How to get cited by ChatGPT

1. Make sure ChatGPT can actually fetch you

ChatGPT search uses OAI-SearchBot to find pages and GPTBot for training. If your robots.txt disallows them, or a CDN bot-fight mode returns 403, you are invisible no matter how good the page is. Run the free check to see what your robots.txt says to each AI crawler.

2. Answer the question in the first two sentences

Answer engines lift short, self-contained passages. Put a direct answer under each H2, then the nuance. Pages that open with brand story and bury the answer get skipped for a competitor's FAQ.

3. Show evidence a model can quote

Specific numbers, dates, named sources and first-hand data are what get footnoted. Vague claims ("industry-leading") are not citable.

4. Make the entity unambiguous

Say plainly who you are, what you sell, where, and for whom. Add Organization and FAQPage JSON-LD so the facts are machine-readable.

5. Keep a clean sitemap and an llms.txt

A sitemap helps discovery; llms.txt is an optional map of your best URLs. Neither guarantees a citation, both are cheap.

6. Earn mentions elsewhere

ChatGPT leans on pages that are already referenced across the web: directories, reviews, comparison posts, Reddit threads. One honest listing beats ten stuffed keywords.

7. Measure the page, not the vibe

The $39 CiteScore audit scores one URL on eight dimensions and returns about ten fixes, so you know which of the steps above actually matter for that page.