IndexNow
IndexNow is an open protocol, jointly supported by Microsoft Bing, Yandex, Naver, and Seznam, that lets a website instantly notify search engines whenever a URL is added, updated, or deleted — eliminating the wait for crawlers to rediscover changes on their own. A single HTTPS ping with the changed URL and a site-specific key file is enough to trigger near-real-time recrawling across every participating engine. Why it matters: For sites publishing frequently (blogs, product catalogs, news), IndexNow can compress indexing latency from days to minutes on Bing and partner engines, which now feed answer surfaces like ChatGPT Search and Copilot. Pairing IndexNow with Google's separate Indexing API gives a brand instant visibility across the two most important AI-citation pipelines.
Learn more:
→ llms.txt & AI Indexing GuideRelated Terms
llms.txt is a proposed plain-text file placed at the root of a website (e.g. /llms.txt) that summarizes the site's purpose, lists its most important canonical URLs, and provides AI crawlers with a compact, structured map of what the site is authoritative on. It is the AI-engine analog to robots.txt and sitemap.xml, designed specifically to help large language models index, ground, and cite the right pages. Why it matters: As ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Google AI Overviews, and Bing Copilot increasingly drive discovery, llms.txt is becoming a meaningful AEO and GEO infrastructure layer. A well-crafted llms.txt tells AI engines exactly which pillar guides, services, and authoritative resources to cite when answering questions in the brand's domain — reducing the risk of being misrepresented or omitted. Sites without llms.txt are not penalized, but sites with a clean, accurate llms.txt give themselves a structural advantage in AI citation outcomes. Smart Money Media's own llms.txt is publicly available at /llms.txt, and any site can generate a spec-compliant file in 30 seconds with our free llms.txt generator at /tools/llms-txt-generator.
GPTBotGPTBot is OpenAI's web crawler used to gather training data for future GPT models. Site owners control GPTBot access via robots.txt — allowing it permits OpenAI to use the site's content in training, while disallowing it excludes the site. GPTBot is distinct from OAI-SearchBot (which fetches pages live for SearchGPT/ChatGPT Search answers) and ChatGPT-User (which fetches a page when a user pastes a URL into ChatGPT). Why it matters: Allowing GPTBot increases the long-term probability that ChatGPT can recall and cite a brand from training memory without needing a live web fetch. For most B2B brands, allowing all three OpenAI user agents is the correct default.
OAI-SearchBotOAI-SearchBot is OpenAI's real-time retrieval crawler, used by ChatGPT Search and SearchGPT to fetch live web pages when a user query requires fresh information. It is distinct from GPTBot (training crawler) and ChatGPT-User (URL-paste fetcher) — and unlike GPTBot, allowing OAI-SearchBot has no impact on training data, only on whether a page can appear as a citation in ChatGPT Search results. Why it matters: Blocking OAI-SearchBot makes a page invisible to ChatGPT Search answers regardless of how strong its authority signals are. For brands targeting ChatGPT visibility, allowing this bot is non-negotiable.
ChatGPT SearchOpenAI's web search feature integrated into ChatGPT that retrieves and cites real-time information from the web. Brands with strong E-E-A-T signals and structured data are more likely to be cited in ChatGPT responses. Why it matters: This feature fundamentally changes how information is consumed and how brands are discovered. For reputation management and SEO, being cited by ChatGPT Search means your brand is considered a credible source for AI-generated answers. This requires a focus on clear, concise, and accurate content that directly answers user queries, backed by strong E-E-A-T. For example, when a user asks ChatGPT about the "best practices for digital PR," the AI's response, if it cites your website, effectively amplifies your authority and drives direct traffic from a highly engaged audience, bypassing traditional search result pages.
ChatGPTChatGPT is the conversational AI assistant developed by OpenAI, launched in November 2022, that interprets natural-language questions and generates synthesized written answers using large language models (currently the GPT-4 and GPT-5 family). With the addition of ChatGPT Search, it now actively browses the live web and cites external sources directly inside its responses, making it one of the most influential answer engines alongside Google AI Overviews and Perplexity. Why it matters: For brands, ChatGPT is no longer just a chatbot — it is an active referral source and reputation surface. When prospects ask ChatGPT about a service, an industry, or a specific company by name, the brands that get cited inside the answer win the trust transfer and the click-through. Earning ChatGPT citations requires the same foundations as Answer Engine Optimization: third-party validation from authoritative outlets, complete schema markup, comprehensive FAQ content, and a public llms.txt file that tells AI crawlers what your site is authoritative on. Brands invisible to ChatGPT in 2026 are increasingly invisible to their own prospects.
Bing CopilotBing Copilot (formerly Bing Chat) is Microsoft's conversational AI search experience, powered by a combination of OpenAI GPT models and Microsoft's own retrieval stack. It surfaces in Bing.com, Microsoft Edge, Windows, and Microsoft 365, and shares its index with ChatGPT Search. Why it matters: Although Bing's market share is smaller than Google's, Copilot citations carry outsized weight: they appear inside enterprise workflows (Outlook, Word, Teams) where buying decisions happen. Optimization requires IndexNow submission, strong schema markup, and content that ranks for the underlying Bing query — because Copilot still draws heavily from the top organic results.