How to Get Listed on ChatGPT: A Local Business Guide

How to get listed on ChatGPT comes down to this: there's no form to fill out, so you make your business easy for ChatGPT to find on the open web. Its search answers come from crawling public websites, and OpenAI says sites that block its search crawler won't be shown in those answers.

So step one is making sure your website lets that crawler in. After that, it's about an open website, claimed listings with matching details, and reviews on more than just Google. The same basics help with other AI tools, which also read the public web, much like search engines.

Can you submit your business to ChatGPT?

No. OpenAI hasn't published any way to submit your business to ChatGPT. You can claim a Google Business Profile, but there's nothing like that for ChatGPT, and as far as we can find there's no published paid placement either.

ChatGPT now has an apps directory, but it's for apps that run inside ChatGPT, not a listing for local businesses. Paying for OpenAI's API doesn't list you either. Developers use it to build their own apps.

What ChatGPT does is read what's already out there. OpenAI's crawler documentation says the ChatGPT crawler for search, OAI-SearchBot, is what surfaces websites in ChatGPT's search features.

So "getting listed" really means showing up in the places ChatGPT reads. Anyone who says they can get you a guaranteed spot is guessing.

How to get listed on ChatGPT, step by step

Start with your own website and work outward. Some call this generative engine optimization.

1. Make sure your site isn't blocking OAI-SearchBot

Your robots.txt file tells crawlers what they can and can't visit. OpenAI's documentation is blunt about it: sites that opt out of OAI-SearchBot won't be shown in ChatGPT search answers, though they can still appear as navigational links.

If you fix a block, OpenAI says it can take a little time for ChatGPT search to pick up the change. That's the first accessibility check for AI Search: a page the crawler can't reach can't be cited.

Heads up: robots.txt isn't the only thing that can shut a crawler out. Firewalls and security plugins block bots too. OpenAI publishes its crawlers' IP addresses, so whoever runs your website can set the firewall to let OAI-SearchBot through.

2. Get your site into Bing

BrightLocal's research described ChatGPT search as mostly running on Bing's index, at least as of December 2024. So it's worth getting your website indexed there.

Bing Webmaster Tools is free. If you've already verified your website in Google Search Console, Microsoft lets you import that verification instead of starting over. Submit your sitemap there. Microsoft says it processes submitted sitemaps on a regular basis.

There's also IndexNow, a small API that tells Microsoft about new or changed pages right away. Microsoft is clear that it doesn't guarantee those pages get crawled or indexed, though.

3. Claim your Bing Places listing

Microsoft says to use Bing Places for Business to claim or update your listing. Whitespark's research says ChatGPT has historically used that listing data to power its local results, so this one matters. Fill in your categories and description there.

4. Claim the other big listings and keep them matching

BrightLocal's 2025 listings article says a large share of ChatGPT's local results come from Foursquare's listings. That's BrightLocal passing on outside reports, not something OpenAI or Foursquare has confirmed. In BrightLocal's own testing, Yelp showed up as a source in a good share of its searches.

Claim Foursquare, Yelp and Facebook. Use the exact same name, address and phone number on every one. A plumber listed as "Smith Plumbing" in one place and "Smith Plumbing & Drain LLC" in another makes it harder to tell those are the same business.

Add a plain business description to each, and keep that description the same everywhere. Matching details help your brand read as one business, and many apps pull from these listings.

5. Give every service its own page

In Whitespark's 2026 ranking factors survey, a dedicated page for each service was one of the top factors for AI search visibility. A dentist with one "Services" page listing ten things gives ChatGPT less to work with than ten real pages.

Open each page with a plain description of the service and the area you cover. That's helpful content for customers, and it's a clear answer AI tools can point to.

6. Make your pages easy to read

Good accessibility helps crawlers as well as people. A user on a phone and a crawler both miss details that only show up in a photo or a pop-up. Simple accessibility habits:

• Put your phone, address and service area in text, not images
• Give each photo a short alt text description
• Don't hide your main content behind a login or a chat box
• Write a meta description for each page, since it's the summary that often shows in search results

A free accessibility checker can flag the gaps.

7. Get mentioned on trusted sites

The top-rated AI visibility factor in that same survey was being on expert-curated "best of" lists. Other high ones were a strong presence on key industry sites and mentions in newspapers, blogs, government sites and industry associations. Whitespark sums it up this way: "In AI SEO, mentions (citations) are the new link."

