ChatGPT search
ChatGPT search is the part of ChatGPT that looks things up on the web, so an answer can include current information and links to the pages it used. OpenAI says web search comes with every ChatGPT plan, free ones included, and people who aren't signed in can use it too.
Source: OpenAI Help Center, Searching the web with ChatGPT, checked October 29, 2026
What ChatGPT search means for your business
OpenAI's help page says ChatGPT search sometimes works with outside search providers, and the privacy policies it links for them are Microsoft's and Shopify's. When it uses one, ChatGPT usually rewrites your question into one or more shorter searches. OpenAI's own example turns "What are some good restaurants near me?" into "top restaurants San Francisco."
If memory is on, ChatGPT may also use saved memories when it rewrites a search. OpenAI's example is a vegan in San Francisco whose question about nearby restaurants becomes a search for vegan restaurants there. Two people asking the same thing can end up with different searches, so we'd spell out the details buyers add, like dietary needs, service areas or price range, on your own pages.
For restaurants, OpenAI says ChatGPT can show open tables from OpenTable, Resy or Yelp, depending on the restaurant, and help book one. Reservation search was on eligible consumer plans when we checked. If you already take bookings through one of those three, we'd make sure your listing there is complete.
OpenAI's publisher FAQ says ChatGPT adds utm_source=chatgpt.com to the links people click, so those visits show up by name in Google Analytics. Once you can see them, our report on the traffic AI tools send gives you something to compare them with.
Source: OpenAI Help Center, Publishers and Developers FAQ, checked October 29, 2026
Last reviewed October 29, 2026. All terms
How AI answers it today
On October 29, 2026, ChatGPT explained its own search feature with no sources. Google's AI Overview cited OpenAI's pages, Yoast and an AI tracking tool's blog, and said the feature uses Bing's index, which OpenAI's help page doesn't say outright.
Our run through ChatGPT and Google's AI Overview, October 29, 2026. A sample, not what every buyer sees.
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