How to Get Your AI Tool Recommended by ChatGPT and Google (2026 Founder Guide)

Updated November 9, 2026.

How do I get my AI tool recommended by ChatGPT and Google?

You cannot buy a recommendation. OpenAI and Google both say that letting their crawlers in makes a page eligible to be shown. Eligibility is not a guarantee that ChatGPT or Google AI Overviews will name your product.

That is the whole honest version. The rest of this page is what those companies have actually published, what this directory does with a submission, and which free tools on this site you can run without an account.

A paid badge, a “featured” seal, or a star rating invented for rich results is not a path this desk sells. The editorial policy says payment does not buy a rank. Google Search Central’s AI features page, last updated December 10, 2025 and read November 9, 2026, says a page can meet every requirement and still not be crawled, indexed, or served.

If you just filed a tool, open the listing URL from the success screen, then claim or update it if a field is missing. The listing is a public page. It is not a ChatGPT setting.

How does ChatGPT decide whether my site can appear in search answers?

OpenAI’s crawler documentation, read November 9, 2026, says OAI-SearchBot is the bot that surfaces websites in ChatGPT’s search features.

OpenAI’s crawler overview splits the jobs. OAI-SearchBot is for search. Sites that opt out of it “will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers, though can still appear as navigational links.” OpenAI recommends allowing OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt and allowing requests from the published IP ranges. It also says a robots.txt change can take about 24 hours to apply for search.

GPTBot is not that search crawler. The same page says GPTBot crawls content that may be used to train generative AI foundation models. Disallowing GPTBot is a training opt-out. It is not an on/off switch for ChatGPT search. The two robots.txt settings are independent. A site can allow OAI-SearchBot and disallow GPTBot.

ChatGPT-User is a third agent. OpenAI says it visits a page when a person in ChatGPT or a custom GPT asks it to. Those fetches are user-triggered. The page says robots.txt rules may not apply to them, and ChatGPT-User is not used to decide whether content appears in Search. Use OAI-SearchBot for search opt-outs.

This site’s robots.txt allows Googlebot, GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, ChatGPT-User, and Google-Extended, among others. That is a choice for aiagentsinfo.com. Copying it onto your product domain is a decision you make with your counsel. Allowing those bots here does not make a new listing appear inside ChatGPT.

Is GPTBot the crawler that gets me into ChatGPT search?

No. GPTBot is the training crawler. OAI-SearchBot is the search crawler. OpenAI’s page treats the two robots.txt tags as independent.

The table is a restatement of OpenAI’s November 9, 2026 page. It is not a ranking of which bot “works better.” OpenAI also documents OAI-AdsBot for ads landing-page checks. That bot is for pages submitted as ads. It is not a directory listing feature, and this site does not sell ChatGPT ads.

How does Google’s AI Overviews pick a supporting link?

Google Search Central’s AI features page, last updated December 10, 2025, says a page must be indexed and eligible to be shown in Google Search with a snippet. There are no extra technical requirements for AI Overviews or AI Mode.

The same page says the ordinary SEO work still applies: robots.txt must allow crawling, important facts should be in text, internal links should make the page findable, and structured data should match the visible words. It also says you do not need new machine-readable files, AI text files, or extra schema.org types for those Search AI features.

John Mueller’s May 21, 2025 Search Central post says Google wants unique, non-commodity content that helps the person who lands on the page. Commodity roundups that restate common knowledge are the example it warns against. The post also says Googlebot must not be blocked, the URL must return HTTP 200, and the page must have indexable content.

Google does not promise a citation. The AI features page says meeting the requirements, following the policies, and writing helpful content still does not guarantee crawl, index, or serving.

