ChatGPT: how it builds answers

What it is

ChatGPT is OpenAI's conversational assistant. When a question needs current or local information, ChatGPT search looks up the web, reads a handful of pages and writes a synthesised answer with linked sources. For general questions it answers from the model's training alone.

How it retrieves and cites

ChatGPT decides per question whether to search. Commercial and local intents ('best X near me', 'how much does Y cost') almost always trigger search. The search index is OpenAI's own, built by OAI-SearchBot, with Bing data historically in the mix. Pages are then fetched live by ChatGPT-User when a user asks about a specific site.

Cited answers show inline source links and a sources panel. The pages most often cited are directories, review sites, comparison articles and clear service pages with prices. Being in the index is not enough: the page must answer the exact question in a way the model can quote.

Crawlers and robots.txt

• OAI-SearchBotBuilds the search index used for citations. Allow this.
• ChatGPT-UserLive fetch on behalf of a user. Allow this.
• GPTBotTraining data collection. Optional.

Not sure what yours allows? Check your robots.txt.

Five tips to be recommended by ChatGPT

1. 1Allow OAI-SearchBot and ChatGPT-User in robots.txt.
2. 2Put prices, areas covered and opening hours in plain text on service pages, not only in images or PDFs.
3. 3Earn listings on the directories ChatGPT already cites in your sector; Seoptist shows you which.
4. 4Add Organization and LocalBusiness schema with sameAs links so the model does not confuse you with a namesake.
5. 5Write FAQ blocks that answer the literal question a customer would type.

Questions