--- title: "How to get your startup cited by ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity" description: "A practical GEO checklist for founders: llms.txt, markdown twins, schema.org, crawler policy, MCP — and the one thing that matters more than all of them." category: "AI search & GEO" date: 2026-09-18 author: "ExitFounder" canonical: "https://www.exitfounder.io/blog/get-cited-by-chatgpt-claude-perplexity" source: "ExitFounder — https://www.exitfounder.io" --- # How to get your startup cited by ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity > A practical GEO checklist for founders: llms.txt, markdown twins, schema.org, crawler policy, MCP — and the one thing that matters more than all of them. "Generative engine optimisation" sounds like a new discipline. Most of it is old SEO plus three new files. Here is what actually changes whether an assistant names your product when someone asks *"what's a good tool for X?"*. ## 1. Answer-first pages Assistants quote pages that answer a question in the first paragraph. Rewrite your homepage hero and each feature page so the first 60 words say **what it is, for whom, and the key benefit**, in plain words, without a CTA. This is the same tagline discipline we enforce when we [generate profiles](/submit): 6–12 words, no "Get started today". Then add a real FAQ section (5–8 questions people actually type) and mark it up as `FAQPage` with our [schema generator](/tools/schema-markup-generator). Assistants lift Q&A pairs almost verbatim. ## 2. `llms.txt` — the agent's table of contents `/llms.txt` is a plain Markdown file that tells an AI what your site is and which pages matter. It is cheap and increasingly checked first by agents and crawlers. Ours is at [exitfounder.io/llms.txt](/llms.txt); generate yours in a minute with the [llms.txt generator](/tools/llms-txt-generator). Keep it short: one blockquote summary, one paragraph of detail, a "Docs" list with 3–8 links and a one-line note per link. Put the pricing page in it — "how much does X cost" is the most common follow-up prompt. ## 3. Markdown twins HTML is expensive for models; Markdown is not. Serve a `.md` version of your key pages (`/pricing.md`, `/docs/getting-started.md`) and list them in `llms.txt`. Every ExitFounder profile has one (`/startup/{slug}.md`) with YAML frontmatter, facts and FAQ — which is exactly the shape assistants like to cite. ## 4. Let the right crawlers in Blocking `GPTBot` stops OpenAI *training*, but blocking `OAI-SearchBot`, `Claude-SearchBot` or `PerplexityBot` removes you from their *answers*. Decide per bot with the [robots.txt generator](/tools/robots-txt-generator); the default there allows answer/search bots and blocks pure training crawlers. ## 5. Structured data that describes a product `SoftwareApplication` + `Organization` JSON-LD with `offers` (price), `applicationCategory` and `sameAs` links gives assistants (and Google's AI overviews) unambiguous facts. Vague or missing pricing is the most common reason an assistant answers "pricing is not disclosed" about a product that clearly has a pricing page. ## 6. Off-page consensus Assistants weigh agreement across sources. Being listed with the *same* one-liner and category on 5–10 reputable directories (see our [DR-ranked list](/blog/free-startup-directories-by-domain-rating-2026)) does more than one long guest post. Consistency matters: same name, same tagline, same category everywhere. ## 7. Give agents an API, not just a page The next step is being *usable* by agents, not just quotable. TinyLaunch lets an assistant launch a product over its API; ScrollLaunch and TrustMRR expose MCP servers; ExitFounder has a public API and an MCP server ([docs](/llms.txt)). When an agent can call `search_startups` and get a structured answer with provenance, it will prefer that over scraping a competitor's HTML. ## The one thing that matters more None of this outranks a page that already answers the question well and is linked from sites the model trusts. GEO is a multiplier on good content, not a substitute. Do 1–5 in an afternoon, then spend the next month on 6. ## Checklist - [ ] First 60 words of every key page answer "what / for whom / benefit" - [ ] FAQ section with `FAQPage` schema - [ ] `/llms.txt` with pricing and docs links - [ ] `.md` twins for pricing and docs - [ ] robots.txt allows answer bots, blocks training bots (your choice) - [ ] `SoftwareApplication` JSON-LD with real prices - [ ] Listed on 5–10 directories with identical name/tagline/category - [ ] Profile claimed on ExitFounder so assistants get verified, provenance-labeled facts --- _Machine-readable version of [How to get your startup cited by ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity](https://www.exitfounder.io/blog/get-cited-by-chatgpt-claude-perplexity). Directory index for AI agents: https://www.exitfounder.io/llms.txt_