# How ChatGPT chooses which web agency to recommend | Illia BizTech > Based on official OpenAI, Perplexity and Google sources, here is what trust signals actually influence whether an AI assistant names your web agency. Source: https://illia-biztech.de/en/blog/ki-suchmaschinen-empfehlung-webagentur 1. [Home](/en) 2. [Resources](/en/blog) 3. How AI assistants decide which web agency to recommend ![Business owner reading an AI assistant recommendation for a web agency on a laptop screen](/_ipx/f_webp,q_75/https://cms.illia-biztech.de/uploads/medium_ki_suchmaschinen_empfehlung_webagentur_530bc494ab.png) ![Portrait of Illia Belichenko, technical specialist at Illia BizTech](/_ipx/f_webp,q_75/https://cms.illia-biztech.de/uploads/small_Illia_Belichenko_author_81f88864f0.png) By: Illia Belichenko November 6, 2026 # How AI assistants decide which web agency to recommend There is no published single internal ranking of web agencies that AI assistants use to preselect contractors. When an assistant uses web search, it can run several queries and assemble an answer from sources found on the web. ## What ChatGPT and Perplexity check before naming a contractor ChatGPT search rewrites a question into several machine search queries, retrieves candidates through a search index and its own crawlers, and only then assembles an answer with source links, as described directly in [OpenAI's crawler overview](https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/bots). Perplexity describes a similar process in its own Help Center. The system [searches the web in real time](https://www.perplexity.ai/help-center/en/articles/10352895-how-does-perplexity-work), picks sources it treats as trustworthy, and builds the answer with numbered citations. Both assistants find an agency the way a person would find it through search, not by pulling it from an internal list. The first condition stays the same. The agency's site has to show up in results for the relevant queries in the first place, or there is nothing for the assistant to cite. ## Does an Impressum affect whether an AI recommends a company There is no direct evidence that a missing Impressum by itself lowers the chance of being named by an assistant. Neither OpenAI nor Google publishes a separate ranking signal for it. An Impressum is legally required for businesses in Germany under [§5 of the Digitale-Dienste-Gesetz](https://www.ihk-muenchen.de/de/Service/Recht-und-Steuern/Internetrecht/Impressum-im-Internet/) and provides verifiable information about who stands behind the site. Google also emphasizes clear authorship, contact details, and responsibility for content in its documentation on [trust as the foundation of E-E-A-T](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/creating-helpful-content). An agency without an Impressum usually lacks the other transparency signals an assistant could gather from different sources too. There is no published algorithm that specifically penalizes one missing tag — it is more of a plausible correlation. Search-enabled AI tools generally search the web and read what they find, so consistent public information probably helps, even though no confirmed mechanism describes this. ## How much do reviews matter for AI search Reviews on independent platforms work differently from testimonials on an agency's own site, because the agency cannot edit an independent platform in its own favor. Google describes Authoritativeness as recognition from other sources rather than self-description, so a mention on a third-party site carries more weight than a quote on the agency's own page, a point [Search Engine Land's E-E-A-T guide](https://searchengineland.com/guide/google-e-e-a-t-for-seo) covers in detail. That does not make on-site testimonials useless, they still help a person who has already opened the page. But as a source for AI search they do not replace a company's presence on its Google Business Profile, in industry directories, or on independent review platforms. ## Can you directly buy a mention in ChatGPT OpenAI does not offer small businesses a paid way to buy a mention. The company has licensing deals with large publishers, but that happens at a corporate level and is not an ad product available to a regional web agency. The only lever available is staying reachable for the crawlers described in [OpenAI's documentation](https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/bots), GPTBot collects data for model training, and OAI-SearchBot decides whether a site can appear in ChatGPT's search results. If a site blocks OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt, OpenAI cannot directly crawl that site through this bot for ChatGPT search. That does not rule out the company being mentioned based on other accessible sources. The more independent sites contain verifiable information about the agency, the more sources an assistant has available for an answer. ## Does an AI trust information a company writes about itself directly Google explicitly names trust as the central element of E-E-A-T and ranks it above the other