How to get agency clients mentioned in ChatGPT
By Hamza Rivera, updated
Short answer: An agency cannot force a ChatGPT mention. It can make a client easy to name: let the search crawler in, write pages that answer one question each, keep facts the same everywhere and check by asking on a schedule.
- Nobody can buy or force a mention in a ChatGPT answer, so an agency's job is to make a client easy and safe to name.
- Start with access: OpenAI documents a separate crawler for search features, and a blocked crawler means the pages cannot be shown as sources.
- Each key page should answer one question in its first lines and state the business, the place and the service in plain words.
- Keep the facts identical across the site, the Business Profile and the directories the client appears in.
- Check by asking a fixed list of questions on a schedule and report a share across runs.
A client asks why a competitor is named in ChatGPT and they are not. The honest answer has two halves: what the agency can change this month, and what nobody controls. This guide is the version of our mentions guide written for agencies running the work for clients.
Agencies that want a partner to run these steps use our white-label AEO and GEO.
A client is a shop on a side street. You cannot make the shop assistant at the corner recommend it, but you can put a clear sign on the door, keep the opening hours right on every map and make sure the neighbors can say what it sells.
Step 1: check access before anything else
OpenAI documents different crawlers for search, for training and for pages a user asks it to open. If robots.txt or the host blocks the search crawler, the client's pages cannot be shown as sources in search answers. Many sites block everything by accident after a developer copies a staging file to the live site. Read the file, then ask the host whether anything blocks the same crawlers at the network level.
Step 2: make each page answer one question
Pull the 10 to 20 questions the client's customers ask. For each one, name a page and make the first lines answer it, naming the business, the place and the service. Pages that wander or open with a slogan give a model nothing to lift.
Step 3: keep the facts the same everywhere
Hours, address, services and names should match on the site, the Business Profile and the main directories. When sources disagree, an answer can repeat the wrong one.
What the agency can and cannot do
| Item | In your control? | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Crawler access | Yes | Fix first |
| Page structure and wording | Yes | Do on every key page |
| Matching facts across sites | Mostly | Audit and fix |
| Mentions on other sites that models read | Partly, through real work | Earn, never buy |
| Which businesses an answer names | No | Never promise |
Step 4: check by asking, on a schedule
Ask the same questions in fresh chats, several times each, and log whether the client is named and which pages are cited. One run proves nothing because answers vary. The full method is in our guide to tracking AI visibility.
A worked example: a dental clinic in a mid-sized town
This is an imagined case, so the numbers are left out on purpose. The clinic's questions are "emergency dentist open on Saturday", "how long does a crown take" and "do you accept patients without a referral". Here is how each step plays out.
- Check the door. The agency finds that robots.txt blocks every crawler it does not recognize. Search crawlers from OpenAI and Google are among them. The developer allows the ones the clinic wants and leaves the rest as they were.
- Pick one page per question. The Saturday question gets the opening hours page. The crown question gets the crown treatment page. A third question has no page, so it goes on the writing list.
- Rewrite the first lines. The crown page used to open with "Welcome to our state of the art clinic". It now opens with how long a crown takes, how many visits, and what the visits involve, with the clinic's name and town in the first paragraph.
- Make the facts agree. The Business Profile said Saturday hours ended at noon and the site said two o'clock. One of them was wrong. The agency checks with the clinic, then fixes both and the two main directories.
- Ask again. A month later the same questions are asked in fresh chats, several times each, and the share of runs naming the clinic goes in the report.
How long it takes
The access check and the fact audit take a few days of an hour or two each. A page rewrite takes about as long as writing a good page does, so plan around half a day per page, including review. Then comes the slow part. Models and search tools pick up changes on their own schedule, so give a round of changes at least a month before reading much into the next ask, and three months before you judge the program.
What clients ask next
Can we pay to be listed?
Not for a mention in an answer. There is a separate paid product for ads, which is labeled as an ad, and we cover it in our ads versus organic mentions guide.
Should we write more blog posts?
Only if each post answers a real question your customers ask. A post that exists to hold a keyword gives a model nothing worth quoting.
Will reviews help?
They can, since models read other sites. Ask real customers, reply to what they write and keep the details matching. Buying reviews breaks platform rules and risks the listing.
Why is a competitor named and we are not?
Often because their pages state a clear answer and ours do not, or because a directory the model reads lists them. The baseline run shows which, and we start there.
