How to get your business recommended by AI
Updated: · Orbtown
Nobody can sell you a place in ChatGPT's answers. You can make your company easy to find, easy to understand and confirmed by other sources. Here is what is documented, what is only claimed, and what to do first.
The short answer
AI assistants that browse the web mostly do what a careful researcher would: search, read a handful of pages, and repeat what several sources agree on. To be recommended, three things must be true: the assistant can access your site, it can understand what you do, and other sources confirm it.
Step 1: let the right crawlers in
This is the only step with clear official documentation. OpenAI says a site blocked for OAI-SearchBot will not appear in ChatGPT search answers. Anthropic says blocking Claude-SearchBot may lower your prominence in Claude's search results. Training crawlers are separate, so you can refuse training and still appear in search. Details and a copy-paste file are in our robots.txt guide for AI crawlers.
Step 2: make your site readable without JavaScript
If your text only appears after scripts run, many crawlers see an empty page. Put your main content into the HTML the server sends.
Step 3: say plainly what you do
Write who you are, what you offer, for whom and where, in ordinary sentences on your home page and on a real About page. Add specifics: services, prices if you publish them, years in business, certifications, numbers. In the GEO research from Princeton and partners, adding citations, quotations and statistics improved visibility in generated answers by up to 40% in tests, although results varied by field.
Step 4: use structured data, but don't expect magic
Google states that no special schema is needed for AI Overviews or AI Mode. Structured data still removes ambiguity about your name, address and services for other systems. See which markup is worth adding.
Step 5: be mentioned elsewhere
This is the hardest step and usually the one that matters most. Practitioner reports consistently point to directories, review sites, comparison articles and local press, although there is no independent academic study of local recommendations yet. Keep your name, address and phone identical everywhere. Our guide for local businesses lists where to start.
What to skip
- Anyone promising guaranteed AI placement. No assistant sells recommendations in its organic answers.
- Fake reviews and bought mentions. Fake consumer reviews are banned in the EU, and manufactured mentions can damage the trust you are trying to build.
- Rewriting everything for robots. Google says no special optimizations are necessary for its AI features. Clear writing for people works for both.
- Treating llms.txt as a shortcut. The evidence is thin.
How to measure it
Ask assistants the questions your customers ask, in their language, and keep a dated log. Answers vary between runs, so repeat each question several times. Check server logs for crawler visits. In Google Search Console, AI Overviews and AI Mode traffic is counted inside the normal Web report.
Common questions
Can I pay ChatGPT to recommend my company?
No. You cannot buy a place in its organic answers. Be careful with anyone who promises this.
How long does it take?
Technical changes can take effect quickly; OpenAI mentions about 24 hours after a robots.txt change. Building a reputation in other sources takes months, and no timeline can be guaranteed.
Do I need to replace SEO with GEO?
No. Google says standard SEO fundamentals apply to its AI features, and assistants that search the web depend on indexed pages. GEO adds to SEO.
Does being listed on Orbtown guarantee AI recommendations?
No. It gives AI systems one more structured source about your company. What an assistant recommends is decided by its operator.