# How to get your SaaS recommended by ChatGPT

How a SaaS gets named when buyers ask ChatGPT for tools. Let OpenAI’s search crawler in, say plainly what you are, get on the pages it reads, then test.

Canonical: https://ignura.com/blog/get-saas-recommended-by-chatgpt
Last updated: 2026-10-28
Author: Jawad Jalal

To get your SaaS recommended by ChatGPT, make it easy for ChatGPT to find you, understand what you do and see other sites say the same. Let OpenAI's search crawler in, describe your product in the same plain words everywhere, get onto the comparison and review pages for your category, and ask ChatGPT your buyers' questions on a schedule to see what changes.

Nobody can make ChatGPT name you. OpenAI says placement in ChatGPT search is not guaranteed, and the same question can get a different answer each time.

This post is about being named as a product when someone asks ChatGPT for a recommendation. For being linked as a source in AI answers in general, read [how to get cited in AI answers](https://ignura.com/blog/how-to-get-cited-in-ai-answers).

## In short

- ChatGPT answers from two places. One is what its model learned in training. The other is live web search, which it runs when a question needs current information. You want to show up in both.
- Allow OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt and let OpenAI's published IP ranges through your CDN. OpenAI says sites that opt out of OAI-SearchBot won't be shown in ChatGPT search answers.
- ChatGPT search sometimes uses partner search providers, and OpenAI's help page points to Microsoft's privacy statement for them. Make sure Bing has indexed your site.
- Write one sentence that says what you are, for whom, and use it on every page and profile.
- Publish the pages that recommendation questions lead to: comparisons, alternatives, use cases, pricing and docs.
- Get named on third-party pages for your category, honestly.
- Track how often you're named across many runs. A rank position means little, because the lists change almost every time.

## How ChatGPT picks what to recommend

OpenAI doesn't publish a formula for software recommendations. Here is what it does say.

**The model's own knowledge.** OpenAI trains its models on information that is publicly available on the internet, information from partners, and information from users, trainers and researchers ([OpenAI](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/7842364-how-chatgpt-and-our-foundation-models-are-developed)). If your category was written about with your name in it, the model may already link the two.

**Live search.** ChatGPT may search the web on its own when a question would benefit from current information. It rewrites the question into one or more targeted queries, may send follow-up queries, and shows the sources it used ([OpenAI](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/9237897-searching-the-web-with-chatgpt)). OpenAI says it "ranks search results using multiple factors" and that placement is not guaranteed.

OpenAI's shopping help page shows both at work. When ChatGPT picks products to show, it considers structured data and other third-party content, and also "model responses generated by ChatGPT before it considers any new search results" ([OpenAI](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/11128490-shopping-with-chatgpt-search)). That page covers physical products, not software, so read it as a hint about how ChatGPT works, not a rule for SaaS.

The answers also vary. OpenAI says "the same question may yield different answers across different queries" because the model can continue a sentence in more than one plausible way ([OpenAI](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/7842364-how-chatgpt-and-our-foundation-models-are-developed)). It may also use a person's rough location and saved memories when it rewrites their search ([OpenAI](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/9237897-searching-the-web-with-chatgpt)). Two buyers asking the same thing can see different lists.

## Step 1: let ChatGPT's search crawler in

OpenAI runs separate crawlers, and the robots.txt setting for each is independent ([OpenAI](https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/bots)).

| Crawler | What it does | If you block it |
| --- | --- | --- |
| OAI-SearchBot | Finds pages for ChatGPT search | Your pages won't be shown in ChatGPT search answers, though they can still appear as navigation links |
| GPTBot | Crawls pages that may be used to train OpenAI's models | Your content shouldn't be used to train them |
| ChatGPT-User | Opens pages when a person asks ChatGPT to | Not used for search inclusion, and robots.txt may not apply |

OpenAI recommends allowing OAI-SearchBot and requests from its published IP ranges. Its help page adds that your host or CDN has to let that traffic through, so check any bot protection or firewall rules as well as robots.txt. After you change robots.txt, OpenAI says its search takes about 24 hours to adjust.

