092: Want to Be ‘ChatGPT Famous’? Here’s How AI Really Picks Who to Show

In this episode, Jules White explores what it really means to be “ChatGPT famous” and why being recommended by AI search tools is the next big opportunity for local and service-based businesses. Jules unpacks common myths, shares real stories from business owners, and reveals the practical steps you can take to boost your chances of being recommended by AI tools like ChatGPT and Google’s AI Overviews.

Key Takeaways:

• What Does “ChatGPT Famous” Mean?
  Hear how business owners are already seeing clients mention ChatGPT in their enquiries, and why this is set to become more common as AI search grows.
• Why AI Search Recommendations Matter:
  Discover how AI search results are changing the way customers find and trust businesses, and why showing up as a recommended business can be a real advantage.
• What You Need to Get Recommended:
  Jules explains the essential website SEO foundations - like having a clear page structure, optimised titles and descriptions, helpful content, and well-managed Google Business Profiles - that help AI tools understand and recommend your business.
• The Shift from Social Media to Owned Platforms:
  Learn why Jules champions putting your website at the centre of your online presence, and how owning your content makes you more discoverable in the long term.
• Why It’s Not About Fame, But Being Findable:
  The real magic isn’t becoming a ChatGPT celebrity - it’s being discoverable and trusted by the people who need what you offer, right at the moment they’re searching.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Book a Free Discovery Call: Get personalised advice on how to optimise your website to be recommended by ChatGPT.
• Free Beginner’s QuickStart Guide to SEO – Download your step-by-step guide to optimising your website for search engines
• Episode 002: Why You Don't Need To Keep Feeding The Algorithm: Use Your Existing Content Potential To Show Up In Search

If you’re keen to future-proof your business and want clear, bite-sized advice on making your website (and your whole business) more discoverable, this episode will give you the clarity and motivation you need.

Don’t forget to subscribe for more practical tips on SEO, website growth, and ethical marketing that puts your business in front of the right people.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction: What Does It Mean to Be ChatGPT Famous?
• 1:36 The Power of AI Search and Recommendations
• 2:28 The Importance of SEO and Online Presence
• 4:26 How to Optimize Your Website for AI Recommendations
• 14:57 Leveraging Google Business Profile and Local SEO
• 19:24 The Long-Term Strategy for Sustainable Marketing
• 20:44 Conclusion: Embrace the Future of AI Search

Transcript

Introduction: What Does It Mean to Be ChatGPT Famous?

Good morning. Have you ever wondered what it means to be ChatGPT famous? More importantly, how do you get these tools to recommend you and your business?

I was at a networking event yesterday. We had some breakout groups and I was talking about wanting to get in front of more people and spread the word about how we can use tools like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and AI overviews. This helps our business get recommended and connect with people when they are actually searching for what we sell.

One of the people in the group actually said, "Oh, I was nearly ChatGPT Famous." I asked what that meant, and she explained that she was a therapist. She had a new client who claimed they had typed into ChatGPT, and it recommended her.

She was over the moon and was celebrating, telling all her friends and getting very excited about it. All her friends were amazed and asked how she did that; it seemed like a magical thing to get recommended by ChatGPT.

It turned out, however, that when the client actually came to her, they had not found her through ChatGPT but through another method. But either way, this is what is happening.

The Power of AI Search and Recommendations

People are using AI search, whether that is ChatGPT or a regular Google search, and your website is showing up in the AI overview at the top. We've got the new AI mode coming very, very soon in the UK. If you're in the US, you may already have it.

This changes everything about the way people will search or, more accurately, about the results people will get. They may use different tools to search, but people will always be searching. That's not going away.

People will always want information, want to solve a problem, and want to buy things. It's just the way that information is delivered that's actually changing. One of the big things that came up from this, a conversation I had many times yesterday, was the power of what's happening with AI search.

The Importance of SEO and Online Presence

What I kept saying, over and over again, I felt like a bit of a broken record, was to think back to the late nineties. If you're that old, you're showing your age there. But either way, back in the late nineties, there were businesses that didn't go onto the internet, and there were businesses that did.

The businesses that embraced it and even got a simple website started were the ones that really soared. We are at that point now as well. If you can get ahead of the curve, start getting recommended by AI search, and get your business on there, you just need to be doing slightly more than your competitors.

I always say this with SEO and with websites and everything we're doing with marketing: you just need to be doing a little bit more than your competition. Especially if you're a local business, you don't need to connect with the masses; you just need the right people and a steady stream of clients coming into your business. This is a real opportunity.

