How to make your business show up in ChatGPT (AEO + SEO Guide)

If you’re searching “how to make my business show in ChatGPT?”, you’re really asking two things:

• How do I get my brand mentioned when people ask ChatGPT for recommendations in my category?
• How do I get my website cited (linked as a source) when ChatGPT uses browsing/citations?

You can’t “submit” your website to ChatGPT like a directory listing. But you can make your business easier for AI systems to discover, understand, and trust—so it’s safer to mention and easier to cite.

This guide gives you the exact steps. It’s designed for high-intent teams who want results, not theory.

What “show up in ChatGPT” actually means

Most businesses want one (or all) of these outcomes:

• Mention: your brand name appears in the answer.
• Citation: ChatGPT references your site as a source (more common when browsing/citations are enabled).
• Recommendation: your business is suggested for a specific use case (the highest-value outcome).

Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) improves your odds across all three by reducing ambiguity and increasing confidence in your brand and content.

Step 1: Make your website accessible to AI crawlers

If key pages are blocked or hard to render, AI systems fall back to third-party descriptions of your business—which are often incomplete, outdated, or wrong. That’s how competitors win mentions.

Fix these basics first:

• Robots access: check robots.txt and meta robots tags aren’t blocking important areas (product pages, pricing, docs, blog).
• Clean indexing signals: avoid conflicting canonicals, redirect chains, and duplicate versions of key pages.
• Renderable content: ensure critical copy is present in the HTML (not hidden behind heavy client-side rendering, tabs, or gated overlays).
• Stable URLs: don’t constantly change slugs for core pages (it creates fragmentation and weakens signals).

If you want a fast way to spot common discoverability issues, start with Tilio’s AI Visibility Checker.

Step 2: Make your brand easy to understand (entity clarity)

ChatGPT is more likely to mention businesses that are unambiguous: clear category, clear audience, clear outcomes. If your messaging is vague or inconsistent across pages, you’ll get skipped.

Create a single canonical description and reuse it everywhere (website, social profiles, directories, partner pages):

Brand is a [category] for [audience] that helps [outcome] by [how].

Then implement entity clarity on-site:

• Homepage above the fold: state your category and primary outcome in plain English.
• One naming system: use consistent product/feature names across marketing, docs, and pricing.
• “Who it’s for / not for”: add it to product and use-case pages (it increases trust and recommendation fit).
• Proof blocks: case studies, quantified outcomes, methodology, customer logos, certifications (where relevant).

Use structured data to reduce machine ambiguity (don’t overstuff; keep it accurate): Organization, Product/SoftwareApplication, Article, FAQ, LocalBusiness (if relevant). Many teams miss this and lose easy clarity signals. Clavius is built to help teams identify structured data issues and prioritise fixes that impact visibility: Clavius by Tilio.

Step 3: Publish “answer-first” pages that ChatGPT can reuse safely

To show up in ChatGPT, your content must be easy to lift into an answer: clear statements, direct definitions, and clean structure. Think “quotable.”

Start with high-intent page types:

• “What is [category]?” (definition + how it works + who it’s for)
• “Best [category] for [use case]” (criteria-based recommendations)
• “[Competitor] vs [Your Brand]” (honest comparison + who should choose what)
• Pricing explainer: “How much does [category] cost?” (ranges, drivers, trade-offs)
• Implementation guide: “How to implement [solution]” (steps, time, pitfalls)

Write each page in an AEO-friendly structure:

• Lead with the answer: first 2–3 sentences define the topic and the core takeaway.
• Use concrete claims: avoid buzzwords; state what changes for the buyer.
• Add nuance: trade-offs, constraints, and “not a fit if…” increase credibility and reduce hallucination risk.
• Include checklists and criteria: models often reuse these because they’re clear and safe.
• Separate facts from persuasion: keep product CTAs distinct from informational sections.

If your team already runs strong SEO, this is the easiest upgrade path: keep your keyword strategy, then rewrite core pages and key guides to be more extractable for AI answers. If you want a structured framework, see: AEO for SEOs: The Comprehensive Playbook.

Step 4: Build trusted third-party signals (mentions that validate you)

AI systems don’t rely only on your website. They also reflect the web’s consensus. If reputable sites describe you consistently, you become safer to mention.

