Will ChatGPT or Claude Recommend Your Website?

If someone asks ChatGPT or Claude, “What are the best website development companies for my business?”, will your website be one of the recommendations? That question is becoming increasingly important for businesses investing in SEO, website design services, and digital marketing. Search is changing, and people aren’t only typing questions into Google anymore. They’re asking AI assistants to recommend companies, compare services, find products, research suppliers and even decide which businesses they should contact.

This creates a new opportunity — and a new challenge. Having a great website is no longer just about ranking on Google or looking impressive when someone lands on your homepage. Your website needs to be understandable, credible and discoverable by AI systems too. So, what actually makes ChatGPT or Claude recommend one website over another?

AI is becoming a new way people discover businesses

For years, the conventional customer journey looked something like this:

Google → Search results → Website → Contact form

Now it increasingly looks like:

Question → ChatGPT/Claude → Recommendations → Website → Contact

Someone might ask:

“Who are the best web design companies in Cape Town?”

Or:

“I need a company to redesign an outdated B2B website. Who should I speak to?”

Or:

“Can you recommend a good freelance web designer who specialises in custom website design?”

The AI doesn’t simply return ten blue links. It may explain the options, compare businesses and recommend particular companies. That means your website is no longer only competing for Google rankings. It may be competing to become part of an AI-generated answer.

So, will ChatGPT recommend your website?

The honest answer is: there’s no simple checklist that guarantees it. ChatGPT and Claude don’t operate like a traditional search engine, and their recommendations can depend on the question being asked, available information, sources they can access and the context of the conversation.

But there are characteristics that make a business easier for AI systems — and humans — to understand and trust. And many of these characteristics are exactly the things you should already be doing as part of good SEO and website development.

1. Your website needs to clearly explain what you do

This sounds obvious, but many websites make it surprisingly difficult to answer a simple question:

What does this company actually do?

If you’re a web design company, for example, your website should make that clear. Do you offer:

Don’t make visitors — or AI systems — guess. A strong website uses clear language to describe its services, expertise, location, industries and differentiators. This is particularly important as AI systems become better at understanding entities, topics and relationships rather than simply matching individual keywords.

2. Your website needs to demonstrate expertise

Imagine asking ChatGPT:

“Who should I use for a professional website redesign?”

Would your website provide enough evidence for an AI to confidently describe you as an expert? Your website should demonstrate your expertise through things like:

Detailed service pages
Case studies
Before-and-after examples
Client testimonials
Industry experience
Portfolio work
Helpful articles
Original insights
Clear information about your team

If you offer website redesign services, don’t simply have a page saying:

“We redesign websites.”

Explain the problems you solve. Show examples of websites before and after a redesign. Explain your process. Talk about UX, conversion rates, content structure, mobile optimisation and performance. The more useful information you publish, the easier it becomes for both potential customers and AI systems to understand what you are genuinely good at.

3. Your website needs to be genuinely useful

This is where the worlds of SEO, UX and AI are increasingly overlapping. A website designed purely to manipulate search engines isn’t likely to create a strong brand. A useful website, however, answers questions.

For example, if you provide website rebuild services, you could publish content around:

When should you rebuild a website?
Website rebuild vs website redesign: what’s the difference?
How much does a website rebuild cost?
How long does a website rebuild take?
Should you redesign your existing site or start again?
How do you migrate SEO during a website rebuild?

You’re not simply inserting the phrase “website rebuild” repeatedly. You’re demonstrating that you understand the subject. That’s a much more valuable signal.

What about AI website design?

There’s another interesting development happening at the same time. AI isn’t only changing how people find websites; it’s also changing how websites are built. AI website design tools can now generate layouts, write content, produce code and accelerate prototyping. An AI web developer can assist with technical implementation, while an AI website designer can help generate concepts and layouts, and an AI web designer can rapidly explore different design directions.

AI can also dramatically accelerate the early stages of AI website development. But there’s an important distinction: using AI to build a website doesn’t automatically make the website good. Great websites still require strategy, positioning, UX, content, branding and an understanding of the people using them. AI can produce an impressive first draft, but it doesn’t necessarily understand your business.

AI doesn’t eliminate the need for designers

The rise of AI has led to an understandable question: “Do I still need a web designer?” In many cases, yes. An experienced ui web designer understands hierarchy, interaction, accessibility, usability and conversion in ways that go beyond simply generating a visually attractive page.

