081: How to Get ChatGPT to Recommend You (And Why Google Still Matters)

In this episode, Jules explores the rapidly changing world of search—why showing up in Google is still crucial, but how AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity are reshaping how people discover and recommend businesses.

Jules explains how AI chatbots are fast becoming powerful “referral engines,” capable of recommending your business even to people who never directly visit your website. She shares why building visibility in both Google and Bing is now essential, and offers practical steps you can take to maximise your chances of being recommended in AI-driven searches.

Key Takeaways:

• Google’s Still Queen (For Now): Despite the buzz about AI, over 90% of global searches still happen on Google—about 4.9 billion users. AI search is growing, but Google remains the go-to for trusted answers and major decisions.
• The AI Shift: Tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity are changing the way people search, pulling recommendations from Bing, their own training data, and the wider web.
• Get Recommended by AI:
  • Ensure your website is indexed and optimised in both Google and Bing (using Bing Webmaster Tools).
  • Focus on quality, human-written content that offers unique insights, clear answers, and real expertise.
  • Widen your digital footprint with mentions on industry blogs, podcasts, forums, news sites, and guest articles.
  • Positive sentiment and third-party mentions matter more than ever.
• Don’t Ditch Classic SEO: Being number one in Google won’t guarantee an AI recommendation, and SEO is far from dead. Classic SEO remains the foundation for all search—AI and traditional alike.
• Action Steps:
  • Check your Bing indexing and fix errors.
  • Add unique stats, stories, and direct answers to your website content.
  • Get featured in more places online and make your expertise clear everywhere you’re mentioned.
  • Test how ChatGPT or Perplexity recommends your business in your field.

If you’d like help with your AI visibility, want to share what ChatGPT says about your business, or have any questions about getting recommended online, text the show or email Jules. She’d love to hear your biggest challenge with showing up in AI or Google search.

Don’t forget: Try searching for your business or offer in ChatGPT and see what comes up—use it as a clue for your next improvement!

If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe for more practical advice on SEO, digital visibility, and building trust online.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome & Introduction
• 0:46 How Search is Evolving
• 1:15 Google’s Ongoing Importance in an AI World
• 2:04 Why AI Recommendations Matter
• 4:44 SEO Fundamentals for Google and AI
• 7:34 How to Create Content AI Wants to Reference
• 11:35 Building a Broader Digital Presence
• 12:54 Common Myths & Pitfalls
• 14:08 Action Steps for Boosting AI Search Visibility
• 15:32 Final Thoughts & How to Get in Touch

Transcript

AI-GENERATED TRANSCRIPT - MAY CONTAIN ERRORS

Welcome & Introduction

Good morning, good morning, good morning. Happy Friday.

So today I wanted to talk about a subject that came up in the networking call this week.

About how to show up in AI searches, how to get ChatGPT to recommend you. And so I thought I would pop in and have a chat about that this morning.

Obviously that's something that I could help people with. So it's something we have to consider. 

How Search is Evolving

Search is no longer just Google.

The world of search is changing. And tools like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity, are becoming more popular.

And they are actually changing how people search when they're looking for recommendations for products or services. And so we must be aware of what's happening.

We need to be aware of why, we need to not just dive straight in and only focus on that. And so I'm going to talk about that today and I hope it's helpful.

Google’s Ongoing Importance in an AI World

So over 90% of searches, just to put everything in perspective, over 90% of searches are still happening on Google. So if you hear that Google's dead and that people aren't using Google anymore, that's simply not true.

People are still Googling things and about 4.9 billion people still use Google. So there's still plenty of people Googling things.

And while AI tools are growing fast, Google isn't going away. Google is part a big part of that AI revolution as well.

But we are still saying I need to go and Google it. We are not at a point yet where we are saying I need to go and ChatGPT it, not quite yet.

I mean we might get there at some point. So hopefully by the end of this episode, you'll have an idea of how to get recommended by AI and why we can't ignore classic SEO as well.

Why AI Recommendations Matter

So the AI bots are not just things that we can use to generate content. They are also referral engines.

So they can recommend your business even to people who never directly see your website. And if you can show up and get recommended in AI searches, it can really help to build trust for your business.

It can help to send more traffic through to your website and ultimately help you make more sales. And Google's market share has dipped slightly, but AI search is rising rapidly.

So we are in a time of change and it's really important to be aware of how you can find, maximise the chance of getting shown in those AI searches really. So even with all the buzz around AI search, Google is still where most people turn when they need answers that they can trust.

So thinking about big decisions like health-related topics, money-related topics, or if you're trying to find something, booking something major, a service or a product, something that you are spending a chunk of money on, people still want to double check. So they will check in on Google before they commit to actually buying that thing.

So even if they're asking ChatGPT or Perplexity or Google Gemini to help recommend things, they will, generally at this point, not a hundred percent trust what AI is telling us. It does hallucinate sometimes.

