Why doesn't ChatGPT mention my business?

Mentioned and linked are two different results

ChatGPT can link your page as a source without naming your business in the answer, and it can name you without linking your site. Check both, every time. A page that is linked but never names who wrote it gives you traffic but not your name; a name with no link usually came from someone else's page (a directory, a review site, a news story).

The usual reasons, in the order to check them

1. The crawler is blocked. OpenAI says "Sites that are opted out of OAI-SearchBot will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers, though can still appear as navigational links." Security plugins and firewalls often block it by accident. After a fix, OpenAI says it "can take ~24 hours" for its systems to adjust.
2. No page answers the question. Someone asking for a family lawyer in Parramatta, or how much a bathroom renovation costs in Geelong, gets an answer built from pages that say exactly that. A home page and a list of services rarely do.
3. Nobody else mentions you. AI answers that search the web read other sites as well as yours; in Google's AI Overviews, directories, social media and news sites are regularly among the sources (see below). If none of the sites an answer reads mention you, there is nothing for it to pick up.
4. The answer didn't search at all. If an answer shows no sources, it was most likely written from what the model learned in training, not from a web search, and a new page on your site won't change it quickly.
5. It was a different run. AI answers change from one run to the next. Ask the same question at least twice, on different days, before deciding you're absent.

Blocking GPTBot is a different choice

GPTBot is OpenAI's training crawler. OpenAI says disallowing it "indicates a site's content should not be used in training generative AI foundation models", and that "Each setting is independent of the others." Blocking GPTBot does not, on OpenAI's own description, remove you from ChatGPT search. Blocking OAI-SearchBot does. Which AI crawlers to block, and which to allow.

How many people ask AI about local businesses

In a US survey of 1,002 adults, 45% had used AI tools for local business recommendations, up from 6% in 2025 (BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026, published 10 Mar 2026). BrightLocal reports ChatGPT as the most used tool for this, at 31%, and Google's AI Mode at 23%. That is a US survey; I know of no Australian figure yet.

What we see in our checks

In our Australian AI Overview Index (scan of 23 Oct 2026: 40 Australian questions across five industries, 3 runs each), Google showed an AI Overview in 119 of 120 runs, each listing about 7 to 10 sources. An individual business's own website was among those sources in 116 of the 119 AI Overviews, and media, social media or a directory in 87. The Index measures Google's AI Overviews only, on a fixed list of general questions (all published in the Index); it doesn't measure ChatGPT, and it doesn't measure any one business. It does show that AI answers on Google cite individual businesses' own pages, not only big brands and government sites.

Questions people ask

Does blocking GPTBot remove my business from ChatGPT?

Not on OpenAI's own description. GPTBot is for training; OAI-SearchBot decides whether your pages can be shown in ChatGPT search answers, and OpenAI says each setting is independent (OpenAI).

How long after a fix will ChatGPT show my site?

For a robots.txt change, OpenAI says it can take about 24 hours for its systems to adjust. For a new page there is no published timeframe: it has to be found, and then chosen for an answer.

Is there a listing I can sign up for, like a Google Business Profile?

I know of none for ChatGPT search. What you can control is your own site, your crawler settings, and how you are listed on the sites the answers cite.

Should I check Perplexity and Google too?

Yes. Each uses its own crawler and its own sources. How each one decides what to cite.