How to get your brand recommended by AI assistants
No tactic can guarantee a recommendation, but some things reliably make you easier for an AI to find, understand, and trust. These are the steps worth doing, in order.
By the Citeably team · · 6 min read
1. Say clearly what you are
Assistants summarise. If your homepage is vague, the summary will be too. Put one plain sentence at the top: “[Brand] is a [category] for [audience].” Repeat the same wording in your title tag, meta description, social bios, and directory listings.
Use the words buyers use. If people ask for “email marketing software for creators”, that phrase should appear on your site, not only clever branding.
2. Make sure crawlers can read you
If a crawler can't load your page, it can't quote it.
- Don't block AI crawlers in robots.txt unless you mean to. See our guide to AI crawlers and robots.txt.
- Render key pages on the server. Many AI crawlers don't run JavaScript, so content that only appears after scripts load can be invisible.
- Avoid putting your core offer inside images or interactive widgets only.
3. Add structured data
Schema.org markup (Organization, SoftwareApplication or Product, FAQPage) states facts unambiguously: who you are, what you sell, what it costs. It's cheap to add and useful to search engines and anything else that reads your pages.
4. Publish honest comparison and “alternatives” pages
Buyers ask “X vs Y” and “alternatives to Z” constantly. Pages that answer those questions directly give assistants something concrete to cite. Be fair: say who you're better for and who should choose someone else. Balanced pages get trusted; pure sales pages don't.
5. Get included where AI already looks
When assistants recommend your competitors and not you, look at which sources they cite. They are usually the same few places: review sites, directories, “best of” roundups, and community threads. Claim your profile on the relevant ones, complete every field, and pitch the authors of articles that list your competitors.
6. Earn real reviews
Ask satisfied customers for honest reviews on the sites buyers use. Specific reviews that describe a use case (“we use it to schedule a weekly newsletter”) are far more useful than star ratings alone.
7. Keep it fresh, and measure
Update key pages with real dates and real changes. Then measure: ask the same buyer questions regularly, and watch whether your mention rate, position, and cited sources move. Without measurement you're guessing which step worked.
What not to do
Shortcuts tend to backfire.
- Fake reviews or fake “best of” lists: these can get your listings removed and damage trust.
- Hidden text or instructions aimed at AI models: engines are getting better at ignoring or penalising it.
- Mass-produced thin pages: they add noise without being useful to a reader.
Frequently asked questions
Can I guarantee ChatGPT or Claude will recommend me?
No. You don't control the engines. You can make your brand easier to find and trust, then measure whether recommendations improve.
Do I need to be on Wikipedia?
It can help for well-known organisations, but it isn't required, and it isn't possible for every brand. Focus first on your own pages and the review and comparison sources in your category.