AI and references

[ABoussignac]

How can we ensure that a business's services or products are automatically referenced and recommended in artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity when a user asks a question about a specific need?

[Moderator Note: this post has been optimized for clarity and a relevant solution has been added. Thank you for your contributions to the HubSpot Community!]

[danmoyle]

Great question @ABoussignac. It's a big one, and one that doesn't have a direct answer just yet, as generative AI is so new to the market. In my research, it's a bit like SEO at this point. Following SEO rules like helpful content, easily accessed content, high-quality content, and well-designed technical specs of your website will all help. As with SEO, it's not a guarantee, but it's these best practices that will help. 

For fun, I asked ChatGPT this question. Here's what it had to say: 

Ensuring that your business can be automatically referenced in artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT or Perplexity when relevant questions are asked requires a strategic approach. Here are some steps you can take to improve your business's visibility in AI-powered search and recommendation systems:

1. Optimize your online presence:

   • Create and maintain a professional website for your business. Ensure that it contains up-to-date and relevant information about your products or services.
   • Implement search engine optimization (SEO) best practices to improve your website's ranking in search engine results. This will increase the likelihood of your business being referenced in AI-generated responses.

2. Develop high-quality content:

   • Create valuable and informative content related to your industry or niche. This content can include blog posts, articles, videos, or infographics. High-quality content is more likely to be referenced by AI systems when answering relevant questions.
   • Use relevant keywords and phrases within your content to make it easier for AI tools to identify your business as a potential reference.

3. Leverage structured data:

   • Implement structured data markup (e.g., schema.org) on your website. This helps search engines and AI systems understand the content on your site more easily. Structured data can provide information about your products, services, reviews, and other important details.

4. Maintain an active online presence:

   • Engage with your audience on social media platforms and online communities. Answer questions, provide value, and share your expertise.
   • Consistently update and monitor your business listings on platforms like Google My Business, Yelp, and other relevant directories.

5. Build backlinks:

   • Earn backlinks from reputable and authoritative websites in your industry. These backlinks can improve your website's authority and increase the chances of AI tools referencing your content.

6. Encourage user-generated content and reviews:

   • Encourage satisfied customers to leave positive reviews and ratings on platforms like Google, Yelp, or industry-specific review sites. AI tools often consider user-generated content when responding to queries.

7. Monitor trends and adapt:

   • Stay updated on industry trends and the evolving AI landscape. AI models like GPT-3.5 may change, so adapt your content and strategies accordingly.

8. Collaborate with AI developers:

   • If you have the resources, consider collaborating with AI developers or platforms that use AI to provide information. Some platforms allow businesses to integrate their expertise directly into AI models or chatbots.

9. Be authentic and transparent:

   • Ensure that your online presence accurately represents your business. Authenticity and transparency are essential for building trust with both users and AI systems.

10. Use paid advertising:

• Invest in online advertising, such as pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns, to increase your business's visibility in search results and on social media platforms.

Remember that AI models like ChatGPT or Perplexity rely on a combination of factors to provide responses, including relevance, quality, and user engagement. By following these steps, you can increase the likelihood of your business being automatically referenced when relevant questions are asked in AI tools. However, there are no guarantees, as AI systems generate responses based on various factors and algorithms.

[biplobdev]

1. Publish High-Quality, Sourceable Content
2. List Your Business on Authoritative Directories
3. Get Indexed and Structured for AI Discovery
4. Get Referenced by Other Credible Sites
5. Be Active on High-Authority Platforms such as Wikipedia, Quora, Reddit, LinkedIn, Medium, Stack Etc.
6. Submit Your Business to Knowledge Graph Sources

[seosiri]

Getting your business referenced by AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity requires shifting focus from traditional SEO to what the HubSpot Community calls "AI Engine Optimization" (AEO). The primary goal is to establish your business as a trusted, authoritative source within the AI's vast training data.

Based on the discussion, here are the key steps:

1. Establish Unmistakable Authority: AI models learn from the web's most credible sources. The more your business is cited, reviewed, and discussed as an expert on high-quality websites, industry publications, and forums, the more likely the AI will recognize you as a reliable recommendation.

2. Implement Rich Structured Data (Schema): Make it easy for machines to understand exactly what you do. Use comprehensive schema markup for your organization, products, and services. This provides a clear, structured "résumé" of your offerings that AI can easily parse and reference.

3. Create Comprehensive, Factual Content: Publish detailed articles, definitive guides, and data-rich content that answer specific user questions so thoroughly that AI models identify your content as a primary source of truth on that topic.

4. Be Part of Foundational Knowledge Bases: As the thread suggests, being cited on authoritative sources like Wikipedia or trusted, industry-specific wikis is a powerful signal. The AI learns from these foundational platforms and recognizes entities mentioned there as significant.

As discussed in the HubSpot Community thread (https://community.hubspot.com/t5/AI-Adventurers/Beyond-SEO-Are-we-thinking-about-quot-AI-Engine-Opti...), this is a long-term strategy. The goal isn't just to rank, but to make your brand so genuinely authoritative and its data so well-structured that AI models naturally conclude your services are the best answer.

[Jaycee_Lewis]

Hey @ABoussignac Here's an updated reply to your question (with a little help from Gemini)

Try these key actions:

• Create Authoritative Content: Publish expert-level content that answers your customers' questions and establishes you as an industry leader.

