ChatGPT SEO: How to Get Your Business Found, Cited and Recommended by ChatGPT
A complete guide to ChatGPT SEO, Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO), AI Search Optimisation and increasing the visibility of your business across ChatGPT and other AI search platforms.
The way people find businesses online is changing.
For more than two decades, companies have concentrated heavily on Google. Businesses invested in SEO because potential customers searched phrases such as:
“best accountant near me”
“Wix website designer UK”
“women's formal dresses”
“garden maintenance Hampshire”
“best software for small businesses”
Today, people can ask ChatGPT far more detailed questions.
Instead of entering:
Wix website designer UK
a potential customer might ask:
“I run a small UK retail business and my current Wix website looks dated. I need somebody experienced with Wix Studio who can redesign the site, improve the mobile version and SEO, but I still want to manage the website myself afterwards. What should I look for and where can I find someone?”
This changes online discovery significantly.
The customer is no longer giving a search engine a few keywords. They are explaining their problem, circumstances, expectations and buying criteria.
AI systems can then research, compare, summarise and sometimes recommend businesses, products and sources that appear relevant.
This is where ChatGPT SEO becomes important.
The objective is not simply to rank a webpage for a keyword.
The objective is to increase the likelihood that AI systems can:
find your business, understand what it does, recognise its expertise, retrieve accurate information about it, cite its website and include it when answering relevant customer questions.
That wider discipline is often called Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO), AI Search Optimisation, Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) or simply AI SEO.
Whatever name is used, the business objective is essentially the same:
Make your company easier for AI systems to discover, understand, trust and appropriately surface when somebody asks a relevant question.
And this is no longer theoretical.
OpenAI confirms that public websites can appear in ChatGPT Search. OpenAI also recommends allowing its OAI-SearchBot crawler if website owners want their content to be discovered, surfaced, cited and linked from ChatGPT Search.
For businesses using Wix and Wix Studio, the opportunity is particularly interesting because Wix has already introduced dedicated SEO & GEO, AI Visibility and AI crawler reporting tools.
The challenge is understanding how to use them properly.
What is ChatGPT SEO?
ChatGPT SEO is the process of improving your website and wider online presence so that ChatGPT can better discover, understand and potentially reference your business when it answers relevant questions.
It overlaps heavily with traditional SEO, but it is not exactly the same.
Traditional SEO historically asks:
“How do we make this page rank higher in Google?”
ChatGPT SEO asks broader questions:
“Does ChatGPT know this company exists?”
“Does it understand what the company actually does?”
“Does it associate the company with the right products, services, industries and locations?”
“Can it retrieve reliable information about the business?”
“Does it have reasons to trust those claims?”
“Does our website contain the type of content ChatGPT tends to use for this particular question?”
“Are credible third-party websites also talking about the business?”
“When somebody asks for businesses like ours, are we included — or are our competitors appearing instead?”
This creates a different way of thinking about search visibility.
SEO, AEO and GEO: What's the difference?
These terms overlap, but it is useful to understand the distinction.
Traditional SEO
Search Engine Optimisation focuses largely on improving website visibility in conventional search engines such as Google and Bing.
It includes areas such as:
crawling and indexing
keywords and search intent
site structure
internal links
backlinks
titles and descriptions
content quality
technical SEO
local SEO
structured data
Traditional SEO remains extremely important.
In fact, current Wix research suggests that strong conventional SEO and AI visibility are closely connected.
Wix analysed websites between January 2024 and September 2025 and found that organic-search performance was the strongest predictor of AI visibility in its dataset. Websites with at least 50 monthly organic-search visits were substantially more likely to be discovered by AI systems than sites receiving almost no search traffic.
So GEO does not mean abandoning Google SEO.
Good SEO is still one of the foundations.
Answer Engine Optimisation — AEO
AEO concentrates on making information easy for systems to extract as a direct answer.
For example:
How long does a Wix website redesign take?
A weak page might contain 2,000 words of marketing language before answering.
A stronger page might say:
“A typical small-business Wix redesign takes approximately 3–6 weeks, depending on the number of pages, content readiness, e-commerce functionality and integrations required.”
That answer is clear, factual and easy to extract.
Generative Engine Optimisation — GEO
GEO goes further.
It considers how generative AI platforms such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity and AI-powered search systems understand and represent brands.
The goal is not simply to produce a snippet.
It is to become part of the information ecosystem that AI systems use when generating answers.
Wix itself describes GEO as optimising a brand's online presence so AI models can reference and recommend it, while emphasising that foundational SEO remains important.
Can your website really appear in ChatGPT?
Yes.
OpenAI states clearly that any public website can appear in ChatGPT Search.
For content to be included in summaries and snippets, OpenAI recommends ensuring that the site does not block OAI-SearchBot.
This immediately gives businesses a basic technical question:
Can ChatGPT actually access my website?
If the answer is no, improving the wording of a service page will accomplish very little.
Crawlability comes first.
