With the rise of AI-powered assistants like ChatGPT, Bard (Gemini), and Claude, a new type of search engine optimization is emerging: LLM SEO. Businesses and content creators are no longer just competing for top spots in Google search, but also for visibility in AI-generated answers. If you want your website, brand, or product to be recommended or cited by ChatGPT, there’s a methodical process you can follow.
In this article, we’ll walk through the key steps to “rank” in ChatGPT—by becoming the go-to source its AI turns to when answering questions.
🔍 Step 1: Understand How ChatGPT Finds and Uses Content
Before optimizing, it’s important to understand where ChatGPT gets its information:
- Pre-trained data (up to a cutoff date, e.g. April 2023 for GPT-4)
- Curated high-authority web sources (Wikipedia, government, edu sites)
- Live web content via browsing (in GPT-4 with browsing or ChatGPT + Bing)
- Plugins or API-integrated tools
To rank in ChatGPT:
- Your site must be public, indexable, and semantically clear
- You need to build topical authority so the model learns to trust you
🧱 Step 2: Build Foundational Topical Authority
Just like Google, ChatGPT leans toward sources that demonstrate expertise, depth, and consistency. To build this:
✔ Create a Content Cluster
Write multiple in-depth articles around a single core topic. For example:
- If your topic is “digital marketing for dentists,” don’t just write one post.
- Create a cluster like:
- “Email marketing tips for dental practices”
- “How to attract local patients through SEO”
- “Google Ads vs Facebook Ads for dentists”
Interlink them and make one the pillar page.
✔ Maintain Consistency
Use the same author bio, business name, and terminology throughout your content. LLMs track entity recognition—consistency helps you become a known authority.
🧠 Step 3: Answer Questions in Natural Language
ChatGPT’s primary use case is answering questions. Your job is to give it answers it can easily reuse.
🔹 Use Question-Based Headings
- H2: What is dental SEO?
- H3: How long does SEO take to show results?
🔹 Provide Direct, Concise Answers
Write like this:
Dental SEO is the process of optimizing a dental practice’s online presence to improve visibility on search engines like Google.
This makes your content easy to quote or paraphrase by an LLM.
🗂 Step 4: Use Structured, Easy-to-Parse Formats
Large language models prefer content that’s structured logically. Help them scan your pages effectively by using:
- Bullet points
- Numbered lists
- Tables
- Bolded definitions
- Short paragraphs
This is especially helpful when LLMs need to pull snippets or summaries.
🧾 Step 5: Add Schema Markup
Even though LLMs don’t use schema the same way Google does, schema helps AI systems understand your content better.
Use:
- FAQ schema for question-and-answer pages
- HowTo schema for step-by-step guides
- Article, Product, or Organization schema for broader context
This improves your chances of being cited in AI-powered search engines like Bing Copilot and ChatGPT with browsing enabled.
🔗 Step 6: Get Cited on Trusted Domains
LLMs use external signals to determine credibility. Being mentioned or linked from authoritative sources helps you “rank” in their responses.
Ways to build this:
- Guest post on relevant niche blogs
- Get listed in directories, industry reports, or roundups
- Be quoted in news articles or expert interviews
- Publish original research or data
Even brand mentions (not necessarily links) help train LLMs on your relevance.
🌐 Step 7: Make Your Site Crawlable and Current
For your content to show up in real-time ChatGPT answers (via web browsing or Bing), ensure:
- Your site is publicly indexable
- Pages load fast and are mobile-optimized
- Meta tags (title, description) are present
- Updated XML sitemap is submitted to Bing Webmaster Tools
- You avoid paywalls or JavaScript-heavy content that prevents crawling
Use tools like PageSpeed Insights and Bing URL Inspection Tool to check.
🧠 Step 8: Train LLMs to “Know” You
Think of LLMs like curious students—they need repetition and association to learn. That means:
- Have an About page with clear brand and founder details
- Maintain active LinkedIn, Crunchbase, Substack, or GitHub profiles
- Cross-link your name and brand consistently
- Get included in wiki-like databases or glossaries in your niche
The more often your name is connected to a topic, the more likely ChatGPT will “remember” you in relevant prompts.
📏 Step 9: Monitor and Test Your Presence
Since LLM SEO doesn’t generate clicks in the traditional sense, measure visibility in new ways:
- Ask ChatGPT: “What are the best [services/products] in [industry]?” and look for your mention.
- Use Bing Chat or Perplexity to see if your site is cited
- Track branded search queries like “[Your Brand] + blog” or “[Your Product] review”
- Monitor referral traffic from AI tools using analytics
✍️ Bonus: Keep Content Human-CenteredWhile optimizing for LLMs, don’t forget your real audience. Write with clarity, empathy, and usefulness. ChatGPT favors high-quality, helpful content—just like humans do.
Final Thoughts
Ranking in ChatGPT isn’t about tricking algorithms—it’s about becoming a trusted, high-quality source of knowledge in your field. By following the steps above—structuring content well, building topical depth, answering real questions, and strengthening your digital authority—you position yourself to be cited, surfaced, and recommended by the next generation of AI search tools.
As LLMs continue to shape how we access information, those who adapt early will become the default answers of tomorrow.
