ChatGPT Doesn’t Know You Exist. Here’s How to Fix That.
If you’re not showing up in AI-generated answers, your business is invisible. Here’s how to get into ChatGPT’s brain (and your buyers’ shortlist).
Everyone was obsessing over how to get more visibility on Google circa 2024.
But that era is already behind us.
Now, buyers are skipping search altogether and heading straight to LLMs to ask for product recommendations, business advice, and vendor comparisons.
And here’s what most people get wrong:
ChatGPT doesn’t just “browse the internet.” It generates answers based on patterns in the data it was trained on.
That means if your business isn’t consistently represented across the right sources, it won’t get mentioned — no matter how great your offer is.
Let’s unpack where ChatGPT gets its knowledge and what you can do to make sure your brand is in the conversation.
First, How Does ChatGPT Learn?
ChatGPT (specifically GPT-4) was trained on public and licensed datasets. It also generates responses based on the patterns it detects in how people describe things, explain concepts, and solve problems.
Here’s where it typically pulls from:
1. Publicly available content
Wikipedia
Government and education websites
Open forums like Reddit and Stack Overflow
Public blogs, FAQs, and documentation
News articles from publicly crawled sites
2. Licensed data
Books
Subscriptions and datasets OpenAI has licensed
Academic journals and trusted publications
3. Structured data and citations
Common Crawl (massive web snapshots)
Wikidata and knowledge graphs
Business databases like Product Hunt or Crunchbase
ChatGPT is not pulling the latest blog post you uploaded yesterday. It’s aggregating recognizable patterns from what it already knows — and if your business doesn’t show up in that training data, you’re not likely to be recommended.
What This Means for Your Business
If your company is:
Missing from key directories
Described inconsistently across platforms
Not mentioned in sources ChatGPT trusts…
Then it simply doesn’t know you exist — or worse, doesn’t trust what it sees.
Here’s How to Start Showing Up
Let’s turn this into a simple checklist. You don’t need to code anything — just be intentional about where and how your business shows up online.
1. Get Listed in AI-Friendly Databases
These platforms regularly appear in training data and influence how AI understands companies:
Crunchbase – Especially for startups and enterprise tools
Product Hunt – Launches, tools, and early-stage startups
LinkedIn – Consistent company descriptions, industries, and services
Wikipedia – High authority if you qualify
GitHub – If your product is developer-related
AngelList, G2, Capterra, Yelp, Google Business
Pro tip: Use a consistent, keyword-rich description across all platforms.
2. Get Cited by the Right Sources
AI models give more weight to content from sources they recognize as credible:
Major publications (e.g. Forbes, TechCrunch)
Industry-specific blogs or review sites
Aggregators like Medium, Substack
Forums like Reddit or Quora
Start small. Sign up for HARO or Featured.com to get quoted by journalists or creators.
Better yet: Collaborate with micro-newsletters or B2B blogs in your space and offer insights, not pitches.
3. Create Structured, Crawl-able Content
The format of your content matters just as much as the content itself.
Create a public-facing FAQ or About page (Notion or GitBook work well)
Use headers, bullet points, and natural language questions
Make sure your content reflects real problems your customers are trying to solve
Example: Instead of saying “We help businesses grow,” say:
“We help B2B SaaS companies generate pipeline using AI-powered outbound campaigns.”
That’s searchable. That’s usable. That’s trainable.
4. Publish Where LLMs Pay Attention
Your blog might be excellent — but if it’s hosted on a site that’s rarely crawled, it won’t help much.
Instead, post on:
Substack
Medium
LinkedIn Articles
Notion (public pages)
Community platforms like Reddit, Hacker News, or Indie Hackers
These sources show up in Common Crawl, forum datasets, and public citations — all of which influence how LLMs “learn.”
Where Each Major LLM Gets Its Data
If you want to show up, you need to know where these AI models are “reading” from.
ChatGPT (OpenAI / GPT-4)
Trained on Common Crawl, Wikipedia, books, and licensed datasets
Includes Reddit, GitHub, Stack Overflow, and public blogs
ChatGPT Plus with browsing can access current web pages (if not blocked by robots.txt)
Claude (Anthropic)
Trained on a similar mix of public web content, academic resources, and open-source projects
Known for ethical filtering and alignment with trusted sources
Frequently references structured knowledge and long-form documents
Gemini (Google)
Pulls from Google Search, YouTube transcripts, and web index data
Likely includes high-ranking search results, news, and product listings
Think SEO + structured schema + Google-friendly content
Perplexity.ai
Uses a hybrid approach: real-time search + LLM generation
Cites sources like Wikipedia, GitHub, Reddit, blogs, and recent articles
Focus on factual accuracy and citation = big opportunity to influence results
Takeaway: If you’re in Crunchbase, Product Hunt, Wikipedia, GitHub, Medium, or trusted blogs, you’re already feeding the machine.
LLMs Learns in Patterns
ChatGPT isn’t out here “searching” for you.
It’s repeating patterns from trusted data it already knows.
So if you want to show up in:
“Top AI tools for [industry]”
“Best SaaS platforms for [pain point]”
“What is [Your Brand]?”
…you need to make sure your brand is showing up where AI tools go to learn.
Said another way, you need to exist where patterns are formed:
In trusted directories
In well-structured public content
In conversations on platforms LLMs consider reliable
In the language your customers use to describe their problems
Because if AI can’t find you…your customers won’t either.
#ChatGPTVisibility #LLMMarketing #AIContentStrategy #NoCodeGrowth
What’s one public source you’re going to update this week to improve your AI visibility?
Drop it in the comments ⬇️
Let’s build smarter.
– Angela
♻️ Repost to help someone in your network unlock growth through no code and automation.
Follow Angela Stewart for more.
Subscribe here 👇
