How to check if ChatGPT recommends your brand

Why this matters

When someone asks ChatGPT for the best tool in your category, the answer usually names three to seven brands. If yours is not one of them, that buyer may never reach your site. Search engines show ten links; an AI answer often shows a short list and a recommendation.

AI companies do not publish what real users type, so nobody can give you an exact share of every conversation. What you can do is ask the same buyer questions your customers ask, on a schedule, and record who gets named.

Step 1: Write the questions your buyers ask

Start with five to ten questions a buyer would type before choosing a product like yours. Mix three kinds:

• Category questions, such as “best CRM for a small agency”.
• Problem questions, such as “how do I stop losing leads from my website form”.
• Comparison questions, such as “HubSpot alternatives that are cheaper”.

Avoid putting your own brand name in the question. You want to know whether the engine names you on its own.

Step 2: Ask more than one engine

ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini often give different answers to the same question, because they search the web differently and lean on different sources. A brand can be first on Perplexity and missing on ChatGPT. Check each engine separately and write down the brands it names, in order.

Step 3: Look at the pages they cite

Perplexity and Gemini usually show the pages behind an answer, and ChatGPT does when it searches the web. Those pages are the real leverage: listicles, comparison posts, review sites, directories, and forum threads. If a page that ranks your competitors keeps getting cited, getting onto that page is often the fastest way into the answer.

Step 4: Re-check on a schedule

One check is a snapshot. Answers move as engines update and as new pages get published. Asking the same questions every week shows whether you are gaining or slipping, and whether a change you made, like a new comparison page, actually moved the answer.

What to fix when you are not named

• Say plainly what you are. Your homepage and pricing page should state your category, who it is for, and your price in plain sentences an engine can quote.
• Publish comparison pages. Honest “You vs competitor” and “alternative to” pages match the questions buyers ask.
• Get onto the cited sources. Ask to be added to the listicles and directories the engines already cite for your category.
• Add an llms.txt file. A short plain-text summary at /llms.txt helps AI crawlers understand your site.
• Keep facts consistent. Use the same name, category, and price everywhere, so engines do not get mixed signals.

Doing it by hand vs. tracking it

You can run these checks yourself by typing questions into each assistant and keeping a spreadsheet. It works, but it takes time every week, and logged-in chat history can skew what you see.

CitedOwl automates it. The free check asks 5 buyer questions to ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini and shows who gets recommended. Paid plans re-check every Monday, store the cited pages, and give you a step-by-step path to #1. Starter tracks 40 questions for one brand at $39 a month; Pro tracks 100 questions across up to five brands at $89 a month.

Updated 2026-10-22. Related: CitedOwl vs Otterly · CitedOwl vs Peec AI · CitedOwl vs HubSpot AEO · AI search visibility rankings · Pricing