How to get cited by ChatGPT.

1. Allow GPTBot and OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt

ChatGPT uses two crawlers: GPTBot (training data) and OAI-SearchBot (real-time search). If either is blocked, ChatGPT cannot read your content. Add explicit allow rules to your robots.txt.

User-agent: GPTBot
Allow: /

User-agent: OAI-SearchBot
Allow: /

2. Check for a blocking wildcard rule

A common mistake is having "Disallow: /" under "User-agent: *" — which blocks all crawlers including AI ones. Make sure your wildcard rule does not accidentally block AI crawlers.

# Wrong — blocks all crawlers
User-agent: *
Disallow: /

# Correct — block specific paths only
User-agent: *
Disallow: /api/
Disallow: /admin/

3. Write content that directly answers questions

ChatGPT is most likely to cite pages that answer a specific question clearly. Add a short, direct answer near the top of each page. Use FAQ sections. Include your answer to the most common question your audience asks.

4. Add Organization or LocalBusiness JSON-LD

JSON-LD structured data lets AI models read your entity facts (name, type, location, contact) without interpreting prose. Without it, ChatGPT may misidentify your business or miss key facts.

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Organization",
  "name": "Your Company",
  "url": "https://yoursite.com",
  "description": "What you do in one sentence."
}
</script>

5. Fix your meta title and description

Write a specific, accurate meta title (under 70 characters) and meta description (120–160 characters) for every important page. ChatGPT reads these as a quick summary of what each page covers.

6. Create an llms.txt file

llms.txt is a plain-text file at yoursite.com/llms.txt that tells AI systems what your site is about. It is low effort and signals that your site is AI-friendly.

# Your Site

Your Site is a [description].

## Important pages

- https://yoursite.com/ — homepage
- https://yoursite.com/about — about

## Allowed use

AI search engines may crawl and cite all public pages.

7. Check your readiness score

Run a free scan on AI Search Ready to see your current citation readiness score, per-crawler access status, and a prioritised fix list. The scan checks your robots.txt, meta tags, JSON-LD, content depth, and more.

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