But being crawlable does not guarantee a citation or recommendation.
It simply means you are eligible to be discovered.
That distinction is crucial.
There is no fixed “#1 ranking on ChatGPT”
One of the biggest misconceptions around ChatGPT SEO is the idea that businesses can achieve a permanent:
“Number 1 position on ChatGPT.”
ChatGPT does not operate like a conventional static Google results page.
AI-generated responses may change depending on:
the exact question
surrounding conversation
user intent
location
available sources
current web information
wording of the prompt
model version
product features
freshness of information
A business may appear for one question but not another very similar one.
The same question can also generate different responses over time.
Therefore, a responsible ChatGPT SEO service should not promise:
“We guarantee you #1 on ChatGPT.”
A more professional goal is:
Increase the probability that your business is correctly discovered, understood, cited and included in relevant AI-generated answers.
That is measurable and defensible.
How ChatGPT discovers websites
Several different OpenAI crawlers and user agents exist, and understanding the distinction is important.
OAI-SearchBot
This is the crawler most relevant to ChatGPT Search visibility.
OpenAI says OAI-SearchBot is used to surface websites in ChatGPT's search features.
Sites that opt out of OAI-SearchBot will generally not be shown within ChatGPT Search answers, although navigational links may still sometimes appear.
Therefore, if organic ChatGPT visibility is a business objective, OAI-SearchBot access should be checked.
GPTBot
GPTBot serves a different purpose.
OpenAI describes GPTBot as a crawler for content that may be used to help train generative AI foundation models.
Importantly:
GPTBot and OAI-SearchBot controls are independent.
A business can allow:
OAI-SearchBot
while blocking:
GPTBot
OpenAI explicitly documents this separation.
That means:
Search visibility and potential training usage are separate decisions.
This is an important point for businesses concerned about AI content usage.
ChatGPT-User
OpenAI also operates a user agent called ChatGPT-User.
This can access websites when a ChatGPT user specifically asks the system to interact with or retrieve information from a webpage.
It is not the crawler used to determine automatic ChatGPT Search inclusion.
Technical ChatGPT SEO: build the foundation first
Before worrying about sophisticated content strategies, your technical foundation needs to work.
A serious ChatGPT SEO audit should examine areas including:
OAI-SearchBot accessibility
robots.txt
indexability
noindex directives
canonical URLs
internal linking
HTTP status codes
redirects
duplicate URLs
page architecture
structured data
metadata
mobile usability
accessibility
page performance
JavaScript-dependent content
AI crawler activity
Not all of these are confirmed “ChatGPT ranking factors”.
That distinction matters.
For example, OpenAI has not published a simple formula saying:
“Schema adds 20% to your ChatGPT ranking.”
Nobody credible should pretend otherwise.
Instead, many of these elements improve the broader technical clarity, discoverability and usability of your site.
Accessibility may matter increasingly as AI becomes agentic
AI search is evolving beyond simply reading pages.
AI agents can increasingly navigate websites, understand controls and perform actions.
OpenAI specifically recommends good accessibility practices for websites intended to work well with ChatGPT Agent experiences.
Its guidance mentions descriptive ARIA roles, labels and states for elements such as:
buttons
navigation
menus
forms
interactive controls
These are the same practices that improve accessibility for people using assistive technologies.
This creates an interesting alignment:
building a website that is easier for humans with accessibility needs to understand may also make it easier for AI agents to understand and interact with.
What makes content useful to ChatGPT?
There is no published OpenAI checklist saying:
“Do these ten things and we will cite you.”
However, increasingly useful independent research is showing patterns.
Wix and Peec analysed 75,000 AI answers containing more than one million citations across ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and Perplexity.
Their strongest finding was that user intent influenced the type of content cited more strongly than the industry or AI platform itself.
That has major consequences for content strategy.
You should not create one generic type of page and expect it to work for every AI query.
Match the page to the customer's intent
Consider four different questions.
Informational
“How much should a professional Wix website cost in the UK?”
The person is learning.
An expert article or guide is appropriate.
Commercial research
“What are the best options for building a Wix e-commerce website in the UK?”
The customer is comparing alternatives.
Comparisons, expert roundups, service comparisons and credible third-party content become more important.
Local
“Find a Wix Studio designer in Hampshire.”
The customer wants a provider.
Strong business, service, homepage and location information becomes more important.
Transactional
“I need to hire someone to redesign my Wix website.”
The customer is closer to taking action.
A strong service page becomes much more valuable than a 3,000-word general blog article.
Wix's study illustrates this very clearly.
For informational prompts, articles accounted for approximately 45% of citations in its dataset.
For navigational/local searches, product and category pages became much more prominent, with homepages also appearing far more frequently.
For transactional questions, product pages accounted for almost a quarter of citations.
For commercial research, list-style comparison content was especially prominent.
This means a complete ChatGPT SEO strategy needs multiple content types.
