Does my website work for ChatGPT? A 10-point check
"Working for ChatGPT" means an AI assistant can reach your site, read it, and understand who you are, what you do, and where — clearly enough to use you in an answer. Here's a 10-point check you can run yourself. AI answers change daily; a scan is a snapshot, so this measures readiness, not a guaranteed outcome.
- AI crawlers are allowed. Your robots.txt doesn't block the search crawlers — OAI-SearchBot (ChatGPT search), Claude-SearchBot, PerplexityBot — or, if you're fine being in training data, GPTBot and ClaudeBot. Blocking the search crawlers opts you out of being read for answers.
- Your page returns real HTML. If your content only appears after heavy JavaScript, some crawlers may not see it. Core text should be in the page source.
- Clear title and meta description. Each page states what it is in the title tag and description — the first thing machines read.
- LocalBusiness (or Electrician) schema. Structured data stating name, phone, service area, hours, and services gives assistants unambiguous facts.
- An answer-ready intro. Near the top, a plain sentence: "We're an electrician serving [city], offering X, Y, Z." Easy to lift into an answer.
- FAQ content in text. Real questions and answers as text (not baked into an image) match how people ask assistants.
- Descriptive headings. H1/H2 that state topics ("Panel upgrades in [city]") instead of vague labels.
- Consistent NAP everywhere. Your name, phone, and city match across your site, Google Business Profile, and directories. Conflicts make assistants hesitate.
- Reasonable speed. A very slow server or frequent timeouts can mean crawlers don't wait around. Aim for a quick server response.
- You're indexed by Google. The foundation — if Google can't index you, Google's AI can't summarize you.
Most sites pass some and fail a few. The failures are your to-do list.
How to check quickly
Points 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, and 10 are visible in your page and robots.txt. Point 8 means comparing your site against your Google Business Profile and directory listings. A scan can automate the on-site ones — crawler access, schema, answer-ready content, headings, link text, and indexing signals — and an AI Answer Check shows whether an assistant currently names you.
FAQ
- If I pass all 10 points, will ChatGPT recommend me?
- No guarantee — these make you readable and eligible, but AI answers change daily; a scan is a snapshot, not a promise. They improve your odds, not the outcome.
- Which point matters most?
- Being indexed (10) and letting crawlers in (1) are the foundation — fail those and the rest can't help.
- My site is built in a page builder with lots of JavaScript. Is that a problem?
- It can be, if core text only loads via script. Make sure your key content is in the page source, not rendered only in the browser.
- Do reviews affect whether AI names me?
- Likely, indirectly — reviews and a strong Google Business Profile are common local signals assistants draw on.