What Is ChatGPT Search?
Definition
OpenAI's AI-powered search feature inside ChatGPT that retrieves live web content and generates cited answers, launched in 2024.
Why It Matters
ChatGPT has hundreds of millions of weekly users and its search feature increasingly replaces Google for research-heavy queries. Appearing in ChatGPT Search results is a growing channel for B2B and informational queries that was invisible two years ago.
How It Works
ChatGPT Search is powered by OpenAI's crawler (OAI-SearchBot) and licensed content partnerships. When a user asks a question, ChatGPT retrieves relevant pages, generates an answer, and displays inline citations linking back to the source. Content must be crawlable and have clear, factual substance to be cited. Paywalled or JavaScript-only content is usually excluded.
An Australian accounting firm's guide on "how to register for GST" is cited in ChatGPT Search when users ask about GST registration, driving 200+ referral visits per month from ChatGPT — a channel that didn't exist before late 2024.
Quick Facts
- ChatGPT Search launched publicly in October 2024
- Allow OAI-SearchBot, ChatGPT-User, and GPTBot in robots.txt to be eligible
- Citations are visible alongside answers, so users can verify and click through
- ChatGPT Search prioritises recency more heavily than Google organic
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