ChatGPT SEO: How to Show Up in ChatGPT Responses

SEO for ChatGPT involves optimizing your website and wider online presence to increase and improve your brand’s appearance in ChatGPT answers to user queries.

Below, we'll explain the benefits of optimizing for ChatGPT, the three steps you can take to optimize for the platform, and how to measure your results. 

Why Should You Do SEO for ChatGPT?

You should do SEO for ChatGPT because it can improve your visibility within ChatGPT’s responses (and those from other AI tools) and can also let you meet more specific search intents. 

Increased Visibility

Optimizing your brand’s online presence for ChatGPT increases the likelihood that the AI tool will cite or mention your brand in its responses, which translates to more awareness and possibly even more website traffic. 

Optimizing for ChatGPT involves a lot of the same tactics as optimizing for AI search in general, meaning more visibility in platforms like Claude, Perplexity, and Google’s Gemini—which powers AI Mode and AI Overviews.

Our AI Visibility Index shows there’s significant overlap between the brands mentioned by ChatGPT and Google’s AI Mode.

There’s also overlap between appearing in ChatGPT responses and ranking well in Google organic search. To gauge this overlap. I compared pet feeder brand Petlibro’s ChatGPT citations with its Google keyword rankings. 

I used Semrush’s AI Visibility Toolkit to see which pages on Petlibro’s website are currently being cited (meaning linked) in ChatGPT’s responses. After removing any pages that were on different subdomains or returned 404 errors, I found that 131 pages on Petlibro’s site are being cited.

I then used the Organic Rankings tool to find out how many keywords each of the AI-cited pages ranked for. This illustrates whether these pages being cited by ChatGPT are also appearing in organic Google search results.

I found that 85% of Petlibro’s AI-cited pages also rank for at least one keyword in Google search. Just under 50% of the pages cited by AI rank for more than 10 keywords, and over 11% of pages cited by AI rank for more than 50 keywords.

Excluding two outliers that ranked for 700+ keywords, the average number of keywords Petlibro’s ChatGPT-cited pages rank for is 19. This suggests there is a correlation between ChatGPT citations and organic search performance. 

So, optimizing your content for ChatGPT may also increase your chances of appearing in organic search results—and vice versa.

It's worth noting that ChatGPT is currently testing clearly-marked ads at the bottom of responses for certain plans. So, although paid advertising will soon show in some responses, the location and labelling of the ads still gives focus to unpaid brand mentions.

Further reading: SEO Techniques to Boost Organic Traffic + Rankings

Meet More Specific Intents

User prompts in AI tools like ChatGPT tend to be more specific than keywords users type into traditional search engines like Google, which typically indicates users have clear goals and strong intent (i.e., they’re more likely to convert).

Here are some examples of those prompts in ChatGPT (which are much more specific than vague terms like “automatic dog feeder” that Petlibro ranks for in Google):

• Can you recommend some popular brands for high-speed cat toys?
• What are the best apps or devices to remind me to feed my dog?
• How do I choose the best pet-proof feeder for my cats and dogs?

Users are asking ChatGPT detailed questions with specific constraints and context—like forgetting to feed pets and finding a feeder for households with both cats and dogs. This level of detail suggests they're actively looking for solutions. And that makes them potentially more valuable.

How to Do SEO for ChatGPT in 3 Steps

Step 1. Ensure Your Site Is Indexed by Search Engines

ChatGPT uses traditional search engines like Bing and Google when it runs web searches in response to user prompts. Getting your website and content indexed in these search engines can therefore improve your chances of showing up in ChatGPT responses.

Make Sure You’re in Bing’s Index

One of the search engines ChatGPT uses to search the web is Bing, which means having your content indexed in Bing can improve your chances of being cited by ChatGPT.

Set up Bing Webmaster Tools to monitor your site's indexing status. Then, submit your XML sitemap through the “Sitemaps” section. This can help Bing find and index your website’s pages.

