AI SEO: How do ChatGPT and others recommend my company?

AI assistants recommend companies they find mentioned often, consistently and in the right context across the web. AI SEO therefore means two things: structuring your own website so that AI systems understand and cite it, and making sure other sources talk about you. Classic SEO remains the foundation, because many AI answers rely on current search results.

Where ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity get their knowledge about companies

There are two sources. First, the model’s training data: whatever appeared on the web often enough up to a cut-off date, the model knows. Second, live search: for many questions, the assistant searches the web at the moment the question is asked and summarises the pages it finds. For recommendations like “Which agency for Google Ads in Wiesbaden?”, live search matters most. Pages that rank well on Google or Bing and answer the question clearly win out there.

The five factors that matter most

1. Clear positioning. Who you are, who you work for and where must be stated in simple sentences on your homepage and service pages. AI systems often adopt such sentences almost word for word.
2. Mentions on other sites. Industry portals, associations, press, partner sites and review platforms. The more often your name comes up in the right context, the more likely the AI is to name you.
3. Reviews. For local recommendations, many assistants draw on reviews, for example from Google Maps.
4. Concrete content. Prices, processes, case studies with figures. Generic advertising copy gives the AI nothing it could cite.
5. Technical readability. Indexed pages, fast loading times, content without JavaScript hurdles and structured data about your business.

What changes compared with classic SEO

On Google, it was about positions in a list. With AI assistants, there is often just one answer with two or three recommendations. If you’re not among them, you’re invisible. The brand also counts for more than individual keywords: the AI doesn’t ask which page best matches “SEO agency”, but which providers are considered a good choice. What stays the same is that good content, a clean technical setup and trust are the basis.

How to get started

1. Ask ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity ten questions your customers would ask and note who gets named.
2. Check which sources the assistants link to for the competitors they name.
3. Sharpen your homepage and service pages: who, what, for whom, where, in the first few sentences.
4. Build mentions specifically on the sources the AI uses.
5. Repeat the test every month with the same questions.

Related reading: ChatGPT SEO: How do I check whether ChatGPT mentions my company? and Measuring AI visibility: Which metrics matter?

FAQ

How much does AI SEO cost?

The cost depends on how much work is needed on content, technical setup and mentions. Common models are a monthly retainer, billing by the hour or a fixed project to get started. AI SEO is often not a separate package but part of ongoing SEO support, because the measures overlap heavily.

How long does it take for ChatGPT to recommend my company?

That can’t be predicted reliably. For answers based on live search, improvements take effect once the updated pages and new mentions have been crawled and indexed. A model’s training knowledge, on the other hand, only changes with a new model version, which you can’t influence in the short term.

Can I get incorrect information about my company in ChatGPT corrected?

There is no direct way to correct it, such as an entry you can edit. What works is correcting the sources the AI draws on: your website, your Google Business Profile, business directories and review platforms. The more consistent the details are there, the more likely AI assistants are to pick up the correct information.

When to hand this over

• Competitors are named by AI assistants and your company is not.
• You don’t have time to maintain content, mentions and technical setup on a regular basis.
• You want to make AI visibility measurable and link it to enquiries.

Our page about AI in marketing shows how we put this into practice for businesses. For an initial assessment, book a free initial consultation.