How to Check What ChatGPT Says About Your Business (and Fix It)

Somebody asked ChatGPT about your business this week. You did not see the question, you did not see the answer, and no analytics tool logged it.

That is the uncomfortable part of AI search. The answer may be accurate, out of date, or about a different company with a similar name. The only way to know is to ask the same questions yourself and write down what comes back.

This article gives you a test that takes twenty minutes, explains why the answers go wrong, and lists the fixes in the order that matters.

How the Three Engines Find You

Each engine retrieves information differently, and those differences determine which fix applies to your business.

1. ChatGPT Search

ChatGPT Search does not maintain its own web index in the same way Google does. According to OpenAI's ChatGPT Search documentation, ChatGPT sometimes partners with other search providers, rewrites your question into targeted queries, and sends them to those providers. Microsoft is among the providers referenced in its documentation.

To be eligible for inclusion in ChatGPT Search, your website must allow OAI-SearchBot to crawl it, and your host or CDN must allow traffic from OpenAI's published crawler IP ranges. However, inclusion and placement are not guaranteed.

OpenAI operates three crawlers with different purposes. According to its crawler documentation:

• OAI-SearchBot: Helps surface websites in ChatGPT Search results.
• GPTBot: Crawls content that may be used to train OpenAI's generative AI models.
• ChatGPT-User: Fetches pages when a user requests information about a specific website.

Blocking OAI-SearchBot can prevent your website from appearing in ChatGPT Search answers. ChatGPT-User requests are user-initiated, so robots.txt rules may not apply to them in the same way.

2. Perplexity

Perplexity operates its own crawler. Its documentation explains that PerplexityBot is designed to surface and link websites in Perplexity Search results and is not used to train foundation models.

Perplexity also uses Perplexity-User to fetch pages during live answers. Because these requests are user-initiated, this agent generally ignores robots.txt rules.

3. Google AI Overviews and AI Mode

Google AI Overviews and AI Mode draw on Google's ordinary search index. Google may use a technique called query fan-out, which runs multiple related searches across different subtopics to generate an answer.

According to Google's AI features guidance, websites do not need additional technical requirements or special optimisations to appear in these AI features beyond the usual requirements for Google Search.

Appearances are counted in the regular Search Console Performance report under the Web search type.

The practical consequence: If your website is missing from ChatGPT, the cause may be crawler access or the search index ChatGPT relies on. If it is missing from Google's AI answers, the problem may be the same one preventing it from appearing in Google Search.

The 20-Minute AI Search Visibility Test

Run this test once a month. The value comes from keeping a consistent record, not just from the first run.

Step 1: Write Five Questions Your Customers Would Ask

Avoid questions that simply mention your business. Focus on questions that should lead potential customers to you.

For example, a bookkeeping firm could ask:

• Who provides bookkeeping services for restaurants in [city]?
• Is [your business] a good bookkeeping service?
• How much does [your business] charge?
• [Your business] vs. [competitor]: Which is better?
• What is the best bookkeeping service for [customer type]?

Replace the placeholders with your business details and target location.

Step 2: Open a Fresh Session in Each Search Engine

Log out or use a private browsing window. Previous conversations, chat history, and memory can influence the answers you receive.

You want to understand what a new user might see when searching for your business.

Step 3: Ask the Same Five Questions

Use the exact same wording in all three platforms:

• ChatGPT, with Search enabled
• Perplexity
• Google AI Mode

Five questions across three platforms give you 15 answers to review.

Step 4: Record Three Things for Every Answer

For each response, note:

• Mention: Did the platform mention your business, or did it provide no mention?
• Accuracy: Were the details correct, incorrect, or partially correct?
• Sources: Which websites, directories, or pages did the platform cite?

Check important details such as your address, opening hours, prices, services, and business name.

Step 5: Identify Sources You Do Not Control

Look for sources that influence how the platforms describe your business, including:

• Business directories
• Review websites
• Competitor comparison pages
• Industry publications
• Third-party recommendation lists

These sources can help explain where the platform is getting its information.

A simple spreadsheet with columns for date, search engine, question, business mention, accuracy, and sources is enough. After three months, you can compare the results and identify whether your optimisation work is making a difference.

Why AI Search Answers Are Wrong or Missing

Four common issues account for many AI search visibility problems.

1. Your Business Description Is Inconsistent Across the Web

Your website might describe your services one way, your Google Business Profile another way, and an older directory listing something entirely different.

When an AI search engine gathers information from multiple sources, it may struggle to determine which version is correct. Older or widely repeated information can influence the answer.

What to do: Standardise your business name, description, services, contact details, and location information across the websites you control.

2. Your Website Has Limited Visibility in Bing

ChatGPT Search uses external search providers rather than relying exclusively on its own index. OpenAI's documentation references Microsoft among those providers.

If your website has not been registered with Bing Webmaster Tools, has no sitemap submitted, or has limited discoverability, it may have weaker visibility in the search ecosystem used by ChatGPT.

