How ChatGPT chooses which B2B vendors to recommend
BY DZAN VOLODER, FOUNDERLAST UPDATED 9 MIN READ
ChatGPT recommends vendors it can clearly identify, that are described consistently across many sources, and that have pages answering the exact question asked. You cannot pay for placement. You can make your brand easier to understand, easier to quote and more often mentioned by others.
What happens when a buyer asks for a vendor
When search is enabled, the assistant runs searches, reads a handful of pages and writes an answer. OpenAI uses a dedicated crawler, OAI-SearchBot, to find pages for ChatGPT search. Without search, it relies on what it learned in training. In both cases, brands that appear often, in consistent terms, are more likely to be named.
Signal 1: a clear entity
The assistant must know who you are and what category you belong to. Consistent names, descriptions and categories across your site, review profiles, directories and social profiles make that easier. Organization markup with links to your official profiles states those connections in a form machines read directly.
Signal 2: pages that answer the question
Pages that open with a direct answer, use descriptive headings and include comparison tables are easier to extract. A "best tool for X" prompt rewards pages that state who the tool is for, in plain words. Google is explicit that no special markup or AI-specific files are needed: helpful, people-first pages are what qualify.
Signal 3: other voices
Reviews, press mentions, community threads and partner pages act as outside proof. Many sources saying the same thing about you carry more weight than your own site alone.
How to check where you stand
Write 20 to 50 prompts your buyers would really ask. Run them across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews. Note who is named, who is cited and how you are described. Repeat monthly with the same prompts, and run each one several times: SparkToro found AI tools return the same list of brands less than once in 100 runs of the same prompt.