Prioritise third-party sources that influence category understanding:

• Review and directory profiles: accurate category, features, positioning, and pricing approach.
• Editorial mentions: interviews, partner posts, niche publications, and “best tools” lists.
• Community proof: relevant forums and Q&A where your brand is discussed in context.
• Comparison coverage: not just backlinks—clear, consistent descriptions that reinforce your entity.

Two practical rules:

• Consistency beats creativity: keep your core description aligned everywhere.
• Accuracy beats volume: a few high-trust mentions with correct positioning can outperform lots of generic placements.

Step 5: Track prompts, measure mentions, and iterate weekly

AEO isn’t a one-off project. Competitors ship content, models evolve, and buyer prompts change. The teams that win build a visibility loop.

Set up a simple AEO operating rhythm:

• Pick a prompt set: 30–100 questions your buyers ask (category, use case, pricing, comparisons).
• Track outcomes: mention rate, citation rate, recommendation rate, and competitor share of voice.
• Map wins to sources: identify which pages (yours or third-party) appear to drive mentions.
• Ship weekly: improve 1–3 pages per week (clarity, structure, proof, internal linking).

Clavius is designed for this exact loop: brand mention tracking, competitor tracking, structured data issue detection, and AEO insights so you can prioritise what actually moves visibility. Learn more here: Clavius by Tilio. If you just want a quick starting audit, run the free AI Visibility Checker.

What to do if you still don’t appear:

• No mentions at all: strengthen entity clarity + third-party validation, then publish prompt-led pages.
• Mentions but no citations: improve “source-like” content (definitions, methodology, step-by-step guides) and ensure crawl/render access.
• Competitors dominate: match their prompt coverage, then beat them on clarity, criteria, and proof.

When your site is accessible, your brand is unambiguous, your content is answer-first, and your web footprint validates your positioning, you dramatically increase your chances of showing up in ChatGPT—especially for high-intent, buyer-style questions.

Checklist

• Confirm key pages are accessible and renderable (homepage, product/service, pricing, use cases, docs, about).
• Audit robots.txt and meta robots to ensure AI crawlers aren’t blocked from important sections.
• Eliminate duplicate/fragmented URLs (canonicals, redirect chains, inconsistent trailing slashes).
• Write one canonical “Brand is a [category] for [audience]…” description and reuse it across site and profiles.
• Rewrite money pages with answer-first sections (definition, who it’s for, who it’s not for, proof, FAQs).
• Add accurate structured data (Organization + relevant Product/SoftwareApplication, Article, FAQ, LocalBusiness).
• Publish high-intent pages: “what is”, “best for”, “vs”, pricing guide, implementation guide.
• Fix third-party listings so they match your canonical description (category, features, audience, outcomes).
• Build a prompt set and track mention/citation/recommendation rates over time.
• Run a baseline audit with AI Visibility Checker and prioritise fixes.

FAQs

How long does it take to show up in ChatGPT? It depends on how quickly you can improve crawl access, entity clarity, and third-party validation. Some brands see early movement after fixing core pages and publishing prompt-led comparisons, but meaningful coverage compounds over weeks and months as signals accumulate.

Do I need backlinks to show up in ChatGPT? Backlinks still matter for SEO, but for AEO, consistent third-party mentions and accurate descriptions across trusted sites can be just as important as links.

Why is my business not being cited even when it’s mentioned? Mentions often come from general brand knowledge; citations usually require a specific page that cleanly supports a claim. Improve “source-like” pages (definitions, methodology, step-by-step guides) and ensure they’re crawlable.

What’s the best content to create first for ChatGPT visibility? Start with pages that match buyer intent: “What is [category]?”, “Best [category] for [use case]”, “[Competitor] vs [Your Brand]”, and a pricing explainer.

How do I track whether I’m showing up in ChatGPT? Track a fixed set of prompts weekly and measure mention rate, citation rate, recommendation rate, and competitor share of voice. Tools like Clavius are built to automate that tracking.

Is AEO different from SEO? Yes. SEO optimises for rankings and clicks. AEO optimises for being selected and reused in AI answers. The best programs combine both: technical SEO + answer-first content + consistent entity signals.

Want to know if your business appears in ChatGPT right now? Run Tilio’s free AI Visibility Checker to spot quick wins, then use Clavius to track mentions, benchmark competitors, and prioritise the AEO fixes that increase recommendations and citations.