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OpenAI just did a massive study on how people actually use ChatGPT, looking at over a million conversations. And here's the big takeaway. Almost one in four chats are people actively seeking information, asking for advice on what's best, how to decide, and yes, what to buy. Instead of 10 search results on Google, people now just get a couple of clear answers with sources. If your business isn't one of them, you don't even show up. In this video, I'll break down what the study found and give you the three steps to make sure people see your business when they ask ChatGPT.
OpenAI's latest study shows how people really use ChatGPT. The biggest uses are writing help, practical advice, language translation, and one that's exploding: information seeking. In just a year, it grew from 14% to 24%. That's a massive shift in how people find answers, make decisions, and research everything from work tasks to personal purchases.
Here's why this matters. When people research products, both ChatGPT and Google's new AI Overviews and AI Mode now deliver instant, direct recommendations right at the top. Instead of scrolling through 10 blue links, users get a concise answer summarizing the best options with sources and reasoning included. If you Google "best email marketing platform," you now see an AI-generated overview that lists recommended platforms and cites authoritative sources. Ask ChatGPT the same question, and you get a focused answer, often just two or three product recommendations, plus context on why they are the best for different needs.
This shift means your business needs to show up in those top AI-powered answers. Whether someone is using Google or ChatGPT, the companies that get featured capture attention from millions of product researchers, while those left out risk being invisible in this new search ecosystem.
Let me show you exactly how ChatGPT makes these recommendations so you can understand what you're optimizing for. My team and I ran dozens of tests on product research queries to see which sources ChatGPT cites most frequently. The pattern is clear. ChatGPT has a strong bias towards three types of sources.
First, industry publications and authoritative websites. When I asked ChatGPT about email marketing tools, ChatGPT cited articles from TechRadar, Forbes, and Zapier. These aren't just articles; they're comprehensive comparisons with clear evaluation criteria.
Second, review aggregator sites like G2, Capterra, and Trustpilot. ChatGPT loves these because they provide structured data about user ratings, pricing, and features. The AI can extract specific information like "4.5 out of five stars with over a thousand reviews."
Third, community discussions from Reddit and Stack Overflow, where real users share authentic experiences. But not just any discussion. ChatGPT cites threads where someone asks specific questions and gets detailed, helpful responses with clear reasoning.
What ChatGPT doesn't cite is promotional content, then affiliate articles, or pages that are obviously trying to sell something. The AI has learned to distinguish between helpful information and marketing fluff. This creates a massive opportunity for businesses willing to create genuinely helpful, authoritative content instead of promotional material. These companies winning in AI surge aren't necessarily the ones with the biggest marketing budgets. They're the ones ChatGPT considers the most trustworthy source of information.
After analyzing tens of thousands of ChatGPT recommendations, we've identified three concrete steps any business can implement to start showing up in AI search results.
Step one, create research-focused content. The content that wins trust isn't promotional; it's research-driven. Instead of talking about why your software is the best, create a complete guide to choosing an email marketing software for e-commerce stores. Your content needs to answer exact questions people ask ChatGPT. Use Reddit, Quora, and industry forums to find these specific research queries. Look for questions like "best X for Y with Z budget" or "X versus Y for Z use case."
Structure content like a research report, not a blog post. Start with a direct answer. For e-commerce stores under a thousand customers, the top three email marketing platforms are Mailchimp, Klaviyo, and ConvertKit, based on pricing, automation features, and Shopify integration. Then include a comparison table with specific criteria: pricing tiers, key features, best-fit scenarios, and limitations. ChatGPT loves structured information that it can extract and reformat. You also want to explain your evaluation methodology. How did you test these platforms? What criteria did you use? This builds trust with both AI and human readers. Include evidence and sources. Link to user reviews, case studies, and third-party evaluations. ChatGPT weighs sources that cite other credible sources more heavily.
Step two, build authority across multiple platforms. ChatGPT doesn't just look at your website. It cross-references multiple sources to verify information. You need what I call authority distribution. Getting your expertise recognized across different types of platforms. Get your content published on industry websites. If you're in marketing, pitch articles to Search Engine Land or HubSpot's blog. If you're in e-commerce, target Shopify's blog or Practical Commerce or even AdWeek. Update your profiles on review sites like G2 and Capterra or industry-specific directories. Make sure your product information is complete, current, and includes detailed feature descriptions. The goal is to become the source that multiple authoritative platforms reference when discussing your industry. When ChatGPT sees consistent information about your business across trusted sources, it's much more likely to cite you.
Real quick, before I get into step three, if you want your business recommended by ChatGPT, but don't have the time to figure it out exactly yourself, that's exactly what my agency NP Digital does. We handle AI search optimization for ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google's AI so you don't have to. Just go to npdigital.com or click the link in the description to book a free call with my team.
Now let's dive into step three, which is technical implementation. This is where a lot of businesses drop the ball. Not because they don't care, but because the tech details can feel intimidating. Let's break it down into plain English.
First, don't accidentally block ChatGPT's bots. Think of ChatGPT like Google. It sends out bots, little crawlers that scan the internet for information. If those bots can't reach your site, it's like having a store with locked doors. Nobody can get in, no matter how good your products are. So, check your robots.txt file. Make sure you aren't blocking the ChatGPT bot and OpenAI searchbot. These are the two main ones ChatGPT uses. Many businesses unknowingly block these bots, often because security tools like Cloudflare's system started doing it automatically since July 2025. So your site could be invisible to AI without you even realizing it.
Second, use schema markup. Think labels for AI. Imagine walking into a grocery store where nothing has labels. You see packages, but you have no idea what's inside. That's what your website looks like to AI without schema markup. You'll want to add structured data called schema markup to your site. Organization schema tells AI who you are: company name, logo, contact info. Product schema tells AI what you sell: features, prices, reviews. Schema acts like a translator. It makes sure AI doesn't guess what your site is about. It knows exactly.
Third, create machine-readable fact files. AI loves clean, structured info. Instead of forcing it to scan through long pages of text, give it a cheat sheet. Make a simple facts.json file or structured data page with key info: pricing, features, who it's for, your target customers, comparisons, how your product is different from others. Think of it like a press kit for AI. If someone asked ChatGPT, "What's the best CRM for small businesses?" and you had a fact file, your info is far more likely to be pulled into the answer.
Fourth, keep content fresh. AI loves updates. AI systems pay close attention to what's new and what's updated. Just like Google has always ranked fresher content higher, and ChatGPT and other AI tools are doing the same. If your site looks stale, AI assumes it's out of date, and outdated answers don't get recommended. That's why Wikipedia dominates so many search results. It's not just because it's comprehensive; it's because it's consistently updated. The signal that sends to AI is simple: this is live. This is trustworthy.
Here's how you can do the same. Add "last updated" dates to your key pages. Keep a change log page showing product updates, new features, or pricing changes. Regularly refresh your top-performing content so it stays relevant. AI doesn't want to recommend stale info. By keeping your content fresh, you become the go-to source.
The data is clear. 700 million people are using ChatGPT each and every single week to research products, and 24% of all conversations are information-seeking behavior. If your business isn't showing up in those recommendations, you're invisible to the fastest-growing audience of product researchers.
If you want to learn more about optimizing for AI search across all these platforms, just watch this video next. I'll show you the complete strategy that works everywhere.