Example: ChatGPT SEO for a Wix web-design company
Imagine a web-design company wants to attract customers asking:
“Who can redesign my Wix website in Hampshire?”
The company should not rely on a single generic homepage saying:
“Transform your digital journey with innovative solutions.”
That sentence tells an AI system almost nothing.
A much clearer homepage might establish:
Wix Solutions is a UK web-design company specialising in Wix and Wix Studio websites for small and medium-sized businesses. Services include website design, redesign, e-commerce development, SEO, GEO, automation and Wix integrations, with clients across Hampshire, Surrey, Berkshire, London and throughout the UK.
Now the business has clearly established:
Who: Wix SolutionsWhat: Wix and Wix Studio servicesCustomers: businessesServices: design, SEO, e-commerce, integrationsLocation: UK and specific service areas
Then create supporting pages such as:
Wix Website Design
Wix Studio Web Design
Wix Website Redesign
Wix SEO Services
ChatGPT SEO Services
Wix E-commerce Development
Wix Web Designer Hampshire
Wix Web Designer Surrey
Now the entity and service relationships become significantly clearer.
Your website should answer basic questions about your business
AI should not have to guess what your company does.
Every important service page should make it easy to establish:
Who are you?
What service do you provide?
Who is it for?
What problem does it solve?
Where is it available?
What is included?
What does it cost, where appropriate?
What makes you different?
What evidence supports your expertise?
What should the customer do next?
This sounds obvious.
Yet many business websites hide these facts under vague marketing copy.
Consider:
Weak copy
“Powering your future through innovative digital experiences.”
What does the company actually sell?
Nobody knows.
Better copy
“We design and redesign professional Wix and Wix Studio websites for UK businesses, including e-commerce stores, booking websites, membership platforms and service-business websites.”
There is much less ambiguity.
Clarity helps humans.
It also helps machines.
Direct answers are valuable
Pages should answer important customer questions clearly.
For example:
How much does Wix SEO cost?
Instead of writing:
“Every journey is unique. Contact our team today to unlock your potential.”
give the visitor useful information.
For example:
“The cost of Wix SEO depends on the size of the website, competition, number of target locations, technical condition of the site and amount of content required. A small local-business website normally requires less ongoing work than a national e-commerce store containing thousands of products.”
You do not necessarily need to publish exact prices.
But you should answer the question.
Build topic authority, not isolated articles
Publishing one article called:
“What is ChatGPT SEO?”
is not a strategy.
A stronger site builds a connected information ecosystem.
For example, a ChatGPT SEO cluster could contain:
Cornerstone guide
ChatGPT SEO: How to Get Your Business Found, Cited and Recommended
Supporting articles:
What Is Generative Engine Optimisation?
ChatGPT SEO vs Google SEO
How to Check Whether ChatGPT Can Crawl Your Website
How to Track ChatGPT Traffic in Wix
How to Optimise a Wix Website for AI Search
How to Get Your Business Mentioned by ChatGPT
ChatGPT SEO for Local Businesses
ChatGPT SEO for E-commerce
What Is llms.txt?
ChatGPT Ads vs ChatGPT SEO
These pages can then link to each other logically.
That helps users discover additional information while creating much stronger topical relationships across the website.
Wix's own research found that stronger internal linking correlated with improved AI visibility. High-performing smaller websites in its dataset had approximately twice as much internal linking as lower-performing counterparts.
Correlation is not proof of causation, but it reinforces a principle SEO professionals already understand:
well-connected websites are easier to interpret than collections of isolated pages.
Structure your content clearly
Wix's research found that smaller sites with stronger AI visibility tended to use:
more descriptive text
more images with alt text
stronger internal linking
more structured formatting
consistent blog publishing
High-AI-visibility smaller sites used approximately 1.6 times as many images with alt text, 1.5 times as much text, 1.4 times more structured formatting and twice as much internal linking in the study.
This does not mean:
“Write long articles because AI loves long articles.”
Length by itself is not quality.
The objective is complete, structured and useful coverage.
A 700-word article that completely answers a narrow question can be better than a repetitive 4,000-word article.
Original information can make your website more valuable
One of the strongest ways to differentiate a business website is to publish information competitors cannot simply reproduce.
Examples include:
customer surveys
original statistics
case studies
pricing studies
experiments
before-and-after results
internal data
industry benchmarks
interviews
expert commentary
first-hand experience
For Wix Solutions, an excellent future article might be:
We Tested 100 UK Wix Websites in ChatGPT: Here's What AI Could and Couldn't Understand
Or:
ChatGPT SEO Study: Which Wix Pages Get Cited by AI?
Original data gives other websites a reason to reference you.
That can strengthen traditional SEO, digital PR and AI visibility simultaneously.
External authority matters
Your own website is only part of the story.
AI systems can gather information from the wider web.
Suppose your website says:
“We are the UK's leading Wix agency.”
That is a self-published claim.
