As conversational AI like ChatGPT is used more for getting information, businesses, creators, and teachers are starting to wonder how to show up better in ChatGPT searches. Unlike regular search engines, ChatGPT doesn’t use a list of web pages or links to decide what to show.
Instead, it uses a mix of training information, current tools, connections to other services, and selected sources to create replies. This means that if you want people to see your content, like a product, article, tutorial, or brand, you need to know how to rank in ChatGPT.
Ranking in ChatGPT relies more on clear organization, trust in the domain, and how well the prompt fits, rather than just using specific keywords. This post explains how to make your content rank in ChatGPT, as models like GPT-4-turbo and new tools get better. We also provide steps on how to track those rankings.
How to Make Your Content Rank in ChatGPT?
Perform SEO
Many websites that are mentioned in ChatGPT answers often work on improving their search engine optimization. One study found that ChatGPT Search gives results that are 73% like the results from Bing.
Search engine optimization matches well with many top practices in AI SEO, which mainly focus on:
- Making a website easy to use and easy for search engines to find and understand. Creating original, trustworthy, and simple-to-understand content.
- Making online experiences better for users by using pages that are easy to read and load quickly.
- Creating a good reputation by being mentioned, cited, or linked to on other websites.
Businesses that want to improve their ranking on ChatGPT should begin with an SEO check. After that, the organization can decide if it needs to work on its search engine optimization before starting SEO for ChatGPT.
Hire AI SEO services to strategically optimize your content and enhance your visibility in ChatGPT-powered search experiences.
Get Better Bing Rankings
Microsoft put $14 billion into OpenAI, the company that created ChatGPT. This is why the sources ChatGPT uses and the top pages on Bing are related, as shown in the earlier study.
Google and Bing use similar methods to produce search results, but they are not the same. This shows that it’s becoming more important to use omnichannel SEO strategies that improve content on different search platforms.
This way, users can easily find what they’re looking for, whether they use regular search engines or AI-driven tools. If you are trying to get better visibility on Bing instead of Google, keep in mind that these changes might hurt your Google rankings.
This could lead to fewer visitors from Google, which has 78% of the search market compared to Bing’s 12%. Here are some easy steps to help your site rank better on Bing:
- Setting up Bing Webmaster Tools.
- Claiming your Bing Places listing.
- Improving website content, links, and website performance for better ranking.
Get Mentioned on Aggregrator and Affiliate Websites
People use answer engines like ChatGPT to find customized suggestions, like where to eat on their next vacation or the best tools for cooking and baking. These suggestions often use words like “best” or “top”.
For companies that want to be recommended, it means being highlighted on:
- Affiliate websites
- News websites
- Aggregator sites
To be listed on some of these sites, you need to claim your local listing. For others, you have to be found by a media group and their team. Discovery can happen naturally or by reaching out, like giving away a free meal, product sample, or tour of a service.
Searches that are not focused on a specific area, like finding a customer relationship management platform for small teams, pay less attention to local businesses and more to popular websites.
This strategy is like regular SEO. Companies try to improve their backlink profile by reaching out to others. They offer something valuable, like an experience, information, or service, in return for a mention or acknowledgment.
Also Read: How to Do Local SEO in 2025 – Why AI is a Game-Changer
Improve Structure of Your Content
Not only does having a good content structure help with traditional rankings (like on Bing), but it also works well in AI tools like ChatGPT. That’s because headings, lists, and tables help make the purpose of the content clear.
Mix this clear content layout with easy reading, and it’s a good way to look like a source for ChatGPT. Check out a page from a reputed website which ChatGPT refers to when looking for information.
The page will have headings to help arrange its information. It will also use bullet points to make it easy to find important information, like what you need and tips for it. This shows that the team knows what online users want.
Produce Content with E-E-A-T in Mind
Trust signals, E-E-A-T, can help improve ChatGPT’s ranking:
- Certificates
- Direct experiences
- References
- Awards
- Author biographies
Keep in mind that people use ChatGPT to get advice that fits their own needs. They are looking for more than just good accounting software for a small business. They want a trusted system designed for small businesses in the home services field that makes $X in revenue each year.
