To show up in ChatGPT, your website needs questions answered directly in plain text, structured data describing your business and prices, all 21 AI crawlers allowed in robots.txt, an llms.txt summary file, and mentions on third party sites like directories and review platforms. Models favour businesses corroborated somewhere other than their own website.
Open ChatGPT and type the question a customer would type. Best electrician in Croydon. Who should I use for a bathroom renovation in Ringwood. See which businesses get named. If you are not there, that is your starting point.
Do it two or three times, because answers vary between runs. Being named once out of three is a real position, just a weak one.
Answers stated directly. Models quote the first clear sentence that answers a question. If your page opens with three paragraphs of preamble before saying what you charge, that page will not be quoted.
Structured data. The machine readable layer that says what your business is, where it works and what it costs. Most small business sites have none of it, so a model has to guess, and it guesses someone else.
Crawler access. There are 21 AI crawlers worth allowing in 2026. Plenty of sites block some of them by accident, usually through a plugin nobody remembers installing.
Being mentioned elsewhere. This is the one people underestimate. Models weight claims that appear on more than one site, so a directory listing or a review platform profile often does more than another blog post.
Answer real customer questions directly on your website, add structured data describing your business and prices, allow all the AI crawlers in robots.txt, publish an llms.txt summary, and get listed on directories and review sites so your details are corroborated somewhere other than your own site.
Usually because they are mentioned on sites the model already trusts, such as directories and review platforms, or their pages answer the question directly while yours does not. It is rarely about who is actually better at the job.
Partly. Good SEO makes a site crawlable and credible, which helps. But ranking first on Google does not mean you get named in an AI answer, and I have checked plenty of sites where exactly that is true.
The technical work takes a fortnight. Appearing in answers takes longer because models refresh on their own schedule, so expect a few months. Anyone promising it in a week is guessing.
Yes. Ask ChatGPT the question a customer would ask and see who it names. I also built a free checker at scalus.app/seo-geo-checker/ that scores the technical side in about thirty seconds without asking for your email.
I build websites for Melbourne businesses and do the search work as part of it. $225 per month, no build fee.
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