How to Get Your Business Found on ChatGPT: A Practical AI SEO Guide

Customers are no longer using only Google to find businesses.

They are also asking AI tools questions such as:

• “Who are the best web designers in Hobart?”
• “Find an SEO agency for a small Australian business.”
• “Which Shopify developer should I use in Tasmania?”
• “What are some good restaurants near me?”
• “Compare these three accounting firms.”

This creates a new challenge for businesses:

Can ChatGPT actually find and understand your business?

There is no button that guarantees your company will appear in a ChatGPT answer. However, there are practical steps you can take to make your website easier for ChatGPT Search, Google and other AI powered search experiences to discover and understand.

This is where AI SEO, traditional SEO and Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) increasingly overlap.

1. Make Sure ChatGPT Can Crawl Your Website

Start with the technical basics.

OpenAI uses a crawler called OAI SearchBot for ChatGPT Search. OpenAI states that websites that want their pages to be discoverable and surfaced in ChatGPT Search should allow OAI SearchBot access.

Your robots.txt file should therefore not accidentally block it.

A simple configuration might include:

User-agent: OAI-SearchBot
Allow: /

This does not guarantee that your website will appear for a particular search, but blocking OAI-SearchBot can prevent your content from being surfaced normally in ChatGPT Search.

It is also important to understand that OAI-SearchBot and GPTBot are different.

OAI-SearchBot relates to search visibility, while GPTBot is associated with content that may be used to improve OpenAI's generative AI foundation models. Website owners can manage these separately.

So a business can choose to allow search crawling without necessarily making the same choice for model training.

2. Clearly Explain What Your Business Does

AI tools should not have to guess.

Compare these two homepage descriptions:

“We create innovative digital solutions.”

versus:

“MY IT STUDIO is an Australian web design and digital marketing company providing WordPress development, Shopify development, SEO, GEO, Google Ads and IT services.”

The second version is much clearer.

Your website should clearly state:

• Business name
• Main services
• Products
• Location
• Service areas
• Industries you work with
• Who your services are for
• Contact information

This helps both potential customers and search systems understand what your business actually does.

MY IT STUDIO already uses this approach across its current content by clearly connecting website development, SEO, GEO and digital marketing with its Australian service offering.

3. Build Dedicated Pages for Important Services

Do not place every service on one general page.

If your business provides:

• SEO
• Google Ads
• Shopify development
• WordPress development
• Local SEO

consider creating dedicated pages for each service.

A person might ask ChatGPT:

“I need a Shopify developer in Tasmania.”

If your website has a detailed Shopify development page explaining the service, process, location and examples, it gives search systems much clearer information than a single sentence buried on your homepage.

A strong service page can include:

• What the service is
• Who it is for
• Problems it solves
• Your process
• Relevant locations
• Examples or case studies
• Frequently asked questions
• Clear contact details

This is traditional SEO best practice, but it also supports AI search visibility.

4. Answer the Questions Customers Actually Ask

AI search is highly conversational.

Instead of typing:

SEO Hobart

someone may ask:

“How can a small business in Hobart improve its Google ranking?”

or:

“Why is my website getting traffic but no enquiries?”

This means your content strategy should include real customer questions.

Good blog topics might include:

• How much does SEO cost in Australia?
• Shopify or WordPress: which is better?
• Why is my website not appearing in Google?
• How long does SEO take?
• Does my business need GEO?
• How can I appear in ChatGPT Search?
• Why is my Google Ads campaign getting clicks but no leads?

This is much stronger than publishing generic posts simply to insert keywords.

Your content should solve a problem, explain a decision or answer a genuine question.

5. Strengthen Your Local Business Signals

If you want to appear for searches such as:

“SEO agency in Hobart”

or:

“Web designer near me”

your location needs to be clear.

Useful local signals include:

• Accurate business address
• Phone number
• Service areas
• Google Business Profile
• Location-specific pages
• Local projects
• Customer reviews
• Local case studies
• Consistent business information across directories

MY IT STUDIO, for example, currently lists locations in Hobart and Launceston on its website.

For a genuinely local business, detailed location information gives search engines and AI systems more context than simply writing “we service Australia.”

6. Publish Real Experience and Case Studies

Anyone can write:

“We provide professional SEO services.”

That does not say very much.

More useful content shows what you have actually done.

For example:

Problem:
An ecommerce client's conversion rate declined.

Analysis:
Traffic quality, landing pages and search terms were reviewed.

Action:
Campaign structure, negative keywords and landing pages were improved.

Outcome:
Explain what changed using genuine data where appropriate.

Real projects can demonstrate:

• Experience
• Specialisation
• Industries served
• Problems solved
• Locations served
• Services delivered

This makes your website more useful to both humans and systems trying to determine whether your business is relevant to a question.

7. Keep Your Business Information Consistent

Imagine your website says:

MY IT STUDIO – Hobart

but another directory lists an old phone number, while your social profiles describe completely different services.

That creates unnecessary ambiguity.

Keep important business information consistent across:

• Website
• Google Business Profile
• Social media
• Business directories
• Industry listings
• Partner websites

Consistency is especially important for local SEO and entity recognition.

