How to Rank in ChatGPT
Everyone suddenly wants to know how to rank in ChatGPT.
And with that has come a whole new wave of GEO experts, AEO experts, AI SEO experts, and people selling some secret formula for getting your business recommended by ChatGPT.
I think a lot of it is bullshit.
We work with local businesses, especially home-service companies, and we're actively watching this happen with real clients. We're tracking the traffic. We're tracking the leads. We're asking customers how they found the business.
And we're hearing "ChatGPT" more and more.
What we're finding isn't some crazy new trick.
A lot of what works is the same foundational work good SEO has always been built around: create a legitimate business, establish where you operate and what you do, build authority around it, get people talking about you, answer real questions, and make it easy for search engines and AI systems to understand your business.
There are some differences in how I approach ChatGPT visibility, but I wouldn't throw your SEO playbook away.
I'd build on top of it.
What Does "Ranking in ChatGPT" Actually Mean?
When I talk about ranking in ChatGPT, I'm not talking about ranking #1 for one keyword.
People don't use ChatGPT exactly like they use Google.
Someone might Google:
"AC repair Phoenix"
But inside ChatGPT, they can have a conversation.
They might ask:
"My AC is running but blowing warm air. I'm in Chandler, Arizona. Who services this area and can diagnose something like this?"
That's a completely different type of search.
We want our clients to be businesses that ChatGPT can identify, understand, cite, and recommend when those conversations happen.
That can mean:
Being mentioned as a relevant local business.
Appearing when someone asks for companies that provide a particular service.
Having your website used as a cited source.
Appearing in ChatGPT Search.
Getting referral traffic from ChatGPT.
Most importantly, generating actual leads from that visibility.
That last part matters.
I don't care about taking screenshots showing a client that ChatGPT mentioned their company if it never turns into business.
We want leads.
There Is No Secret ChatGPT Ranking Hack
This is probably the biggest thing I want business owners to understand.
There isn't some magic ChatGPT optimization trick that suddenly makes you the company it recommends.
OpenAI itself says ChatGPT Search uses multiple factors designed to surface relevant and reliable information. Placement isn't guaranteed.
That sounds pretty familiar.
Build relevance. Build trust. Build authority. Make your information accessible.
The exact systems are different, and nobody outside these companies knows every ranking signal or exactly how they're weighted.
But the idea that traditional SEO suddenly doesn't matter because people are searching with AI doesn't match what we're seeing.
In fact, research analyzing millions of URLs retrieved by ChatGPT found that traditional web search is a major source of the pages ChatGPT ultimately cites.
So when someone tells you SEO is dead and they've discovered a completely separate secret formula for "GEO," I'd be skeptical.
We're seeing the opposite.
Good SEO gives you a hell of a head start.
Start With the Foundation
When a new client comes to us wanting better visibility in ChatGPT, I don't immediately start looking for some AI-specific tactic.
We audit the business.
Where are the holes?
How strong is the website?
How strong is the Google Business Profile?
Are the services clearly explained?
Are the service areas clear?
Are they getting reviews?
Do other legitimate websites mention the business?
Do they have local citations?
Do they actually demonstrate expertise anywhere online?
Are there areas competitors haven't heavily saturated yet?
Then we start fixing those problems.
Your foundation might include:
Detailed service pages.
Individual city and service-area pages.
Consistent business information across the web.
Local and industry citations.
Customer reviews.
Useful FAQs.
Educational content.
Appropriate schema markup.
Social content.
Video content.
None of that sounds like a secret AI hack.
That's the point.
Build City and Service Pages That Actually Help People
For local businesses, location relevance matters.
If you're an HVAC company servicing Phoenix, Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa, and Scottsdale, your website should make that extremely clear.
We build individual city pages and, where it makes sense, individual service pages within those markets.
But don't just swap the city name 100 times and call it local SEO.
Give the page value.
Talk about the actual service.
Answer questions customers in that market ask.
Explain common problems.
Include FAQs.
Explain what someone should do when a specific situation happens.
Use structured data where appropriate so machines can better understand the information on the page.
You're building a body of information that makes it extremely clear:
This is what we do.
This is where we do it.
These are the problems we solve.
And we know what we're talking about.
Stop Writing Only for Keywords
This is where I think AI search starts changing the content strategy.
For years, SEO has been heavily focused on keywords.
Keywords still matter. Search visibility still matters.
But people are having conversations with ChatGPT.
That means I want to think about situations, questions, and problems instead of only keywords.
