Last updated: 22 October 2026 · By Maurice, freeehouse team · About 3 minutes to read
How chat searches build answers
ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google overviews search the web, pick sources and summarise them. Whoever is named as a source or recommendation gets attention, often a link as well.
For small businesses, questions like electrician in Fulda or best physiotherapy in Leer matter most. There, the systems name specific businesses.
Google: no special rules
Google says in its documentation that there are no additional requirements and no special optimisations for Google overviews and Google's answer mode. A page must be indexed and eligible to appear with a snippet in search.
Google recommends the usual basics: allow crawling, internal links, a good user experience, important content as text and structured data that matches the visible text. According to Google, no new files or special markup are needed.
ChatGPT: the right crawler
OpenAI distinguishes two crawlers. OAI-SearchBot collects pages for search in ChatGPT. If you block it in robots.txt, according to OpenAI you will not appear in ChatGPT's search answers. GPTBot collects content for training models.
The two can be controlled separately. You can allow OAI-SearchBot and block GPTBot. Check your robots.txt and ask your provider whether a firewall blocks these bots. According to OpenAI, changes to robots.txt take effect after about 24 hours.
Content as text in the HTML
Google renders JavaScript, but in a later step. According to Google, not all bots run JavaScript, so Google recommends server-side rendering or pre-rendered pages.
For you this means: services, address, opening hours and prices should be plain text in the HTML. Text inside images, or content that only loads after a click, is invisible to many systems.
Mentions beat links
Ahrefs studied 75,000 brands and measured the relationships with mentions in Google overviews. The study is dated 26 May 2025.
| Factor | Spearman correlation |
|---|---|
| Brand mentions on the web | 0,664 |
| Links with the brand name as link text | 0,527 |
| Search volume for the brand name | 0,392 |
| Referring domains | 0,295 |
| Backlinks | 0,218 |
What the numbers mean
Correlation does not mean cause. But the direction is clear: if you are often mentioned by name on the web, you show up more often in chat answers. For a small business that means industry directories, the local paper, associations, partner businesses and review portals.
A second Ahrefs analysis from 10 July 2026 with 26,283 URLs shows: list articles of the best X kind make up 43.8% of the pages ChatGPT cites for such questions. So it pays to appear in regional best-of lists and comparison articles.
How to write pages that get cited
Chat systems like to pick up sentences that answer a question directly. A few rules help.
- The answer comes in the first sentence of a section, the reasoning after it.
- Concrete numbers instead of adjectives: appointments usually within 3 working days instead of quick appointments.
- Questions and answers as clear sections. Google no longer shows FAQ rich results since 7 May 2026, but the structure still helps understanding.
- Name, address and phone number identical everywhere: on the website, in the Google Business Profile and in directories.
- A separate page for each service and each important place, with real content instead of text blocks.
Measure what lands
Chat search traffic is hard to measure. According to its documentation, Google counts clicks from Google overviews and Google's answer mode in the Search Console Performance report under the search type Web. With ChatGPT, the referrer chatgpt.com in your statistics often helps.
The most reliable method is a simple question in the contact form: how did you find us? freeehouse builds this field into any website on request.
If you want to know whether your current website is readable for these systems, you can have freeehouse check it for free.
If you want your current website rebuilt without paying for the build: freeehouse builds it by hand, and you only pay for hosting with care, cheaper than today. Claim your spot on the waiting list
Frequently asked questions
Do I need an llms.txt file?
Google says no new machine-readable files or special text files for chat services are needed for Google overviews. We have not found proven benefit for other systems.
Which bot do I need to allow for ChatGPT?
OAI-SearchBot. According to OpenAI, pages that block it do not appear in ChatGPT's search answers. GPTBot is responsible for training and can be blocked separately.
Do backlinks help with chat answers?
Somewhat, but less than mentions. In the Ahrefs study the correlation was 0.218 for backlinks and 0.664 for brand mentions.
Can I buy my way into chat answers?
Not with Google's organic overviews. Google says that even meeting all requirements does not guarantee being shown.
What is the quickest first step?
Check your robots.txt for OAI-SearchBot and Googlebot, and make sure services, location and contact are on the home page as text.
Sources
- Google Search Central: Chat-Suche-Funktionen und deine Website, accessed 22 October 2026
- OpenAI: Overview of OpenAI Crawlers, accessed 22 October 2026
- Google Search Central: Grundlagen JavaScript-SEO, accessed 22 October 2026
- Ahrefs: AI Overview Brand Visibility Factors (75K Brands Studied), accessed 22 October 2026
- Ahrefs: Listenartikel und Sichtbarkeit in ChatGPT (26.283 URLs), accessed 22 October 2026
- Google Search Central: FAQ-Seiten (FAQPage), accessed 22 October 2026
- Google Unternehmensprofil Hilfe: Lokales Ranking verbessern, accessed 22 October 2026
Providers' prices and terms change often. What counts is what's in your customer account and your contract. Not legal advice.
Read more
Ready for a new website?
We're currently testing freeehouse with a first round of businesses. Claim your spot on the waiting list.