Without search, ChatGPT answers from what its model learned in training. With search, it fetches live pages and can show links to them in the answer. OpenAI says its crawler "OAI-SearchBot is used to surface websites in search results in ChatGPT's search features" (OpenAI, read 1 November 2026).

ChatGPT does not search for every question. In Prefer's July 2026 test, it skipped web search on 29 of 47 buyer questions and answered from memory. It also cites few pages: 3.05 sources per answer on average in Prefer's September 2026 study, against 19.48 for Perplexity. Those were API answers, which can differ from the ChatGPT app.

OpenAI lists separate agents for separate jobs. Three matter here (OpenAI crawlers):

  • OAI-SearchBot finds pages for search. OpenAI says: "To help ensure your site appears in search results, we recommend allowing OAI-SearchBot in your site's robots.txt file" and allowing its published IP ranges.
  • GPTBot collects content "that may be used in training our generative AI foundation models". Blocking it does not block search.
  • ChatGPT-User visits a page when a person's request needs it. It "is not used for crawling the web in an automatic fashion."

Which search index sits behind ChatGPT search is not stated on the OpenAI pages we could read today. Many SEO guides say Bing. We could not confirm that on an OpenAI page, so treat it as unconfirmed. Registering in Bing Webmaster Tools is still worth it for Microsoft Copilot.

Why does ChatGPT search matter for B2B SaaS?

Buyers start there. G2's 2026 survey of 1,076 B2B decision-makers found that 51% of B2B software buyers now start their research in an AI chatbot more often than in Google. With only about three sources per answer, each cited page carries a lot of weight. Often that page is a third-party list or review, not the vendor's own site.

  1. Allow OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt and allow OpenAI's published IP ranges. Check that your firewall or CDN does not block it.
  2. Put a clear, quotable answer near the top of each key page.
  3. Get named on the third-party pages that answer your buyers' questions, such as "best X software" lists.
  4. Ask your buyers' questions in ChatGPT a few times a month and note which pages it cites. Answers change from run to run.

What does ChatGPT search look like? (example)

A hypothetical example: a marketing lead asks ChatGPT "best webinar software for B2B lead generation in 2026". ChatGPT searches, names five tools and cites three pages: two comparison articles and one vendor page. The tools named in those two articles make the answer. A tool that is missing from both is not mentioned.

ChatGPT search vs other AI search engines

  • Like Perplexity and Google AI Overviews, it is an AI search engine: it writes an answer from pages it retrieves.
  • It cites fewer sources per answer than Perplexity in Prefer's test, so each AI citation slot is scarcer.

For a full plan to get named in AI answers, see our guide to LLM SEO.