Take an HVAC company.
Instead of only targeting:
"AC repair Chandler"
Think about the hundreds of questions surrounding that service:
Why is my AC running but blowing warm air?
Why does my AC keep turning on and off?
Is this something I need repaired immediately?
What are the warning signs that my AC compressor is failing?
Should I repair or replace a 15-year-old AC?
Who services my area?
How much should this type of repair cost?
What should I check before calling an HVAC company?
Those are conversations.
And that's how people increasingly use AI.
Turn Every Frequently Asked Question Into Content
One of the simplest things I tell businesses is this:
Write down every question customers ask you.
Your technicians hear them.
Your office staff hears them.
Your salespeople hear them.
You probably answer the same 50 questions constantly.
Those questions are your content strategy.
Answer them on your website.
Answer them on social.
And especially answer them on video.
Why We're Paying Attention to YouTube
YouTube has been interesting in our testing.
We're seeing enough movement around video that I think businesses should be taking it seriously, although I wouldn't claim that uploading YouTube videos automatically makes ChatGPT rank you.
The strategy is simple.
Get the owner or technician on the job site and answer real questions.
"This customer called because their AC was blowing warm air. Here's what we found."
"We keep seeing this problem with systems in Phoenix. Here are three warning signs to watch for."
"A customer asked whether they should repair this unit or replace it. Here's how we make that decision."
It doesn't need to be a 30-minute professionally produced video.
Short, useful videos are fine.
The point is that you're creating another piece of content demonstrating that you actually know the subject.
One customer question can become:
A YouTube video.
A short social video.
An FAQ on the website.
Part of a service page.
An educational article.
A social post.
You're building information around the exact situations potential customers may eventually ask ChatGPT about.
Citations Have Been Huge for Us
This is another area we're putting a lot of effort into.
I want the business mentioned in as many legitimate, relevant places as makes sense.
That includes the obvious sources:
Yelp.
BBB.
Angi.
Industry-specific directories.
Local business directories.
Chambers and local organizations.
Relevant local websites.
Other legitimate citation sources.
We've also seen niche-specific sources matter.
For example, with real estate clients, we've seen FastExpert visibility correlate with better AI visibility.
Reddit is interesting too.
Recent third-party research shows Reddit is one of the domains ChatGPT frequently retrieves and cites across broad query sets.
That doesn't mean you should go spam Reddit with links to your company. That's exactly the kind of shortcut I'm talking about avoiding.
But legitimate local conversations and genuine mentions across the web help create a broader footprint around the business.
I don't want ChatGPT to have only my website telling it I'm great.
I want evidence across the web that this business exists, serves this market, knows this subject, and has customers talking about it.
Reviews Matter More Than Ever
Think about what someone is really asking when they ask ChatGPT:
"Who is the best plumber in my area?"
ChatGPT needs information to help answer that.
Your website calling yourself the best plumber isn't very convincing.
What do customers say?
How many people have reviewed the business?
What are they saying?
How recent are those reviews?
Does the reputation of the business across the web support the claim?
That's why review generation is part of our strategy.
Again, that's not new.
It's another traditional local marketing fundamental that becomes even more valuable when AI systems are trying to understand which businesses they can surface for a particular request.
A Real Example: Arizona Premium Water
Arizona Premium Water has been one of the clearest examples for us.
We were already working on their local visibility.
That included city pages, local SEO work, citations, reviews, and the foundational work you'd normally expect us to do.
They went from essentially no meaningful ChatGPT visibility in the searches we were monitoring to consistently appearing prominently for relevant searches and conversations.
More importantly, it didn't stop at rankings.
They started getting leads from ChatGPT.
We're seeing ChatGPT referral traffic in our analytics, and we're also hearing it directly from prospects when we ask how they found the company.
That's the part that got my attention.
These aren't always people asking:
"Who is the best water company?"
The searches can be much more situational.
Someone might be trying to figure out who services a particular area, which company can handle a particular water need, or who can solve a specific problem.
ChatGPT understands the context of the conversation and then looks for businesses relevant to that situation.
That's why I believe building deep relevance around your services matters so much.
Make Sure ChatGPT Can Actually Access Your Website
Here's one technical step businesses shouldn't overlook.
OpenAI operates a crawler called OAI-SearchBot.
OpenAI says websites that want to appear in ChatGPT Search should allow OAI-SearchBot to crawl their content. Your hosting provider, firewall, CDN, robots.txt configuration, or bot protection can potentially interfere with that access.
