ChatGPT changed this week, so check what it tells your customers

What OpenAI changed this week

On Wednesday, 7 October, OpenAI started moving most paid ChatGPT accounts to GPT-6. GPT-6 is the new version of the program that writes ChatGPT's answers. On Thursday, the rollout started reaching free accounts. Search Engine Journal and TechCrunch have the same dates. If you own a dental practice, an HVAC company or a home care agency, ChatGPT is one of the places your customers ask about you, and it started changing this week.

So check what it says about your business this week. Type your customer's question into ChatGPT and read the names it gives, and then open the list of pages it read to write that answer. Whatever you saw last time came from the older version.

OpenAI's announcement says more than 1.2 billion people use ChatGPT every week, and that the new version "makes better decisions about when to look something up." I'd read that this way: the new version decides for itself when to go read the web before it answers. OpenAI also says that when it does read the web first, the answer starts appearing 44% sooner on average than it did with the previous version. Its post names no local businesses.

Why the pages behind the answer matter

A customer types a question, gets a few names and calls one of them. If ChatGPT goes and reads the web before it answers, the pages it reads shape which names come back.

Under many answers that use the web, ChatGPT keeps a list of the pages it read. On some accounts it shows up under a Sources button (Search Engine Journal covered this), and on others it's tucked behind the three dots (Search Engine Roundtable spotted the move). The steps below cover both spots.

For an owner, the sources are the useful part. They show where ChatGPT got its picture of your trade in your town. It might be your own site, a directory listing, a review page or an article somebody else wrote about the best options nearby. Any fix starts with one of those pages.

As far as I can find, nobody has published how GPT-6 picks local businesses, or whether it names more, fewer or different ones. So check your own customer's question today and write down what you find, because next month's reading means more with today's notes next to it.

The five-minute check

Set aside five minutes today and keep a note open next to the chat (paper works fine).

1. Write the question the way a customer would. Use their words and put your town in it. A dental patient might type "who does same-day crowns near [your town]". A homeowner might type "who can fix a furnace tonight in [your town]". A grown daughter might type "best home care agency for my mom in [your town]".
2. Run it like a stranger would. Use a free ChatGPT account that has never asked about your business, or a private browser window while logged out. A logged-out answer may differ from a free account's, so note which one you used.
3. Read the names. Write down every business it lists, in the order it lists them, and mark yours if it's there.
4. Open the sources. Look for a Sources button under the answer. If you don't see one, tap the three dots and choose "View sources".
5. Write down every page listed, plus today's date. Copy the web address of each page. The date matters because the rollout to free accounts only started on Thursday, so this week's answer may come from either version.

If you have time, run the same question two or three times. Answers can change from one try to the next. A name that shows up every time tells you more than a name that shows up once.

What the list of sources tells you

Start with your own website, if it's on the list. Click through to the exact page it read and read it the way a stranger would. Check that your hours and the towns you cover are written out in plain words on that page. If the page it read is an old blog post, update that post with your current hours and towns, and add a link from it to your services page.

A directory or a review site on the list gets the same treatment. Open that page and read what it says about you. Check the phone number and the hours, since a wrong detail on a page like that can follow your name into the answer. An old phone number is the classic one (it's the detail people forget to update). Fix what you can, and claim the listing if you haven't yet.

Then look for articles from other sites, such as a "best HVAC companies" roundup. Read who it names and how old it is, since that article is part of what ChatGPT read before it answered. If the roundup is out of date or leaves you out, a short, polite note to the site that wrote it, with your current details, is a fair first move.

Sometimes the list is empty. In that case the answer may have come from what ChatGPT already knew, without a trip to the web. A question that brings back no sources this week might bring some back next month, so keep it on your list.

When your name is missing from the answer, treat the sources list as your to-do list and work down it one page at a time, starting with the directory and review pages you can change yourself. If your own site never shows up, find the page that answers your customer's question most directly and make sure it says, in plain words, what you do and which towns you cover.

Run the same question again next month

Before you close the chat today, pick the one page on your list you would most like to fix (just one, for now). Work on that one this week.

Then put a date on your calendar about a month out and ask the same question in the same words. Read the names, open the sources and write it all down again.

Put the two sets of notes side by side and look at what moved. If you fixed a listing or a page in between, the second reading is how you find out whether ChatGPT picked it up. If nothing moved, fine (that's a result too). You still have a record of which pages ChatGPT reads for your trade in your town.

The first page of notes is the one every later check gets held up against, so it's worth having before the month gets busy. Run your first check today.