Does ChatGPT recommend your company when a buyer asks for a vendor like you? Many founders test this by typing their own company name, which is the one question buyers rarely ask.
The answer matters. In G2's March 2026 survey of 1,076 B2B software buyers and decision-makers, 51% said they now begin software research with an AI chatbot more often than with Google, up from 29% in April 2025. What that means for your sales team is covered in how AI chatbots build B2B shortlists. This guide is about measuring it.
Below is a repeatable way to check your brand visibility in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Copilot, read the results, fix the gaps and track progress every month.
How ChatGPT decides which companies to recommend
An assistant answers from what its model learned in training or from a web search it runs first. OpenAI says ChatGPT may search the web automatically when a question would benefit from current information, and questions about vendors and prices often do.
When it uses its search partners, ChatGPT typically rewrites the question into one or more targeted queries, and responses that use web search may include citations. The answer is built from what the model searched for, not from your buyer's exact words.
Google's documentation on AI features says AI Overviews and AI Mode may use query fan-out, running multiple related searches across subtopics, and Google's crawler documentation describes grounding in Gemini Apps with content from the Google Search index. Copilot citations are reported in Bing Webmaster Tools, and Perplexity runs its own crawler.
So being recommended is mostly a search and reputation problem, the core of generative engine optimization.
How to check if ChatGPT recommends your company
The test only means something if it is fair and repeatable, so fix the rules once:
- Write 10 to 15 buyer prompts, phrased the way buyers type, using the types below.
- Name the market. ChatGPT may use an approximate location based on your IP address, so put the country into the prompt. Test every language you sell in.
- Switch personalization off. A temporary chat set to Unpersonalized does not use memory, custom instructions or plugins, and OpenAI notes that saved memories can shape the search queries ChatGPT writes.
- Run each prompt three to five times, in a fresh chat each time. One answer is an anecdote; several answers give you a rate.
- Test ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Copilot. G2 found that ChatGPT is the dominant chatbot for B2B software research (63%), but not every buyer uses it.
- Add one run with Search selected in the ChatGPT tools menu, to see whether you are missing from the model's memory, the live web or both.
A full round (15 prompts, three runs, four assistants) is 180 answers. If that is too much, run all prompts in ChatGPT and five core prompts elsewhere.
Which prompts to test, and what each one reveals
Brand prompts show what the model believes about you. Buyer prompts show whether you get recommended. You need both:
| Prompt type | Example | What it reveals |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Who offers outsourced lead generation for SaaS firms in Germany? | Whether you are in the default set for your category |
| Comparison | Compare [your company] and [competitor] for outbound sales | How you are positioned and which comparison pages get cited |
| Alternatives | What are good alternatives to [competitor] for a mid-sized software firm? | Whether you are named when the buyer leans elsewhere |
| Problem | How do we get more qualified meetings without hiring SDRs? | Whether you are recommended before the buyer knows your category |
| Brand | What does [your company] do and what does it cost? | Whether the facts about you are correct and current |
Weight the set toward category, comparison and problem prompts, where recommendations happen. G2 found that comparing vendor strengths and weaknesses is the top use of AI chatbots in software research, so never skip comparisons. Take the wording from sales calls, not from a keyword tool.
What to record for every answer
Keep one spreadsheet row per answer, with the same columns every month:
- Named or not. This is the core number.
- Position. Being named first is a different result from being named fifth.
- What is said about you. Services, markets, prices. Mark each claim as correct, outdated or wrong.
- Who is named instead, and in what order.
- Cited sources. OpenAI says web search answers may include citations, listed under Sources when available. Tag each URL: your site, competitor, review site, directory, media or forum.
Then calculate a mention rate per assistant and prompt type: runs where you were named, divided by all runs. Say a 20-person IT services firm is named in 4 of 12 ChatGPT category runs, 0 of 9 comparison runs and 6 of 6 brand runs. That is a 33% category rate and a clear comparison gap, far more useful than a sense that ChatGPT knows you.
How to read your AI visibility results
Read the pattern across runs, not the single answer:
- Never named, same competitors every time. Check where they are cited from: their own site, a review site, someone else's comparison article or a directory. That is the source type the assistant trusts.
- Named, but described wrong. Your facts disagree across the web. G2 found that 64% of buyers encounter inaccurate AI chatbot recommendations often or very often, so treat this as a sales problem.
- Named on brand prompts only. The model knows you exist but not your category, usually because your pages use your own words instead of the buyer's.
- Named only with search on, or only off. With search only, the model's memory has not caught up yet; without search only, check whether you block search crawlers.
- Cited but not recommended. A model can quote your blog post in an answer that recommends somebody else. Being a source is not the same as being on the shortlist.
Can AI crawlers read your site? The robots.txt check
Fix access first. It costs nothing, and a blocked crawler cancels every other fix. Search and training are controlled separately:
| Crawler | What it does | What blocking it means |
|---|---|---|
| OAI-SearchBot | Surfaces websites in ChatGPT search | Not shown in ChatGPT search answers, apart from navigational links |
| GPTBot | Crawls content that may be used to train OpenAI models | Out of training, but not out of ChatGPT search |
| PerplexityBot | Surfaces and links websites in Perplexity results | Perplexity recommends allowing it if you want to appear |
| Googlebot | Crawls for Google Search, including AI Overviews and AI Mode | Supporting links need an indexed page eligible for a snippet |
| Google-Extended | Controls Gemini training and grounding in Gemini Apps | No effect on Google Search, but no grounding in Gemini Apps |
OpenAI's crawler overview treats each setting independently, so you can block GPTBot and still appear in ChatGPT search. Blocking Google-Extended, by contrast, keeps your content out of grounding in Gemini Apps.