Thinking about this and how we can actually get ChatGPT to recommend our business, I've had a couple of episodes and a workshop on this where we will actually dive into what this really means in terms of how to get your business recommended. But what does it actually mean?

From my point of view, and what I understood from the way this person was thinking about it, being ChatGPT famous was like some magical thing she had no idea how it happened. Obviously, it hadn't actually happened with that business, but this is something that came up in a chat I'm in as well yesterday.

A couple of people were discussing it. Someone said, "I had a new client today, and she found me through ChatGPT." Then someone else chimed in, replying that the type of facial they did had been recommended by ChatGPT.

The second person, who chimed in a reply to that, said, "ChatGPT recommended my salon as the best local place to come for this facial." This is just amazing. When I hear this happening, I do a big, big, big celebration dance. This is fantastic.

How to Optimize Your Website for AI Recommendations

This is what we want to be happening because, realistically, the things you need to do to show up on ChatGPT involve a lot of your SEO foundations. So you will still be showing up for people searching on Google because that's not going away. People don't change habits overnight, and Google search is so ingrained in us, which is why we have a verb for it.

There's a reason we say, "I'll Google it." I was listening to some training the other day, and the person was saying, "Yeah, I Googled it," and she was actually talking about ChatGPT. So, "I Googled it, and then ChatGPT told me."

People use that for the general term for search, to "go and Google it." I guess it's a bit like Hoover, when we actually mean vacuum cleaner. It's really interesting how we can actually apply this to our businesses and think about the fact that Google search is not going away.

So, why would we want our business to be recommended by AI? I think one of the big things is that it kind of takes away a lot of the research that people are doing. Before, people would type something into Google, and I say "before," but this hasn't changed completely.

Still, more than 90% of searches that go through a search engine go through Google. So people are still out there using Google. But what would normally happen with traditional search is people would ask a question like, "Where can I get a facial for my dehydrated skin?" or something like that.

Then Google would deliver ten results, and that person would go through and maybe look at the different businesses and click on the business in position one. That's the one that's going to get the most people coming through to it. All of those other businesses, the ones that are in the map that, if they've got a Google Business Profile that's well optimised, people would click on that.

But they would then have to make their own decisions and do a bit more research on which one out of those ten recommendations on page one of Google they should actually go for. They'd maybe be looking at the number of reviews, whether they liked the website, or they'd maybe go off and check out their social media, and they would make that decision. What it does when people use AI to search for this is it actually goes off and does all those searches for you.

It does the research for you and then recommends either one, two, or three results, or something similar, based on what it knows about you, what you need, and what you've asked. This is what it considers the best solution. What that then does is it immediately helps with that trust.

So if you can actually get your business recommended in AI, then people are much more likely to trust it. As much as AI does hallucinate and doesn't always necessarily give us answers that are 100% true, in this kind of circumstance where it's taken us through to an actual business, people are going to believe that so much more. It's a boost for the likelihood of somebody actually converting, booking an appointment, buying from you, or joining your email list, whatever it is that you are trying to get them to do there.

So a lot of businesses will find that they'll get traffic slumps as things move over, especially businesses that have been relying on lots of blog traffic and lots of informational queries coming through to their website. This is because these queries will start to be answered within the search results pages. We've all seen it where you ask a question, and you'll have the little AI overview at the top, and it will actually be answering the question directly there, so you don't then need to go through to the website to get the answers.

It's a bit like years ago, we used to have to go through to a weather website to find out what the weather is today, or go through to a currency converter website if you wanted to convert pounds to dollars. Whereas now that all just happens directly in Google. It's the same sort of thing there: if somebody's searching for something informational and the AI overviews can deliver that result, then it will do.

That's not to say that it's not important for your business to be one of those ones that are actually being drawn on for those AI search results; that can still be really helpful. You still may find that you do get some clicks through to that. But either way, it's all helping to enhance you actually showing up.

The more you can show up, the more likely people are to actually come through to your business. The more likely it is as well that these AI tools, whether that is ChatGPT or Google, are actually understanding that you are, you know what you're talking about. You are an authority. You are a place to be.

If they are quoting you on that, then also they are much more likely to quote you on something that relates to that. That is something where people would actually want to go through and buy. So, as things change, and certainly as AI mode comes in, that's going to be more likely.

If somebody asks a question, it will almost deliver like a mini blog post for them. This will then curate all the information and just deliver them a very succinct result, giving them the answer to what they need. Eventually, we'll get to the point where it probably will go through and make a purchase for them as well.

I'm not sure how I feel about that. I feel like I definitely like if it, if I was saying to it to recommend some travel plans or something like that, I'm not sure that I would want that to all be completely automated. But who knows, when we've all got robot butlers, then maybe we will trust them to do these things.