So it is something that they will use Google to double check before they commit to buying something. So a little stat for you.

As of March, 2025, Google still has over 90% of global search traffic. So about, as I say, 4.9 billion people.

And Google gets 14 billion plus searches per day, which is just a phenomenal amount of people searching Google every day. ChatGPT sees about 37 and a half million prompts per day.

And for those prompts, just a fraction of those are the ones that are actually search intent. As I say, people are using AI for lots of other things and they're not just using it for search.

That's why we still need to consider Google. We still need to think about what we can do to show up on Google first and foremost.

So users will normally fact check. So what they hear on AI, they will want to double check that and make sure that it's actually true.

So the big thing is that you want to show up in both places. So people are still trusting Google most of the time.

With AI, we are a little bit hesitant to entirely trust what it says really. And also Google has its own AI overviews as well.

So if you're wanting to show up in those AI overviews within Google, those are built up from those classic SEO signals. So what helps you to show up on Google also helps you to show up in those AI powered search results as well.

SEO Fundamentals for Google and AI

So the fundamentals of SEO things, just to mention before we dive in a little bit further, is that Google indexes web pages rather than whole websites. So Google's little robots and then AI bots as well go through and crawl through webpages.

And then decide which one of those is the best one to show up in search results. With AI search, it might be that they're showing several of those, or they're consolidating information and displaying that.

But what it's important to do is give each page of your website a purpose, because we are thinking about optimising each page of our website so that it does show up in searches, whether that is Google searches or AI searches. So optimised sites are ones that have good technical SEO.

So the sites load fast. They haven't got any major sort of stumbling blocks, they're mobile responsive, they've got quality content, they've got links coming back into those, and things like structured data.

So making sure that the information in your website is easily readable for Google and for Bing, which is a lot of the AI searches are done based on what is showing up on Bing. So it is really important to get those things in place first and make sure that your website is set up with those fundamentals really.

So the big shift between Google searches is we would get a Google search results page with like the 10 links on it, which gives you direct answers and recommendations for specific web pages. Whereas AI search tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity work a little bit different from regular sort of search in, in Google.

So sometimes they'll run a live web search and often they will, as I say, use Bing instead of Google to pull out the most relevant information. Other times they'll pull answers from what they've already read and learned across the billions of web pages up until about 2023, 2024.

They will be sort of drawing from that information of what they already know in their database basically. AI also picks up on things like brand mentions.

So if you're mentioned anywhere in reviews or forums or news sites and the general sentiment about you and your business online. So what people are saying about your business in different places really does matter in terms of showing up in AI searches.

That means if you want to be recommended, you need to think beyond Google and make sure that your content is visible and mentionable across the wider web. So make sure that your content is really shareworthy and that people are actually talking about you across the whole of the internet if you can.

So it is really important if you want to be recommended, if you want ChatGPT or other AI engines to recommend you. You need to show up both in the live web results on Google and Bing and other search engines and the content that the AI is trained on as well.

How to Create Content AI Wants to Reference

So, the formula for getting recommended by ChatGPT, there's kind of three parts to it really. 

So first you need to show up in web search.

So make sure that your site is visible and indexed, especially in Bing and obviously Google anyway from, for what we've just talked about with Google still being the number one search engine. But if you can make sure that you are also being indexed in in Bing, then that is actually ChatGPTs main web source.

So that's really important. So what you can do to help with that is I talk a lot about Google Search Console, but if you can also set up Bing webmasters tools, which is Bing's equivalent of Google Search Console.

And then that will just allow you to then spot and fix any issues that are there with you actually being indexed on Bing. A lot of the time, if you are being indexed on Google, then you probably will be being indexed on Bing as well.

But there are some nuances on how to optimise for Bing. So make sure that your SEO basics are in place as well.

So, as I say, quality content, making sure that you, you are producing content that is written for humans. So you can still use AI to help you to create that content, but it shouldn't be just written by AI and not checked.

Not given your human perspective, not made to sound like a human. Google and Bing both want content that sounds like it's written by humans, for humans basically.

So use AI to help you as a starting point, but making sure that you are adding your own human nuances to that as well. Making sure that your site has a clear structure, internal links.

So making sure that your content is all linked together so people can then crawl through your website, spend more time there, binge on your content. One article leads to another article, leads to another page, leads to your sales page.

And that's a really good way to help both Google and Bing and any other bot that is crawling through your website. But also people understand what's the next thing for them to do from that piece of content that they're reading.

And then using structured data as well, schema markup, which is a little bit more technical, but having that information in the back end of your website set up allows the bots to read your website in a structured and standardised way. So you can help to give more information about your business, your business's location, things like reviews, frequently asked questions, all of those kinds of things can be built into your schema.

And it gives more information about what information is on your website than if it was just what's sort of visible on the front end really. So the second part of getting recommended by ChatGPT is to create content that people want to refer to.

So make sure that you are actually sharing things like original data statistics, real world examples. AI loves to reference sort of unique insights.

