The practical version: what to actually do so ChatGPT names your business when it answers.
To get cited by ChatGPT, you win its browsing path: be retrievable so its search layer finds you, readable so it can extract your answer, and the clearest, most trusted source so it chooses you. ChatGPT cites live sources when it browses, and that’s the path you optimize for — current, well-structured content that can be found and selected in the moment. The mechanism behind this is covered in how ChatGPT selects sources; this is the practical playbook for being the one it picks.
The work is concrete and sequential, matching the steps ChatGPT takes to an answer.
Be findable. Ensure your content is crawlable and indexed so ChatGPT’s search layer surfaces it, and present in the HTML rather than rendered only by scripts. If the search step doesn’t return you, nothing else matters.
Answer the real question directly. Lead with a complete, standalone answer capsule to the specific question, so when ChatGPT reads your page it finds a clean, liftable answer rather than a buried one.
Be a source it trusts. Establish a clear entity and build corroboration, so among the sources that answer, yours is the safe one to cite.
Add what others don’t have. Genuine information gain — specifics, data, real expertise — gives ChatGPT a reason to choose you over a generic alternative.
ChatGPT citation often builds less visibly than Perplexity’s, because it browses selectively and otherwise draws on training data, where presence depends on a broad, established footprint. So do the browsing-path work above, and let your wider footprint accrue over time. Test what ChatGPT returns for your buyers’ questions to see where you stand and which step is filtering you out. The throughline: ChatGPT cites what it can find, read, trust, and choose — build to win each step and you become the source it names.
Win its browsing path: be crawlable and present in the HTML so it finds you, lead with direct answer capsules so it can read you, establish a trusted entity with corroboration, and add genuine information gain so it chooses you over generic sources.
When browsing, yes — it retrieves and cites live sources. Without browsing it answers from training data, where presence depends on a broad established footprint. AEO targets the browsing path you can influence directly.
Likely one step in the chain is breaking — it can't find, read, trust, or choose your content. Test what it returns for your questions to see whether you're absent from retrieval, buried in the read, or passed over for a more trusted source.
We test what ChatGPT says for your buyers' questions and show you exactly which step — find, read, trust, choose — is keeping you out of its answers.