Similarly, a professional freelance web designer can bring judgement and experience to decisions that AI may struggle to make independently. The same applies to custom website design — your business isn’t identical to your competitor’s, so your website shouldn’t be either. The strongest approach may ultimately be a combination of human expertise and AI, rather than choosing one over the other.

What does this mean for website redesign?

It also changes how businesses should think about a website redesign. Traditionally, a redesign might have been triggered by:

An outdated visual identity
Poor mobile performance
A dated CMS
Low conversion rates
A change in branding
A desire to look more professional

Those reasons still matter. But there’s now another consideration:

Can humans and AI easily understand what your business does and why you’re different? A successful professional website redesign should therefore consider much more than aesthetics.

It should look at:

Content architecture

Are your services clearly defined?

User experience

Can visitors quickly find what they need?

Search visibility

Can search engines understand your pages?

AI discoverability

Is your expertise clearly represented across your website and the wider web?

Authority

Are there credible signals that demonstrate you’re an established expert?

Conversion

Once someone discovers you, does the website persuade them to take the next step? That is a much more comprehensive approach to a website revamp.

Website redesign vs website rebuild

There’s also an important distinction between a redesign and a rebuild. A website redesign typically focuses on improving an existing website’s visual design, UX, content and structure, while a website rebuild can involve rebuilding the underlying technology and architecture as well. For example, a business might have a ten-year-old website that looks dated, loads slowly and is difficult to update.

In that situation, simply changing the colours and typography may not be enough — it might require a complete website rebuild. A good website redesigner should therefore look beyond the surface.

It’s:

“How can we make this website work better?”

Does Figma matter to AI?

Interestingly, the design process itself is changing too. Many modern design teams use Figma web design to create interfaces, prototypes and design systems before development begins.

Figma can be particularly useful when combining traditional design expertise with AI-assisted development, allowing a designer to establish the visual direction and user experience while AI helps accelerate implementation. This can make the transition from concept to finished website considerably faster. But again, speed isn’t the objective by itself — the objective is building a website that works.

How to make your website more likely to be recommended by AI

Nobody can promise that ChatGPT or Claude will recommend your business, but you can make your website substantially easier to understand, evaluate and trust. Here’s a practical starting point.

Be specific

Clearly explain your services and expertise. Instead of:

“We create digital experiences.”

Say what you actually do. For example:

“We provide custom website design, website development and website redesign services for growing businesses.”

Build dedicated service pages

If you provide several services, don’t put everything onto one generic “Services” page. Create useful, detailed pages around the services you actually want to be known for.

Publish genuinely useful content

Answer the questions your prospective customers are asking. Not keyword-stuffed articles. Useful answers.

Showcase your work

Portfolio projects and case studies provide evidence of your capabilities. Explain the problem, your approach and the result.

Build your reputation beyond your website

AI systems don’t exist in isolation from the wider web. Your brand may be represented through industry publications, directories, reviews, social profiles, interviews, partnerships and other reputable websites. The stronger your overall digital footprint, the easier it is to establish credibility.

Keep your information consistent

Your company name, services, location, team information and other important details should be consistent across your online presence.

Write for humans first

This might be the most important point. Don’t turn your website into a collection of sentences written for an algorithm. Create the best possible resource for the person who needs your service. If the website is genuinely useful to people, you’re heading in the right direction.

The future of website development is changing

We’re entering an interesting period for the web. AI can now help design, develop and improve websites, while AI assistants are increasingly becoming a place where people research businesses and ask for recommendations. That means the traditional idea of “website optimisation” is expanding.

It’s no longer simply about asking, “How do I get my website onto page one of Google?” Businesses should also be asking, “If someone asks an AI who the best companies in my industry are, does my business have enough authority and information online to be considered?” That’s a very different question, and it could become an extremely important one.

So, will ChatGPT or Claude recommend your website?

Maybe. But don’t build your website with the goal of tricking an AI into recommending you. Build it so that an AI has a good reason to recommend you.

Make your expertise obvious.
Make your services clear.
Show your work.
Publish useful information.
Build genuine authority.
And create a website that is genuinely better for the people you’re trying to reach.

Whether you’re starting from scratch, looking for website build services, considering a website redesign, or wondering whether you need a complete website rebuild, the principle is the same:

Build a website worth recommending. The AI recommendations may follow.

Make Your Website AI-Ready