Two later Search Console notes are about measurement and opt-out, not about a secret ranking file:

• On June 3, 2026, Google announced Search Generative AI performance reports in Search Console. A note on that post, read November 9, 2026, says those insights rolled out to all websites worldwide on August 31, 2026. The report lists impressions, pages, countries, devices, and dates. It is not a “recommended by Google” badge.
• Search Console’s Search generative AI control, rolled out worldwide on August 31, 2026 according to Google’s help article, lets a site include or exclude its links and content from Search generative AI features. Include is the default. Exclude is not a ranking boost. It removes the site from those features.

Google-Extended is a different control. The AI features page points to it for limiting AI training and grounding in some of Google’s other systems. It is not the switch for AI Overviews. Googlebot remains the crawler for Search.

Google’s crawler overview, last updated June 12, 2026, says common crawlers such as Googlebot respect robots.txt for automatic crawls, and that by default crawlers only read the first 15 MB of a file. That 15 MB figure is Google’s published default, not a ranking score.

Do I need an llms.txt file or special AI markup?

Not for Google AI Overviews or AI Mode. Google’s AI features page says you do not need new machine-readable files, AI text files, or extra schema.org structured data for those features.

An /llms.txt file is a separate proposal, published at llmstxt.org and revised as v2 in August 2026. The spec is a Markdown file at /llms.txt that names the site, optionally summarizes it, and lists links to more Markdown. Agents that look for that file can use it. Google Search Central’s AI features page does not say it is a requirement for AI Overviews.

This site publishes /llms.txt and a longer /llms-full.txt. New guides and directory listings show up there on the next deploy. That helps agents that fetch this domain. It does not move a product into ChatGPT’s answers by itself.

If you add /llms.txt on your own product site, keep it true. A file that claims a rank, a user count, or a review this desk did not write is still a claim on your domain. This guide will not invent those numbers for you.

What should I publish on my own site so an assistant has something to cite?

A public page that states, in ordinary sentences, what the product does, what it costs, and who it is for. Google’s May 21, 2025 post says to write unique pages, keep the main facts in text, and support them with images or video when that helps a person. OpenAI’s search crawler needs a URL it is allowed to fetch.

Concrete pages that usually help a person, and therefore give a crawler something to quote:

• A product page that is not only a slogan.
• A pricing page with the list price you are willing to see quoted. If you submit that URL on this directory, the listing can point at it.
• A docs or FAQ page that answers the job a buyer would type into ChatGPT or Google, in the same words the buyer would use.
• A changelog or “what it is not” page, so an assistant that cites you is less likely to invent a feature.

Do not stuff the page with a keyword grid. Google’s post is explicit that the work is unique, people-first content. This desk’s editorial policy uses the same rule for its own articles: pages are not created to fill a keyword grid, and numbers stay off a page unless a source is linked.

If you want a mechanical check on a prompt or a tool schema before you ship, use the prompt and tool checker. If you want a 30-day token bill from official per-token prices, use the agent cost calculator. Neither tool is a citation report. Both run with no login.

How does a directory listing on this site help, and when does it stay out of search?

A listing is a public URL on this domain, with your official site as the source link. Assistants that already read this site, or that are connected to the directory MCP server, can retrieve that URL. That is a citation path. It is not a ChatGPT ranking purchase.

Submit your tool requires no account and no fee. A valid submission is published automatically and usually appears in about two minutes. Community listings are the maker’s text. The page says so. This desk has not written an independent review of those pages.

Search inclusion on this site is stricter than “the form accepted it.” The editorial policy says a slogan, a sentence that repeats the tagline, or unreadable English is not a real explanation. Unreadable submissions are not published. Readable but thin ones stay up for visitors and are marked so they are not offered as search results. The mechanical check in this repository is 80 words of description that is not the tagline repeated.

That 80-word figure is a threshold this desk uses. It is not a Google ranking factor, and it is not a ChatGPT score. If your listing is live but thin, write a real explanation of the product and email an update. There is still no login.

A listing also sits in a category. The category page is alphabetical. Comparison tables on Best AI agents are sourced rows, not a quality score. After you submit, the success screen and the listing page both show the category and any comparison table this desk already publishes for that category. If your product is not a row on that table yet, the page says so. Nothing on those screens is a paid slot.