Want help with white-label AEO and GEO?
Send us your site and we will record a short video of what we would fix first, or reply by email. Prefer to talk? A call is there too.
Get a free video audit See the serviceWhere models find a business to name
An assistant that browses the web reads pages the way a fast researcher does. It looks at the client's own pages, at listings and directories, at reviews and at articles that mention the business. If your client appears only on its own site, the model has one source to go on. If the same plain facts appear in several trusted places, it has more to work with and fewer chances to guess.
It is a little like a rumor in a small town. Whoever is mentioned by the most reliable neighbors gets recommended at the dinner table.
Third-party places worth checking first
- The Google Business Profile, with categories, services and hours that match the site.
- The two or three directories your client's customers actually use in that field.
- Local or trade association member lists the client genuinely belongs to.
- Local news or community pages that have already written about the business.
Do not chase links from sites that sell them. Aim for places a real customer might look, because those are also the places a model learns to trust.
Signs the work is paying off
Wrong facts disappear from answers first. After that, the business starts to show up for the specific questions you wrote the pages for. Broad questions with many competitors come last, and some never move. Report all three honestly. A client who sees the true picture stays with you longer than one who was promised the top spot.
A four-week plan you can copy
- Week 1. Write the question list, run the baseline and save every answer with the date. Check robots.txt and ask the host whether anything blocks crawlers at the network level.
- Week 2. Audit the business facts on the site, the Business Profile and the main directories. Write down every mismatch and decide which source is right.
- Week 3. Rewrite the first two or three pages that should answer the questions. Open each with the answer, the business name, the place and the service.
- Week 4. Fix the listings, publish the pages and note the date of every change. Plan the first re-ask for a few weeks later, so the changes have time to be picked up.
Questions to settle with the client before you start
- Which services do they actually want more inquiries for?
- Which towns or regions do they serve, and which do they not?
- Who can approve a change to the website, and how fast?
- Is there anything they do not want an assistant to say about them?
Answering those up front saves a round of rework later, since most delays in this kind of project come from waiting on approval rather than from the work itself.
Mistakes to avoid
- Promising the client a mention by a date.
- Buying links or reviews to look established.
- Blocking all AI crawlers by default and then wondering why nothing is cited.
- Reporting a mention from one screenshot.
A client who asks for a guaranteed ChatGPT mention is asking you to promise the weather. You can sell the umbrella.
Send the client a one-page list of what you changed, dated, before you send any ask results. It shows the work happened even in a month when no answer moved.
Where to go from here
Want a client named in ChatGPT answers?
Send the client's site and we will reply with what blocks the crawlers, which pages should answer which questions and which facts disagree. We can send it as an email or a short recorded video first.
See the white-label AEO and GEO serviceIf you would rather not run this yourself, our white-label AEO and GEO service does it under your name, as part of white label SEO. Passieon is not affiliated with OpenAI.
Related guides
- How to get mentioned in ChatGPT
- How agencies resell AI search visibility
- ChatGPT ads vs organic mentions
Sources
- OpenAI developer docs: Overview of OpenAI crawlers, read November 14, 2026.
- Google Search Central: AI features and your website, read November 14, 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Can I get a client into ChatGPT answers on request?
No. There is no form and no fee for a mention. You can improve access, page clarity and consistency, and measure what comes back.
What should I check first for a client?
Whether robots.txt or the host blocks OpenAI's search crawler. If it does, pages cannot be shown as sources.
Do reviews and directory listings matter?
They can, because models read other sites. Earn them honestly and keep the facts matching. Never buy them.
How often should I check a client's mentions?
Monthly is enough for most clients, using the same questions each time and several runs per question.
What should I tell a client who wants a guarantee?
That nobody can offer one, and that you will report the method, the changes and the share of runs where they are named.
Want this done for your site? See what our white-label AEO and GEO page covers, or read the client results.
Related guides
- How ChatGPT ads work: who sees them, how they are chosen and how to buy them What a ChatGPT ad is, which plans see it, what is excluded, how OpenAI picks one, and how advertisers buy in Ads Manager.
- The best local SEO tools, by the job each one does Local SEO tools matched to the job: Google's free ones first, then map rank tracking, citations, reviews and audits, and what none of them can do for you.
- How agencies resell AI search visibility to clients What an agency sells when it resells AI search visibility, the four parts of the work, what the agency keeps and what to write in the proposal.