Now imagine that independent sources contain consistent information about the company:
Wix Marketplace profile
industry publications
directories
LinkedIn
YouTube
local press
client websites
reviews
professional organisations
interviews
podcasts
specialist forums
relevant Reddit discussions
The wider online evidence becomes considerably richer.
Wix's research found correlations between AI visibility and referral traffic from external platforms including Wikipedia, Reddit, LinkedIn, YouTube, Medium, Quora and professional networks.
This does not mean posting random links everywhere will improve ChatGPT visibility.
It means a genuine, authoritative presence across the web matters.
Digital PR becomes part of ChatGPT SEO
Traditional SEO professionals often think about backlinks.
AI SEO requires thinking about mentions and entity relationships as well.
A journalist may mention your business without linking to it.
An industry article may compare your product.
A customer may discuss your company on Reddit.
A conference page may identify your founder as a speaker.
A trade publication may quote your expertise.
These references help build a wider public record around the business.
This is one reason ChatGPT SEO cannot be reduced to:
“Add some keywords to your website.”
Third-party “best of” lists can be extremely influential
One particularly interesting finding from Wix's 2026 citation research concerns commercial queries.
List-style content represented more than 40% of citations for commercial-intent prompts in the analysed dataset.
But there is an important distinction.
A page created by your company saying:
“The 10 Best Wix Designers in Britain — Number 1: Us”
does not carry the same credibility as an independent industry publication comparing genuine providers.
Wix's analysis of professional-services citations found that the overwhelming majority of cited listicles in its sample were third-party rather than self-promotional.
Therefore an important GEO strategy can involve earning inclusion in legitimate independent resources.
ChatGPT SEO and brand entities
AI needs to understand that references across the web describe the same business.
Consistency matters.
Imagine a company appearing online as:
Green Pearl
on one platform,
The Green Pearl Boutique LLC
on another,
GreenPearl Fashion
elsewhere,
and:
Green Pearl Women's Clothing Store
somewhere else.
If these are all the same business, consistent identifying information helps systems reconcile them.
Important entity information can include:
official company name
trading name
website
logo
business description
telephone number
email
address
founders
service areas
social accounts
product categories
professional profiles
This is particularly important for local businesses.
Structured data and schema
Structured data gives search engines machine-readable information about webpage content.
Wix supports structured data for different page types and automatically creates some markup in appropriate circumstances. Wix also allows custom structured data to be added through its SEO settings.
Useful schema types can include:
Organization
LocalBusiness
Product
Article
BreadcrumbList
Event
Person
Service
FAQ markup where appropriate and compliant
But it is important not to exaggerate.
There is currently no public OpenAI documentation stating:
“Adding schema automatically improves ChatGPT ranking.”
Schema is therefore best viewed as part of making website information more structured and machine-readable while supporting traditional search.
It should be accurate.
Do not add information to schema that is not genuinely supported by the page.
What is llms.txt?
Wix now supports an llms.txt file.
Wix describes llms.txt as a structured text file that provides AI agents with a clear summary of important website information and agent-oriented resources.
This can help AI agents navigate important information more efficiently.
However, businesses should understand what llms.txt is not.
It is not currently a magic AI-ranking switch.
There is no credible basis for saying:
“Install llms.txt and ChatGPT will recommend you.”
Treat it as part of a broader AI-readiness strategy rather than a substitute for SEO, useful content and external authority.
ChatGPT SEO for Wix and Wix Studio websites
Wix has moved aggressively into AI search visibility.
For businesses using Wix or Wix Studio, several tools are now especially relevant.
SEO & GEO dashboard
Wix increasingly combines traditional SEO and Generative Engine Optimisation within its dashboard.
This allows website owners to work on foundational search visibility while also monitoring AI-related performance.
AI Visibility Overview
Wix's AI Visibility Overview can monitor how a business appears across supported AI platforms.
Depending on available data, it can show areas such as:
AI visibility
competitor visibility
cited sources
brand perception
AI-generated mentions
visitor traffic from AI platforms
AI crawler activity
Wix says its AI Visibility Overview can show bot and visitor traffic and, for supported platforms, pages accessed following user queries.
This is particularly useful because ChatGPT SEO should not be based on guesswork.
AI Bot Traffic reports
Wix Analytics also contains SEO reports showing AI crawler behaviour.
Reports include:
AI Bot Traffic over Time
and:
AI Bot Visits by Page
These can reveal which AI bots are visiting the website and which pages they access.
This allows us to distinguish different problems.
Situation 1: AI is not crawling your site
First investigate technical accessibility.
Situation 2: AI crawls your site but does not cite it
The technical doorway is open.
Now investigate content, relevance, authority, structure and external signals.
Situation 3: AI crawls and cites the site
Now analyse which pages and questions work, then expand those successful patterns.
That is much more useful than blindly publishing another 20 AI-generated blog posts.
Monitor what ChatGPT actually says about your business
One of the first stages of an AI Visibility Audit should be prompt testing.