How do I update the listing after I submit, without a login?

There is no account. Open your listing, use Claim / update this listing, and email the desk. The same form is /submit?claim= plus your slug.

The listing page now shows a Complete your listing card. It reads five fields that already exist on the page:

• Screenshots, meaning a product image in the listing body. A logo is not a screenshot.
• Demo video, meaning a YouTube (or similar) link on file.
• Pricing, meaning a starting price, a pricing-page URL, or a free / open-source model.
• Use cases, meaning at least one use the directory can filter on.
• Links, meaning a public X, LinkedIn, GitHub, YouTube, or similar profile besides the website.

Each missing line opens a prefilled email. Do not send passwords, private metrics, or other secrets. The submit page already warns against that.

If the listing is not yours, do not claim it. If it is yours and a fact is wrong, the email is the edit path.

What free checks can I run before I spend on ads?

Three tools on this site run without a login, and none of them is a ChatGPT or Google ranking report.

• Which AI agent fits me? asks four questions and returns three directory listings that match. Use it to see which products this desk would surface for a buyer in your category.
• AI agent cost calculator estimates a 30-day model bill from official per-token prices. It does not add a seat fee.
• Prompt and tool checker counts tokens and checks tool JSON. The prompt is not stored.

For how an assistant thinks about a product in this category, read How do AI agents work?. For how a serious buyer tests a runtime, read How do you evaluate an AI agent harness?. Both are existing guides on this site. They do not claim that publishing a listing will make ChatGPT or Google name you.

The useful next step is still the boring one: a unique public page, crawlers allowed, a listing that is a real explanation, and an email if a field is missing. That is what the official crawler docs actually support. Everything else is a pitch.

Frequently asked questions

How do I get my AI tool recommended by ChatGPT and Google?

You cannot buy a recommendation. OpenAI and Google both say that letting their crawlers in makes a page eligible to be shown. Eligibility is not a guarantee that ChatGPT or Google AI Overviews will name your product.

How does ChatGPT decide whether my site can appear in search answers?

OpenAI’s crawler documentation, read November 9, 2026, says OAI-SearchBot surfaces websites in ChatGPT’s search features. Sites that opt out of it are not shown in ChatGPT search answers, though they can still appear as navigational links. A robots.txt change can take about 24 hours to apply for search.

Is GPTBot the crawler that gets me into ChatGPT search?

No. GPTBot is the training crawler. OAI-SearchBot is the search crawler. The two robots.txt settings are independent.

How does Google’s AI Overviews pick a supporting link?

Google Search Central’s AI features page, last updated December 10, 2025, says the page must be indexed and eligible for a snippet in Google Search. There are no extra technical requirements. Indexing is not guaranteed.

Do I need an llms.txt file or special AI markup?

Not for Google AI Overviews or AI Mode. Google’s page says you do not need new machine-readable files or extra schema.org markup for those Search AI features. /llms.txt is a separate proposal for agents. This site publishes its own copy.

What should I publish on my own site so an assistant has something to cite?

A unique public page, in text, that says what the product does, what it costs, and who it is for. Google’s May 21, 2025 post is the source for “unique, non-commodity” and for keeping Googlebot unblocked.

How does a directory listing on this site help, and when does it stay out of search?

It is a public URL with your official site attached. Thin community blurbs stay up for visitors and stay out of this site’s sitemap. The mechanical check is 80 words that are not the tagline. Submit has no login. Payment does not buy a rank.

How do I update the listing after I submit, without a login?

Use Claim / update with your slug. The listing page’s completeness card names screenshots, demo video, pricing, use cases, and links, and prefills an email for anything missing.

What free checks can I run before I spend on ads?

The agent picker, cost calculator, and prompt checker. No login. None of them is a ChatGPT or Google ranking report.