Being clear and sharing personal experiences makes content better and more appealing than what AI can create, since AI is based only on the information it has learned and what’s available online.
Use Visuals
Sometimes, ChatGPT will show pictures in its answers. Creating unique images or videos that match your content can help more people find your business through ChatGPT answers.
ChatGPT may mention websites like Pinterest, YouTube, and other places that focus on visual content. You can use AI to create different types of media, but think about whether it’s useful for what the user is looking for. For example, a person searching for flower arrangements might prefer real flowers instead of fake ones.
Take Control of Local Listings
With ChatGPT’s search tool, people can find places to go, like:
- New restaurant nearby.
- Places to visit on your next vacation.
- Convenient spot for a business meeting.
ChatGPT uses different websites to provide local suggestions, including places like Yelp. Local listings give search engines important details about a place, such as its address, opening hours, phone number, reviews, and other information. Take control of the most common local listings, which include:
- Bing Places
- Yelp
- Apple Maps
- Google Business Profile
Even though ChatGPT uses Bing to search for information, it’s still a good idea to set up and improve a local listing like Google Business Profile. As the top search engine, other website writers (like those making lists of the best restaurants in XYZ city) probably use Google to find choices.
In addition to using ChatGPT for SEO improvement, try another method for local SEO: Add your business name, address, and hours on your website. Most businesses put this information at the bottom of their website.
Also Read: Mastering AI SEO: Your Comprehensive Guide for 2025
How to Monitor Rankings on ChatGPT?
Monitor Usage with OpenAI Plugin or API Tools
If you’ve made a plugin or connected your service using OpenAI’s API, you can see how well your content is being viewed through analytics on the backend. These logs can show how often your content is used, which links or data are accessed, and what types of prompts lead to interactions.
If people are using your content in ChatGPT chats, especially with tools or plugins, that shows how well it’s doing. Many developers create dashboards to look at different types of searches, how often people click on links, and how many users keep coming back.
If you’re looking at server logs or using a tool from another company to check data, you can see detailed patterns of how people use things and find out which prompts often bring people to your content.
OpenAI doesn’t have a public dashboard to show rankings, but this data helps you see how well your content is doing in the ChatGPT system. It’s the easiest way to see if you’re getting attention on the platform.
Do Prompt Tests and Visibility Audits
To see how your content is performing or being mentioned in ChatGPT, an easy way is to test prompts frequently. Make a list of ideas in a spreadsheet that relate to your area of focus. Include simple keyword phrases as well as longer questions that users might ask.
Then check these prompts with ChatGPT from time to time to find out if your content is mentioned, or linked to. Keep track of any quotes or common topics that are similar to what you are writing about.
Make this process organized: test every month and keep track of version updates (like GPT-4 vs other versions). Use GPT-4-turbo and change your questions based on what you see happening.
This method won’t give you exact numbers like views or clicks, but it will help you understand where you are being seen. Over time, this “visibility check” creates a record of how well you’re doing. You can look at this record to see how changes to your content or user interests affect your ranking in ChatGPT.
Monitor ChatGPT-Based External Traffic
ChatGPT doesn’t show you real-time visitor details directly, but you can use other ways to see how people find your website or content after using the model. Add UTM tracking tags to the URLs you own and keep an eye on any unexpected rise in traffic, especially after big updates or when you publish new content.
Some users copy links or references from ChatGPT chats and put them into their web browsers. If your analytics tool (like Google Analytics, Plausible, Matomo) shows strange traffic patterns, no sources for visitors, or sudden increases related to popular topics, it could mean that people are finding your site through ChatGPT.
You can also check how popular branded keywords are using SEO tools. People often look up sources they found through ChatGPT by searching for them directly. If you notice a connection between how often your content is cited in your model and how people behave outside of it, that means your content is getting noticed.
Track Mentions Through Community Reports and User Feedback
A simple and effective way to see how well your content does in ChatGPT is by paying attention to what users say. People often talk about what they find in ChatGPT on places like Reddit, X, Discord, or tech discussion sites.
