Not like high search engines like google and yahoo, ChatGPT doesn’t keep an index of world web sites. It has relied as an alternative on Bing’s index and seek for coaching and sources. Nevertheless, current third-party assessments counsel ChatGPT has switched to Google for that goal.
An ex-Googler and net developer in India, Abhishek Iyer, summarized his check on X. He invented a meaningless phrase with a definition, positioned them on a web page that was neither linked internally nor externally, and submitted the web page to Google by Search Console.
He then prompted ChatGPT to outline the time period. The response was “verbatim” from his net web page. He searched for a similar phrase on Bing, DuckDuckGo, and Yandex. None returned outcomes.
One other check, by Aleyda Solís, a search engine advisor, produced related outcomes. But it surely additionally revealed that ChatGPT utilized Google’s search snippet to fetch data.
In a response to a Solís immediate, ChatGPT acknowledged it used “a cached snippet by way of net search” to fetch the knowledge, indicating that ChatGPT might have direct entry to Google’s cache.
Briefly, ChatGPT seems to make the most of Google’s index to search out data and sources.
What does it imply for visibility in ChatGPT?

ChatGPT has apparently switched from utilizing Bing’s search index to Google’s.
Google’s Index
Each assessments reveal ChatGPT’s reliance on Google’s index, like Google’s personal Gemini and AI Mode. Therefore being listed by Google is a key step for visibility in generative AI platforms.
But Google is now aggressively eradicating pages from its index. It’s important to watch the indexation standing of your essential pages. “Crawled however not listed” statuses in Search Console are extra frequent. There’s little likelihood unindexed pages will floor in genAI responses.
In case you are experiencing indexing glitches:
- Know when to disregard them. All websites have unindexed pages. There’s typically no downside to resolve. It could possibly be near-duplicate pages, outdated or outdated pages, or pages generated by inner search or filtering. Except it’s an essential product or touchdown web page, “crawled however not listed” is probably going non permanent.
- Enhance inner linking. A web site’s navigation construction is the first step to raised indexation. AI-powered instruments may also help, however total, ways similar to “Associated merchandise,” “Associated classes or subcategories,” and product-bundling pages elevate deeper pages.
- Produce distinctive content material. Repeated content material can forestall a web page from being listed. It typically happens on websites with intensive merchandise and manufacturer-provided descriptions. Third-party instruments can create distinctive descriptions. Retailers may observe Amazon’s instance and embrace distinctive summaries and takeaways on product pages for extra informative content material.
Past Indexing
Indexation by Google is key, however a technique for visibility in AI solutions is rather more. I’ve seen no proof that natural rankings influence solutions in ChatGPT or Gemini. Greater natural rankings don’t enhance visibility.
GenAI algorithms depend on totally different indicators than search engines like google and yahoo, preferring pages that reply questions clearly and succinctly.
Thus guarantee your pages:
- Present easy solutions to frequent questions,
- Have content material simply crawled and accessed with JavaScript disabled — AI crawlers can’t render JavaScript.