So, thinking about how the tools choose who to recommend, it is not random. It's not magic. It's definitely not magic. It's magical when it actually happens, but it's not magic getting that to happen.

The foundation of this is making sure that your SEO is in place, making sure that the basics of your website are actually set up in a way that it's structured. You've got your page hierarchy as it should be. I've talked about this multiple times; it's really important on your website.

Think about your website pages like an English essay. You'd have one heading at the top. If you were writing an essay, you would have a heading. That would be your main heading; that would be your H1 heading. You'd set that in your website builder when you go in, and it gives you the option of actually making the text bigger or smaller. That's how we usually use them, and it kind of sets us up to fail a little bit, really.

This is one of the things I can always tell whether people have done much with their SEO. The page hierarchy. What we want to be seeing is one H1 heading, ideally containing your target phrase or target keyword you're actually wanting that page to show up for.

Within that, you'd then maybe have some H2 headings, which may contain that key phrase once in one of those headings, maybe somewhere a bit lower down the page. Or it would then also contain similes, different ways of saying it, and very, very much related phrases in there as well. Basically, what you're doing then is showing that this page is about this topic, and these are the ways that this is also related.

So it helps the bots and people when people are reading it as well; it helps them to understand why you are the authority. That you know what you're talking about, that this isn't just some random article generated by ChatGPT. So having that in there.

Then you might have some H2s within that. You may then have a few H3s within there if you've got subtopics within those subheadings. Aside from that, all of the rest of the text on the page would just be set as paragraph text.

So Google knows from going into that page, these are the most important points, and it can really help to understand what this page is about and what this needs to be shown up in Google results for. You'd have your page titles and your descriptions set properly as well, so make sure that they're actually making the most of what you've got available there.

Your page titles ideally want to be around 60 to 65 characters if you can. Definitely a minimum of 35 characters. You know, you've got up to 70, but normally around 60 to 65 is good for that.

For page descriptions, Google doesn't always honour what we put in our page description. Ideally, what that needs to be is something that's going to encourage people to click through from that search results page. That wants to be around 135 characters, up to 155 characters for that one.

If you set something in there and it doesn't really line up with what that page is actually about, then Google may rewrite that for you anyway. So Google will then just take a snippet from the page and use that as well. Quite often, I see websites where these are either blank or very, very basic, just repeating the business name three or four times over.

There are so many ways that you can use this to really help. Structured data, making sure that your schema markup, which sounds very technical, is something that goes into the backend of a website. It's where the main website builder, the main search engines rather, back in the early days of the internet, got together and decided on this code. This helps whatever bot is reading through your website to understand more about the data on your website in a more structured way. It's really important.

Again, a lot of businesses aren't doing this. A lot of websites aren't doing this. A lot of website builders do this in the background without you realising, but there's so much you can put in there, especially if you're selling products, if you're selling services, if you're a local business, if you are a sort of personal brand and you have a lot out there about you.

Making sure that that is all in there, then that can make a massive difference. You can even add things like your reviews in there as well. This is all showing why you're a trusted business, which is one of the most important things with AI search.

So it's not just about that. You get your SEO basics in place. You make sure that you have a website that loads fast, that is a pleasure to use, and that is easy to use. It's got a really good user experience, very simple navigation. It's easy for bots and for people to actually navigate your website, understand the pages, and understand how they link together as well.

That's sort of the basics. Those are the things that if you want this to happen, if you want to be recommended by ChatGPT, you need to have that in place as a given, really. And then it's also making sure as well that that website content is showing what you do.

It's showing what you do, who you help, how you help them, and the transformation that you give. I see this a lot where businesses are really talking about the problems that they solve over on their social media accounts. Then you come to their website, and they're not really talking about that at all.

They're not really talking about how they help people in very, very plain language. All of this is conversational language as well. The big difference when people are searching in AI tools is they're going to be asking longer questions. They're going to be using that more conversational language, and the results that are delivered back are also delivered more conversationally.

So just think about it: we are trying to do this. We're trying to get everything in place in the backend to help Google and help bots to understand our websites. But ultimately, what they're trying to do is help people understand our websites as well.

The other thing that we need to have in place for our businesses, especially for local businesses, to help AI tools to understand us is having your Google Business Profile in place.

Leveraging Google Business Profile and Local SEO

Make sure that you've got your local map all set up with everything that's available in there. A lot of times, people just ignore it and ignore a lot of the tools that are available there. Make sure you've got that in there.

If you've added your services, if you've got that available, you've added your products in there as well. If you've got events coming up in your business, you add those in as well. Make sure that your categories are set properly.

