Optimising for ChatGPT

What "better" looks like in ChatGPT

Being present is the floor, not the goal. Two businesses can both "appear in ChatGPT" while one is named first with a link to the exact service page and the other is buried in a list of eight with no link at all. Before you optimise, decide what you are measuring, because each of these improves through different work.

A small business rarely needs dozens of metrics. Citation rate, landing page and competitor share, tracked monthly on the same prompts, will show you whether the work below is paying off.

Building a prompt set that reflects real customers

The most common mistake is tracking the wrong questions. Owners test their own brand name, see themselves, and conclude all is well, while customers are asking ChatGPT something quite different. Build your list from real evidence: enquiry emails, phone call notes, the search terms report in Search Console, questions staff hear every week, and the questions people post in forums about your trade.

Group the questions by intent, because ChatGPT treats them differently and you will need different pages to win each group. Here is an example for a fictional plumbing firm, Brightwater Heating of Bristol:

Twenty to forty prompts is enough for most small businesses. Write each one the way a customer would type it, including the town, and resist adding your brand name, because customers who already know your name are not the ones you are trying to reach.

Reading the sources ChatGPT picks today

OpenAI has not published a ranking formula for ChatGPT citations, so the most reliable guide to what it wants for your questions is what it already cites. For each prompt, open every source ChatGPT links and ask four questions:

1. What type of site is it? A competitor's service page, a national directory, a review platform, a trade body, a news article, a forum thread or a government page. The mix tells you what kind of evidence ChatGPT leans on for that question.
2. Which passage was used? Find the sentences that match the answer. They are usually short, direct and specific: a price range, a list of causes, a named area.
3. What does that page have that yours lacks? Often it is simply a direct answer. Sometimes it is a figure, a date, a comparison table, or a clear statement of who the service suits.
4. Could you honestly be a better source? If the cited page is an official scheme page, you will not replace it, but you can be the page cited alongside it for local detail.

Record the findings in a spreadsheet with one row per prompt: cited domains, the passage, and the gap. Patterns appear quickly. You might find that ChatGPT cites a directory for every recommendation prompt, which tells you that directory profile matters more than your home page for those questions, or that a competitor's cost guide wins every price question because it is the only page in your area that gives numbers.

Pages that are easy for ChatGPT to quote

ChatGPT builds its reply from passages, and it tends to link the page whose passage it actually used. A page can be excellent for a human who reads all of it and still lose, because the useful sentence is buried, vague, or split across a slider, an image and an accordion.

Before and after

Here is a typical opening from a cost page, followed by a version that gives ChatGPT something it can use:

BEFORE
At Brightwater Heating we pride ourselves on offering competitive,
transparent pricing on all boiler installations. Every home is
different, so get in touch for a free no-obligation quote today!

AFTER
A combi boiler replacement in Bristol typically costs between
[your lower figure] and [your upper figure] fitted, including removal
of the old boiler, a magnetic filter and a standard flue. The price
rises if the boiler moves room, the gas pipe needs upgrading or you
choose a higher-output model. We fit Worcester Bosch and Vaillant
boilers and quote a fixed price after a free survey.

The second version answers the question in its first sentence, names what drives the cost, and states facts that can be checked. Use your own genuine figures; the brackets are placeholders, not suggestions.

What tends to separate cited pages from ignored ones

• One question, one page. A page trying to cover every service answers none of them precisely.
• Numbers and names. Ranges, timescales, brands, standards, areas and dates are easier to lift than adjectives.
• Honest scope. Saying who the service does not suit makes the rest of the page more credible and helps ChatGPT match you to the right questions.
• A visible date. Prices and schemes change. A "last reviewed" date near the top shows the information is current.
• A named author with relevant experience for advice pages, such as the Gas Safe registered engineer who wrote the pressure-loss guide.
• Links to primary sources for anything factual you did not originate, such as a grant scheme or a regulation.

The fix, step by step

Why other websites matter as much as your own

For recommendation questions in particular, ChatGPT often cites pages that are about you rather than by you. That makes sense from its point of view: an independent review page or a trade association listing is evidence that someone other than the business vouches for it. You cannot control those pages, but you can influence whether they exist and what they say.

• Directories that ChatGPT actually cites for your prompts. Not every directory, only the ones your research in step 2 showed up. A complete, accurate profile on the right two or three is worth more than thin listings on fifty.
• Review platforms. Recent, detailed reviews that mention the specific service and area give ChatGPT concrete material. Reply to reviews professionally; the replies are public text too.
• Trade and professional bodies. Membership listings from recognised schemes are strong, factual signals about what you do and where.
• Local and trade press. Commenting accurately on a local story, or sharing genuine data from your work, earns mentions that are hard to fake.
• Forums and community sites. Answering questions helpfully under your real name can build mentions over time. Promotional posting tends to be removed and does more harm than good.

The brand mentions guide goes further into earning and tracking these references.

What does not help, or is unproven

A lot of advice about ChatGPT optimisation is recycled speculation. Be sceptical of anything that promises a shortcut.

If a tactic cannot be explained in terms of "this makes our page a clearer, more trustworthy answer to the customer's question", it is probably not worth your time.

If you sell products

Product questions such as "best waterproof walking boots under a hundred pounds" behave differently from service questions. OpenAI has been adding shopping features to ChatGPT that show product results, and it has published information for merchants who want their catalogue considered. Eligibility, supported countries and the details of those programmes have changed during their rollout, so read OpenAI's current merchant documentation before assuming it applies to a UK shop.

Whatever the programme status, the same fundamentals help product pages get cited: a descriptive product name, the specifications customers compare on written as text, clear price and stock information, accurate Product markup, genuine reviews, and a returns policy that is easy to find. Comparison and buying-guide pages that honestly explain which product suits whom are often the pages that earn the citation, with product pages linked from them.

For wider AI visibility on shops, the checks in the AEO Guide apply alongside your usual product-page SEO.