Before you start: enable Search mode

ChatGPT has two modes for answering questions: from training data alone, and with live web search enabled. For brand and site visibility, you need to use Search mode. this is what users see when they're doing research, and it's the mode where GPTBot indexing matters.

To enable Search in ChatGPT: in the message input area, click the globe icon (labeled "Search") before sending your query. If you're using the API or a third-party interface, note that search must be explicitly enabled. the base model doesn't use live web data by default.

Method 1: the direct brand query

Query
Ask: "What is [your brand name] and what do they offer?" Use your exact brand name as it appears on your homepage. Enable Search mode.
Good response
ChatGPT describes your product or service accurately, names your domain, and cites your site as a source. The description matches your current homepage or About page.
Bad response
ChatGPT says it has no information, confuses you with another brand, or returns a description that's outdated or inaccurate. No citation to your site appears.

A bad response means either GPTBot can't access your site, your site isn't crawled yet, or your homepage doesn't contain clear enough text describing who you are. Check your robots.txt first. a single blocked line is the most common cause.

Method 2: the category query

Query
Ask: "What are the best tools for [your product category]?" For example: "What are the best tools for checking AI search visibility?" or "What are the best standing desks under $400?"

This tells you whether you're appearing in the category context where purchase decisions happen. Appearing in this response is the high-value citation. Not appearing here is a signal that your structured data and content authority need work, even if you showed up in the brand query.

Note which sites do appear. These are your GEO competitors. the sites currently winning AI-driven category visibility in your space. Study their structured data, content structure, and author signals.

Related
How to optimize for ChatGPT search

Method 3: the comparison query

Query
Ask: "Compare [your brand] vs [main competitor]" or "[your brand] vs [competitor]: which is better for [use case]?"

Comparison queries are high-intent: users asking this question are close to a decision. If ChatGPT can generate a comparison that includes your brand accurately, your GEO signals are strong enough to appear in competitive contexts. If ChatGPT can only describe your competitor and not you, you're losing purchase decisions at the AI layer.

A partial result. where ChatGPT knows your competitor but has limited or inaccurate information about you. identifies a specific gap. The fix is usually a combination of: allowing GPTBot access, adding structured data, and publishing a comparison page on your own site that accurately describes how you differ from the competitor.

What to do if ChatGPT doesn't know your site

Work through this checklist in order:

Step 1
Check robots.txt. Visit yourdomain.com/robots.txt and look for any rules that would block GPTBot. Remove Disallow: / for GPTBot or add an explicit Allow: / rule.
Step 2
Add Article schema with author and date. Your most important pages need Article JSON-LD with a named author, publication date, and description. This is the minimum credibility signal AI systems look for before citing a source.
Step 3
Add a clear homepage description. Your homepage should include a clear, specific text description of what you do. not just a tagline. "GEOBoost is a Chrome extension that scores web pages for AI search visibility across 16 GEO categories" is citable. "We help you grow online" is not.
Step 4
Wait and retest. After fixing technical signals, allow 4-8 weeks for GPTBot to recrawl and for the new content to propagate into ChatGPT's index. Then run the three queries again to measure improvement.
Run the GEOBoost scan first: before manual testing, scan your homepage and key pages with GEOBoost. The scan will flag any technical blockers. missing structured data, GPTBot access issues, no author signals. in under 30 seconds. Fix the flags, then do the manual ChatGPT queries to confirm the result.
Practical resource
AI visibility checklist: 16 GEO signals to audit right now