ChatGPT Search in Position Tracking

ChatGPT search tracking in Position Tracking allows you to monitor your domain's daily visibility for up to 50 keywords in ChatGPT's AI search engine. 

This feature provides an accurate and convenient way to track how your website performs in AI-powered search results, helping you stay ahead with real-time insights to inform your marketing strategy accordingly.

With a Guru or Business subscription, you can use this feature to:

• Track your domain's positions for target keywords in ChatGPT Search — staying on top of your rankings in the most popular AI search engine
• Monitor your average position for each keyword — understanding performance trends over time
• Compare your AI search visibility with your Google rankings — identifying gaps and opportunities
• Get daily updates on position changes — respond quickly to visibility fluctuations
• Analyze your competitors' AI search rankings — benchmarking your performance against others in your niche

Setting Up ChatGPT Search Tracking

When creating a new Position Tracking campaign or editing an existing one, you can select ChatGPT Search as your search engine:

1. Navigate to the Position Tracking tool within your Semrush Project
2. Click "Add new target" or edit an existing campaign
3. Select "ChatGPT Search" from the search engine dropdown menu
4. Enter your domain and target keywords (up to 50)
5. Complete the setup process

Important limitations to note:

• Your entire account is limited to 50 keywords for ChatGPT Search tracking (across all Projects)
• ChatGPT Search tracking is available for the US market only
• Only desktop searches are supported at this time

Understanding Your Reports

After setting up your campaign, you'll be able to view your ChatGPT Search visibility and average position, along with a summary of your overall performance.

The interface works the same as Position Tracking on Google, with a few key differences:

1. Metrics Available: For ChatGPT Search tracking, you'll see Visibility, Position, and Average Position only. Note that Estimated Traffic and Search Volume metrics are not available for ChatGPT Search at this time.
2. SERP Features Filters: ChatGPT Search has different SERP features than Google’s SERPs, so these filters will be different. 
3. Devices & Locations: When you set up a campaign to track ChatGPT results in addition to Google results (multitargeting), you can compare it side to side with Google results in the Devices & Locations tab. This lets you compare brand visibility on ChatGPT Search vs. Google.

Viewing SERP Snapshots

Position Tracking allows you to view actual SERP snapshots of ChatGPT Search results to better understand the context of your rankings:

1. In the Rankings Overview table, locate the keyword you want to analyze
2. Select "View SERP" from the SF column

 

3. A popup will appear showing you the actual ChatGPT search result for your keyword

 

These snapshots provide valuable insights into how ChatGPT structures its responses, which domains it cites (see the image below), and how your content appears within AI-generated answers. 

By reviewing these snapshots regularly, you can:

• See exactly how your content is being referenced or displayed
• Understand the full context of AI-generated responses that include your domain
• Identify which parts of your content ChatGPT finds most relevant
• Discover opportunities to improve your content's visibility in AI search responses

ChatGPT Search Positions & SERP Features

When Position Tracking parses the ChatGPT Search response, it measures the positioning of domains based on where they appear.

 

Domains cited in the response area (1) will count before anything cited in the citations area (2). 

 

 

In both fields,  Position Tracking ranks the position of each domain from top to bottom, like this:

 

ChatGPT Search includes unique SERP features that differ from traditional search engines. Position Tracking identifies and tracks these special result types:

1. Response: The standard AI-generated answer that appears at the top of ChatGPT search results. This is the primary text response synthesized from various sources.
2. Double Response: When ChatGPT provides two distinct answer sections for a query, typically offering different perspectives or addressing multiple aspects of the question.
3. Citations: References to source materials that appear within or beneath the AI-generated response. Citations are crucial for understanding which domains ChatGPT is using as authoritative sources.
4. Local Pack: Similar to Google's local pack, this feature appears for queries with local intent, showcasing businesses or locations relevant to the search query.

You can filter your Keywords Overview by these SERP features using the SERP Features filter. This allows you to:

• Identify keywords where your domain appears in citations
• Track how often your competitors are cited in AI responses
• Discover opportunities to optimize for specific SERP features
• Monitor changes in how ChatGPT displays information for your target keywords

Analyzing Performance Across Search Engines

One of the most valuable aspects of this feature is the ability to compare your performance across different search engines. In the Devices & Locations report, you can:

1. Compare your ChatGPT Search rankings with your Google rankings
2. Identify keywords where your performance differs significantly between traditional and AI search
3. Discover content optimization opportunities based on these differences

If you scroll below the graph at the top of this report, you can see a table breaking down your domain’s positions on both search engines for each keyword.

 

Best Practices for AI Search Tracking

To get the most out of ChatGPT Search tracking:

• Choose diverse keywords: Include a mix of informational, navigational, and transactional queries
• Track competitors: Add 2-3 key competitors to benchmark your performance
• Monitor regularly: Check your rankings at least weekly to spot trends
• Compare with Google: Analyze where your content performs differently in AI versus traditional search
• Update content strategically: Use your findings to optimize content specifically for AI search engines

Using Data to Improve AI Search Visibility

The data from your ChatGPT Search tracking can help inform your content strategy. Here are some suggested next steps you can take once you start tracking on ChatGPT Search. 

1. Identify content gaps: Take note of the topics where competitors outrank you in AI search
2. Optimize existing content: Update pages that perform well in Google but poorly in ChatGPT Search
3. Track improvements: Monitor position changes after making optimizations

Limits

• ChatGPT Search tracking is currently limited to 50 keywords per user (across all Position Tracking campaigns)
• Available for the US market only
• Desktop searches only
• Does not include Estimated Traffic and Search Volume metrics

By leveraging ChatGPT Search Tracking in Position Tracking, you can stay ahead of the curve as AI search increasingly influences how users find information online. This feature provides the insights you need to adapt your SEO strategy for success in this emerging search environment.