For example, a web-design business might test:
“Who are some Wix designers in Hampshire?”
“What companies specialise in Wix Studio in the UK?”
“Recommend someone to redesign an existing Wix website.”
“Who can build a Wix e-commerce store in Surrey?”
“Which UK agencies specialise only in Wix?”
Then ask branded questions:
“What is Wix Solutions?”
“What services does Wix Solutions provide?”
“Where is Wix Solutions based?”
“Does Wix Solutions build e-commerce websites?”
“What is Wix Solutions known for?”
We are looking at more than whether the brand appears.
We want to assess:
Inclusion — Is the business recognised?
Accuracy — Is the information correct?
Positioning — Does AI associate it with the right services?
Sources — Where is AI obtaining its information?
Competition — Which companies appear instead?
Sentiment — How is the business characterised?
Gaps — What information seems missing?
Wix's own AI Search Lab proposes analysing similar dimensions including inclusion, answer presence, accuracy, tone, differentiation, trust and brand safety.
Measure ChatGPT traffic properly
ChatGPT SEO should eventually affect business outcomes, not simply generate interesting screenshots.
OpenAI automatically includes:
utm_source=chatgpt.com
in referral URLs from ChatGPT Search.
This means traffic arriving through those links can be measured in analytics platforms.
Useful metrics include:
ChatGPT referral sessions
AI referral traffic overall
pages receiving AI traffic
conversions from AI traffic
enquiries
sales
average order value
assisted conversions
AI bot visits
number of monitored prompts producing mentions
citations
competitor visibility
branded vs non-branded visibility
The important point is that:
A citation is not automatically a customer.
A website could receive 1,000 AI mentions and no meaningful business.
Another could receive 30 highly commercial visitors and win several valuable clients.
Commercial outcomes still matter.
Example: ChatGPT SEO for a local cleaning company
Imagine a cleaning company in Surrey.
Potential questions include:
“Find a reliable cleaner near Weybridge.”
“Who provides end-of-tenancy cleaning around Staines?”
“Recommend a deep-cleaning service near Ashford.”
A weak strategy would publish 100 nearly identical location pages where only the town name changes.
A stronger strategy creates genuinely useful local pages.
For example:
End of Tenancy Cleaning in Weybridge
The page might explain:
exact service area
what the clean includes
property types served
booking process
availability
equipment/products
optional extras
pricing method
FAQs
customer reviews
contact details
Supporting signals can include:
Google Business Profile
genuine local reviews
consistent business details
local directories
local press
service-area information
LocalBusiness structured data
clear contact information
The objective is to make the relationship between:
business + service + location
unambiguous.
Example: ChatGPT SEO for an accountant
Suppose the customer asks:
“I run a UK limited company with two employees and sell online to customers in the UK and EU. What type of accountant should I use?”
A generic accounting homepage may not be sufficient.
A stronger content ecosystem could include:
Accounting for UK Limited Companies
VAT Accounting for E-commerce Businesses
Accounting for Businesses Selling to the EU
Small Business Corporation Tax Guide
When Does a UK Business Need VAT Registration?
E-commerce Accountant in London
This allows AI systems to connect the accountant with particular expertise.
Specificity beats vague authority claims.
ChatGPT SEO for e-commerce websites
E-commerce has enormous potential in AI search because users increasingly describe exactly what they need.
Imagine somebody asking:
“I need a dark green formal dress for a winter wedding. I am 5'4", want sleeves, prefer something fitted but not bodycon, and my budget is under £150.”
That is far richer than:
green dress
For an online store to benefit from this type of search, its product data must be detailed.
Important product information can include:
descriptive product name
product category
colour
material
fit
size range
dimensions
intended occasion
price
availability
shipping information
returns information
images
useful alt text
reviews
FAQs
Product structured data
Compare these descriptions.
Weak
Stunning dress perfect for every occasion.
Stronger
Emerald green satin midi dress with long sleeves, fitted waist, V-neckline and side zip. Designed for formal dinners, winter weddings, cocktail events and evening occasions. Available in UK sizes 8–18.
The second description gives search systems considerably more information.
Category pages matter for AI shopping discovery
A retailer should not concentrate only on individual products.
Category pages can provide important context.
Examples:
Formal Dresses
Wedding Guest Dresses
Maternity Dresses
Women's Workwear
Plus Size Dresses
Holiday Dresses
Each page should explain what the collection contains.
Wix's citation research is particularly interesting here.
Product and category pages together represented approximately 40% of citations for both navigational/local and transactional prompts in the dataset.
That means e-commerce GEO cannot be solved simply by publishing blog articles.
Commercial architecture matters.
Reviews and genuine customer experience
When users ask AI:
“Is this company reliable?”
“What do customers think about this product?”
“Is this business trustworthy?”
the answer may depend on information outside your website.
Genuine third-party reviews therefore matter.
