SEO for ChatGPT: How to Rank Your Website in the LLM

Key Takeaways

• Ranking in ChatGPT isn’t the same as ranking in Google. AI models don’t just pull links. They pull trusted sources, brand mentions, and structured information.
• E-E-A-T matters more than ever. Experience, expertise, authority, and trust signals increase your chances of being cited in AI-generated answers.
• Brand mentions drive visibility. You don’t always need a backlink. Consistent mentions across authoritative sites help AI models recognize and surface your brand.
• Content needs to be clear and structured. AI prefers content that directly answers questions, uses headings, and delivers concise, scannable insights.
• Original data gives you an edge. Studies, stats, and unique insights are more likely to get picked up and referenced in AI responses.
• Traditional SEO still plays a role. High rankings, strong backlinks, and topical authority all increase the likelihood of being included in AI outputs.
• Optimize for questions, not just keywords. AI search is query-driven, so content should mirror how people naturally ask questions.
• Distribution impacts AI visibility. The more your content appears across trusted platforms, the more likely AI models are to recognize and cite it.
• Clicks are no longer the only goal. Visibility inside AI answers, even without traffic, is becoming a key part of your strategy.

ChatGPT is one of the most popular sites in the world.

According to SimilarWeb ChatGPT is the 28th most popular site in the world.

It generates 1.4 billion visitors a month and people are using it to ask questions or even perform tasks as basic as writing content or as advanced as creating code.

But did you know that people are using ChatGPT to help find and evaluate companies to hire?

Now before I go into what you need to do for ChatGPT to recommend your company, keep in mind that their model is trained already. But as they make future updates and dataset becomes more “realtime” you have a good chance of showing up in future versions. Whether you’re using AEO vs GEO vs LLMO, there are a variety of ways to help ensure your site pops up in these results.

Who does ChatGPT recommend?

I first asked it “What ad agency would you recommend for me to hire?”.

Their list wasn’t 100% accurate but it’s a start. 2 of the top 4 results… Moz and HubSpot are software companies and not ad agencies. They don’t really offer services.

When I asked how ChatGPT came up with the list of recommended agencies it came back with this:

The obvious lesson learned

Well based on the above responses it is clear that they really aren’t using all of those factors to really come up with a list of recommendations. If they did, Moz and HubSpot wouldn’t be on the list because they aren’t service providers.

So how does ChatGPT rank websites?

I tried to ask it a lot of different questions to find the answer from the source, but it didn’t come up with anything actionable and useful. So instead, I decided to ask it 100 plus random questions so I could see the kind of recommendations it produces. This way I could analyze for patterns.

Here are some of the random questions I asked:

• What’s the best laptop for college students?
• What’s a great credit card when you have a low credit score?
• What’s the best electric SUV?
• What headphone brand should I buy for watching movies?

I then took the questions and answers and presented them for analysis.

Here’s what we found matters to ChatGPT:

• Brand mentions – how many times was the brand, or product mentioned around the web? The more often it was mentioned we found the more likely ChatGPT recommended it.
• Reviews – not only do reviews matter, but the more the better as well as the rating. So if you find a lot of people reviewing your company whether it is on your own site or on sites like Trust Pilot, Amazon, or even BBB, it helps (assuming the reviews are good in general).
• Relevancy – there was a big correlation between the keywords in the question we asked ChatGPT and the products and companies it recommended.
• Age – was the product or company recommended old or new? We found that older products or companies were recommended more often.
• Recommendations – were other websites recommending the product or company?
• Authority – What’s the social following of the companies recommended? What’s the domain authority? What type of sites are talking about the product, service, or company? Typically, the more authoritative the company is, the more it is recommended.

The one big issue with ChatGPT

Yes, you need to optimize your products and services so ChatGPT recommends your company. If you don’t, you are missing out on 1.4 billion visitors potentially buying from you each month.

And the way you optimize is by focusing on the 6 factors above. Just like how you would do traditional SEO, you would do something similar for ChatGPT.

FAQs

How to track brand ranking in ChatGPT?

You can’t track rankings in ChatGPT the same way you do in Google. Instead, run your target prompts manually and see if your brand gets mentioned in the answers.

How do I rank higher in ChatGPT?

Focus on authority and clarity. Build strong brand mentions across trusted sites, create content that directly answers questions, and use structured formatting.

How do I build content that ranks in ChatGPT?

Write content that’s easy to pull into answers. Use clear headings, concise explanations, and direct responses to common questions. Add original data or examples to stand out.

Conclusion

SEO is great, but it doesn’t stop with Google or Bing. You can optimize for Instagram or TikTok and even GEO (generative engine optimization) for platforms like ChatGPT or Claude.

Use the factors above to maximize how many times you get recommended by these AI platforms.