How to rank in ChatGPT: generative engine optimization for SaaS

In early August 2025, Reddit was cited in close to 60% of ChatGPT responses in Semrush's tracking. By mid-September, it was around 10% (Semrush). Wikipedia fell from roughly 55% to under 20% over the same weeks.

Those sites didn't change. ChatGPT did. This guide sticks to what OpenAI documents and what studies show, then gives a plan a SaaS team can run.

How does ChatGPT search pick its sources?#

Ranking in ChatGPT is being named or cited when ChatGPT answers a buyer's question, usually after it searches the web.

OpenAI hasn't published ranking factors. Here's what it has published:

• Anyone can appear. "Any public website can appear in ChatGPT search," says OpenAI's publishers and developers FAQ.
• Don't block the crawler. To show up in summaries and snippets, "make sure you aren't blocking OAI-SearchBot." OpenAI's crawler docs explain the bots.
• It mixes sources. At launch, OpenAI said ChatGPT search uses third-party search providers plus content from its partners (OpenAI, Oct 2024).
• Opting out takes noindex. The crawler must be allowed to fetch a page to read that tag. If a blocked page's URL reaches OpenAI via a third-party search provider, its link and title may still surface in ChatGPT Atlas (OpenAI FAQ).
• Clicks are tagged. ChatGPT adds utm_source=chatgpt.com to referral URLs, per the same FAQ.

So ChatGPT runs searches and also draws on its training. You influence the first with clear, crawlable pages. You influence the second by being written about across the web. The full bot table is in AI search visibility: does ChatGPT or Google AI mention you?.

Does ChatGPT use Bing or Google results?#

OpenAI doesn't name its search providers. Studies that tried to infer them disagree.

Seer's sample was small. Profound sells AI visibility tracking. Ahrefs notes ChatGPT may have changed since. One reason for the gap: ChatGPT may simplify a prompt into shorter searches, so matching against the original prompt misses some.

My read: don't build a "Bing strategy." Verify your site in Bing Webmaster Tools as cheap insurance. Then rank for the short, plain searches ChatGPT runs.

What kinds of pages does ChatGPT cite?#

Ahrefs sorted the 1,000 pages ChatGPT cited most in September 2025 (Ahrefs, Oct 2025). An LLM assigned page types, so treat it as directional.

Three things stand out for a SaaS team:

1. Your own product pages count. Homepages and landing pages were almost a quarter of the list.
2. Most of the list is out of reach. Ahrefs counted only 32.3% as pages a marketer could pitch or influence.
3. Freshness shows up. Of cited pages with a detectable update date, 89.7% were updated in 2025.

This list spans all topics; your category will differ.

Do memory, ads and shopping change the answer?#

Memory. With Memory on, "ChatGPT may use relevant details to formulate a more useful search query" (OpenAI Help). So test in a temporary chat set to Unpersonalized, which skips memories.

Ads. OpenAI began testing ads in the US on February 9, 2026, on the Free and Go plans. It says "Ads do not influence the answers ChatGPT gives you" and that ads are labeled sponsored (OpenAI). So buying ads won't get you into the organic answer.

Shopping. For physical products, ChatGPT shows product carousels that OpenAI says "are not ads." It weighs "availability, price, quality," among other factors (OpenAI Help). Merchants can apply for a direct product feed. That's a store play, not a SaaS one.

How is Perplexity SEO different?#

Perplexity leans closer to classic search rankings. In Ahrefs' test, 28.6% of Perplexity's citations ranked in Google's top 10 for the query, against about 8% for ChatGPT (Ahrefs).

For Perplexity SEO, allow PerplexityBot, which surfaces sites in results and isn't used for training (Perplexity). Then rank in Google; the work in how to get cited in Google AI Overviews carries over.

Call it generative engine optimization or LLM SEO; what changes by engine is the weighting. Rankings matter more in Perplexity; third-party mentions and product pages matter more in ChatGPT.

How to rank in ChatGPT: a 6-step plan for SaaS#

Budget about 15 to 25 hours in the first month, then a few hours a month.

Step 1: Open the door (1–2 hours)#

• Check robots.txt allows OAI-SearchBot and PerplexityBot. Block GPTBot if you want; it's for training.
• Make sure pricing, product and comparison pages aren't noindex.
• Keep the main text in the HTML, not only behind JavaScript (a safe default, not an OpenAI rule).

Step 2: Write down 20 buyer prompts#

Use the questions buyers ask before choosing: "alternatives to [competitor]," "[your brand] pricing." The method is in our AI search visibility guide.

Step 3: Build one page per prompt cluster#

ChatGPT cites landing pages heavily, so build one per buying question:

• Use-case pages ("[product] for agencies")
• Comparison and alternatives pages, fair to competitors. See how to write an alternatives page that ranks and stays fair.
• A pricing page with real numbers, plan limits and a visible "updated" date
• Integration pages that name the tools you connect to

They're the same pages that bring revenue from Google; see SaaS SEO strategy: the bottom-of-funnel pages that bring revenue.

Step 4: Write sentences a model can lift#

Open each section with a plain answer. "Kratly connects Google Ads, Meta Ads and Stripe" can be quoted. "Our platform brings it all together" can't. Add sourced numbers: the GEO paper found statistics and citations raised visibility. More in our AI Overviews guide.

Step 5: Get named where ChatGPT reads#

Reviews, news and "best X" articles are the influenceable third. Get listed on review sites and pitch writers of lists that rank. Answer Reddit questions as yourself; see Reddit marketing for SaaS. No fake reviews.

Step 6: Re-check monthly and fix what's wrong#

Run prompts in temporary chats, several times each. Log mentions, citations and errors. If ChatGPT quotes old pricing, fix the page it came from.

How to measure ChatGPT traffic and revenue#

Mentions. Use the step 6 panel and track mention rate, not position. Our visibility guide explains why one check means little.

Visits. In GA4, open Reports › Acquisition › Traffic acquisition, filter Session source / medium for chatgpt.com, and add Landing page as a secondary dimension. You'll see which pages ChatGPT sends people to.

Revenue. GA4 counts sessions, not paid subscriptions. Capture the UTM source at sign-up and pass it to Stripe, then count paying customers from chatgpt.com. See Stripe UTM tracking: see which campaign every payment came from.

Expect undercounting: some visits arrive untagged (details), and many people read an answer, then search your name later. Add "ChatGPT" to your "How did you hear about us?" field.

How to do this in Kratly#

Disclosure: Kratly sells an AI search audit. Ahrefs Brand Radar, Semrush and Profound also track AI mentions well.

1. Run the free AI search audit. It checks Google's AI Overviews for your most valuable searches and shows who gets cited. It doesn't track ChatGPT answers yet, so check those by hand with the prompt list above.
2. Connect your website tracking and Stripe. Kratly ties visits from chatgpt.com to the pages they land on and the payments that follow.
3. Review suggested fixes. Kratly points to the pages behind your mention gaps. You approve changes, and each one is logged and reversible.

An AI agent can run this monthly loop for you; see AI marketing agent: what it can do, what it can't, how to choose.