ChatGPT citation checklist
Grow AI Search - https://growaisearch.com/chatgpt-search/
Checked against OpenAI's documentation on 25 September 2026.

ChatGPT search can only cite pages that OAI-SearchBot is allowed to fetch.
Work through the 6 steps in order.

1. Allow OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt and at the firewall
   Add this group to https://yourdomain.com/robots.txt:

   User-agent: OAI-SearchBot
   Allow: /

   Allow the IP ranges listed at https://openai.com/searchbot.json in any
   firewall, CDN or bot-management rule. OpenAI says robots.txt changes take
   about 24 hours to reach its systems.
   GPTBot (training) and ChatGPT-User (user-requested visits) are separate
   settings. Blocking GPTBot does not remove a site from ChatGPT search.

2. Serve each page's main content in the HTML response
   Check the raw HTML (view-source, or curl) for the headings, answers,
   prices and facts you want quoted. OpenAI does not document JavaScript
   rendering for OAI-SearchBot.

3. Keep pages findable in public web search
   ChatGPT search queries third-party search providers. Keep key pages
   indexable (no noindex), in the XML sitemap, linked internally, and
   returning HTTP 200.

4. Answer each likely follow-up query in its own passage
   One question per heading. Open each section with a 40-60 word answer
   that names the subject and states the fact, number or date.

5. Publish consistent brand facts on and off the site
   Use the same brand name, category, location and founder on the site,
   About page, profiles and directory listings.

6. Tag, track and re-test ChatGPT referrals
   ChatGPT adds utm_source=chatgpt.com to the links it sends.
   GA4 path:
   a. Open Reports > Acquisition > Traffic acquisition
   b. Change the primary dimension to Session source
   c. Search the table for chatgpt.com
   d. Add a comparison for Session source exactly matches chatgpt.com
   Re-run a fixed prompt set in ChatGPT search and log which pages are cited.

Sources
- OpenAI crawlers: https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/bots
- OpenAI IP ranges: https://openai.com/searchbot.json
- OpenAI Help, Searching the web with ChatGPT: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/9237897-chatgpt-search
- OpenAI Help, Publishers and Developers FAQ: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/12627856-publishers-and-developers-faq