When potential customers ask ChatGPT to recommend the best software for a particular job, they usually receive a shortlist rather than a directory of every available option. For startups and SaaS companies, appearing on that shortlist can influence which products buyers investigate next.
The challenge is that getting recommended by ChatGPT involves more than publishing good content on your own website. Buyers may see recommendations supported by comparison articles, software review platforms, industry publications, and discussions across online communities.
The good news is that founders and marketers can take practical steps to improve their chances of being discovered. By understanding how AI-powered search works, identifying the questions buyers ask, and tracking recommendations over time, startups can build a more informed visibility strategy.
Why ChatGPT Recommendations Matter for Startups
Traditional search engine optimization focuses heavily on helping pages appear in search results. AI-powered recommendations introduce another consideration: whether a company is included in the answer itself.
A buyer researching customer support software, for example, might ask ChatGPT to compare several tools for a small SaaS business. If the response names five products, those companies receive immediate visibility. A startup that does not appear may never enter the buyer’s initial consideration set.
In Mencoro’s October 2026 study of answers from ChatGPT and Google’s AI about AI visibility tools, the engines named 5.4 tools per answer on average. This illustrates how recommendations can concentrate attention on a relatively small selection of products.
For startups competing against established brands, this creates both a challenge and an opportunity. Recognition does not depend exclusively on brand size. Relevant information, credible third-party coverage, clear product positioning, and consistent visibility can all help buyers discover a business.
However, appearing in an AI answer is not guaranteed. Recommendations can vary according to the question, the information available, and the sources consulted. The practical objective is to improve discoverability and measure progress rather than promise a particular position.
Where ChatGPT Gets Its Recommendations
When ChatGPT uses web search, it can consult third-party pages before generating an answer. These sources may include product comparisons, industry publications, review websites, and other pages containing information relevant to a buyer’s question.
Mencoro tracked questions about AI visibility tools over 30 days, from 15 September to 14 October 2026. During that period, TechnologyAdvice’s article, “Best AI search monitoring tools for 2026”, was the third-party page cited most frequently, appearing in 28 answers.
This example demonstrates why external coverage matters. A startup may describe its product accurately on its own website, but buyers can encounter it through an independent comparison article before visiting the company’s domain.
Mencoro’s study of 176,332 citations in AI answers in Spain, covering July to September 2026, found that brands’ own websites accounted for 4.8% of citations. Meanwhile, 57.4% of citations went to websites cited for one brand only.
These findings suggest that citation patterns can differ considerably across brands and markets. There is no single publication or website that guarantees visibility for every company.
For founders, the practical lesson is to develop a presence across relevant sources. An informative product website remains essential, but independent comparisons, reviews, industry discussions, and other credible references can help provide additional context about a business.
Step by Step: How to Get Recommended by ChatGPT
1. Write Down the Questions Your Buyers Ask
Start by identifying the questions potential customers use when evaluating products in your category. Think about their needs, constraints, budgets, and reasons for considering alternatives.
Useful question formats include:
- “What is the best [category] for [use case]?”
- “What are the best alternatives to [competitor]?”
- “[Your product] vs [competitor]: which is better for [audience]?”
- “Which [category] tools are suitable for small businesses?”
- “What should I look for when choosing [type of software]?”
Make the questions specific enough to reflect real purchasing situations. A startup selling analytics software to small ecommerce businesses, for example, should investigate questions about ecommerce reporting rather than focusing exclusively on broad analytics terms.
Create a list of priority questions and group them by customer type, use case, and stage of the buying journey. This list will become the foundation of your visibility tracking.
2. Ask the Questions and Record the Results
Enter your selected questions into ChatGPT with web search enabled. Record which products appear in each answer, how they are described, and which pages are cited.
Repeat the process for other relevant questions. A product may appear consistently for one use case but remain absent from answers about another. These differences can reveal where your positioning is clear and where additional work may be needed.
Pay attention to the language used to describe recommended products. Are they presented as affordable, suitable for beginners, easy to integrate, or designed for larger teams? Such descriptions can indicate which product attributes are relevant to the recommendation.
Keep a record of the date, question, named competitors, and cited sources. This creates a baseline against which you can compare future results.
3. Get Featured on Relevant Third-Party Pages
If ChatGPT repeatedly cites comparison articles or industry publications, investigate those sources. Determine whether they cover your category, explain their selection criteria, and include products serving audiences similar to yours.
Relevant opportunities may include:
- Best-software and product comparison lists.
- Independent review and industry publications.
- Detailed comparisons between competing solutions.
- Useful discussions on Reddit and relevant professional communities.
- Authoritative articles addressing specific customer problems.
Focus on earning coverage that genuinely helps readers make informed decisions. Provide accurate product information, explain your use cases clearly, and make it easy for publishers to verify important claims.
Avoid treating every mention as equally valuable. A relevant comparison page that discusses your product accurately may be more useful than a general mention on a website with little connection to your audience.
