The short answer
To make your website visible in ChatGPT search, allow OpenAI's OAI-SearchBot and ChatGPT-User in robots.txt and in your CDN, make sure your pages are indexed by Bing, and put clear answers in server-rendered HTML with structured data. Then publish pages that answer the exact questions your buyers ask in ChatGPT, and track whether ChatGPT names and cites you over time.
Step 1: Let OpenAI's crawlers in
OpenAI uses separate user agents for separate jobs, and you can treat each one differently in robots.txt:
| User agent | What it is for | Allow it if |
|---|---|---|
| OAI-SearchBot | Finding and indexing pages for ChatGPT search results | You want to appear in ChatGPT search |
| ChatGPT-User | Fetching a page when a user's ChatGPT session needs it | You want ChatGPT to read your page live for a user |
| GPTBot | Collecting content that may be used to train OpenAI's models | You are fine with training use; blocking it does not remove you from search |
Check the group for each user agent in your robots.txt, since a named group overrides User-agent: *. Then check your CDN or firewall: a bot-blocking rule can return 403 to OpenAI's crawlers even when robots.txt allows them. OpenAI's own documentation lists its crawlers and publishes their IP ranges.
LLM Scan's free scanner checks the robots.txt rules for GPTBot and ChatGPT-User, along with ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot and Google-Extended. It does not check OAI-SearchBot yet, so read that group yourself.
Step 2: Get indexed by Bing
ChatGPT search draws on third-party search providers as well as OpenAI's own crawling, and Bing is widely reported to be one of them. Being indexed by Bing is cheap insurance: verify your site in Bing Webmaster Tools, submit your sitemap, and consider IndexNow so new and updated pages are picked up quickly. Search for site:yourdomain.com on Bing to see what is indexed.
Step 3: Make your pages easy to read and quote
- Put the answer in HTML your server returns. Crawlers do not run JavaScript reliably, so pricing tables, feature lists and FAQs rendered only in the browser may be invisible.
- Start each page with a direct answer in the first two sentences, then the detail.
- Use one H1, descriptive H2s that mirror real questions, and tables for comparisons.
- Add JSON-LD that matches the page: Organization and WebSite on the homepage, Article or BlogPosting on posts, FAQPage for visible FAQs, SoftwareApplication or Product for products.
- Keep a clean sitemap and a canonical URL on every page.
- Publish an llms.txt that points to your key pages. It is an emerging convention, not a requirement.
See how to check whether your website is ready for LLMs for the full checklist.
Step 4: Publish content ChatGPT can cite
ChatGPT search cites pages that answer the question asked. Find the questions first: "best [category] for [audience]", "[your brand] vs [competitor]", "how much does [category] cost", "how to [job your product does]". For each one, make sure one page answers it with specific, verifiable facts: prices, limits, setup steps, who it is for and who it is not for. Comparison and pricing pages are often cited because they are hard to answer from general knowledge.
Mentions on other sites matter too. ChatGPT often cites review sites, directories, forums and comparison articles. Being listed accurately on the sources it cites in your category can help you be named.
Step 5: Measure whether it works
- Check referrals. ChatGPT usually adds utm_source=chatgpt.com to the links it shows, so filter your analytics for that source.
- Check crawler visits. Search your logs for OAI-SearchBot and ChatGPT-User, or use LLM Scan's server-side crawler tracking, which recognizes both, plus GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot and Bingbot.
- Check the answers. Ask your buyer questions in ChatGPT on a fixed schedule and note whether you are named, in what position, and which pages are cited. LLM Scan does this every week on paid plans, next to Perplexity answers and your Google rank and AI Overview citations, and ends each report with 3 fixes.
Answers vary between runs, so look for patterns across several weeks and prompts. Nobody can guarantee a mention or citation in ChatGPT. See how to measure brand mentions and citations in AI answers.