• Use Structured Data: Implement schema markup on your website so AI crawlers can clearly understand your products and services.

• Build Backlinks: Earn mentions and links from reputable industry websites to build your credibility with AI models.

• Optimize Business Listings: Keep your Google Business Profile and other online directories complete and accurate to be recognized as a legitimate entity.

Best,

Jaycee

[Moderator Note: this post has been optimized for clarity and a relevant solution has been added]

[bendonahower]

See this document from HubSpot on AI trust and safety
https://www.hubspot.com/products/artificial-intelligence/ai-trust

[Victor_Becerra]

Thank you for sharing @bendonahower ! Best, Victor

[Abrabomer]

Search engines and AI prioritize content that’s informative, engaging, and structured well, so optimizing for SEO is still critical. This includes refining metadata, ensuring your content is up-to-date, and linking strategically both internally and externally.Another angle is focusing on user interaction and feedback loops. By using AI tools to analyze trends and create shareable, targeted content, you not only attract users but also signal relevance to AI for social media systems that aggregate and deliver answers.

[Lucila-Andimol]

Hi @ABoussignac great question.

Love that Dan even asked ChatGPT about this.

So, even that the output is different (now by a chatbot) the source of information is still the same that when you thought about SEO for organic positioning .

In summary the main things to keep in mind: a site with quality content, indexed by search engines/crawlers, keep paying attention to SEO and metadata, have updated content, work on linking content to and from other platforms (among other things).

All of this will help traffic to your site to improve, visitor interaction to improve and then search engines and AI tools will start showing you in the results.
Also keep in mind that AI tools are still in a learning phase and taking feedback from their users and modifying their results.

Hope this helps

[danmoyle]

Great question @ABoussignac. It's a big one, and one that doesn't have a direct answer just yet, as generative AI is so new to the market. In my research, it's a bit like SEO at this point. Following SEO rules like helpful content, easily accessed content, high-quality content, and well-designed technical specs of your website will all help. As with SEO, it's not a guarantee, but it's these best practices that will help. 

For fun, I asked ChatGPT this question. Here's what it had to say: 

Ensuring that your business can be automatically referenced in artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT or Perplexity when relevant questions are asked requires a strategic approach. Here are some steps you can take to improve your business's visibility in AI-powered search and recommendation systems:

1. Optimize your online presence:

   • Create and maintain a professional website for your business. Ensure that it contains up-to-date and relevant information about your products or services.
   • Implement search engine optimization (SEO) best practices to improve your website's ranking in search engine results. This will increase the likelihood of your business being referenced in AI-generated responses.

2. Develop high-quality content:

   • Create valuable and informative content related to your industry or niche. This content can include blog posts, articles, videos, or infographics. High-quality content is more likely to be referenced by AI systems when answering relevant questions.
   • Use relevant keywords and phrases within your content to make it easier for AI tools to identify your business as a potential reference.

3. Leverage structured data:

   • Implement structured data markup (e.g., schema.org) on your website. This helps search engines and AI systems understand the content on your site more easily. Structured data can provide information about your products, services, reviews, and other important details.

4. Maintain an active online presence:

   • Engage with your audience on social media platforms and online communities. Answer questions, provide value, and share your expertise.
   • Consistently update and monitor your business listings on platforms like Google My Business, Yelp, and other relevant directories.

5. Build backlinks:

   • Earn backlinks from reputable and authoritative websites in your industry. These backlinks can improve your website's authority and increase the chances of AI tools referencing your content.

6. Encourage user-generated content and reviews:

   • Encourage satisfied customers to leave positive reviews and ratings on platforms like Google, Yelp, or industry-specific review sites. AI tools often consider user-generated content when responding to queries.

7. Monitor trends and adapt:

   • Stay updated on industry trends and the evolving AI landscape. AI models like GPT-3.5 may change, so adapt your content and strategies accordingly.

8. Collaborate with AI developers:

   • If you have the resources, consider collaborating with AI developers or platforms that use AI to provide information. Some platforms allow businesses to integrate their expertise directly into AI models or chatbots.

9. Be authentic and transparent:

   • Ensure that your online presence accurately represents your business. Authenticity and transparency are essential for building trust with both users and AI systems.

10. Use paid advertising:

• Invest in online advertising, such as pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns, to increase your business's visibility in search results and on social media platforms.

Remember that AI models like ChatGPT or Perplexity rely on a combination of factors to provide responses, including relevance, quality, and user engagement. By following these steps, you can increase the likelihood of your business being automatically referenced when relevant questions are asked in AI tools. However, there are no guarantees, as AI systems generate responses based on various factors and algorithms.

[RishiJain]

Hi guys,

Looking for the same answers in 2025 with advancements in AI. How do we navigate in these times?

[DianaGomez]

Hi @ABoussignac, 

Thank you for your question! I'm glad you asked. 😊

Your inquiry is quite insightful, and I would be more than happy to involve some of our experts in the conversation. They may have suggestions or insights that could potentially unlock the secret you're referring to. 

Hi @Lucila-Andimol, @Gilempert, @JuanGomez0818, @danmoyle. We are curious to know if you know how @ABoussignac can achieve his goal!

Thank you all for your valuable contributions!

Best regards,

Diana