Showing up in ChatGPT and other AI models means following traditional SEO best practices like technical SEO and structured data — with a few extra pro-level tactics thrown in. Here’s what the experts say.

Recently, the team at HawkSEM discovered that we were surfacing in answers on OpenAI’s ChatGPT when users asked about reputable digital marketing agencies. (We’re blushing.)

However, as longtime marketing professionals who are accustomed to experiencing industry shifts as frequently as Google updates its algorithm, it also got us thinking.

What does it take to get brand mentions in ChatGPT results?

Of course, there’s no clear answer —at least not yet. But even though these software platforms are relatively new, we’ve seen some signals that appear connected to more citations in these results.

And, believe it or not, they’re usually tied to tried-and-true methods of search engine optimization, or SEO, that help brands rank in traditional search engine results.

Below, we tapped HawkSEM co-founder and CEO Sam Yadegar to help us untangle this question, offer insights that could help your brand become more visible in ChatGPT answers, and look to what the future may hold at the intersection of marketing and AI.

Multicultural professional businesspeople working together on research plan in boardroom.

“If you have invested in creating quality, helpful content, then you’re already a step ahead.” (Image: NDABCREATIVITY/Adobe)

Why marketers should pay attention to ChatGPT

First off, let’s be clear: Google still reigns supreme when it comes to online searching.

However, focusing on just one search engine almost certainly leaves some of your target audience outside of the conversation.

Along with alternative search engines like Microsoft’s Bing, the emergence in popularity of people searching for answers on social media platforms like TikTok and AI search options like ChatGPT can’t be ignored.

“As more and more people look for deeper answers instead of surface-level quick Google searches, ChatGPT is an emerging platform where people can interact and learn more,” says Yadegar, which also presents an opportunity for quality content publishers to appear in ChatGPT responses.

Tips for showing up in ChatGPT results

1. Focus on high-quality, helpful content
2. Follow SEO best practices
3. Prioritize structured data
4. Ensure your content offers information gain
5. Highlight your topical authority

1. Focus on high-quality, helpful content

“If you have invested in creating quality, helpful content, then you’re already a step ahead,” says Yadegar. “I would look at your existing articles and topics that are already garnering good visibility, and consider refreshing them to be optimized for AI results as well.”

While no proven formula has been identified as of yet, we do know that “continuing to create helpful, thoughtful, and organized content [can make you more likely to be] picked up by LLMs,” aka large language models that help AI tools understand and generate natural language, Yadegar says.

We are helping our clients continue to do the same, and we’re seeing them show up in Google’s AI Overviews search feature and in other AI-driven results.

2. Follow SEO best practices

Along with high-quality, expert-written content marketing, it’s still crucial to follow the SEO best practices that have brought you long-game returns.

Not only does SEO still help boost your brand’s organic visibility on search engines, but many of these same tenets and signals are seemingly used by AI tools.

Continuing to follow traditional SEO best practices looks like:

  • Keeping up with your website’s on-page and technical SEO
  • Monitoring your off-page SEO
  • Staying organized with a content strategy
  • Regularly refreshing, revisiting, and revamping content
  • Providing a solid UX
  • Easy-to-navigate website architecture
  • Planning regular SEO audits

Further reading: AI SEO: Top Tools For Your SEO Strategy

3. Prioritize structured data

If there’s one thing you could do differently, we’d say it would be to focus more on structured data.

Structured data, such as Schema markup, is a standardized format that helps share accurate information about your website with search engines.

Along with helping crawler bots better understand your web pages, structured data can be used to help LLMs and AI-powered platforms as well.

Further reading: What is Structured Data? What Marketers Need to Know

4. Ensure your content offers information gain

Now more than ever, it seems that creating unique content that offers information gain can help you stand out from others who are recycling or regurgitating already-existing ideas.

You can offer information gain by featuring first-hand quotes from a subject matter expert, showcasing a new angle or idea about a topic, or even designing a piece of helpful collateral, such as a downloadable template.

“Continue to create helpful content,” Yadegar advises. “However, instead of positioning them as keyword topics, try to create more content that centers around longer question-and-answer format topics you know your customers are thinking about.”

5. Highlight your topical authority

Along with information gain, doing what you can to highlight your company’s topical authority can help AI models see your content as a credible, trusted source and an industry thought leader.

These all circle the same basic principle: creating thorough, educational, and helpful content around the topics in your industry can boost your visibility in response to user queries on multiple fronts.

Further reading: Topical Authority: What It Is + How to Build It

AI content creation tools: Man uses laptop with AI assistant for

“Staying ahead of trends and latest software updates should be part of every marketer’s plan moving forward.” (Image: Sansert /Adobe)

The takeaway

While being featured in AI-generated results is great to see, it’s not something you should necessarily revolve your entire SEO plan around.

Rather, it’s worth examining these platforms as they emerge and evolve to better understand how they’re determining outputs and how you might position your content to follow these guidelines without losing sight of proven SEO methods.

“It’s still emerging, but AI chatbots are folding into daily usage for users,” Yadegar says. “Staying ahead of trends and latest software updates should be part of every marketer’s plan moving forward.”

While we don’t know what’s to come, we can take the information we do have and use it to make informed choices moving forward.

Want to know more about how we can help your company show up in all kinds of search results? We’d love to connect.

Caroline Cox

Caroline Cox

Caroline is HawkSEM's senior content marketing manager. Through more than a decade of professional writing and editing experience, she creates SEO-friendly articles, educational thought leadership pieces, and savvy social media content to help market leaders create successful digital marketing strategies. She's a fan of reading, yoga, new vegetarian recipes, and paper planners.