Businesses should focus on:
collecting authentic reviews
responding professionally
resolving legitimate complaints
maintaining accurate profiles
avoiding fake reviews
Do not attempt to manipulate AI by creating fabricated testimonials or fake online discussions.
Apart from ethical and platform risks, inconsistent manufactured signals can damage long-term trust.
Can Reddit help ChatGPT SEO?
Potentially — but not in the simplistic way some marketers suggest.
Real Reddit conversations can influence online brand visibility because they represent public discussions and real user opinions.
Wix's research found a positive correlation between Reddit referral presence and AI discovery.
That does not mean businesses should create fake accounts and pretend to be customers.
A better strategy is to become genuinely worth discussing.
You can also participate transparently where a community permits it.
The same principle applies to:
Quora
LinkedIn
YouTube
forums
specialist communities
professional publications
Your wider web reputation becomes increasingly important when AI systems synthesise information from multiple sources.
Can ChatGPT recommend your competitors instead of you?
Absolutely.
This is one of the strongest reasons businesses should start measuring AI visibility now.
Suppose a customer asks:
“Recommend three Wix agencies for an e-commerce website.”
Your company may be perfect for the project.
But ChatGPT cannot recommend information it cannot confidently discover or connect with the question.
Perhaps a competitor has:
clearer service pages
stronger external mentions
more detailed case studies
more reviews
better location information
stronger topical content
appearances in third-party industry articles
The competitor may therefore have a stronger online evidence trail.
This is why a ChatGPT SEO audit should not look exclusively at your website.
It should compare your AI footprint against competing businesses.
Questions include:
Which competitors appear repeatedly?
Which websites does ChatGPT cite when mentioning them?
Which service categories are associated with competitors but not us?
Which third-party sources mention them?
Which questions trigger our business?
Which questions consistently exclude us?
That creates an actionable strategy.
ChatGPT SEO vs Google SEO
Businesses should avoid treating these as competing strategies.
Strong Google SEO frequently supports stronger AI visibility.
Wix's research found traditional organic-search success was strongly correlated with AI discovery.
But the outputs differ.
Google SEO | ChatGPT SEO / GEO |
Search rankings | Inclusion in generated answers |
Blue links / SERPs | AI-generated responses |
Keyword visibility | Prompt/topic visibility |
Backlinks | Links + citations + mentions |
Search impressions | AI mentions / citations |
Organic clicks | AI referral traffic |
Position tracking | Prompt monitoring / share of voice |
Featured snippets | Direct answers / citations |
Domain/page authority | Wider entity and source authority |
The best strategy in 2026 is therefore not:
SEO or GEO.
It is:
SEO + GEO.
Build a technically strong, authoritative website for conventional search while improving how the same business is understood across AI systems.
Do metadata and traditional SEO still matter?
Yes.
Wix's research found correlations between completed SEO fundamentals and AI visibility.
Sites showing stronger AI performance tended to have more complete metadata and stronger overall SEO hygiene.
This means businesses should still optimise:
title tags
meta descriptions
H1 headings
page copy
internal links
images
alt text
URLs
canonical tags
structured data
Do not abandon twenty years of useful SEO practice because somebody on LinkedIn announced that “Google is dead”.
Search is evolving.
It is not disappearing overnight.
Avoid mass-producing low-value AI content
One of the easiest mistakes in 2026 is:
“AI search is growing, so let's publish 500 AI-written articles.”
That is not a sustainable GEO strategy.
If every article repeats information already available on hundreds of websites, why would an AI system need yours?
AI makes average content extremely cheap.
That means differentiation becomes more valuable.
Focus on:
genuine expertise
unique examples
original data
first-hand experience
case studies
useful explanations
proprietary information
specialist knowledge
accurate updates
AI can assist with production.
It should not replace the knowledge that makes the content worth citing.
Keep important information current
AI search can retrieve fresh information.
Therefore outdated pages can become a liability.
Review:
prices
opening hours
service areas
staff
addresses
product availability
policies
statistics
software instructions
legislation
company details
A page titled:
“Complete ChatGPT SEO Guide 2026”
that contains 2024 information is not genuinely useful.
Important evergreen pages should have an update process.
Create useful FAQs
FAQs can be valuable because they map naturally to conversational search.
For example, a Wix agency might answer:
Can you redesign an existing Wix website?
Can you move my Wix Editor site to Wix Studio?
Will I still own my website?
Can I edit it myself after launch?
How long does a Wix redesign take?
Do you provide Wix SEO?
Can you connect external APIs?
Can you improve my site's visibility in ChatGPT?
These are real sales questions.
Answer them properly.
Do not create hundreds of artificial questions merely to insert keywords.
Build strong case studies
Case studies are particularly valuable because they provide evidence.
Instead of:
“We deliver exceptional results.”
a case study can explain:
Client problem
Starting situation
Work completed
Technical challenges
Strategy
Result
Screenshots
Measurable improvement
For example:
Wix E-commerce Redesign: How We Reorganised a 700+ Product Fashion Store
That demonstrates practical expertise much more convincingly than adjectives such as “leading”, “innovative” or “world-class”.
