How to Get Your Brand Featured in AI Tools Like ChatGPT

Each week, approximately 400 million users interact with ChatGPT, and many are now using it to discover new brands.  The same is true for other popular AI tools like Perplexity and Claude.  Users are flocking to these tools because they provide crystal clear answers to complex, conversational-style queries.  Because of this, many brands are now asking themselves “How do we show up in ChatGPT and other AI tools?” After all, it’s becoming increasingly common to see queries like this on ChatGPT: Obviously, if you sold gardening tools, it would be highly beneficial to be mentioned by ChatGPT in this way, but how can you make that happen? First, you need to understand the difference between AI tools like ChatGPT and search engines like Google.  On Google, keywords, high-quality content, and backlinks are how you improve your online visibility.  For ChatGPT, it uses mentions from public sources online like authoritative publications and forums like Reddit.  The key to improving your visibility on AI tools, then, is to secure brand mentions and citations on sites that commonly appear in their training data.  In this guide, we’ll teach you how to improve your brand’s visibility in AI tools to expand your online reach beyond traditional SEO, and you don’t want to miss it! 

Understanding How AI Tools Pull Information 

Search engines and AI chatbots are entirely different beasts, even if they can be used for the same purpose (i.e., finding information online).  A search engine like Google uses a bot (Googlebot) to crawl and index web pages on the internet related to specific keywords. It also uses a complex algorithm consisting of hundreds of ranking factors to determine the content’s:

1. Quality 
2. Relevancy 
3. Trustworthiness
4. Accuracy 

Web pages that are determined to be the highest quality and most relevant to a user query are ranked the highest, and so on.  An AI chatbot like ChatGPT is completely different. For one, it doesn’t continuously crawl and index the internet. Instead, it actively searches for content online whenever a user prompt requires accuracy and freshness.  Other times, like for general knowledge queries, ChatGPT relies on its training data (large volumes of data from books, websites, and other sources that the bot has been extensively trained on).  Whenever it pulls information from the internet, it finds brand mentions and citations from:

1. Trusted online news sources (Reuters, BBC, Associated Press, The Guardian) 
2. E-commerce stores (Amazon, Home Depot, etc.) 
3. User forums (Reddit, Quora, Stack Exchange) 

In other words, AI tools tend to stick with authoritative sources online that frequently update their content (accuracy and recency are two major factors).  Also, APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) play a major role in how AI tools retrieve information online.  How’s that? APIs enable AI tools to fetch data directly from a source instead of manually browsing a website. That means a tool like ChatGPT avoids having to crawl a site by using an API instead.  For instance, ChatGPT can use Google’s Search API to pull up real-time search results instantaneously. 

Key Strategies to Boost Your Visibility in AI Tools 

Speaking of APIs, setting one up for your business can help you appear in more ChatGPT responses (and other AI tools).  Don’t believe us? It’s actually what ChatGPT recommends that you do!  So, if you’re able to create a public API that search engines are able to index, you stand a greater chance at appearing in more ChatGPT responses.  If you choose to follow this route, these best practices will make your brand’s API as AI-friendly as possible:

1. Including JSON-LD schema markup makes it easier for both search engines and AI tools to understand your content. For instance, e-commerce sites should use product schema (price, reviews, product descriptions, etc.) while content-heavy sites should use article schema (NewsArticle schema, BlogPosting schema, etc.). 
2. Make sure your robots.txt file allows AI crawlers to access your website. Otherwise, major AI platforms won’t be able to discover and access your API, wasting all the hard work you put into it! To take things a step further, you can also upload your API documentation directly to OpenAI and Microsoft AI – which allow API integrations. 
3. Use an embeddable API or plugin that lets AI assistants query your API. That way, a tool like ChatGPT can pull up things like reviews and real-time availability for your products in its responses. 

However, using an API is only one way to boost your visibility in AI tools. You can and should use some other equally effective methods, so let’s check out a few. 

Utilize digital PR to secure brand mentions in notable publications 

If trusted publications in your niche are consistently mentioning your brand and recommending your products, AI tools will take notice.  How do you get top-quality, niche-relevant publications buzzing about your brand? You do by engaging in digital PR! This involves networking with online journalists, bloggers, and influencers to raise brand awareness, build editorial backlinks, and generate referral traffic.  In other words, digital PR is all about establishing your brand as an authority in your niche, which is exactly what you need to get mentioned more by AI tools (and improve your SEO). 

Want to launch a winning digital PR campaign? Our Digital PR services will secure premium editorial backlinks and brand mentions on more than 300 news outlets and media sites, so don’t wait to try it out!

Create high-quality content that ranks well (i.e., improve traditional SEO) 

Another way to get mentioned more on ChatGPT is to create consistent high-quality content that ranks well on search engines.  In other words, you need to knock your SEO out of the park!  Our recommendation? You should focus on building topical authority for your brand, as it will be extremely beneficial on both search engines and in AI responses.  For instance, creating interlinked content clusters will help search engines recognize your expertise on a particular topic (or topics).  According to ChatGPT, most AI tools pull information from high-ranking websites, so improving your SEO is one of the best things you can do:

How to Track Mentions on ChatGPT and Other AI Tools 

How can you tell if your AI optimization methods are working? There are a few ways you can track your mentions on AI tools. One way is to keep track of your brand mentions happening online through tools like BuzzSumo, Ahrefs, and Semrush.  A tool like BuzzSumo will let you know how often your brand gets mentioned online (and where). You can also set up alerts to notify you via email whenever someone mentions your brand or a specific keyword.  Ahrefs Alerts has similar features, as does Semrush’s Brand Monitoring app.  These tools are all viable ways to keep up with your brand’s influence online. The more mentions you receive, the more likely it is that you’ll appear in tools like ChatGPT.   But what about ways to track mentions on platforms like ChatGPT specifically? Unfortunately, OpenAI and other brands don’t provide access to this type of user data as of yet.  However, marketers have gotten creative and come up with ways to approximate ChatGPT brand mentions. It works by coming up with a series of questions your target audience will likely ask, entering them in Google Sheets, and then using Apps Script to pull ChatGPT responses.  This article details how to pull it off.  That way, you can at least check to see if ChatGPT is mentioning your brand for relevant queries, which is a plus. 

Final Thoughts: Should You Optimize for AI Models?

Knowing what you know now, does it make sense to optimize your content for AI models? We think so!  For one, AI optimization shares much in common with traditional SEO, such as securing backlinks and improving search rankings.  For two, AI tools are continuing to rise in popularity, especially in terms of search. Therefore, we recommend setting up a balance between AI optimization and traditional SEO practices.  Do you need help formulating a winning SEO strategy that includes optimizing for AI tools? HOTH X, our managed service, will take both processes off your hands (and yield amazing results), so don’t wait to get in touch!