Use the “Site Explorer” to discover pages with indexing issues. Use the “Filter by” drop-down to find URLs that:

• Have crawling issues (404 errors that can prevent Bing from crawling and indexing the page)
• Are blocked by your robots.txt file (URLs you’re explicitly disallowing search engines from crawling)
• Have unintentional noindex tags (these are tags you can add to pages to prevent search engines from indexing them)

If the URL doesn’t have any issues but bing hasn’t indexed it yet, or if you have already fixed the issues, click the “Request indexing” button to encourage Bing to index it. If there is an issue with the URL, click “Inspect URL” to get more details about the problem.

Use IndexNow to notify Bing (and other supporting search engines) when you publish or update content. Follow Bing’s guide to set it up, and then use the “IndexNow” tab to keep track of the submitted URLs. Faster indexing in Bing can lead to your new content being cited and/or mentioned in ChatGPT sooner.

Make Sure You’re in Google’s Index

ChatGPT also uses Google to search the web, so being indexed in Google can increase your chances of appearing in ChatGPT responses. 

Use Google Search Console (GSC) to monitor your site’s indexing status in Google. First, submit a sitemap to GSC to improve your chances of getting indexed in Google.

Then, go to the “Pages” report and scroll down to the “Why pages aren’t indexed” section to see a summary of the reasons Google hasn’t indexed your pages. Clicking into each issue will show you a list of URLs with that problem preventing indexation. 

Once you’ve fixed the issue, click the “Validate Fix” button to signal to Google that the affected pages are ready to be indexed.

You can also navigate to specific URLs and click “Request Indexing” once you’ve fixed issues on specific URLs to increase the chances of Google indexing the page. This can make it more likely that ChatGPT will find your content and potentially use it in responses. 

Step 2. Write Content That’s Primed for AI Extraction

Structuring your content properly and using clear writing makes it more likely that ChatGPT will cite or mention your brand in responses.

Use a Clear Content Structure

Using descriptive headings, short paragraphs, and lists makes it easier for ChatGPT to understand your content and extract sections for its answers.

Use descriptive headings throughout your content to make it clear what each section is about. Also consider where your headings can match relevant user questions.

For example, “How to Build Backlinks” maps easily to user questions. (Not every heading needs to be or relate to a question.)

Find the questions your target audience is asking ChatGPT using the “Narrative Drivers” report within the AI Visibility Toolkit (make sure to select “ChatGPT from the drop-down at the top). 

Scroll down to "Breakdown by Question” and choose “Not present” in the “Position” drop-down to see questions your brand currently doesn’t appear for. These prompts represent gaps where your audience is asking questions that you could answer with optimized content.

Also keep your paragraphs short and focused on one idea each. This can improve readability for users while also making your content easier to extract for AI tools.

Finally, use formatting like bullet points and numbered lists to organize information on your pages. Again, these help with readability while also being in a format that ChatGPT uses a lot.

Use a Direct and Specific Writing Style

Using direct answers and specific quotes, results, and examples can improve your chances of getting cited in ChatGPT’s responses. 

Answer your target audience’s questions immediately and directly. Like this:

For example, let’s say one of your H2s is “What Is SEO?” Your first sentence under this heading should directly answer the question with something like “SEO is the practice of optimizing a website for search engines.”

Notice how the first words in the sentence under the heading (“SEO is”) mirror the wording of the question in the heading (“What is SEO?”).

Beyond using clear and direct writing, also make yourself easy to quote by including expert quotes, concrete case study results, and specific examples that ChatGPT can use in its responses to users. 

For example: “Paid advertising on LinkedIn generated 22% more leads for the brand per dollar of ad spend than using Facebook ads.” 

Step 3. Build Brand Mentions and Authority Signals

Building backlinks and brand mentions from relevant, authoritative sources may influence whether ChatGPT will reference your content or brand in its answers.

