How to Get Your Business Recommended by ChatGPT and AI Search
More customers now ask ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity or Google's AI Mode for a recommendation before they ever click a search result. We spent the last few weeks making our own site easy for these tools to read. This is the checklist we followed, written so a business owner can hand it to whoever runs their website.
1. Let the right AI crawlers in
Each AI company runs separate bots for separate jobs, and you control them in your robots.txt file. The ones that matter most for being recommended are the search bots.
| Bot | Company | Job |
|---|---|---|
| OAI-SearchBot | OpenAI | Finds sites to show in ChatGPT search answers. OpenAI says sites that block it will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers. |
| GPTBot | OpenAI | Collects content for training future models. Separate from search. |
| ChatGPT-User | OpenAI | Visits a page when a ChatGPT user asks it to. |
| Claude-SearchBot | Anthropic | Improves search results for Claude users. |
| ClaudeBot | Anthropic | Collects content for training. |
| Claude-User | Anthropic | Visits a page when a Claude user asks a question. |
| PerplexityBot | Perplexity | Surfaces and links sites in Perplexity answers. Not used for training. |
| Googlebot | Regular Google crawling, which also feeds AI Overviews and AI Mode. | |
| Google-Extended | A control for Gemini training. Blocking it does not remove you from Google Search. |
Check your hosting too. Some hosts and firewalls have their own bot rules on top of robots.txt. Ask your host to confirm that real AI crawlers get normal responses, and have them check the access logs. Testing by pretending to be a bot is not reliable: when we tested our own site with a fake GPTBot label, the server refused it, but our host confirmed the real crawler is allowed. Good hosts verify that bot traffic comes from the company's published addresses.
2. Put your key facts in plain text
Assistants quote what they can read. Prices, service areas, hours, phone number and what you actually do should appear as text on your pages, not only inside images, videos or PDFs.
A real example from our site: our client list was a wall of logos. People could read it, but text based tools saw only images. We added the brand names as text that AI agents can read, and the list now shows up in the plain text copies of our pages.
Write a short, direct answer near the top of important pages. A pricing page that opens with real ranges is easier to cite than one that says "contact us for a quote."
3. Describe your business with structured data
Structured data (schema.org markup) labels the facts on a page: your business name, address, phone, services, prices, FAQs and articles. Google says there is no special markup required for its AI features, and that structured data should match what is visible on the page. Treat it as a way to make your facts unambiguous, not as a shortcut.
The types most local service businesses should cover are LocalBusiness or Organization, Service, FAQPage for real question and answer sections, Article for guides, BreadcrumbList, and VideoObject if you publish video.
4. Add llms.txt and plain text copies
llms.txt is a short Markdown file at the root of your site that summarizes who you are and links to your most useful pages. It was proposed by Jeremy Howard in 2024 and is a community proposal, not an official standard, and it is not clear how much each AI company uses it today. It is cheap to add and harmless, so we treat it as one more way to make our facts easy to find.
We also publish a Markdown copy of every page and a single file with the full text of our key pages. You can see ours at /llms.txt and /llms-full.txt.
5. Keep pages fresh and tell search engines
- Keep your sitemap's last modified dates accurate.
- Use IndexNow to notify Bing and other participating search engines when pages change.
- Verify your site in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools and fix what they report.
- Update prices, services and team details when they change. Stale facts get repeated by assistants.
6. Build trust off your website
Assistants weigh what others say about you. Keep your Google Business Profile complete, use the same business name, address and phone number everywhere, and earn real reviews from real customers. Never post fake or AI written reviews: the FTC rule on fake reviews, in effect since October 2024, bans them, including testimonials from people who do not exist.
7. Measure what is happening
- Ask ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Google AI Mode the questions your customers ask, and note who gets recommended.
- Look for visits referred from chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai and similar sites in your analytics.
- Ask your host for access logs and check that AI crawlers are visiting and receiving normal responses.
What not to do
- Do not hide text that only bots can see. Show crawlers the same content people see.
- Do not stuff pages with keywords or city names that you do not serve.
- Do not invent statistics, reviews or awards. Assistants repeat what they find, and false claims can follow you.
- Do not block search crawlers by accident while trying to block training crawlers. They are separate bots.
Common questions
How do I get ChatGPT to recommend my business?
Make sure OpenAI's search crawler, OAI-SearchBot, can reach your site, put your key facts on your pages in plain text, add accurate structured data, keep your pages up to date, and build real reviews and consistent listings elsewhere on the web.
Does blocking GPTBot remove me from ChatGPT search?
No. GPTBot collects content for training. ChatGPT search uses OAI-SearchBot, which is controlled separately in robots.txt. OpenAI says sites that block OAI-SearchBot will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers.
Do I need llms.txt?
It is not required and is not an official standard. It is a simple Markdown summary of your site that some tools may read. It is inexpensive to add, so it is a reasonable extra step once the basics are in place.
Is there special schema markup for AI search?
Google says no special structured data is needed for its AI features. Standard schema.org markup that accurately describes your business, services and FAQs, and matches what is visible on the page, is the right approach.
Can Picture Perfect Video help my business show up in AI search?
Yes. Through PPV Marketing we build pages, video and structured content for contractors and service businesses in Las Vegas and Dallas, using the same checklist we applied to our own site.
Get found by people and AI.
We build the pages, video and structured content that help customers and AI assistants understand what you do and where you work.
See PPV Marketing →Related reading
Sources checked October 3, 2026: OpenAI crawler documentation; Anthropic crawler documentation; Perplexity crawler documentation; Google: AI features and your website; llms.txt proposal; FTC announcement of the fake reviews rule.