What to do: Register your website with Bing Webmaster Tools, verify ownership, submit your sitemap, and review indexing reports.

3. Your Pages Depend Entirely on JavaScript

Some websites rely on JavaScript to display their main content. This can create problems when crawlers cannot render the page as expected.

Google explains in its JavaScript SEO basics documentation that Google processes pages through crawling, rendering, and indexing. Rendering can take time, and not all bots can run JavaScript.

If a crawler receives an empty page shell instead of the actual text, it may not be able to understand your business or index the page correctly.

What to do: Check whether your important page content is available in the initial HTML response. If it is not, ask your developer to assess server-side rendering or prerendering.

You can learn more about this issue in Nibunam's AI Search Visibility Check.

4. Your robots.txt File or Firewall Blocks AI Crawlers

Security plugins, content delivery networks, and firewall rules sometimes block requests from automated crawlers.

If OAI-SearchBot or PerplexityBot cannot access your website, those search systems may have difficulty retrieving your content.

What to do: Review your robots.txt file and security settings to ensure that the crawlers you want to allow can access the relevant pages.

The Fix Order: Seven Steps to Improve AI Search Visibility

Follow these steps in sequence. Fixing a later issue may have little impact if a more fundamental problem remains unresolved.

Step 1: Allow the Crawlers You Want to Reach

Open yourdomain.com/robots.txt and review the rules for OAI-SearchBot and PerplexityBot.

Check that these user agents are not blocked by rules such as Disallow: / when you want them to crawl your website. Also review your CDN, firewall, and security plugin settings.

Blocking GPTBot is a separate decision from blocking OAI-SearchBot. You can allow search crawling while restricting training-related crawling.

Similarly, Google-Extended controls certain uses of content by Google's generative AI systems. According to Google's crawler documentation, it does not affect a website's inclusion in Google Search or serve as a Google Search ranking signal.

Step 2: Fix Rendering Issues

If the initial HTML response does not contain your main content, ask your developer to investigate.

Depending on your website framework, server-side rendering or prerendering may help ensure that crawlers receive readable page content.

This step may require development resources, but it is important if search engines cannot access your content in the first place.

Step 3: Register with Bing Webmaster Tools

Use Bing Webmaster Tools to check your website's search visibility.

The getting started checklist covers the basic setup:

1. Create a free account.
2. Add and verify your website.
3. Submit your XML sitemap.
4. Review indexing and SEO reports.

If you already use Google Search Console, Bing offers a site import option. See Bing's announcement about importing sites from Search Console.

Step 4: Set Up IndexNow

IndexNow is a protocol that notifies participating search engines when website URLs are added, updated, or deleted.

Read the IndexNow documentation to understand how to configure the key file and URL submission process.

The IndexNow FAQ lists participating search engines, including Bing, Naver, Seznam.cz, Yandex, and Yep. Google is not listed as a participant.

Many content management systems offer plugins or built-in integrations that can automate IndexNow submissions.

Step 5: Standardise Your Business Description

Write a concise, two-sentence description explaining what your business does, whom it serves, and where it operates.

Use the same core description across the platforms you control, including:

• Your website homepage
• Google Business Profile
• LinkedIn company page
• Bing Places listing
• Relevant business directories

Keep the wording consistent and ensure that all factual details are accurate. Update outdated information rather than copying it across platforms.

Step 6: Give Direct Answers on the Pages That Should Be Cited

Create pages that answer your customers' most important questions clearly.

For example, if customers frequently ask about pricing, make sure your pricing page states the relevant costs, packages, or pricing factors in plain language.

If customers ask about service areas, explain exactly where you operate. If they compare two services, provide a useful comparison with clear facts.

Clear headings, specific answers, and accurate supporting information make your pages easier for both people and search systems to understand.

For more guidance, read How to Rank in Perplexity.

Step 7: Repeat the Test Next Month

Use the same five questions, the same platforms, and fresh sessions.

Compare your new spreadsheet with the previous month's results. Look for changes in:

• How often your business appears
• Whether the answers are accurate
• Which sources are cited
• Whether the same visibility gaps continue

This gives you a repeatable process for monitoring AI search visibility rather than relying on occasional searches.

What You Cannot Fix Directly

Not every source used by an AI search engine belongs to your business.

A review aggregator may contain outdated reviews. A recommendation article may omit your company. A competitor's comparison page may describe your services inaccurately.

You cannot always edit these pages yourself. However, the visibility test helps you identify which third-party sources appear repeatedly.

You can then prioritise specific actions, such as correcting directory listings, requesting an update to an inaccurate article, improving your review presence, or earning mentions on relevant industry websites.

This turns a vague visibility problem into a practical list of pages and sources to address.

If you would prefer to have the technical checks and recommendations generated for you, Nibunam Search IQ provides an audit covering crawler access, rendering, Bing visibility, and the questions your customers ask. Search IQ is one of Nibunam's three free reports.

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