A growing share of online research no longer starts with a search engine. Users are asking ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Copilot direct, conversational questions: “What is the best accounting software for a ten-person consultancy?” or “Which UK firms specialise in AI readiness assessments?” A May 2026 guide from Digital 360 describes this as ChatGPT search optimisation — the practice of shaping how your brand appears inside AI-generated answers.
Traditional SEO still matters, but it is no longer sufficient. If your brand is not part of the AI answer, you may be invisible to a segment of high-intent buyers.
How AI engines choose what to cite
Generative search tools do not crawl and rank pages in the same way as classic search engines. They rely on large language models trained on vast corpora, supplemented by retrieval systems that pull from authoritative web sources when the answer needs fresh or verifiable information.
To cite your brand, an AI engine needs two things: familiarity with your brand in its training data, and a reason to trust your content as a source. Familiarity comes from consistent, widely referenced presence. Trust comes from clarity, authority and relevance.
Practical steps to improve AI visibility
Be explicit about what you do. AI engines struggle with vague or metaphorical copy. State plainly: “Burt Consultants is a UK AI consultancy that helps mid-market firms plan, build and govern AI systems.” The clearer your positioning, the more likely you are to surface for related questions.
Publish original, structured content. FAQs, comparison pages, methodology documents and research summaries all give AI systems discrete facts to extract. Use natural language, answer questions directly and support claims with evidence.
Build authority through citations and mentions. When reputable publications, directories, partners and forums reference your brand consistently, AI engines gain confidence that you are a real player in your category. This is not about link volume; it is about coherent, credible presence across the web.
Claim and update your knowledge panel equivalents. Make sure your website, LinkedIn, Crunchbase and industry directories tell a consistent story about who you are, what you offer and who you serve.
Finally, monitor what the engines say. Run the same questions your customers ask through ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini each month. If the answers are wrong or omit you, the feedback tells you exactly where your content or authority signals need work.
The mindset shift
ChatGPT search optimisation is not a set of tricks. It is an extension of the same discipline that good marketers already practise: be clear, be credible and be useful. The difference is that your audience now includes machines that answer questions on your behalf.