Make sure you're using all the categories that you can. Make sure you're asking for reviews. Reputation management is a big part of this, and making sure that you are that trusted business, and reviews and showing those trust signals are really important. This is one of the places when AI is going to be looking for local businesses to recommend; this is one of the places that's going to massively draw information: Google Business Profile and anything where you are actually showing up on the maps as well.

So make sure as well that the content on your website is helpful. I think that's a big thing: does it actually answer the search that people are looking for? Does it tell people why this particular service, why this facial, is going to help my skin? Does it have that in very plain language on your website pages, also on your Google profile as well, and everywhere, really?

Realistically, if you are using social media as well, and I'm very much a believer that social media is optional, you probably need to have a social media presence somewhere. But we don't have to be posting all the time in order to actually make the most of that, and it's not necessarily the best use of our time. I'm a firm, firm believer in creating content that we own first.

So make sure our own house is in order, make sure our own website is in order, make sure we are spreading the word on our own website about the amazing things that we do. Then think about your social media off the back of that. That way, you can link back to your website, make the most of it, and keep resharing and giving ideas for content so you're not trying to reinvent the wheel every time.

I think it was episode three of the podcast where I talked about why you don't have to just keep feeding the algorithm. I really believe in that. I think it's so important. AI does pull from different areas. When AI is trying to recommend businesses, it's not just about your website, but your website is the place that ties it all together.

So your website is the thing that actually, that's the hub. That's an asset for your business. It's something that you own, and that's why making sure that's in order and everywhere else that you are linking out, all of the directory listings, all of the mentions that you're getting, if you're doing any digital PR or anything like that, bring that all back to your own website.

Don't link out to your Instagram profile or your Facebook profile. Bring it all back to your own website, and then that way, you are building your own authority, and you are building that as the content hub of your business, really. It's not all about just being famous with these tools.

I love that phrase of being ChatGPT famous. I'm a bit like, "Oh, I don't want to be famous anyway, you know?" Actually, it's not about being famous. It is about being discoverable. It's about connecting with people at the right time, connecting with people when they're actually searching for what you sell, and when they're searching for a solution to their problem.

You are that solution. I think that's just where it does become magical. If you can make sure that you are actually being discovered and that you are discoverable, then it makes such a big difference. I wish I'd known these kinds of things back in my salon days.

I wish I'd known when I was in charge of the salon website back in the salon. I wish I'd known about SEO. I wish I'd known about the power of Google Business Profiles and how much of a difference that can make to actually just getting clients coming in and finding you. So getting new inquiries every day, not having to feel like you're going out and having to fish for clients.

Actually, people are finding you. People are connecting with you. They're loving the look of your website. It helps them to go further along that buyer's journey. So by the time that they click on that button that says, "Book an appointment," they already know that they want to be there.

They are already excited about their appointment. They are already excited about you helping them to solve their problems, whether that problem is dehydrated skin, or they want some relaxation, or they need help, they need counselling, they need therapy. They want to buy a product, whatever it is. You know, they need help with that. They're already excited to do that when they first click on a button on your website.

The Long-Term Strategy for Sustainable Marketing

One of the things with this, I think I would say, is it's not a gimmick. I think there are a lot of people talking about AI search now. I feel like I hear lots of people talking about it, but I think part of that is being in the online world, and actually there are lots of people talking about it there.

A lot of businesses don't realise this. They don't realise the power of it, and have no idea how to even get started. I think that's the big thing that I learned from yesterday: people are not only surprised about the fact that you can get ChatGPT to recommend, they just have no idea where to start.

That's what I want to help people with. I want to help people to understand that you can do it in bite-size steps. It's not a quick fix, and it's not something that is going to get you famous. It's not like suddenly you're going to get famous, and that's suddenly going to make you a millionaire.

It's a long-term strategy, the same as with SEO. It's something that, yes, you can get some quick wins, and there definitely are some things you can do to make sure that you are making the most of the low-hanging fruit. But this is designed to be a sustainable marketing strategy, one that's going to pay dividends not just now, but in 3, 6, 9, 12 months' time and beyond, and also moving forward so that you're not then being left behind. Businesses that don't embrace this, businesses that don't start thinking about how can I make my business future-proof, then you will suffer from this, I think, really.

Conclusion: Embrace the Future of AI Search

So being ChatGPT famous isn't the goal. But being found, trusted, and recommended by these tools, then that's where I say it really is magical.

Visit my website if you'd like to find out more about how to get ChatGPT to recommend your business, and let me know if you have any questions. Have a lovely weekend, and I'll see you soon. Bye.