The Side Hustle Show

717: How to Get ChatGPT to Recommend Your Business

January 8, 2026

Key Takeaways Copied to clipboard!

  • To improve AI visibility and get recommended by ChatGPT, businesses must focus on three foundational steps: creating an owned source of truth website, actively engaging in outreach to be cited in relevant lists and forums, and creating high-value content, preferably in video or listicle format. 
  • Content generated purely by AI is discouraged, as search engines are adept at identifying and down-ranking it; instead, use AI for transcription and structure assistance, focusing on human-created content that employs a 'BLUF' (Bottom Line Up Front) strategy and includes comprehensive FAQs. 
  • Leveraging Parasite SEO by publishing content on high-authority platforms like Medium or creating custom GPTs can significantly boost visibility and traffic due to the high domain rating of those platforms. 

Segments

AI Shift and Roadmap
Copied to clipboard!
(00:00:00)
  • Key Takeaway: Business owners must adapt to shrinking Google market share by focusing on appearing in ChatGPT and other AI tools.
  • Summary: Customer behavior is shifting, requiring business owners to find new ways to be discovered by AI tools. The episode promises a proven roadmap for achieving visibility within ChatGPT. Guest Tanya Van Gastel will detail the foundational steps necessary for improving AI visibility.
Foundational Steps for AI Visibility
Copied to clipboard!
(00:02:24)
  • Key Takeaway: The first foundational step for AI visibility is creating an owned website that serves as the definitive source of truth for the brand.
  • Summary: ChatGPT conversions show a 15 times higher conversion rate compared to organic SEO, making AI focus crucial. The first of three foundational steps is establishing a website that allows ChatGPT to identify the entity and correct misinformation. This requires a simple landing page, an about page, and an FAQ section to proactively address potential inaccuracies.
Outreach and Citation Strategy
Copied to clipboard!
(00:04:35)
  • Key Takeaway: The second step involves outreach to get listed on sources that ChatGPT and Google already cite, such as Reddit threads and listicles.
  • Summary: Businesses should search for ‘best in niche’ lists on Google or ChatGPT to identify existing sources that cite competitors. On platforms like Reddit, engage honestly as the business owner without immediately posting links to avoid bans. When contacting listicle authors via email, include authority arguments detailing business performance to increase the low conversion rate for inclusion.
Creating Rankable Content
Copied to clipboard!
(00:10:44)
  • Key Takeaway: The third strategy for ranking is creating content, preferably video or listicles, that AI tools cannot easily digest and reproduce as snippets.
  • Summary: Written content is easily ‘hoovered up’ by AI into overviews without linking back to the source, whereas AI-generated video how-tos do not yet exist. Listicles, where you honestly review yourself alongside competitors, perform well and feed the system value. Content should use the BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front) strategy, giving the answer immediately, followed by an FAQ section.
Avoiding AI Content Mistakes
Copied to clipboard!
(00:21:09)
  • Key Takeaway: The biggest content mistake is using AI to generate written content, as search engines penalize it to prevent the internet from becoming entirely AI-generated.
  • Summary: Google is skilled at discerning AI-generated content because allowing it would starve its own algorithms of human data for training. While informational content might be slightly more lenient, AI-generated reviews and listicles are unlikely to rank or convert. Use AI transcription services like Willow Voice or Happy Scribe to convert spoken thoughts into a baseline transcript for human editing.
Custom GPTs and Parasite SEO
Copied to clipboard!
(00:30:25)
  • Key Takeaway: Creating custom GPTs and publishing content via Parasite SEO on high-authority sites like Medium are effective tactics for gaining visibility.
  • Summary: Custom GPTs rank very highly because ChatGPT has significant domain authority, driving traffic to the linked company website. Parasite SEO involves publishing content on established platforms (like Medium or Substack) rather than a new, untrusted website to leverage their high domain rating for better traffic acquisition.
Technical SEO Foundations
Copied to clipboard!
(00:37:22)
  • Key Takeaway: Implementing schema markup is a crucial technical step that helps AI crawlers quickly understand the structure and context of on-page data.
  • Summary: Site speed generally matters less if using modern builders like Shopify, Framer, or Webflow, but technical audits via tools like SEOptimer are still useful. Schema markup, or structured data, tells search engines what type of text they are reading (e.g., article, FAQ, review). This is implemented by using an online schema generator and pasting the resulting code into the designated CMS box.
Optimizing Existing Content
Copied to clipboard!
(00:44:49)
  • Key Takeaway: Content refreshes and optimizing titles/meta descriptions are highly effective for boosting clicks on content that already receives impressions.
  • Summary: Adding a website to Bing Webmaster Tools is an easy win, especially since Bing is ’thirsty’ for submissions and allows easy import from Google Search Console. Studies show refreshed content gets 60% more pickup, making it more efficient than creating new SEO content. Increasing click-through rate (CTR) on existing high-impression pages is achieved by rewriting the title and meta description to be more compelling on the search engine results page (SERP).
Press Releases and Final Advice
Copied to clipboard!
(00:49:02)
  • Key Takeaway: Distributing factual press releases about milestones or product features via a newswire service can lead to broad syndication and improved website SEO.
  • Summary: Press releases have seen an uptick in being cited by AI search because they are often syndicated across various publications. Use ChatGPT to brainstorm interesting angles for the release, focusing on factual authority arguments. The goal is to achieve pickup in authoritative publications, which boosts backlinks and overall AI search visibility.