What showing up in ChatGPT means and why it changes SEO
Until recently SEO had one goal: to rank high in Google's list of ten results. Today some searches end without a click on any list. Google shows an AI Overview at the top, ChatGPT answers with two or three business suggestions and sources, and Perplexity cites articles with numbered references. If your business is not in those answers, for that customer you don't exist.
Showing up in ChatGPT is not magic, and it is not a separate trick. AI systems that search the web need three things from you: to be able to find and read your pages, to understand clearly what kind of business you are, and to find confirmation about you on other sites too. What some people call GEO SEO (generative engine optimization) or AI SEO is essentially good SEO with a few extra steps that most websites haven't taken.
How ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity choose their sources
Each system has its own method, but the logic is similar. When a question needs fresh or local information, the model searches the web, reads a few pages and puts together an answer, often with links to its sources.
When ChatGPT searches, it uses results from partner search engines, Bing being the most important, plus its own crawler, OAI-SearchBot. Perplexity has PerplexityBot. Google AI Overviews and Gemini rely on Google's index, so on everything that already counts for classic SEO, and on Google Business Profile for local searches. Google has said that a page doesn't need any special markup to appear in its AI search features; it only needs to be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet.
The takeaway for a small business is simple: if your site is not properly listed in Bing, ChatGPT is less likely to find you. If you don't have an up-to-date Google profile, Gemini and AI Overviews will prefer the competitor who does.
How we work on AI visibility, step by step
These are the steps we take. None of them is a secret, but we rarely find them all done right on a website that comes to us for a check.
- Bing Webmaster Tools and IndexNow: we register the site with Bing, submit the sitemap and turn on IndexNow, so every new or changed page is announced immediately instead of waiting for the crawler
- Google Search Console: we check that your important pages are indexed and fix whatever is blocking them
- AI crawlers: we check that robots.txt, the firewall or Cloudflare are not blocking OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot and Bingbot, which happens more often than you think
- Schema markup: structured data for the business (LocalBusiness), services, products, FAQs and reviews, so search engines clearly read your name, address, opening hours and prices
- Google Business Profile: a complete, up-to-date profile with the right category, services, photos and opening hours
- Google and Microsoft Merchant Center for e-shops, so your products appear with price and availability in shopping through Google and Bing/Copilot
Content that answers your customers' questions
AI models look for pages that answer the question directly. A site that only says "we offer quality services with professionalism" gives ChatGPT nothing to quote. A site that says "root colouring costs from €35 and takes about an hour" does.
That is why we rewrite or add to your main pages with specific information: exactly what you do, in which areas, at what cost, how long it takes, who it suits and who it doesn't. We add FAQ sections with the questions your customers really ask, the way they would type them into a chatbot. A hotel needs answers about the distance to the beach and the airport. A lawyer needs answers about the cost of a first meeting and how long a divorce takes. A cosmetics e-shop needs answers about skin types, ingredients and shipping times.
Mentions on other sites: the confirmation AI looks for
When ChatGPT suggests "the best car repair shops in Piraeus", it doesn't rely only on your own site. It relies on lists, guides, reviews, articles and directories where you are mentioned. A business that exists only on its own site is harder to recommend than a business that appears in five or six trusted sources with the same details.
Here we help with listings in reputable Greek and international directories, with the same name, address and phone number everywhere, with encouraging your customers to leave Google reviews, and with ideas for mentions on local or industry sites. This part takes time and nobody fully controls it, but it is one of the most important.
Monthly report: what ChatGPT actually says about you
AI visibility can't be measured the way we measure Google rankings, because answers change from user to user and from day to day. What we do is practical: together we set a list of questions one of your customers would ask, for example "good dentist in Peristeri" or "e-shop for natural cosmetics with fast shipping", and every month we ask them in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google.
The report shows you whether you appear, which competitors each system suggests, which sources it uses and what we changed that month. That way you see the trend, not a snapshot of a single day.
What nobody can promise
We want to be clear. Nobody can guarantee that ChatGPT or Gemini will recommend your business. There is no paid placement in their answers, no form to ask them to recommend you, and the companies that build them often change how they work. Anyone who guarantees you "first place in ChatGPT" is promising something they don't control.
What we can do is remove every obstacle that exists today and give AI systems what they need to understand and trust you. In our experience, the same moves also improve classic SEO, so the work isn't wasted even if AI tools change tomorrow.
