How to get your business found on ChatGPT — a practical guide
A growing number of B2B buyers now start their vendor search on ChatGPT rather than Google. They type something like "best B2B lead generation agency" and act on whatever the AI tells them. If your business is not in those answers, you are invisible to them.
Why Google SEO alone is not enough
AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini are not search engines. They do not rank web pages — they generate text based on patterns learned from training data. The signals that make a page rank on Google are different from the signals that cause an AI to recommend a business. A company with a perfectly optimised Google presence can still be completely invisible on AI search.
Step 1: Create your llms.txt file
An llms.txt file placed at yourwebsite.com/llms.txt tells AI crawlers exactly who you are in structured, scannable language. Think of it as a briefing document for AI systems. A good llms.txt covers who you are, what you do, who you serve, what makes you different, your key services, and your contact information.
Step 2: Add JSON-LD schema markup
Schema markup is structured data embedded in your pages that tells AI crawlers what type of entity your website represents. For a B2B agency, the key schema types are Organisation, Service, and FAQPage. Adding these removes ambiguity about what category your business falls into.
Step 3: Write content that directly answers buyer questions
AI models pull from content that directly and clearly answers specific questions. If someone asks ChatGPT "what is the best B2B lead generation agency for US companies," it cites businesses whose content directly and confidently answers that question. Write dedicated pages that answer the exact questions your buyers are typing into AI chatbots. Be direct. State your credentials. Give factual answers.
Step 4: Build citations on authoritative sources
AI models are trained on web data, which means they are more likely to cite businesses that appear consistently across multiple authoritative sources. Getting your business mentioned in industry publications, directories, and external articles — not just on your own website — builds the citation network that causes AI models to recommend you.
Step 5: Test and track your AI visibility monthly
There is no dashboard for AI search ranking. You test manually — open ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini and ask the questions your buyers are asking. Document what comes up. Do this monthly to track whether your visibility is improving.