You can pay for an ad that appears under ChatGPT's answer. You cannot pay to be named inside the answer, and nobody can promise it. What you can do is make your business easy for ChatGPT to find, understand and trust. Say plainly what you sell, where and for how much, keep your details the same everywhere online, and make sure search engines can read your website.

How does ChatGPT decide which business to name?

When someone asks ChatGPT for a recommendation, it searches the web, reads what it finds, and writes an answer from the pages it found most useful. It can only name a business it can read about. Three things decide whether yours comes up:

  • Can it find you? Your website has to be open to it. OpenAI says websites that block its web reader are left out of ChatGPT's search answers.
  • Can it understand you? Your pages have to say what you sell, where, and for how much.
  • Can it trust you? It looks at whether other websites say the same things about you.

What can I do myself this week?

None of these needs a developer.

  1. Ask ChatGPT about your own business. Type the question a customer would ask, for example "Which aircon servicing company in Petaling Jaya is reliable?". See whether you are named, and who is named instead.
  2. Fill in your Google Business Profile. Add your services, opening hours, service area and photos. It is free.
  3. Say what you sell and where at the top of your website. A visitor should know within one sentence. "Aircon servicing in Petaling Jaya and Subang Jaya" tells ChatGPT more than "Your comfort, our passion".
  4. Write your prices. A range is enough. AI can only repeat what it can read, and "contact us for a quote" gives it nothing to repeat.
  5. Use the same name, address and phone number everywhere. That means your website, Google, Facebook and any listing site.
  6. Answer the questions customers ask you. Give each question its own page, with the answer in the first two or three sentences.

"When I check a website, the problem is rarely anything clever. Usually the page never says what the business sells or where."

Jasper, Alchemistic Cloud

What needs someone technical?

A few checks need whoever looks after your website:

  • Google and Bing can both read the site, and it is registered with both
  • the site does not block AI tools from reading it
  • your business details are written in a form search engines read directly

This is the part we do for our clients. Our SEO and AEO service starts with a free report. We ask ChatGPT and Gemini 10 questions your customers ask, 3 times each, and count how often they name you across those 60 answers. The report also covers the three checks above. The monthly service starts at RM2,000, with a 6-month minimum.

What is a directory, and do I need to be on one?

A directory is a website that lists businesses by trade and area, the online version of the Yellow Pages. Your Google Maps listing works like one. Review and booking sites do the same job, such as TripAdvisor for restaurants and hotels, Agoda for places to stay and PropertyGuru for property agents. Many trades have their own.

AI reads directories as a second opinion. A listing confirms that your business exists, what it does and where it is.

You do not need to be on every one. Ask an AI tool the question your customers ask, then look at the websites it lists as sources under the answer. Those are the ones worth being on.

How long does it take, and how do I know it worked?

New pages usually take a few weeks to be picked up in AI answers. To check, ask the same customer questions every month, 3 times each, and count how often your business is named. One answer on its own proves little, because the next ask can differ.

If you want to know what agencies charge for this work, read How much does it cost to get recommended by ChatGPT in Malaysia?. If you are not sure whether you need this or ordinary SEO first, read the difference between AEO and SEO.

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