One caveat: that survey is the opinion of a panel of local search experts. It isn't measured data.

When ChatGPT shows sources, open the cited pages to see which publishers come up for your trade.

8. Check your ChatGPT visibility every so often

There's no dashboard for ChatGPT visibility, so check by hand. Ask what your customers would ask, with the search function on, and note which search results get cited and whether your details are right. Wrong hours in AI platform responses can trace back to an old listing. Try other AI assistants too.

Paid services that track ChatGPT citations can't see inside OpenAI's system, so treat their numbers as a sample.

Where do the sources ChatGPT cites come from?

ChatGPT gets local business information from a mix of websites, mentions and listings. In BrightLocal's December 2024 study, business websites made up the largest share of the sources ChatGPT used for local searches, followed by business mentions and then directories.

Since your website is the biggest piece, put a clear description of what you do and where on your home page, using your brand name exactly as it appears on your listings.

BrightLocal also said ChatGPT uses review information from Google and Google Maps for local businesses. Whitespark found something a little different. On Bing Places, Facebook was the most common review source, then Yelp. And while there have been reports of ChatGPT leaning more on Google, Whitespark said it wasn't seeing Google Business Profile results in ChatGPT.

Which is it today? Nobody outside OpenAI can say for sure, and OpenAI hasn't spelled it out.

BrightLocal's findings are from December 2024, and ChatGPT has changed since then. Treat them as a sense of direction, not a scoreboard.

Why isn't my business showing up in ChatGPT search results?

If your business isn't showing up in ChatGPT, it's usually one of a few things:

• Your robots.txt or firewall is blocking OAI-SearchBot
• Your website isn't in Bing's index
• Your Bing Places, Foursquare or Yelp listing is unclaimed or has old details
• Your name, address or phone doesn't match from one listing to the next
• Key details only appear in images, a common accessibility gap
• Nearly all your reviews are on Google and nowhere else
• Nobody else on the web mentions you

Answers also change with how the question is worded. A salon might show up for one question and not the next, and no setting you control fixes that. A user's location can matter too, and other AI tools use their own mix of sources.

Worth asking: Put this to whoever manages your website: "Is OAI-SearchBot allowed in our robots.txt, and does our firewall let OpenAI's published IP addresses through?" It's the one check that can keep you out completely.

What to do first

Let the crawler in, fix the accessibility basics, submit your sitemap, claim your listings with matching details and a clear description, and build up reviews and mentions beyond Google. None of it guarantees you'll be cited, but it gives ChatGPT a lot more to find.

If you'd like help with the review and listings side, Review Monster sends automated review requests by text and email and keeps your Google Business Profile and citations in order. You can see how it works at reviewmonster.com.

Frequently asked questions

Does blocking GPTBot keep me out of ChatGPT?

No. GPTBot is a separate crawler that collects content for training. OpenAI says you can block GPTBot and still allow OAI-SearchBot, so you can be cited in ChatGPT search without your content going into training.

Do Google reviews matter for ChatGPT?

Probably, but they aren't the whole picture. BrightLocal says ChatGPT uses Google review information, while Whitespark saw Facebook and Yelp reviews come up most in its listing research. So ask every customer for a review, and give them more than one place to leave it.

How long does it take to show up in ChatGPT?

It isn't published. OpenAI says a robots.txt change can take a little time to register, but that only lifts a block. It doesn't put you in any answer or get you cited.

Can I pay to be recommended by ChatGPT?

OpenAI hasn't published any paid way to get recommended in ChatGPT answers. If someone's selling one, ask them to show you where OpenAI says so.

Sources

• Overview of OpenAI Crawlers — OpenAI (developer documentation)
• Uncovering ChatGPT Search Sources — BrightLocal, Sammy Paget
• Start Using Bing Webmaster Tools to Improve Your Site Visibility — Microsoft Bing Webmaster Blog
• How to add IndexNow to your website — Microsoft Bing (IndexNow)
• Add and manage your business listing — Microsoft Support (Bing)
• How to Rank in ChatGPT: Focus on These Review Sites (New Research) — Whitespark, Miriam Ellis
• AI Search Makes Local Listings More Important Than Ever — BrightLocal, Kate Herbert-Smith
• 2026 Local Search Ranking Factors Report — Whitespark