How ChatGPT decides which companies to recommend

When ChatGPT recommends B2B vendors with search on, it runs web searches, reads a handful of pages and names the companies those pages mention. Our platform found that 45% of the links ChatGPT cited were directories and review sites like Clutch and G2. Perplexity's sources leaned on guides and "best of" lists instead.

This guide is for B2B SaaS and tech teams who want to know why some vendors get named and others do not. It puts two things side by side: what OpenAI says about ChatGPT search, and what our platform found when it asked buyer questions (September 2026).

Why it matters: 51% of B2B software buyers start research in an AI chatbot more often than Google. And 69% say a chatbot led them to a different vendor than planned (G2, 1,076 buyers, March 2026). ChatGPT has more than 900 million weekly active users.

What does OpenAI say about how ChatGPT search works?

Short answer: OpenAI says ChatGPT can search the web, read what it finds and answer with links to its sources. It does not publish a list of ranking factors. Everything below comes from OpenAI's own pages, checked on 1 October 2026.

• Search runs on its own or on request. ChatGPT may search the web on its own when a question needs current information, or the user can turn search on (OpenAI help).
• It rewrites your question into searches. ChatGPT typically rewrites the prompt into one or more targeted queries and sends them to search partners. It may then send more specific follow-up queries (OpenAI help).
• Answers link to sources. Search answers can include citations and a Sources panel the user can open (OpenAI help).
• Sites must allow OAI-SearchBot. OpenAI's crawler docs say OAI-SearchBot powers ChatGPT search, GPTBot crawls for training and ChatGPT-User fetches pages when a user asks. Robots.txt changes take about 24 hours to apply.
• Ranking uses many factors, and nothing is promised. OpenAI says ChatGPT ranks search results using multiple factors meant to surface relevant, reliable information, and that placement is not guaranteed (OpenAI help).
• Product results follow their own rules. For shopping, OpenAI says product results are not ads. It says they are picked using things like price, descriptions and reviews. That page is about consumer products, not B2B vendors (OpenAI help).

What OpenAI does not say is just as useful. It does not say how it weighs one source against another. Any page that gives you exact "ChatGPT ranking factors" is guessing.

What did our platform find when it asked ChatGPT buyer questions?

Short answer: ChatGPT and Perplexity lean on different kinds of sources. ChatGPT leaned hard on directories and review sites. The sources Perplexity read were mostly guides and "best of" lists.

From our platform, September 2026: we asked ChatGPT and Perplexity the questions B2B buyers ask, with web search on, and sorted every source by type. For ChatGPT, that means the links cited in its answers. For Perplexity, it means the sources it read.

Source: our platform, September 2026.

The mix is almost reversed. One page will not win both engines.

The engines also disagree on who to name. Our platform found that only about 1 in 8 of the companies named (12%) showed up in both ChatGPT's and Perplexity's answers. ChatGPT named about 50% more different companies than Perplexity. Names were read from the answers automatically, so expect some noise.

What searches does ChatGPT run before it answers?

Short answer: it turns one buyer question into a few short search queries. Those queries decide which pages it reads. If your pages do not match them, you are not in the pool.

Here is a real example from our platform. The question was "What's the best AEO agency for a B2B SaaS company?" ChatGPT ran these searches:

1. best AEO agency B2B SaaS answer engine optimization agency
2. AEO agency B2B SaaS answer engine optimization agency
3. answer engine optimization agency B2B SaaS

Every page it then cited was a Clutch or G2 page. The agencies it named were the ones on those pages. Source: our platform, September 2026.

The same thing happens when people ask ChatGPT how it works. For "How does ChatGPT decide which companies to recommend?", it searched for things like "OpenAI ChatGPT recommendations how model decides which companies to recommend official". Every link it cited was an OpenAI page.

The lesson is simple. The searches are short and literal. They use the category name, the buyer type and words like "best" and "agency". Pages that state those plainly are easier to find.

Which signals seem to matter?

Short answer: four signals showed up again and again. We label each one as stated (OpenAI says so) or observed (our platform saw it). We do not give weights, because no one can measure them honestly.

Note what is missing. Schema and llms.txt are not on this list. They are good hygiene, but we have no evidence they make ChatGPT name you.

How do ads in ChatGPT affect recommendations?

Short answer: OpenAI says ads are kept apart from answers. Ads are labelled, and they do not change what ChatGPT recommends. Treat paid and earned as two separate channels.

• Ads are labelled and separate. Ads can appear below the end of a response, labelled as sponsored and set apart from the answer (OpenAI help).
• Ads do not change answers. OpenAI says ads run on separate systems and advertisers cannot shape, rank or alter ChatGPT's responses (OpenAI help).
• Ad pages are checked by a separate bot. OpenAI's crawler docs list OAI-AdsBot for ad landing pages.
• Where ads run. Ads may appear on the Free and Go plans, not on Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise or Edu. Testing started in the United States on 9 February 2026 and is rolling out to select regions (OpenAI help).

For a B2B SaaS team, this means buying ads will not get you into the organic answer. The answer still comes from the pages ChatGPT reads.

What should you do about it?

Short answer: make sure ChatGPT can read you, then get onto the sources it reads. Here are five actions, in order.

1. Check crawler access. Allow OAI-SearchBot and PerplexityBot in robots.txt, and check your CDN or firewall does not block them. See OpenAI and Perplexity crawler docs.
2. Claim your directory profiles. Set up Clutch and G2 profiles with your category, buyer type and real reviews from real clients. Never invent reviews.
3. Get onto the lists that get cited. Find the "best of" lists that show up for your prompts, and pitch the publishers with facts.
4. Say what you are in plain words. Your homepage and service pages should name your category and who you serve, in the words buyers type.
5. Test your own prompts. Ask the questions your buyers ask on both engines, and ask each one more than once, because AI answers change from one ask to the next. Note who gets named and which sources sit behind them.

See what ChatGPT says about you

We turn AI visibility into pipeline. The first step is knowing where you stand.

Our free AI visibility audit shows how ChatGPT and Perplexity answer your buyers' questions today, with results in 12 hours. We cannot promise any engine will name you. We can show you what is in the way.