Then check below robots.txt. OpenAI says changes take about 24 hours to reach its systems, and both OpenAI and Perplexity's crawler documentation recommend allowing their published IP ranges, since a firewall or CDN can block a crawler that robots.txt allows. ChatGPT-User, which visits pages when a person asks, is not used to decide what appears in search, so its log entries say nothing about inclusion.
How to get ChatGPT to recommend your company
Start with the prompts where a competitor is named, you are not, and the cited page is one you could have written. Then work through this list:
- Clear service and pricing pages. One page per service: what it is, who it is for, which markets you cover and roughly what it costs. An assistant cannot quote a price you never publish. Our own plans are on our pricing page.
- Facts in plain text. Google lists making important content available in textual form among its practices for AI features, and Microsoft says clear headings, tables and FAQ sections make content easier for AI systems to reference accurately.
- Consistent company facts. Use the same name, description, services and locations on your site, LinkedIn, directories and review profiles. Google says structured data should match the visible text, and that no AI text files or special markup are needed for its AI features.
- Reviews and third-party profiles. Ask satisfied customers for a review as a fixed step. In the G2 survey, 45% of buyers called citations from software review sites the most confidence-inspiring signal in an AI-generated response.
- Honest comparison pages. You versus a named alternative, in-house versus outsourced. Our outsourced sales vs in-house SDR comparison shows the format.
- Fresh pages. Microsoft notes that regular updates help AI systems reference the most current version of your content. Take retired services off the site.
How to track brand visibility in ChatGPT every month
One test is a snapshot; the monthly trend shows whether your changes worked. Keep the routine small:
- Same prompts, settings and week each month. Refresh the prompt set once a quarter.
- Bing Webmaster Tools. Its AI Performance report shows how often your content is cited in Microsoft Copilot and in AI-generated summaries in Bing, which URLs are referenced and the key phrases the AI used to retrieve them.
- Google Search Console. Google says sites appearing in AI Overviews and AI Mode are included in the Performance report, within the Web search type.
- Analytics. OpenAI's publishers and developers FAQ says ChatGPT adds utm_source=chatgpt.com to referral URLs, so ChatGPT search visits are easy to isolate.
- A change log. Note each month's changes, such as a new comparison page or ten new reviews, to connect cause and effect.
Judge trends over two or three months. In its June 2026 update to Bing Webmaster Tools, Microsoft calls AI citation ecosystems inherently dynamic, shifting with user behavior, evolving models, freshness signals and changes across the web.
What you cannot control
You cannot edit a model's training data, see how it weighs sources or argue it into a better answer. OpenAI says placement in ChatGPT search is not guaranteed, and Google says the same of indexing and serving.
Answers also move for reasons unrelated to you, such as model updates or a buyer's memory and location. You cannot buy the answer itself: paid placement is a separate channel, covered in how to spend efficiently on ChatGPT ads, and nobody outside the providers can guarantee a recommendation.
What you do control is the input: access, clear pages, consistent facts and third-party proof, the day-to-day work of SEO and AI visibility. Buyers who never see your name in an AI answer can still be reached through outbound lead generation.
Frequently asked questions
Can I pay to have ChatGPT recommend my company?
No. You cannot buy a place in the answer. OpenAI says ChatGPT ranks search results using multiple factors intended to help users find relevant, reliable information, and that placement is not guaranteed. Advertising is a separate, paid channel. What you can influence is crawler access, what your pages say and what third parties write about you.
How often should I check if ChatGPT recommends my company?
Once a month is enough for most B2B companies, with the same prompts, settings and assistants each time so the numbers stay comparable. After a technical fix, such as unblocking OAI-SearchBot, check sooner: OpenAI says robots.txt changes take about 24 hours to register. Give content and review work two or three monthly rounds before you judge it.
Does blocking GPTBot remove my company from ChatGPT?
No. GPTBot crawls content that may be used to train OpenAI's models, while OAI-SearchBot surfaces websites in ChatGPT search. OpenAI treats the two settings independently, so you can block training and still appear in search answers. Blocking OAI-SearchBot is what hurts: OpenAI says opted-out sites are not shown in ChatGPT search answers, apart from navigational links.
Do I need an llms.txt file to appear in AI answers?
Not for Google. Its documentation says you do not need to create new machine readable files, AI text files or markup to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, and none of the OpenAI, Perplexity or Microsoft pages cited here lists one as a requirement. Crawler access, clear text on your pages and consistent facts matter far more.
Get your company named in AI answers
This prompt test is where our SEO and AI visibility work starts. The fixes that follow are part of our Full Marketing line, next to digital marketing, with plans published on our marketing pricing page.
If you need qualified meetings while that work builds up, our Sales Engine plans start at 1,750 euros a month with 5 qualified meetings a month guaranteed. Everything each plan includes is on our pricing page.
Sources and further reading: G2, buyer research press release; OpenAI, ChatGPT search help page; OpenAI, temporary chat help page; OpenAI, publishers and developers FAQ; OpenAI, crawler overview; Google, AI features and your website; Google, Google-Extended documentation; Perplexity, crawler documentation; Bing, AI Performance report announcement; Bing, AI visibility insights update.