October 2024: ChatGPT search arrives with live web results
Covers October 2024. Part of our search timeline: a month-by-month look at the changes that shaped SEO, AI search, paid ads and social media, written in November 2026 for local businesses with the benefit of hindsight.
Quick answer: OpenAI launched ChatGPT search on 31 October 2024, so ChatGPT could reply using current information from the web and link to where it found it. That turned ChatGPT into a real rival to traditional search engines and made OAI-SearchBot, OpenAI’s search crawler, something every website owner needs to know about.
This post is one entry in our timeline series, where we go back through search, AI, advertising and social changes one month at a time to explain what they mean for local firms. We wrote it in November 2026, so we already know how things turned out. Here is what the ChatGPT search launch meant for plumbers, electricians, roofers and other local firms.
What changed in October 2024?
From launch, ChatGPT could choose for itself when a question needed a web search. Its replies showed citations inside the text and a panel listing the sources. Paid subscribers got it first, and it was later opened up to all users.
Why local service businesses should care
If your website blocks OpenAI’s crawlers, ChatGPT may never cite you, and you lose any visits it might have sent. Think of a homeowner asking ChatGPT, “Who fixes leaking flat roofs near Swindon?” The businesses it can see are the ones it can recommend.
ChatGPT also began showing up as a source of visits in website analytics, giving firms a new channel to watch.
What to do now
- Make sure robots.txt allows OAI-SearchBot, and check that your hosting firewall or security plugin is not quietly blocking it.
- Set up GA4 so visits from chatgpt.com are reported as their own channel.
- Write clear pages that answer the questions customers are likely to put to ChatGPT, such as costs, timescales and the areas you cover.
Frequently asked questions
If I block GPTBot, will I disappear from ChatGPT search?
No. ChatGPT search relies on OAI-SearchBot. GPTBot is the crawler OpenAI uses for training its models, which is a separate job.
Can I see how many visitors come from ChatGPT?
Yes. Visits from chatgpt.com show as referrals in GA4 and often carry the tag utm_source=chatgpt.com in the address.
Sources and further reading
Want help with this? We help local businesses get found and cited in ChatGPT through our AI search and GEO service. Get in touch.
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