8. Use Clear Website Structure and Internal Links

AI SEO is not only about individual articles.

Your website should also have a logical structure.

For example:

SEO Services
↓
Local SEO
↓
AI SEO / GEO
↓
Blog: How to Get Found on ChatGPT
↓
Case Study

Connecting related pages helps users navigate the site and gives search systems more context about how your content fits together.

Use descriptive internal-link text such as:

• SEO services
• AI SEO services
• local SEO Hobart
• Shopify website development

rather than repeatedly using vague links such as:

• Click here
• Learn more
• Read this

9. Use Structured Data Where Appropriate

Structured data can help search engines understand specific information about a business, product, article or page.

Google explicitly states that structured data can help it understand page content and use that information in supported search features.

Depending on the website, useful schema types may include:

• Organization
• LocalBusiness
• Product
• Article
• BreadcrumbList
• Service-related structured information where appropriate

However, adding schema is not a magic way to rank in ChatGPT.

Think of it as one part of making your website technically clear and well structured.

10. Make Your Website Easy to Use

AI SEO does not replace normal website quality.

Your website still needs to:

• Load quickly
• Work properly on mobile
• Use clear navigation
• Have crawlable content
• Avoid broken pages
• Use descriptive page titles
• Include useful headings
• Provide clear calls to action

Google continues to emphasise overall page experience and mobile usability as part of building a strong search experience.

A website that is difficult for customers to use is unlikely to become better simply because “GEO” has been added to the marketing strategy.

11. Build Authority Beyond Your Own Website

AI search visibility is not necessarily based only on what your own website says about you.

Your broader online presence can also matter when users and search systems research a business.

Useful authority signals can include:

• Genuine customer reviews
• Industry associations
• Local business directories
• Supplier or partner websites
• News coverage
• Relevant backlinks
• Professional profiles
• Community involvement
• Consistent social profiles

Avoid creating low-quality directory listings or artificial backlinks simply for SEO.

Quality and relevance matter more than having your business name copied across hundreds of poor-quality websites.

12. Track Traffic from ChatGPT

AI visibility should eventually connect back to measurable business outcomes.

OpenAI states that referral links from ChatGPT Search automatically include:

utm_source=chatgpt.com

This means businesses can identify some incoming ChatGPT Search traffic in analytics platforms such as GA4.

In GA4, you may eventually see referral traffic associated with ChatGPT.

Useful metrics to monitor include:

• Users from AI referrals
• Landing pages
• Enquiries
• Purchases
• Engagement
• Conversion rate

However, do not measure AI SEO only by referral clicks.

Customers may discover your business through ChatGPT and later:

• Search your brand on Google
• Visit Google Maps
• Type your URL directly
• Call the business

This makes AI visibility part of a broader customer journey.

Is There a Guaranteed Way to Rank #1 in ChatGPT?

No.

There is no legitimate SEO provider who can guarantee that ChatGPT will recommend a particular business for every relevant question.

AI-generated answers depend on the query, available information, search results, context and other signals.

The better goal is:

Make your business easy to discover, understand, verify and trust.

That means combining:

Technical SEO + useful content + local SEO + strong service pages + authority + GEO

rather than looking for one “ChatGPT ranking trick.”

A Simple ChatGPT SEO Checklist

Use this checklist as a starting point:

• Allow OAI-SearchBot if you want ChatGPT Search visibility
• Make sure important pages are public and crawlable
• Clearly explain your services
• Clearly state your location and service areas
• Create dedicated service pages
• Answer real customer questions
• Publish useful original content
• Add relevant internal links
• Show real projects and case studies
• Keep business information consistent
• Use appropriate structured data
• Improve page speed and mobile usability
• Build genuine reviews and authority
• Track ChatGPT referral traffic
• Continue traditional Google SEO

SEO and AI Search Should Work Together

AI SEO should not replace traditional SEO.

The strongest strategy is to build a website that performs well across both traditional and AI-powered discovery.

Google's current guidance for generative AI search features continues to emphasise established SEO fundamentals rather than a completely separate optimisation system.

For most businesses, that means improving:

Google SEO + Local SEO + Content + Technical SEO + GEO

together.

Improve Your Google and AI Search Visibility with MY IT STUDIO

MY IT STUDIO helps Australian businesses improve their online visibility through SEO, GEO, website development, content optimisation, local SEO and digital marketing.

Rather than focusing only on rankings, we look at the complete search journey—from whether Google and AI platforms can understand your business to whether website visitors actually become enquiries or customers.

If you want to understand how visible your business is across Google Search, local search and AI search, MY IT STUDIO can review your website structure, content, technical SEO and digital presence and identify practical areas for improvement.

Want to improve your business's visibility on Google, ChatGPT and other AI search platforms?

Contact MY IT STUDIOto discuss an SEO strategy for your website.

MY IT STUDIO PTY LTD.
ABN 92 665 343 537
Phone:
03 6169 5503
Email:
info@my-it.com.au
Location:
Hobart: Level 2, Room5 64/68 Liverpool St, Hobart TAS 7000