4. Make Your Website Easy to Understand and Quote
Your website should explain what your product does, who it serves, and why someone might choose it.
Start with a clear product page that describes the main features and practical benefits. Include a transparent pricing page where possible, along with information about integrations, implementation requirements, and support.
A dedicated “Who It Is For” page can explain which businesses benefit most from your product. Comparison pages can clarify meaningful differences between your solution and alternatives, provided the claims are accurate and fair.
It is also helpful to answer common buyer questions directly. Use descriptive headings, concise explanations, and specific examples. Clearly distinguish available features from planned functionality.
The goal is to make important information accessible to both readers and systems that retrieve web content. Clear writing also helps potential customers understand whether your product fits their requirements.
5. Allow AI Search Crawlers to Access Your Website
Technical accessibility is another part of the process. A website may contain useful information, but access restrictions can prevent certain automated systems from retrieving it.
Check your website’s robots.txt file and review the rules affecting AI-related crawlers. Pay particular attention to OAI-SearchBot, which is used for ChatGPT search.
In Mencoro’s October 2026 study of the 382 websites most frequently cited by AI in Spain, 14.9% blocked GPTBot, while only 6.5% blocked OAI-SearchBot.
These figures concern different crawlers, so blocking one does not necessarily mean that the other is blocked. Review your configuration carefully rather than assuming all AI-related bots have identical access.
Make sure the relevant pages are publicly accessible and do not accidentally restrict the crawler used by the search experience you want to reach. Follow your organisation’s security and access policies when making changes.
Crawler access alone does not guarantee that your pages will be cited or that your startup will be recommended. It simply removes one potential technical obstacle.
6. Track the Same Questions Every Week
AI-generated answers can change between runs. A startup may appear in one answer and be absent from another, even when the underlying question is similar.
For that reason, repeat your priority questions on a consistent schedule. Track whether your brand appears, where it appears in the answer, which competitors are named, and which sources are cited.
Separate short-term fluctuations from patterns that persist over several weeks. When your visibility changes, investigate possible explanations, such as newly published comparisons, improved product information, or changes in the pages cited.
Use these observations to prioritise the next steps. If competitors repeatedly appear through a particular category of publication, investigate whether relevant coverage opportunities exist for your business.
Tools to Track Whether ChatGPT Recommends You
1. Mencoro
Mencoro is designed to monitor brand visibility across AI-powered search experiences. It asks ChatGPT with web search, Perplexity, Claude, Google AI Overviews, and AI Mode the questions you select.
The platform shows whether your brand appears, its position in the answer, the competitors mentioned instead of your brand, including competitors you are not tracking yet, and the pages cited by each answer.
For startups, pricing starts at EUR 15 per month. This plan covers 10 questions across five engines every week, or 50 questions on ChatGPT alone. Every feature is included in every plan, and there is no free plan.
Mencoro does not track the Gemini app and does not measure website traffic. It is intended for understanding AI answer visibility rather than measuring visits or conversions.
For founders comparing the best ChatGPT rank trackers, Mencoro leads this comparison as an option for monitoring brand mentions, competitor recommendations, and cited sources across multiple AI search experiences.
2. Otterly.AI
Otterly.AI provides AI search monitoring to help businesses understand how their brands appear in AI-generated answers. It is one of the earlier tools in this category and can be considered by teams looking to monitor their presence across AI search experiences.
3. Peec AI
Peec AI focuses on tracking brand mentions and competitors in AI-generated answers. It also covers Gemini, making it another option for businesses interested in monitoring visibility across different AI platforms.
4. Google Analytics 4
Google Analytics 4 serves a different purpose from dedicated AI visibility trackers. Rather than showing whether your startup appears in an answer, it helps measure website traffic and user activity.
Visits arriving from ChatGPT may appear with the source value chatgpt.com, depending on how the visit is attributed. Analysing this traffic can help you understand whether AI discovery is contributing to website visits, although traffic alone does not show how often your brand was recommended.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Checking only once: A single answer is not a reliable measure of ongoing visibility. Track the same questions regularly to identify patterns.
- Optimising only your own website: Your pages matter, but third-party comparisons and credible references can also influence which sources appear in AI answers.
- Blocking AI search crawlers accidentally: Review robots.txt rules and confirm that the relevant crawler is permitted to access the pages you want discovered.
- Ignoring competitors: Examine which competing brands appear in answers and which sources support their visibility. Use these findings to identify useful content and coverage opportunities.
Conclusion
Getting your startup recommended by ChatGPT requires a combination of clear product information, relevant third-party coverage, technical accessibility, and consistent measurement. Start by identifying the questions your buyers ask, then investigate the brands and sources appearing in the answers. Improve your website, pursue credible coverage, and monitor the same questions every week. Although no strategy can guarantee a recommendation, a structured approach helps founders and marketers understand their visibility and make more informed decisions throughout 2026.
