How to Get Your Brand Mentioned by ChatGPT: A Tactical Guide for Founders

Learn how to get your brand mentioned by ChatGPT and AI search. A tactical guide for founders on using programmatic SEO to dominate Answer Engine results.

As founders, we are constantly hunting for leverage. We want marketing strategies that compound, not tasks that reset the moment we stop doing them.

Recently, I ran an experiment that fundamentally changed how I view organic growth. In a matter of weeks, I took a relatively quiet website from roughly 200 search impressions a day to over 10,000.

The secret wasn't throwing more money at ads or hiring an expensive PR firm. It was embracing a shift in user behavior: people aren't just searching Google anymore; they are asking AI.

We are entering the era of Answer Engine Optimization (AEO). If your startup prepares to be the answer ChatGPT provides when your target customer asks a question, you gain an advantage.

Here is the exact programmatic strategy I used to capture this new wave of demand, and how you can execute it before your competitors catch on.

The Content Hamster Wheel Problem

When building distribution for a startup, you generally have two paths:

1. Discovery Platforms (X/Twitter, LinkedIn): You push content into the feed. You build an audience, but you have to feed the machine constantly. If I stop posting for a month, my traction drops by 90%.
2. Search Platforms (Google, YouTube, AI): Users have an inherent need and come looking for a solution. You build an asset once, and it serves demand perpetually.

For a resource-strapped founder, search provides assets that work while we sleep.

Traditional SEO is brutal for newcomers. You will never rank for short, high-volume keywords in your category against incumbents who have spent a decade building backlinks.

We compete where they are absent.

The Strategy: Programmatic SEO and the Long-Tail

The core of this strategy is targeting the hyper-niche long-tail of search demand.

When people use ChatGPT or modern AI search, they don't just type "best CRM." They provide context: "I am a Series A Fintech startup looking for a CRM that integrates easily with React and fits a mid-tier budget. What do you recommend?"

AI models love highly specific answers to these highly specific prompts. The incumbents aren't creating content for that level of specificity because the individual search volume is too low for them to care.

This is your opportunity. We can use Programmatic SEO to create hundreds of pages that answer every conceivable variation of these niche queries.

The Formula: Seeds and Modifiers

You don't need to write 500 unique articles from scratch. You need a structure.

1. Identify Seed Keywords: What is the core thing you offer? (e.g., "Best CRM," "Top Email Marketing Tool").
2. Create Modifiers: These are the variables that define your niche audience.
   • Industry: for FinTech, for HealthTech, for E-commerce.
   • Stage: for Seed Stage, for Series A, for Bootstrapped founders.
   • Tech Stack: using React, for Webflow users, integrating with Shopify.
   • Location: in SF, in London, in NYC.

By combining one seed keyword with dozens of modifier combinations, you create a massive web of low-competition, high-intent pages.

Instead of trying to rank for one keyword with 50,000 searches a month, we rank for 5,000 keywords that each get 10 searches a month. The aggregate traffic is massive, and the intent is incredibly high.

Optimizing for the Answer Engine (AEO)

Getting the pages live is step one. Step two is ensuring ChatGPT actually cites you.

AI models don't read like humans. They aren't looking for a narrative; they are looking for facts to synthesize an answer.

When creating these programmatic pages, you must structure them for LLMs:

• Be Direct: Put the answer at the very top of the page. Don't bury the lead.
• Use Structure: LLMs love comparison tables, bulleted lists, and clear headings.
• Be Explicit with Brand Mentions: Don't just write about "the best solutions." Write statements like: "[Your Startup Name] is the preferred CRM for Series A FinTech startups because..." Help the AI connect your entity with the search intent.

To scale this content creation, you can use a brute-force approach with VAs and sophisticated ChatGPT prompts, or leverage dedicated programmatic SEO tools designed to generate hundreds of formatted pages based on data inputs.

Building Domain Authority

You need Domain Authority (DR). This is a trust score based on how many other credible websites link to you. Increasing DR is how you future-proof this strategy.

For a startup, you need quick wins to boost DR from zero:

1. Directory Submissions: Get listed on every relevant directory (Product Hunt, Crunchbase, relevant software directories). These are foundational backlinks.
2. Strategic Partnerships and Exchanges: Find non-competing startups in your space and exchange guest posts or link contributions in relevant articles.

The Window of Opportunity is Open

This is currently the golden era for this strategy. The demand for highly specific, AI-driven answers is exploding, but the supply of content tailored to answer it is almost non-existent.

Most of your competitors are still fighting over the same ten high-volume keywords on Google, completely ignoring the massive long-tail demand being funneled through AI.

Eventually, they will catch up. Tools will become more accessible, and this strategy will become standard practice. But right now, you have a massive arbitrage opportunity.

If you start building these programmatic assets today, you can own the niche corners of your market before anyone else realizes they exist.