How to Get Your Business Mentioned in ChatGPT

Why are some businesses referenced in ChatGPT while others remain invisible?

That’s the question so many businesses are asking as they fight to stay visible in AI-generated responses.

In most cases, visibility in ChatGPT reflects how clearly and consistently your brand is represented across the web. Achieving this isn’t a quick, tactical fix, nor is it random.

So what can you do to improve your chances? First, you need to have a good grasp on how ChatGPT generates its responses and what it relies on when surfacing information.

Where does ChatGPT get its information?

ChatGPT is powered by large language models developed by OpenAI. It doesn’t “choose” information in the way a person selects a source.

Instead, it answers queries based on patterns it learned during training on a large mix of publicly available text, data created by human trainers, and licensed data. When live web browsing is turned on, it can search the web, open pages, pull information from them, and summarise and cite those sources.

Because brand mentions come from pattern recognition, being mentioned on ChatGPT will depend on whether your brand appears consistently in the types of content the model learned from.

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AI behaviour will keep changing.

The way users prompt ChatGPT and other AI tools, and how those tools generate responses, will continue to evolve.

At authentic, we monitor these shifts closely and adapt content and SEO strategies to keep you visible as usage patterns change.

Explore our AI optimisation programmes →

How to get your business to show up on ChatGPT

To improve your chances of getting mentioned in ChatGPT, you need to take a deliberate, long-term approach to how your brand is represented online. This requires building authority, consistency, and depth over time through high-quality content and strong SEO foundations.

In the SEO world, some marketers refer to this approach as “Generative Engine Optimisation” (GEO)”. While the term is still evolving, the underlying strategy builds on established SEO, digital PR, and brand authority principles.

Boost topical authority around your core subject

Before ChatGPT can reference your business, it needs to strongly associate you with a specific area of expertise. The clearer and more consistent that association is, the more likely your brand is to surface.

There are few ways you can do this.

Cover the topic comprehensively

Topical authority can’t be built with the odd blog post or landing page. It requires sustained depth and consistency over time.

For your brand to be strongly associated with a subject, you need to build a structured body of content that explores your core topic or niche from multiple angles and levels of detail.

This might include:

• Definitions of key terms
• Supporting articles that explore subtopics
• Comparisons (e.g. X vs Y)
• Case studies and real-world applications
• Data-backed insights or research

EAAT: Demonstrate why you’re qualified

While depth shows you understand the topic, E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) shows you’re qualified to speak on it.

You can demonstrate your expertise by:

• Publishing content written or reviewed by industry professionals
• Including author bios or credentials
• Referencing reputable research, data, or official sources
• Sharing first-hand insights and real-world experience
• Earning mentions and backlinks from authoritative sites

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Don’t have the time to build this internally?

We have a dedicated Content Manager who meets with your subject-matter experts, captures their insights, and transforms them into structured, AI-optimised content designed to strengthen topical authority over time.

Explore our copywriting service →

Make your content AI ready

The way your content is written and structured also matters. It needs to be easy for AI to interpret and reuse. That means keeping content straightforward, well organised, and direct. If the key point is buried halfway down the page or wrapped in vague marketing language, it becomes harder to extract.

Question-based content is especially important. Prompts in AI tools like ChatGPT tend to be more specific than traditional keyword searches.

Creating content that mirrors these kinds of detailed, real-world questions makes it more likely that your content aligns with how AI generates responses.

Improve your SEO foundations

The argument that SEO is “dead” because of ChatGPT continues to circulate, but that misunderstands how AI tools gather and prioritise information.

If your website doesn’t meet established SEO standards, you significantly reduce your chances of being surfaced, referenced, or trusted by AI systems.

To improve your chances of being surfaced or referenced, you need:

• A website that is easy for search engines and AI systems to crawl and understand
• Structured data that defines who you are and what you offer
• Strong technical performance across devices
• Local SEO that reinforces your credibility

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Leave the technical side to us

We understand that these strategies can feel complex, especially when SEO, AI visibility, and technical optimisation start to overlap.

Our team can take care of this for you so you can focus on what you do best.

Explore our SEO programmes →

Keep brand messaging consistent

AI systems rely on repeated patterns.

If your brand says five different things about itself across the internet, ChatGPT struggles to confidently associate you with any one topic.

Be clear about what you do, who you serve, and the problems you solve. The stronger and more consistent the message, the easier it is for AI systems to recognise and reference your expertise.

Build authority beyond your website

This is one of the most overlooked aspects of getting mentioned in ChatGPT.

While optimising and improving your own website content is critical, it’s also important to build trust and credibility beyond the boundaries of your domain.

If real people are talking about your brand on popular platforms like Reddit or Quora, ChatGPT sees that as ‘social proof’ and is more likely to recommend you.

Similarly, if you are mentioned on independent review sites like Trustpilot, or a news article from a legitimate source, that carries a lot of weight.

Of course, some competitors may already have years of brand recognition, PR coverage, and strong online authority behind them. If they’ve spent five or more years building visibility, AI systems will naturally have stronger associations with their name.

Rather than trying to compete at that level immediately, focus on striking-distance opportunities where you can build clearer authority and momentum. This could mean focusing on narrower niches, specific services, or defined markets where you can build clearer authority and momentum.

The cost of being invisible in ChatGPT responses

While Google remains the heavy hitter, AI-assisted search is now embedded in how users research, compare, and validate their decisions. ChatGPT alone has over 900 million weekly active users as of early 2026 and continues to record the highest web traffic among AI platforms.

Being visible in AI responses presents a significant opportunity to influence consideration at an early stage. However, if competitors are surfaced while you are absent, it creates a "silent" loss of leads where you are excluded from the conversation before a customer even reaches your website.

In a market like New Zealand where reputation is everything, this invisibility creates a gap in credibility; if ChatGPT can’t find you, it subtly signals to a potential client that your business is less established or relevant than the names that do appear.

Make sure your brand is part of the answer

If your competitors are showing up in AI responses and you’re not, or you’re not sure how visible you actually are, now is the time to reassess your strategy.

authentic digital has been helping businesses navigate digital change for well over a decade. We’ve seen shifts in search behaviour happen in real time, and we’ve adapted our strategies accordingly.

We’ll help you identify gaps in authority and positioning, and develop a practical plan to strengthen your visibility across search and AI platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude.

Get an AI visibility audit

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