How to conduct a basic ChatGPT SEO audit
A useful audit can begin with four layers.
1. Technical discovery
Can AI search crawlers access the website?
2. Entity understanding
Does ChatGPT correctly understand the business?
3. Prompt visibility
Does the business appear when potential customers ask relevant non-branded questions?
4. Source analysis
Which websites and pages are influencing AI answers?
Then compare results with competitors.
The result should not simply be:
“Your AI score is 71/100.”
It should explain what needs to change.
Free ChatGPT SEO checklist
Use this as a starting point for your business.
Technical
✓ Is your website public and indexable?
✓ Can OAI-SearchBot access important pages?
✓ Have you checked robots.txt?
✓ Are important pages accidentally marked noindex?
✓ Are canonical URLs correct?
✓ Are redirects and error pages working?
✓ Is important content accessible without technical barriers?
Website structure
✓ Are services clearly separated?
✓ Are products properly categorised?
✓ Is internal linking logical?
✓ Does every important page have a clear purpose?
✓ Are titles and descriptions accurate?
✓ Is appropriate structured data implemented?
Content
✓ Does the site clearly explain what the company does?
✓ Does it explain who its customers are?
✓ Are service areas clear?
✓ Are important customer questions answered?
✓ Are expert articles available for informational queries?
✓ Are service pages strong enough for commercial queries?
✓ Are product and category pages detailed enough for transactional queries?
✓ Are facts up to date?
Authority
✓ Are legitimate third-party websites mentioning the company?
✓ Are professional profiles accurate?
✓ Are business details consistent?
✓ Are genuine customer reviews available?
✓ Does the business have useful case studies?
✓ Does it publish original expertise or research?
AI visibility
✓ Does ChatGPT recognise the business?
✓ Does it describe the business correctly?
✓ Does it associate the business with target services?
✓ Does it cite your website?
✓ Which competitors are appearing?
✓ Which sources influence those recommendations?
✓ Are you tracking ChatGPT referral traffic?
✓ Are you monitoring changes over time?
ChatGPT SEO for Wix websites: an example workflow
For a Wix or Wix Studio website we would typically begin by reviewing:
Stage 1 — Technical SEO
Indexing, crawlers, robots directives, canonicals, page structure, errors and structured data.
Stage 2 — AI crawler visibility
Review Wix's AI Bot Traffic and page-level bot activity.
Stage 3 — AI brand audit
Test branded and non-branded prompts across relevant AI platforms.
Stage 4 — Entity optimisation
Clarify company, services, products, locations and expertise.
Stage 5 — Content-gap analysis
Identify questions customers ask that the website does not adequately answer.
Stage 6 — Intent mapping
Decide whether each opportunity needs an article, service page, location page, category page, product page, comparison or FAQ.
Stage 7 — Authority analysis
Review external mentions, reviews, directories, PR, industry sources and competitor citations.
Stage 8 — Measurement
Track AI visibility, citations, referral traffic and conversions.
Then repeat.
GEO is not a one-time checkbox.
Like SEO, it develops as the website, competitors and AI platforms change.
ChatGPT SEO vs ChatGPT Ads
These should not be confused.
ChatGPT SEO
ChatGPT SEO focuses on organic AI visibility.
The aim is to improve the chance that the business is:
discovered
cited
referenced
accurately described
included in appropriate recommendations
It relies on content, technical accessibility, authority and wider online signals.
ChatGPT Ads
ChatGPT Ads are paid placements.
OpenAI explicitly states that advertisements do not influence ChatGPT's answers. Ads run separately and are clearly labelled as sponsored placements.
Therefore paying for an advertisement does not buy an organic recommendation.
This creates two separate marketing channels:
Paid ChatGPT visibility
and:
Organic ChatGPT visibility
SE Ranking reached the same distinction after testing ChatGPT Ads: paid advertising involves targeting, creative and campaign optimisation, while organic AI visibility depends on areas such as content authority, citations, mentions and source eligibility.
A complete strategy can eventually use both.
But they should be measured separately.
Why ChatGPT SEO matters now
AI-driven traffic is still smaller than traditional search traffic for most websites.
Businesses should keep this in perspective.
Wix's research found that AI traffic accounted for a very small percentage of overall website sessions in its September 2025 dataset.
However, the same study found extremely rapid growth in AI-driven visits during the preceding period.
This creates an interesting moment.
AI search is large enough to matter.
But it is still early enough for many competitors to have no coherent strategy.
Businesses that begin measuring their visibility now can learn:
which prompts matter
which pages are being discovered
where competitors are stronger
what content AI prefers
which sources influence recommendations
before AI search becomes a routine part of every marketing plan.
The future of SEO is not only about ranking pages
Traditional search asks:
Which webpage should rank first?
Generative search asks something broader:
What information should be used to construct the answer?
That shifts the unit of competition.