Use tools like Brand24, Talkwalker Alerts, or Google Alerts to get notifications about keywords related to your website, brand, or article titles. When people share pictures, quotes, or summaries of ChatGPT chats, you might see your content mentioned.
This can be helpful if you want to follow important mentions or popular posts that don’t show up in your analytics. You might notice trends in how people understand or misunderstand your content.
This method isn’t as easy to scale as API analytics, but it’s great for tracking stories and can reveal information you might miss otherwise. Community listening helps you see how people interact with your ChatGPT use in a personal way.
Keep an Eye on Updates to OpenAI’s Sources and Content Policies
It’s important to know what kind of content ChatGPT can show so you can keep track of how you appear in its answers. OpenAI doesn’t look at the whole internet. Instead, its instructions and updates decide which sources are important or left out.
To keep updated, follow OpenAI’s developer blog, API guides, and transparency updates. If OpenAI teams up with new content creators, changes how it searches for information online, or decides which sources to use (like science databases or news websites), it could impact whether your content is shown or not.
If your content is hard to access (like behind a paywall, made by users, or restricted by AI), it might not be easily found, even if it’s important. Monitoring how these changes affect your content, before and after policy updates, helps you figure out if the changes in visibility are due to the algorithm or the source itself.
Knowing what’s happening helps you understand why your rankings go up or down. It’s not only about how good your content is, but also about bigger changes in the system.
Final Thoughts
Ranking in ChatGPT isn’t just about trying to please an algorithm. It’s about working with how the model understands, finds, and shares information. As AI assistants get better and become main tools for finding information, it’s important for your content to be seen on these platforms, just like it’s important for traditional SEO.
Whether you’re connecting with an API, creating a plugin, or making content that answers real questions, the important things are to stay relevant, organize your information well, and use trustworthy sources.
Even though ChatGPT doesn’t have a public ranking system like Google, you can still make your content appear more often by focusing on making it clear, relevant, and trustworthy. With the growth of AI-made citations, selected sources, and live tools, it’s a good time to stay ahead.
Think of it less as being rated and more as being worth looking up to. If your content can really help people find clear and correct answers, ChatGPT is more likely to show it repeatedly.
FAQs
Can ChatGPT directly reference my website?
Yes, but only in specific situations. ChatGPT might mention your website if its information is included in a special collection of data or if it is allowed to browse and sees your site as useful for the question. However, ChatGPT doesn’t regularly take information from every website on the internet. To increase the chances of people mentioning your work, make sure your content is public, easy to read, and answers common questions clearly.
Does ChatGPT crawl the internet like Google?
No, ChatGPT does not work like a web crawler. Unlike Google, which looks at the whole internet, ChatGPT learns from a mix of approved information, publicly available content, and specific websites. To get live information, it can use a browsing tool or connect to outside services and add-ons in certain modes. This means your site won’t show up in ChatGPT’s replies unless it’s included in certain data sources or if a plugin or browsing tool accesses it based on what a user asks.
Will creating a ChatGPT plugin improve my content’s ranking?
If you make a plugin that connects your content, services, or tools to ChatGPT, you can easily reach users who have questions about your area of expertise. Plugins appear in the list of tools in ChatGPT when users choose to use them (or automatically if function calling is enabled). You can also monitor how often they are used, how people interact with them, and how frequently each plugin is selected.
Does ChatGPT prefer some websites or sources over others?
Yes, to a certain extent. OpenAI collects and gives permission to use a lot of the content that helps train its systems. This means that trustworthy sources, like universities, famous news outlets, government sites, and popular websites (like Wikipedia and Stack Overflow), are more likely to be mentioned. If your content is focused on a particular topic or is not very well known, it might not get enough attention unless it’s featured in tools or found by people searching online.
How often should I check prompts to see my ranking?
It’s a good idea to check prompts regularly, at least once or twice a month. This is especially important after you publish new content or update old pages. Make a list of important questions and check how ChatGPT answers them over time. Take note of whether your content is quoted, or left out completely. Keeping an eye on these prompts will help you see patterns, find areas that need more attention, and understand what words work best to make your content more visible.
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