So if there's something where you can put your unique spin on it, or if you've done any polls or any opinion surveys, those kinds of things, and your real world experience, add that into your content. That's how you can show that this wasn't just written by a bot.

It was actually created by somebody who knows what they're doing, who is an expert in the topic that they're talking about, and who should be trusted. Use clear direct answers and use headings to make your content easy for bots to quote and also for other websites to also reference your content as well.

So if you can make sure it's really well structured with headings and with clear answers, then that's some of the sort of things that can then be taken out as snippets that the bots will also quote them. And then add your credibility.

So if you are writing an article and you are referencing somebody else's article, cite those sources there. So include that in your articles.

Include testimonials from your customers and highlight your expertise. So really what you are showing is that you are that expert and the reasons why you're the expert on the subject that you're talking about.

And then the third part of this is widening your digital footprint. 

Building a Broader Digital Presence

So make sure that you are being mentioned across the web.

So that could be news articles, industry blogs, podcasts, forums, reviews. Making sure that your business is being talked about in your industry across the internet.

And digital PR and guest features are really powerful. So getting mentions outside of your own website is really important.

So if you can do anything around digital PR where you can get those links back to your website and get those mentions of your website in these places, it makes a big difference. Positive sentiment counts here as well.

So what people are saying about you should be positive. That's why AI is going to recommend you.

If you've got lots of negative reviews, if people aren't sort of shouting about you and why you're so great, then why would AI recommend you really? So trying to get that positive overall impression of your website through all of your digital PR and what you're doing across the internet, then that makes a massive difference really.

So it's not just about ranking number one on Google anymore. It's about being part of that sort of bigger conversation online.

And the more places where your business is mentioned in a positive and authoritative way, the more likely the AI tools will trust you and recommend you really.

Common Myths & Pitfalls

So let's talk about some of the myths and the pitfalls. I've just got a couple of myths and pitfalls.

Myth number one is if I'm number one in Google ChatGPT will always recommend me

And this is definitely not true. So the reality is that being number one in Google doesn't guarantee that AI tools will, will recommend you.

They're pulling their information from lots of sources, not just from the top of Google's search results.

Myth number two is that SEO is dead and we should just focus on AI

And this is one that I've heard lots of times recently. I heard it on another call that I was on yesterday as well from an SEO person.

And I think it's all very well saying that, but actually a lot of people haven't put those basics in place for SEO anyway. So classic SEO is the backbone of all of this.

And getting recommended on AI searches depends on you being in those search results. Being those trustworthy websites that are actually going, going to already be recommended by Google in the normal search results as well.

So AI recommendations often do start from those classic SEO signals. So whether someone finds you through Google or through AI, it is kind of those same principles matter really of you being that authority, good content and actually something that is worthy of linking to really.

Action Steps for Boosting AI Search Visibility

So some action steps that you can take are to go into Bing Webmasters Tools and just check that your site is being indexed in Bing properly. So this is where, as I say, ChatGPT often pulls its information from.

So go there and fix any errors, if you have any errors showing there, then fix those. Review your content.

So add into your content things like your direct answers, if you've talked about questions there. Add your own answers, your unique real stats, personal stories, and your unique perspective most importantly.

So, adding that into your website's content is really important. Get mentioned in more places online.

So thinking about things like guest articles, getting featured in industry publications, local news podcasts, relevant online communities, even on threads on places like Reddit and Quora can be really helpful as well. And get clear on what you want to be known for.

So when someone asks about your area of expertise, you are the obvious choice for AI to recommend. So make sure your brands, one thing is clear across your content and everywhere that you're mentioned as well.

And don't forget to test it. So give it a try.

Just try asking ChatGPT or Perplexity or another AI tool to recommend someone in your field and see if you come up. And if not, you can use that as a clue for what to improve next on your website.

Final Thoughts & How to Get in Touch

So in summary, the world of search is changing fast and AI search isn't the future, it's already here. And AI tools like ChatGPT are here to stay.

So classic SEO forms the foundation, but we do need to broaden our approach to this. The brands that will thrive are the ones that combine solid SEO foundations with a broader digital presence.

So being visible, credible and recommended absolutely everywhere. So be everywhere people and bots look.

Combine SEO, digital PR and expert written content and stay flexible and keep up to date and monitor your mentions in both Google and AI tools. So don't wait until your traffic from Google starts to drop before you start thinking about showing up in AI searches.

Get ahead now. Future-proof your business.

Make sure those important foundations are in place first. And if you have any questions about this or if you want any help with your AI visibility or want to share what chat GPT says about your business, then either leave a comment below, reach out, text the show, or let me know.

And I'd love to hear from you. So I'd love to know what your biggest challenge is with showing up in AI or Google.

So as I say, you can text the show or send me an email and let me know. And try searching for your business or your offer in ChatGPT and what does it say about you.

So I hope you have a great weekend and I will see you soon. Bye.