SEO on ChatGPT: what can be done and how much does it cost?

Below, we explain what this service involves, what no one can honestly guarantee, how much it costs and how to check whether it works.

Is it possible to promote a business on ChatGPT?

Yes, but not in the same way as a Google search result. There’s no control panel where you can adjust the ranking, nor is there a paid slot within a standard response. ChatGPT lists brands it recognises from its training and those it finds online at the time the question is asked. So, search engine optimisation is all about ensuring there’s plenty of consistent and reliable information about your company online, and that your website answers the questions customers are asking.

Advertisements in ChatGPT are a separate matter. From 2026, OpenAI will display them below the response, labelled as ‘sponsored’, and they will not influence which brands the model recommends in the response itself. We set out the details in the text Advertisements on ChatGPT in Poland.

How does ChatGPT choose the companies it recommends?

From two sources. The first is knowledge gained during training – in other words, what the model learnt about the brand before its launch. The second is web searches: when asked about products and services, ChatGPT increasingly searches the web and compiles its answer from what it finds today. That is why changes to a website may be reflected in the answers within a few weeks, rather than only with a new version of the model, as we describe in the text Measurement with web search.

A model recommends a brand when numerous independent sources confirm that it is a good choice in a given category. The company’s own website is enough for a model to be aware of the brand, but it is rarely enough for them to recommend it. We describe this difference in the text Knows the brand, but doesn’t recommend it, and the whole process of selecting brands in the text How AI chatbots choose brands.

What does SEO on ChatGPT involve?

From measurement, work on your own website and work outside it. The order matters: without measurement, you don’t know where to start, and without external validation, the model may recognise the brand but not recommend it.

The content from which the model can retrieve a ready-made answer includes AEO. The website also features structured data and a robots.txt file that does not block the OAI-SearchBot, which ChatGPT uses for searching. We describe the specific steps, one by one, in the guide How to get AI to recommend your company.

What can’t ChatGPT’s ranking guarantee?

A specific brand in the response. ChatGPT responds slightly differently each time, so even a brand it frequently recommends will not appear in every response. In a study by SparkToro and Gumshoe.ai from January 2026, ChatGPT provided the same list of brands in fewer than 1 in 100 repetitions of the same question. That is why the share of responses is measured across multiple trials, rather than a single occurrence. We explain this in the text Why does AI give a different answer every time?.

• No one can guarantee „first place on ChatGPT”. Such a promise is a red flag.
• You cannot buy space within a standard response. Adverts in ChatGPT are labelled as such and appear separately.
• You won’t see results in a week. We explain how long each change takes on the website Why do changes take time?.
• A result from one model does not automatically apply to others. ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity use different sources.

How much does SEO cost on ChatGPT?

It depends on who’s doing the work. You can outsource the whole thing to an agency, do it yourself using an analytics tool, or combine both approaches. In Poland, there are three price tiers:

When choosing an agency, ask them to carry out a baseline assessment before the campaign starts and then every month, using the same set of questions. Without this, it is impossible to assess whether the money is being put to good use. We recommend this article to agencies wishing to add such a service to their offering GEO services at an SEO agency, and a comparison of measurement tools can be found on the website AI visibility tools.

How can you tell if SEO on ChatGPT works?

By comparing the same set of questions across successive surveys. Three indicators are key: the number of responses in which the brand name is mentioned (reference), how often the model cites your website as a source (citation index) and what’s yours? proportion of responses compared to the competition. Questions must not mention any brand names, in accordance with the principle a neutral scan.

An example from our measurements: a lime producer from the Łódź region did not appear in any of the 18 queries in June 2026. After working on its own website in July, it appeared in 17 out of 18 queries, and in October in 18 out of 18, with the models citing its website in all queries. A description of the initial measurements is provided in the text From 0 to 17 mentions on AI in five weeks.

Where should you start with SEO on ChatGPT?

Start by checking whether ChatGPT is even aware of your company. You can do this manually, following the instructions on the website How to find out what AI is saying about your business. If the model doesn’t recognise you, start with some text ChatGPT doesn’t know my company. If he knows them but mentions others, as per the text Why does AI recommend the competition?. It’s also worth knowing for Google AI mode on Google, which works in a similar way.

You’ll get it done quicker in Aelo. Module Visibility in AI It asks ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity the same questions and shows who the models recommend instead of you. The results are turned into tasks in Tickets, ranked by impact, and Advisors They’ll explain where to start. You’ll take your first measurement on the Free account, without a card.

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FAQ

Sources

• Aggarwal et al., GEO: Generative Engine Optimisation (KDD 2024): https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.09735
• OpenAI, Overview of OpenAI Crawlers, the OAI-SearchBot bot: https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/bots
• SparkToro and Gumshoe.ai, a study into the consistency of brand recommendations in AI (January 2026): https://sparktoro.com/blog/new-research-ais-are-highly-inconsistent-when-recommending-brands-or-products-marketers-should-take-care-when-tracking-ai-visibility/
• Aelo reports for Wapiennik „Węże” dated 24 June, 27 July and 14 October 2026 (published with the client’s consent)