How does ChatGPT decide which businesses to recommend?
When ChatGPT searches the web, it builds the shortlist from the pages it finds, so you get recommended by being on those pages. OpenAI's help page on searching the web with ChatGPT (checked 24 October 2026) says ChatGPT may search automatically when a question would benefit from current information. It also says ChatGPT sometimes partners with other search providers and typically rewrites your question into one or more targeted queries that it sends them.
Three details on that page matter for a small brand:
- Your buyer's question is not the search query. A buyer's long question about a CRM for a five-person agency may become several shorter searches. You need to be on the pages that answer those.
- Memory can change the query. If memory is on, ChatGPT may use saved memories when it rewrites a search query. Your test results will differ from a buyer's if you test in your own account with memory on.
- Citations are clickable. Answers that use search may include citations and a Sources panel, so you can see which pages fed the answer.
Two things you can't do. OpenAI's advertising principles say ads do not influence the answers ChatGPT gives, and ads are separate and labelled. And if your robots.txt blocks OAI-SearchBot, OpenAI's crawler documentation says your site will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers, though it can still appear as a navigational link.
Which sources does ChatGPT cite when buyers ask for a shortlist?
Mostly "best tools" lists, and many of them are written by vendors about their own category. Two studies published in June and July 2026 looked at this for B2B software:
- DerivateX, an SEO agency, wrote one buyer-intent prompt for each of 40 software categories and ran it in ChatGPT with web search on, in a fresh temporary chat. It classified 188 cited sources by hand.
- Overthink Group, a B2B SEO agency whose clients mostly sell specialised tools, ran 1,263 prompts about niche software categories for one business week across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews, with the tracking tool Amadora.
| Source type | DerivateX (ChatGPT only) | Overthink (four AI tools) |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor-owned pages | 51.1% of citations, mostly vendors' own "best tools" posts | About three-quarters of ChatGPT's top 100 domains were not vendors |
| Independent and niche sites | 22.9% | Bot-written spam sites were 14.5% of ChatGPT's citations |
| Recognised media | 14.9% | Not reported separately |
| Community (Reddit, LinkedIn) | 9.6% | Reddit was 1.4% of all citations |
| Review sites | 1.1%; G2 and Capterra got zero | G2's network (G2, Capterra, GetApp, Software Advice) was 8.0% of all citations |
| Format | Not reported | 70.8% of all citations had "best", "top" or similar in the title |
Some arithmetic on DerivateX's totals: 233 recommendations across 40 categories is about 5.8 tools per answer, but only 188 of the 233 carried a third-party citation, and those citations pointed to 146 unique URLs. So a buyer's shortlist in that test held about six names, and about one name in five (45 of 233) came with no third-party source. DerivateX also says the site with the highest domain authority is rarely the one winning the citation.
Why do the studies disagree about G2 and Reddit?
They measured different prompts on different tools, so neither tells you what ChatGPT says about your category. The biggest split is review sites. DerivateX found zero G2 or Capterra citations in ChatGPT. Overthink found G2 was the single most-cited domain, but says more than 71% of G2's citations came from Perplexity, not ChatGPT. Overthink's own conclusion is that G2 should be a priority if your audience uses Perplexity.
Reddit splits the same way. Overthink's prompts covered niche categories averaging about 350 Google searches a month, and it argues people rarely discuss niche B2B software on Reddit. DerivateX's 40 categories, which included CRM and project management, gave community sites 9.6%. Our look at whether Reddit and Quora mentions change what AI recommends covers that channel in more depth.
Answers also move from run to run. In a February 2026 Hacker News thread on how ChatGPT picks websites, one commenter who builds an AI visibility tool said a single prompt can return different recommendations day to day, even for market leaders. DerivateX ran each prompt once, so its category-level results are snapshots.
How do you test what ChatGPT recommends in your category?
Run a fixed set of buyer prompts in a clean chat, several times, and log every cited URL. OpenAI's temporary chat help page says an Unpersonalized temporary chat does not use memory, custom instructions or plugins, and you choose that before the first message. Then select Search from the tools menu before each prompt so the answer uses web search.
Copy these eight prompts and fill in the brackets:
- I'm building a shortlist of [category] tools for a [team size] [industry] team. Which should I consider?
- What are the best [category] tools in 2026?
- What are good alternatives to [biggest competitor]?
- [Competitor A] vs [Competitor B]: which is better for [use case]?
- What's the cheapest [category] tool that still does [key job]?
- Which [category] tools work well with [tool your buyers already use]?
- I tried [competitor] and found it [common complaint]. What else is there?
- What should I look for when choosing [category] software?
