customers change how they make decisions, you need a modern strategy to match.
To learn more about how AI models like ChatGPT are affecting search, websites, and businesses, use the links below:
- How Does AI Search Optimization for ChatGPT Work?
- Can I Update My Existing Content to Get Into ChatGPT?
- How Can I Tell if My Website is Showing Up in AI?
- Can a Marketing Agency Help Me Get Mentioned by ChatGPT?
Work With Digital Marketing Experts for AI Visibility
Hexxen specializes in helping brands position themselves for success in AI-assisted results. We're here to support you and provide marketing expertise for a wide variety of industries. If you're ready to level up your online presence, we're ready to help.
Call us today at (314) 499-8253 or tell us about your business online to get started.