GPTBot is a separate decision. Blocking it doesn't remove you from ChatGPT search. Allowing it lets your public pages be used for training, which is where the model's own knowledge comes from. OpenAI hasn't said how much that affects which products ChatGPT recommends, so treat it as a choice about your content, not a ranking switch.

Our free [AI crawler checker](https://ignura.com/tools/ai-crawler-checker) reads your robots.txt and shows the line that allows or blocks each AI crawler. [AI crawlers and robots.txt](https://ignura.com/blog/ai-crawlers-robots-txt) explains each one.

## Step 2: make sure Bing can find you

OpenAI's help page says ChatGPT search sometimes partners with other search providers and sends them the rewritten queries. For how those providers handle the data, it links to Microsoft's privacy statement ([OpenAI](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/9237897-searching-the-web-with-chatgpt)). OpenAI doesn't say how much of ChatGPT search runs through Microsoft, but a site Bing can't find is at a disadvantage.

Bing's webmaster guidelines cover Bing search, Copilot and Bing's grounding API results. They say the same SEO basics that help indexing also support eligibility for grounding results and citations ([Bing](https://www.bing.com/webmasters/help/webmasters-guidelines-30fba23a)). From those guidelines:

1. Keep an XML sitemap with canonical URLs and accurate lastmod dates.
2. Use IndexNow to tell Bing when a page is added, changed or removed.
3. Link to every page you care about from other pages on your site.
4. Don't block Bingbot, and don't hide important content behind JavaScript that only renders in the browser.

## Step 3: say what you are, the same way everywhere

When a buyer asks for "the best tool for X", ChatGPT has to connect your name to X. Make that easy. Write one plain sentence: what the product is, who it's for, and what it does. Use the category words your buyers use. If you've coined a category name, put the familiar one next to it.

Then use that sentence on your homepage, pricing page, docs, about page and every profile you control. Bing's guidelines ask for exactly this. They say to name people, organizations and products clearly and consistently, to state facts explicitly so they can be checked, and to put key information near the top of the page ([Bing](https://www.bing.com/webmasters/help/webmasters-guidelines-30fba23a)).

A few details help:

- Put plan names, integrations, limits and who the product is for in text, not only in images.
- Keep structured data true to the page. Google and Bing both say markup must match what people can see.
- Update old descriptions on profiles you own so they say the same thing as your site.

An llms.txt file and Markdown copies of your pages make your site easier for AI agents to read. They are optional, and [what is llms.txt](https://ignura.com/blog/what-is-llms-txt) explains what they do and don't do. Our free [llms.txt generator](https://ignura.com/tools/llms-txt-generator) builds one from your sitemap.

## Step 4: publish the pages recommendation questions lead to

People ask ChatGPT for software in a handful of shapes: best tool for a job, alternatives to a known product, one product against another, tools for an industry, whether something integrates with their stack, and what it costs. ChatGPT turns those into searches. Each one needs a page on your site that answers it in the first lines.

- **Comparison and alternatives pages.** Fair to the other products, with the cases where they fit better. [How to write SaaS comparison pages](https://ignura.com/blog/saas-comparison-pages) shows the format.
- **Use-case and industry pages.** One job or one buyer per page.
- **A public pricing page.** Plan names and what each includes, in text.
- **Docs and integration pages** that are public and crawlable.

Bing's guidelines say to keep each URL to one topic and to avoid long introductions ([Bing](https://www.bing.com/webmasters/help/webmasters-guidelines-30fba23a)). That suits these pages.

## Step 5: get named on the pages ChatGPT reads

Your own site says what you want it to say. Other sites show whether anyone agrees. A study by SparkToro and Gumshoe found that the brands AI tools recommend relate to how often those brands appear in documents about a topic ([SparkToro](https://sparktoro.com/blog/new-research-ais-are-highly-inconsistent-when-recommending-brands-or-products-marketers-should-take-care-when-tracking-ai-visibility/)).