Businesses are no longer competing only for:
a blue link.
They are competing to become:
a trusted source.
That requires a combination of:
technical accessibility
excellent SEO
useful content
clear entities
structured information
external authority
genuine expertise
reputation
measurement
The businesses that understand this early will be in a much better position as AI-powered discovery continues to grow.
Want to know whether ChatGPT can find and recommend your business?
Your website may look excellent to a customer while still giving AI systems an incomplete or confusing picture of your business.
Wix Solutions provides ChatGPT SEO and AI Visibility services for Wix and Wix Studio websites.
We can analyse:
whether AI search systems can access your website
how ChatGPT currently understands your business
which customer questions trigger your company
where competitors appear instead
which sources AI relies on
technical SEO and GEO issues
service and product-page optimisation
entity clarity
content gaps
Wix structured data
AI crawler activity
AI referral traffic
local AI visibility
e-commerce AI visibility
opportunities to strengthen external authority
The objective is not to make unrealistic promises about being “#1 on ChatGPT”.
The objective is to systematically improve your business's ability to be discovered, understood, cited and considered by AI-powered search systems.
Book a ChatGPT SEO & AI Visibility Audit
Discover what ChatGPT currently knows about your business — and what may be preventing it from finding you when your potential customers ask for your services.
Improve My AI Visibility
Frequently Asked Questions about ChatGPT SEO
What is ChatGPT SEO?
ChatGPT SEO is the process of improving a website and wider online presence so ChatGPT can more easily discover, understand, retrieve and potentially cite the business in relevant AI-generated answers.
Is ChatGPT SEO the same as traditional SEO?
No, but there is substantial overlap. Strong technical SEO, useful content, authority and clear site architecture can support both. ChatGPT SEO additionally considers AI citations, brand/entity understanding, prompt visibility and representation across generated answers.
Can my website appear in ChatGPT?
Yes. OpenAI states that public websites can appear in ChatGPT Search. Website owners interested in visibility should ensure important content is accessible to OAI-SearchBot.
How do I get ChatGPT to recommend my business?
There is no guaranteed method. Improving crawlability, business clarity, content quality, relevant service/product information, external authority and accurate third-party mentions can improve the evidence available to AI systems when answering relevant questions.
Can I pay ChatGPT to recommend my company?
No. ChatGPT Ads are separate from organic responses. OpenAI states that advertising does not influence ChatGPT's answers.
What is OAI-SearchBot?
OAI-SearchBot is OpenAI's crawler used to help surface websites in ChatGPT Search.
Is OAI-SearchBot the same as GPTBot?
No. OAI-SearchBot is related to ChatGPT Search discovery. GPTBot relates to content that may be used for training OpenAI's generative AI foundation models. OpenAI allows site owners to control these independently.
Does blocking GPTBot stop my website appearing in ChatGPT Search?
Not necessarily. OpenAI states that a website can allow OAI-SearchBot while separately disallowing GPTBot.
Does schema help ChatGPT SEO?
Structured data can make page information more machine-readable and remains valuable for conventional SEO. However, OpenAI does not currently state that adding schema guarantees improved ChatGPT visibility or citations.
Does llms.txt improve ChatGPT rankings?
There is currently no evidence of a guaranteed ChatGPT ranking benefit. Wix describes llms.txt as a structured file that can help AI agents understand and access important website information. It should be treated as one component of AI readiness rather than a ranking shortcut.
Can Wix websites rank in ChatGPT?
Yes. Wix websites are public web pages like other websites and can be surfaced by AI search systems when accessible and relevant. Wix also provides dedicated AI visibility, AI bot reporting, SEO, GEO and llms.txt functionality.
Can I see whether ChatGPT visits my Wix website?
Yes. Wix Analytics provides AI bot reports, including AI Bot Traffic over Time and AI Bot Visits by Page.
Can I track visitors coming from ChatGPT?
Yes. OpenAI says ChatGPT Search referral links automatically contain utm_source=chatgpt.com, allowing traffic to be identified in analytics.
Is blogging important for ChatGPT SEO?
Blogging can be particularly valuable for informational queries, but it is only one part of the strategy. Wix's 2026 research found articles were heavily represented among informational citations, while product, category and homepage content became more important for transactional and local intent.
How long does ChatGPT SEO take?
There is no universal timescale. Technical fixes may be detected relatively quickly, while authority, external mentions, content development and changes in AI visibility can take longer. OpenAI notes that robots.txt changes affecting OAI-SearchBot can take around 24 hours for its systems to adjust, but that should not be confused with a guarantee that a page will then be cited.
Can ChatGPT SEO replace Google SEO?
No. Businesses should generally optimise for both. Traditional search remains a major source of web traffic, and research currently suggests that strong conventional SEO frequently supports stronger AI visibility.
Information in this guide is current as of September 2026. AI search is developing rapidly, and OpenAI, Wix and other platforms may change crawler behaviour, search functionality and visibility tools over time.
