ChatGPT knows about your business in two separate ways: the general picture it built during training, and whatever it finds by searching the live web while it answers you. The two routes come from different places, move at different speeds, and need different fixes.
Live search: what OpenAI actually says
OpenAI confirms that ChatGPT search sometimes partners with other search providers, though it does not name which ones power any given answer. When it searches, ChatGPT typically rewrites your question into one or more targeted queries, and it may send additional, more specific follow-up queries if the first pass is not enough. ChatGPT may also search the web automatically, without being asked to, whenever a question would benefit from current information.
For your site to be eligible at all, OpenAI is specific: allow OAI-SearchBot to crawl your site, and confirm your host or content delivery network allows traffic from OpenAI's published searchbot IP addresses. Even then, OpenAI states that ChatGPT ranks search results using multiple factors intended to help users find relevant, reliable information, and that placement is not guaranteed.
Training: the slower, general picture
The training route is less visible by design. OpenAI documents GPTBot as the crawler tied to training its generative AI foundation models, separate from OAI-SearchBot. OpenAI does not publish a list of which specific sites were used to train any given model, so nobody, including this site, can honestly tell you whether your page specifically shaped what ChatGPT already "knows" about your business. What is confirmed is the mechanism: content that GPTBot is allowed to crawl may be used in training, and blocking GPTBot is how a site opts out of that.
Why your own details and outside mentions still matter
Neither OpenAI source claims a ranking algorithm in public. What follows is reasoning, not a quoted fact: if live search depends on OAI-SearchBot reaching clear, current pages, then a site with blocked crawlers or outdated details gives the live route less to work with. If the training picture accumulates from references across the wider web over time, then consistent facts about your business in more places, not just on your own site, give that slower route a clearer signal to converge on. Neither claim says how the underlying model weighs anything. It is simply that a search engine cannot use a page it cannot reach, and a model cannot learn a fact that was never written down anywhere.
Check whether OAI-SearchBot can reach your site
Before anything else, confirm the crawler can actually get in. See how to check whether your site is blocking AI crawlers for the walkthrough, and GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot and ChatGPT-User: what each one actually does if you want the full breakdown of OpenAI's three published bots and what each one is for. A site that blocks GPTBot but allows OAI-SearchBot is making a deliberate, defensible choice: out of training, available for search.
Once crawler access is confirmed, the only way to know what ChatGPT is actually saying is to ask it. See how to check what ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI say about your business for a repeatable method, and how long it takes for ChatGPT to start recommending your business for why the two routes above move at such different speeds.
Frequently asked questions
Does ChatGPT say which search providers it uses?
Not in general terms. OpenAI says ChatGPT search sometimes partners with other search providers, without naming which ones power a given answer, and that it typically rewrites your question into one or more targeted queries sent to those providers.
What is OAI-SearchBot, and why does it matter?
OAI-SearchBot is the crawler OpenAI uses to make a website eligible for ChatGPT search results. OpenAI says you need to allow OAI-SearchBot to crawl your site and confirm your host or CDN allows traffic from OpenAI's published searchbot IP addresses.
Is OAI-SearchBot the same crawler used for training?
No. GPTBot is the crawler tied to training OpenAI's models; OAI-SearchBot is tied to search results. The two settings in robots.txt are independent, so you can allow one and block the other.
Can I guarantee ChatGPT will recommend my business?
No. OpenAI states plainly that ChatGPT ranks search results using multiple factors intended to help users find relevant, reliable information, and that placement is not guaranteed.
See what ChatGPT says about you right now
The $49 audit runs 25 real buyer questions across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews, and comes back as dated transcripts. It is credited in full against your first month if you go ahead. Get the $49 audit.
Sources: OpenAI Help Center, ChatGPT search OpenAI Platform docs, crawlers and bots