Start with what ChatGPT already reads. Ask it your buyers' recommendation questions, open the sources view and write down which sites it cites. Those are your targets.

- Ask to be added to roundups and lists where you fit, with facts the writer can check.
- Keep your listings on review sites current and accurate.
- Answer questions in communities where your buyers ask, and say who you are when you do.

Some things will hurt you. Bing lists link schemes, keyword stuffing aimed at AI citations, misleading structured data, and content written to manipulate language models as abuse that can lead to reduced visibility or removal ([Bing](https://www.bing.com/webmasters/help/webmasters-guidelines-30fba23a)).

## Step 6: measure how often you're named

Don't track a rank. SparkToro and Gumshoe had 600 volunteers run 12 prompts through ChatGPT, Claude and Google's AI tools, 2,961 times in total, between November and December 2025. They found less than a 1 in 100 chance that any AI tool would give the same list of brands twice. They concluded that the share of runs that name a brand is a reasonable measure and a ranking position is not ([SparkToro](https://sparktoro.com/blog/new-research-ais-are-highly-inconsistent-when-recommending-brands-or-products-marketers-should-take-care-when-tracking-ai-visibility/)).

So pick 20 to 30 real buyer questions, run each several times, and log whether you're named and which sources show up. [How to track AI visibility](https://ignura.com/blog/how-to-track-ai-visibility) sets out a weekly routine.

For visits, Google Analytics puts ChatGPT referrals in its AI Assistant channel ([Google](https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/9756891)). [Tracking ChatGPT traffic in GA4](https://ignura.com/blog/track-chatgpt-traffic-in-ga4) shows how to read it.

## FAQ

### Can I pay to be recommended by ChatGPT?

Not inside the answer. For shopping results, OpenAI says product picks "are not ads, nor influenced by any OpenAI partnerships", and that ads are shown separately. OpenAI also says placement in ChatGPT search isn't guaranteed.

### Does blocking GPTBot stop ChatGPT recommending us?

It doesn't remove you from ChatGPT search, which uses OAI-SearchBot. It tells OpenAI your content shouldn't be used to train its models. OpenAI hasn't published how training data affects recommendations.

### Do we need to be indexed in Bing?

It's a good idea. OpenAI says ChatGPT search sometimes uses partner search providers and links to Microsoft's privacy statement for them. Bing's own guidelines say they apply to Copilot and to Bing's grounding API results as well as to search.

### How long does it take to show up?

OpenAI says ChatGPT search adjusts to robots.txt changes in about 24 hours. Being found and being named are different things, though. New pages need to be crawled, and the lists change from one run to the next, so judge progress over weeks of testing.

### Does llms.txt help ChatGPT recommend us?

OpenAI's crawler documentation doesn't mention llms.txt. It's cheap to add and helps agents that do read it, but it won't fix a blocked crawler or a vague product description.

### Why does ChatGPT keep recommending a competitor?

Open the sources ChatGPT cites for that question. Usually the competitor is on more of the pages it reads, describes its category more clearly, or has a page that answers the exact question. Those are the gaps to close.

## Not named when buyers ask ChatGPT?

We'll run your category's recommendation questions through ChatGPT, see which sources it cites and where you're missing, and tell you what to fix first. The work we do on this is on the [ChatGPT SEO](https://ignura.com/chatgpt-seo), [AI search](https://ignura.com/ai-search) and [citations](https://ignura.com/citations) pages, and how we price it is on the [pricing page](https://ignura.com/pricing).

[Book your free Growth Check](https://ignura.com/book?utm_source=site&utm_medium=blog&utm_content=get-saas-recommended-by-chatgpt)

Book a 15-minute call about your website: https://ignura.com/book