three components, because trust decides whether the system is willing to use a page's text as a source at all, stated in the [documentation on helpful content](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/creating-helpful-content). Text an agency writes about itself is not automatically excluded from an answer, but it carries less weight than a mention that appeared independently of the agency. In practice, the phrase "we are the best in the region" on an agency's own site does not work as proof, while an entry in a register like the IHK or a mention in an industry directory does, because those cannot be edited in the agency's favor. ## Does regular SEO work as the foundation for AI search Yes, and it remains a requirement. Google states directly that for a page to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode it must be indexed and eligible to appear in regular search results with a snippet, with no additional technical requirements, a quote found in [AI features and your website](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features). For Perplexity and ChatGPT with search enabled, ordinary search visibility is helpful, but a site does not have to rank on Google's first page to be citable at all. Assistants can use their own indexes and other accessible sources. ## What to check first * Check the Impressum for compliance with §5 DDG and place it visibly on every page * Collect reviews on at least two or three independent platforms (Google Business Profile, an industry directory), not only on the company's own site * Check robots.txt to confirm GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot and PerplexityBot are not blocked * Check whether the site ranks on at least the first page of regular Google results for the main relevant queries **Share** [ ![Developer editing the llms.txt text file in a website's code on a laptop](/_ipx/f_webp,q_75/https://cms.illia-biztech.de/uploads/medium_llms_txt_kleines_unternehmen_bf0e7164f2.png) Previous Post The llms.txt file on a website. Does a small business need it](/en/blog/llms-txt-kleines-unternehmen) [ ![Person planning a social media posting schedule in a calendar app on a phone](/_ipx/f_webp,q_75/https://cms.illia-biztech.de/uploads/medium_posting_frequenz_algorithmus_mythos_023084ddbf.png) Next Post Do You Really Need to Post Every Day](/en/blog/posting-frequenz-algorithmus-mythos) ![Portrait of Illia Belichenko, technical specialist at Illia BizTech](/_ipx/f_webp,q_75/https://cms.illia-biztech.de/uploads/small_Illia_Belichenko_author_81f88864f0.png) ##### Illia Belichenko Illia is responsible for the technical side of Illia BizTech: website development, website updates, forms, integrations, automation and technical support. He works on connecting websites, content, advertising and internal workflows so they work together without creating unnecessary manual work. ##### Recent Posts [![Checking a company's registration in the German Handelsregister on a laptop screen](/_ipx/f_webp,q_75/https://cms.illia-biztech.de/uploads/medium_handelsregister_impressum_agentur_pruefen_84f39c129a.png)](/en/blog/handelsregister-impressum-agentur-pruefen) #### [Checking a web agency before you pay: Handelsregister and Impressum](/en/blog/handelsregister-impressum-agentur-pruefen) November 13, 2026 [](/en/blog/handelsregister-impressum-agentur-pruefen) [![Person reading Google search results with an AI overview on a smartphone screen](/_ipx/f_webp,q_75/https://cms.illia-biztech.de/uploads/medium_google_ai_overviews_sichtbarkeit_edbe04f07f.png)](/en/blog/google-ai-overviews-sichtbarkeit) #### [What a website needs to appear in Google AI Overviews](/en/blog/google-ai-overviews-sichtbarkeit) November 12, 2026 [](/en/blog/google-ai-overviews-sichtbarkeit) [![Developer inspecting a website's structured data in browser developer tools](/_ipx/f_webp,q_75/https://cms.illia-biztech.de/uploads/medium_schema_markup_lokales_unternehmen_7a4925ced8.png)](/en/blog/schema-markup-lokales-unternehmen) #### [Schema.org structured data for a local business site. What you actually need](/en/blog/schema-markup-lokales-unternehmen) November 11, 2026 [](/en/blog/schema-markup-lokales-unternehmen) AI assistants do not check an agency's website directly, they gather trust signals from independent sources through ordinary web search. Illia Belichenko checks the Impressum, markup and the company's presence on independent platforms on every client project, not just how the page looks. Illia BizTech builds and maintains websites for companies in Germany in German, English, Russian and Ukrainian, from the first version through ongoing maintenance and search visibility work. One monthly plan covers the website, advertising and content, the scope is agreed in advance and can be moved between them when priorities change. The domain, hosting and ad accounts stay registered to the company, so the work can continue on the existing setup without a full rebuild. That fits businesses moving to Germany or expanding into the German-speaking market who want to explain their task once.