So check it.
You can have the best content strategy in the world, but making your site unnecessarily difficult for search systems to access isn't helping you.
This is also different from GPTBot, which OpenAI uses in connection with model training. A site can allow OAI-SearchBot for search visibility while separately controlling GPTBot.
How We Track Whether ChatGPT Visibility Is Producing Leads
You have to measure this.
We use Google Analytics and Search Console as part of our normal measurement stack and track what happens through the website.
OpenAI also adds utm_source=chatgpt.com to referral URLs from ChatGPT Search, which can make ChatGPT traffic easier to identify in analytics.
Then track the conversion.
Did they visit?
What page did they land on?
Did they submit a form?
Did they call?
Did they become a lead?
And don't overlook the easiest attribution method in the world:
Ask them.
"How did you find us?"
We're hearing ChatGPT more often.
That's what matters to me.
What I Would Do If You Had Zero ChatGPT Visibility Today
I wouldn't sell you a "90-day ChatGPT ranking plan."
I hate that stuff.
Nobody can honestly promise that you're going to rank in ChatGPT in 90 days.
I'd start with an audit.
I'd figure out where you're weak and where your competitors are strong.
Then I'd look for opportunities where the competition isn't as saturated.
From there, we'd work through the fundamentals:
Fix the website and technical problems.
Make sure search engines and OAI-SearchBot can access the important content.
Optimize the Google Business Profile.
Build strong service pages.
Build useful city and service-area pages.
Add genuinely useful FAQs.
Implement appropriate schema.
Build local and industry citations.
Develop a consistent review strategy.
Answer real customer questions.
Create videos around those questions.
Publish those videos on YouTube and social platforms.
Build legitimate mentions around the web.
Track ChatGPT referral traffic and conversions.
Ask new leads how they found you.
Keep doing the work consistently.
How quickly that produces results depends on where you're starting, your market, your competition, and the authority the business already has.
That's why I don't believe in giving every company the same arbitrary timeline.
Can You Guarantee Rankings in ChatGPT?
No.
OpenAI doesn't guarantee placement either.
Anyone guaranteeing you a specific ChatGPT position should be able to explain exactly what they're guaranteeing and how they're measuring it.
What you can do is make your business significantly easier to understand, discover, verify, and trust.
That's what we're focusing on.
Is AEO or GEO Replacing SEO?
I don't think so.
Call it GEO.
Call it AEO.
Call it AI SEO.
Call it whatever you want.
The behavior of the searcher is changing, and marketers absolutely need to adjust to that.
But that doesn't mean the fundamentals disappeared.
If your website sucks, nobody mentions you, your Google presence is weak, you have barely any reviews, your service areas aren't clear, and you don't publish anything demonstrating expertise, adding some magic "AI optimization" isn't going to suddenly make you the obvious company to recommend.
Build the foundation first.
Then expand it for the way people are actually using AI.
The Biggest Change Is How People Search
This is what I think businesses need to pay attention to most.
People aren't limited to typing two or three keywords anymore.
They can explain their entire situation.
They can ask follow-up questions.
They can narrow down what they need.
They can ask ChatGPT to find somebody capable of solving that exact problem.
That changes what good content looks like.
Don't just tell the internet that you're an HVAC company.
Show that you understand HVAC.
Don't just tell it that you're a plumber in Phoenix.
Answer the questions Phoenix homeowners actually have about plumbing.
Don't just say you service Chandler.
Build enough information around your services and your presence in Chandler that there's no ambiguity about it.
Then reinforce that information with reviews, citations, videos, local mentions, and legitimate third-party sources.
How Do You Rank in ChatGPT?
If you're looking for the secret ChatGPT ranking formula, I don't have one.
I don't believe anybody does.
What I can tell you is what we're seeing work with actual businesses:
Build a strong SEO foundation.
Make your business easy to understand.
Create useful content around real customer questions.
Build legitimate citations and mentions.
Get more real customer reviews.
Create videos demonstrating your expertise.
Make your services and locations crystal clear.
Make sure ChatGPT can access your website.
Then measure whether ChatGPT is actually sending you traffic and leads.
Don't chase the latest hack every three weeks.
Build a business presence that gives search engines, AI platforms, and customers enough evidence to understand who you are, what you know, where you operate, and why you might be the right company for the job.
That's a lot less exciting than a secret ChatGPT ranking hack.
But it's what we're actually seeing work.
