How to appear in ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity: a practical guide for your brand

People no longer just search: they ask

Until recently, anyone looking for a provider typed a few words into Google and scanned ten blue links. Today more and more people ask an AI assistant the full question, “which company in Costa Rica can help me integrate artificial intelligence into my ERP?”, and get an answer built around two or three recommendations.

The scale is already huge. In February 2026, OpenAI reported that ChatGPT has 900 million weekly active users, 100 million more than in October 2025. Add Gemini, which Google builds into its search engine through AI Overviews and AI Mode, plus Perplexity and Copilot.

For a brand, the question has changed. Ranking on Google’s first page is no longer enough: you need to be one of the sources the AI chooses to cite. That is what GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is about. In this guide we explain how ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity choose their sources, what you can do starting today to appear, and how to measure whether it is working.

How ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity choose their sources

When a question needs current information, all three engines do essentially the same thing: they search the web in that moment and build the answer from the pages they find. Google calls this query fan-out: AI Overviews and AI Mode run several related searches across subtopics and sources, which is why they can cite a wider range of pages than classic search.

That has a practical consequence: if an engine cannot crawl your site, it cannot cite you. Each one uses its own crawler.

Engine	Crawler you need to allow	What the vendor itself says
ChatGPT	OAI-SearchBot	Sites that block it do not appear in ChatGPT search answers, except as navigational links. GPTBot is a separate bot, used only for training.
Gemini (AI Overviews and AI Mode)	Googlebot	There are no additional requirements: the page must be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet in Google.
Perplexity	PerplexityBot	You must allow it in robots.txt and in your firewall to appear in its results; it is not used to train models.
Copilot	Bingbot	Bing now shows in Webmaster Tools which pages Copilot cites and for which queries.

Allowing crawling is the way in, not a guarantee. Once you are in, the AI picks the pages that answer each sub-question best and most clearly, from sources it considers trustworthy. That is where GEO work comes in.

7 steps to get your brand into AI answers

Open the door to crawlers. Check that your robots.txt does not block OAI-SearchBot, Googlebot, PerplexityBot or Bingbot. Check your firewall, CDN and security plugins too: many block AI bots by default without the site owner noticing. OpenAI and Perplexity say changes take about 24 hours to take effect.
Get the basics right in Google and Bing. Gemini cites pages Google has already indexed, so verify your site in Search Console and submit your sitemap. For Copilot, add your site to Bing Webmaster Tools; you can import it from Search Console in a couple of minutes.
Answer real questions, directly. AI builds its answers from passages. Open each section with the answer in one or two sentences, then expand. Use headings that read like questions, short paragraphs and lists for steps. Keep what matters in text: Google asks for this explicitly, and text inside an image cannot be cited.
Write for the conversation, not just the keyword. Nobody types “SEO agency” into an assistant. They type “which agency in Costa Rica can help me appear in ChatGPT?”. Cover those full questions: comparisons, costs, timelines, which option suits which kind of company.
Show who is behind it. AI prefers trustworthy sources. Sign your content with a real author and bio, publish case studies with measurable results, date your articles and keep the data current. One claim with a number and a source is worth more than ten adjectives.
Tell machines who you are, unambiguously. Google says no special markup is needed for its AI features, but that structured data must match what is visible on the page. Well-built Organization, Service and Person schema helps every engine understand what you do, where, and who stands behind it.
Earn mentions beyond your site. AI engines check what you say about yourself against what others say. Keep your Google Business Profile and LinkedIn up to date, appear in your industry’s directories and associations, and look for media mentions. Always use the same name, the same address and the same description of what you do.

How to tell whether your brand already appears

There is no single dashboard for AI visibility, but you can combine three signals.

Question tests. Write 10 to 20 questions your ideal client would ask and put them to ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Copilot once a month. Note whether you appear, in what position, and which source they cite when you do not.
AI visits in GA4. In Traffic acquisition, look for the sources chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai, gemini.google.com and copilot.microsoft.com. It is worth creating a custom channel group for AI, because part of that traffic arrives without a medium and GA4 files it under “Unassigned”.
Citations in Bing. The AI performance report in Bing Webmaster Tools shows which pages Copilot cites and for which queries, though not clicks.

A caveat: between 8 and 15 October 2026, a change in ChatGPT (not explained by OpenAI, and attributed by several analysts to a bug) made many links arrive with no tag and no referrer, so GA4 counted them as direct traffic. If you see a jump in direct visits to inner pages that week, they probably came from ChatGPT. Look at the trend, not a single number.

Common mistakes

Blocking every AI bot “just in case”. Blocking GPTBot keeps your content out of model training; blocking OAI-SearchBot or PerplexityBot takes you out of their answers. They are different decisions.
Writing only for a keyword. A page built for “SEO agency” rarely answers the full question people ask an assistant.
Hiding the answer. If the answer sits in the fifth paragraph after a long introduction, the AI will probably cite someone else.
Content with no author or date. An anonymous, outdated article competes at a disadvantage against one signed by someone with a verifiable track record.
Measuring only clicks. Many AI answers mention your brand without sending a visit. If you only watch traffic, you miss much of the effect.

Frequently asked questions

Can you pay to appear in ChatGPT’s answers?

Not in organic answers. ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity choose their sources based on what they find on the web and what they consider most useful and trustworthy. What you can do is work on your site and reputation so the AI chooses you.

Does GEO replace SEO?

No, it extends it. Gemini relies on Google’s index and Copilot on Bing’s, so without a technical SEO foundation it is hard to appear. GEO adds the structure, authority and mentions that make AI cite you. We cover this in more detail in SEO and GEO strategy for AI engines.

How long until you see results?

Crawling changes show up within a day. New content can start appearing within weeks, but authority is built over months: published case studies, external mentions and consistency.

Do I need an llms.txt file?

It is not required. Google says no special file is needed for AI. It is an open proposal that some assistants read; having one does no harm, but it replaces none of the above.

Does blocking GPTBot take me out of ChatGPT?

Not out of search. GPTBot is the training crawler; the one that decides whether you appear in ChatGPT search is OAI-SearchBot. You can block one and allow the other.

Make your brand part of the answer

Appearing in ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity is not about a trick. It depends on engines being able to read your site, on your content clearly answering your clients’ questions, and on enough signals, on and off your website, to trust you.

At Supernova we treat SEO and GEO as one strategy: technical diagnosis, content designed for conversation, structured data and digital authority. If you want to know how your brand shows up in AI engines today, let’s talk. You may also be interested in what appearing in generative AI engines means for your brand.