Pre-flight checks (day 1)
- robots.txt: OAI-SearchBot allowed; GPTBot decision documented; ChatGPT-User allowed.
- Bing Webmaster Tools: site verified, sitemap submitted, IndexNow enabled.
- Baseline run: 12-prompt brand test (identity/category/comparison/reputation/boundary), 3 runs each, sources panel screenshotted.
Source priorities
- Owned pages with answer blocks on the top-10 buyer questions.
- Review/comparison platforms — complete profiles; ChatGPT's synthesis leans on consensus sources for "best X" answers.
- Wikipedia/Wikidata for entity facts where eligible.
- Community presence (Reddit/niche forums) for experiential questions.
30-day plan
| Week | Moves | Checkpoint |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pre-flight fixes; Bing indexation confirmed | Site:query returns pages in Bing |
| 2 | Answer-block reformat of top 10 pages; Organization schema deployed | Pages re-fetched; live answers begin shifting |
| 3 | Directory/review profile completion; two corroborating placements | Cited-URL inventory shows new sources |
| 4 | Re-run baseline prompt set; log deltas | Visibility movement documented per prompt |
Failure modes specific to ChatGPT
- Memory-vs-retrieval drift: answers from training memory lag your corrections. Symptom: Perplexity already right, ChatGPT still wrong. Fix: keep corroborating; memory catches up with model refreshes.
- Entity collision: answered as your namesake. Fix: differentiation descriptors + Wikidata.
- Sources-panel absence: mentioned but never cited. Fix: passage structure on owned pages — you're being remembered, not read.
Frequently asked questions
How long until ChatGPT reflects my fixes?
Live retrieval (search-enabled answers): days to weeks after Bing indexes the changes. Training-memory answers: one or more model refresh cycles. Track both answer types separately — they move on different clocks.
Does ChatGPT advertising affect answers?
Paid placements in ChatGPT are labeled ads, separate from organic synthesized answers. GEO work targets the organic answer layer; ads don't buy citations.