Continue Building Backlinks

Earn backlinks from websites ChatGPT frequently cites because links from those sources carry more weight than links from unrelated sites or sites ChatGPT doesn’t deem authoritative.

To identify which sites to target, ask ChatGPT questions in your niche and note which sources it cites most frequently. 

For example, let’s say you sell cookware. You could enter a query like “what are the best ceramic non-stick pot brands?” and see which sources ChatGPT cites for its responses. In this case, you’d want to get backlinks from sites like Good Housekeeping, Organic Authority, and The Spruce Eats.

Repeat the process of seeing which websites appear for other relevant prompts. Or simply enter your brand into the AI Visibility Toolkit’s “Visibility Overview” report and choose “Chat GPT” from the AI platform drop-down.

Then, scroll down to the “Topics & Sources” section and select “Cited Sources” to see the top websites ChatGPT cites for queries related to your brand. These are all potential backlink targets. 

Get Brand Mentions in Relevant Publications

Getting mentions of your brand in relevant and authoritative publications—with or without a backlink—helps ChatGPT understand your brand’s relevance and expertise to increase your chances of appearing in ChatGPT responses.

Other websites’ mentions of you can also be used directly in ChatGPT’s responses. 

For example, ChatGPT includes GreenPan in its response to the question about the best non-stick ceramic cookware brands. But it’s including that brand because the source it cites (Good Housekeeping) mentions GreenPan in its own guide.

Focus on getting brand mentions in publications that ChatGPT frequently cites. Use the same “Cited Sources” report you used to find backlink opportunities above to identify which sites ChatGPT pulls from in your industry, then prioritize outreach to those outlets.

How to Measure Your ChatGPT SEO Performance

Track your ChatGPT performance by testing whether ChatGPT cites or mentions your brand in response to relevant prompts.

Enter queries your target audience would ask into ChatGPT and note whether ChatGPT cites your brand, which other specific pages it references, and how prominently your content appears in answers. 

Check ChatGPT prompts for different query types, including: 

• Branded searches
• Product category questions
• How-to queries related to your expertise

Create a spreadsheet logging the query, date, whether you were cited, whether you were mentioned, and which competitors appeared in the responses. Repeat these searches over time and log the results to understand whether your efforts are working.

Use Semrush's AI Visibility Toolkit to automate and scale this tracking. The tool will show you:

• Which prompts your brand is appearing in ChatGPT for
• How your visibility compares to your competitors
• The sentiment toward your brand in ChatGPT

Just go to “Brand Performance,” enter your domain, and select “ChatGPT Web Search” from the model drop-down.

You’ll see a chart illustrating you and your competitors’ shares of voice versus relative to your sentiment scores. In other words: how visible your brand is in ChatGPT and how positively you’re being portrayed.

Head to the “Perception” report to learn what’s influencing your sentiment score. The “Brand Strength Factors” are areas where you’re currently strong. And the “Areas for Improvement” are tips for improving your brand sentiment in ChatGPT. 

In the “Narrative Drivers” report, select “Not present” in the “Position” drop-down to focus on prompts you don’t yet appear for. Choose a range in the “Competitors” drop-down to find prompts your rivals currently appear for and in what position (i.e., how close to the start of the AI response they appear).

Create or optimize content targeting these prompts to increase your visibility in ChatGPT responses.

Boost Your Brand’s Visibility with SEO for ChatGPT

Optimizing your online presence for ChatGPT makes it more likely that your brand will be mentioned or cited in ChatGPT’s responses. 

But ChatGPT isn’t the only AI system you should optimize for to improve your overall online visibility. You should also optimize for systems like Perplexity, Gemini, and Google’s AI Mode and AI Overviews. Do this with Semrush’s AI Visibility toolkit.

You can monitor your brand’s presence across platforms to understand:

• Where your brand is showing up
• Where your competitors are being cited and mentioned more often than you are
• How your brand is portrayed in AI systems