Best ways to get your site cited by ChatGPT in 2027
Last updated October 2026. This guide is based on what OpenAI and others publish today. We will update it as 2027 brings changes.
Disclosure: Answer Checkup is our product. We mention it once, near the end, as one way to measure. Everything else here works without it.
Nobody can promise that ChatGPT will cite you. These steps remove the things that stop it from finding and reading your pages, and help it understand what you do.
1. Let OAI-SearchBot read your site
OpenAI says OAI-SearchBot is the crawler it uses to show websites in ChatGPT search, and that sites that opt out of OAI-SearchBot will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers. Source: Overview of OpenAI Crawlers.
- Check your robots.txt for a rule that blocks OAI-SearchBot, or blocks all bots.
- If you use a firewall or bot blocker, allow OpenAI's published IP ranges, as OpenAI recommends.
- OpenAI says changes to robots.txt can take about 24 hours to take effect for search.
2. Decide on GPTBot separately
OpenAI says GPTBot is for training its models and that each setting is independent. You can allow OAI-SearchBot for search and block GPTBot for training. Both are valid choices. Make the choice on purpose, not by accident.
3. Do the same for Perplexity
If you also want Perplexity to cite you, Perplexity says PerplexityBot surfaces and links websites in its search results and is not used to train AI models. Source: Perplexity Crawlers.
4. Put your key facts in the raw HTML
Many AI crawlers do not run JavaScript. If your page only shows its text after JavaScript runs, a crawler may see an empty page.
- Open your page, view the source, and look for your main text.
- Make sure what you do, who it is for, and where you are appear as plain text.
- If the text is missing, use server-side rendering, static pages or prerendering.
More: Do AI crawlers render JavaScript?
5. Make each page easy to quote
- One clear h1 that names what you offer.
- A title and meta description that say what you do and for whom.
- Short answers to the questions buyers ask, near the top of the page.
- Dates on pages that change, so readers know they are current.
6. Add schema.org markup that describes your business
Organization or LocalBusiness markup, plus Product or Service for what you sell, gives a clean, machine-readable summary. The evidence that it changes AI citations is mixed, so treat it as good hygiene, not a shortcut. More: Does schema markup help AI search?
7. Consider an llms.txt file
llms.txt is a proposed standard for a plain text summary of your site for AI tools. Source: llmstxt.org. It is cheap to add. It is a proposal, so do not count on any one engine using it. More: llms.txt explained
8. Get named on the sites AI answers already cite
AI answers with web search cite pages from across the web, not only your site. For the questions your buyers ask, look at which sites get cited. If you are missing from the lists, reviews or directories that keep showing up, that is a gap you can work on.
9. Measure, then fix, then measure again
- By hand: ask ChatGPT the questions your buyers ask, a few times each, and write down who gets named and cited. Our guide: Does ChatGPT recommend my business?
- With a tool: Answer Checkup (our product) runs a free AI readiness scan of your crawler access, llms.txt, markup, raw HTML and sitemap, and paid one-time reports that ask buyer questions on ChatGPT and Perplexity. We measure through the engines' APIs, not screenshots. Only ChatGPT and Perplexity are run, both through their APIs with web search; answers approximate what people see in the ChatGPT and Perplexity apps, but they are not identical. The free scan shows only your grade and score. The check details and fixes are a paid unlock, see pricing. Other tools do this too; see our comparison of AI visibility checkers.
What about Google?
Google says there are no extra requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode beyond normal SEO best practices. Source: AI features and your website.
What we do not know about 2027
We do not know how ChatGPT will choose sources in 2027. The basics above (let the crawler in, put facts in plain HTML, be clear, be cited elsewhere) are what OpenAI and others document today. We will update this page when that changes.
See your AI readiness grade in a minute: run a free scan on answercheckup.com.