Practitioners in an August 2026 r/SEO thread on getting recommended by ChatGPT and Claude gave the same advice. One commenter's view: "Run each prompt several times per check, because the answer set moves between sessions and a single run is noise dressed as a finding." They also said to log the full URL, not just the domain.
| Prompt | Run | Tools named | You named? | Cited URLs | Page type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 of 3 | Six names | No | Full URLs | Vendor list, directory, thread |
Eight prompts run three times is 24 answers. If you are named in 5 of them, your share is 5 in 24, about 21%. Rerun the same set monthly; our free monthly AEO check for a three-person team shows how to keep the log.
Which third-party pages should you go after first?
Start with the pages your test shows ChatGPT already citing, ranked by how often they appear across the 24 answers. Then work through this list, which is our own suggestion based on the two studies:
| Page type | How to get on it | When it matters most |
|---|---|---|
| "Best [category]" lists on independent sites | Email the author with one line on what you do differently and a free account to test | Overthink: 70.8% of citations were best or top lists |
| Other vendors' comparison posts | Ask non-competing tools in your space to include you; offer the same in return | DerivateX: vendor pages were 51.1% |
| Niche directories | Submit a listing with the same one-line description you use everywhere | DerivateX: one small directory supplied sources for two categories |
| G2 profile | Claim it; G2 says every company can keep a free profile | Overthink: mostly when buyers use Perplexity |
| Reddit threads | Answer real questions in subreddits that allow it; never post fake reviews | Broad categories with active communities |
A short email to a list author that you can copy:
Use the same category words and one-line description on every page you control. Overthink's own advice is that your website, G2 profile and other company profiles should consistently say what the product does and what category it is in.
What should you publish on your own site?
Publish your own honest comparison of your category, because vendor pages were the largest single source type in DerivateX's test. Keep it fair: list real competitors, say who each one suits, and date it. Our guide to writing fair "vs" and "alternatives" pages covers the format. If ChatGPT already names a rival and leaves you out, our audit for when ChatGPT recommends your competitor walks through the gaps to check.
Before you publish, check two technical basics from OpenAI's crawler page. Allow OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt; the page says changes can take about 24 hours to take effect. GPTBot is a separate setting for training, so you can block it and still appear in search answers.
Writing these pages is the slow part for a small team. Siela's SEO Blog Writer checks the top 10 Google results and People Also Ask for a topic, checks product facts, and drafts each section after you approve the outline. It saves the draft to notes and does not publish, so you review every claim about a competitor before it goes live.
Frequently asked questions
Can I pay to get my business recommended by ChatGPT?
Not in the answer itself. OpenAI's advertising principles say ads do not influence the answers ChatGPT gives, and that ads are always separate and clearly labelled. OpenAI said in January 2026 that its first ad tests would sit at the bottom of answers, and that answers are optimised for what is most helpful to you.
Why does ChatGPT give a different list every time I ask?
Answers vary between sessions, and your own account can shape them. OpenAI says ChatGPT may use saved memories when rewriting a search query. Test in a temporary chat set to Unpersonalized, force web search, run each prompt three times, and count how often you appear rather than trusting one answer.
Does ChatGPT use G2 reviews to recommend software?
Sometimes, and less than you might expect. A DerivateX study of 40 categories, published in June 2026, found zero G2 or Capterra citations in ChatGPT. Overthink Group's study, run in June 2026, found G2 was the most-cited domain across four AI tools, but more than 71% of those citations came from Perplexity. A free G2 profile is still worth claiming.
How many tools does ChatGPT usually recommend in a shortlist?
In DerivateX's study, published in June 2026, ChatGPT made 233 recommendations across 40 software categories, which works out to about six tools per answer. That was one prompt per category, run once, so treat it as a rough guide. Count the names in your own test answers to see how crowded your category is.
Should a small SaaS write its own best tools list?
Yes, if you keep it honest. In DerivateX's test, 51.1% of ChatGPT's cited sources were vendors' own pages, mostly comparison posts that list competitors alongside the vendor. Name real competitors, say who each suits, date the page, and update it when prices or features change, so buyers who click through trust it.
Sources
- OpenAI Help: Searching the web with ChatGPT (checked 24 Oct 2026)
- OpenAI Help: Temporary chat in ChatGPT (checked 24 Oct 2026)
- OpenAI: Our approach to advertising and expanding access to ChatGPT (published 16 Jan 2026) (checked 24 Oct 2026)
- OpenAI: Overview of OpenAI crawlers (checked 24 Oct 2026)
- DerivateX: The Authority Inversion, how ChatGPT decides which software to recommend (18 Jun 2026)
- Overthink Group: We analyzed 1,260 prompts to see who's winning AEO in B2B SaaS (14 Jul 2026)
- Hacker News: Ask HN: How does ChatGPT decide which websites to recommend? (5 Feb 2026)
- r/SEO: How do you get your site recommended by ChatGPT and Claude? (5 Aug 2026, read via archive 24 Oct 2026)
- G2: Profiles (checked 24 Oct 2026)