Getting mentioned in Claude: how Claude uses sources and how to stand out

You get mentioned in Claude when the model finds enough clear and reliable information about your business, either in its training data or through live web search. Claude, the AI assistant from Anthropic, mainly mentions organisations that explain clearly on their own website what they do and that are also easy to find on other sites. A few focused steps improve your chances.

What is Claude and who uses it?

Claude is an AI assistant that runs on a large language model (LLM) built by Anthropic. People use Claude to write text, summarise documents and research questions. Many users rely on Claude for work. They ask which suppliers exist, which software package fits, or which agency has experience with a particular problem.

That makes Claude interesting for businesses that sell to other businesses. But consumers ask Claude questions too, such as "which physiotherapist in Amersfoort specialises in sports injuries?". If you want to know exactly what a language model is, first read what an LLM is.

Where does Claude get its answers from?

Claude draws on two sources:

• Knowledge from training. During training the model read a lot of public text. That knowledge stops at a certain date. If your business was already clearly online back then, Claude may know you without searching.
• Live web search. When search is switched on, Claude looks for current pages in response to a question. It reads those pages and lists them as sources in the answer. That is called a citation.

For questions about local businesses, prices or opening hours, Claude often searches live. For general questions it relies more on what it already knows. That is why both your older and your newer content count.

Which crawlers does Anthropic use?

Anthropic uses several bots that visit websites. In short:

• ClaudeBot collects public text that may be used to train future models.
• Claude-SearchBot indexes pages so they can appear in search results inside Claude.
• Claude-User fetches a page when a user asks for it during a conversation.

If you block these bots in your robots.txt, Claude cannot read your pages. That makes it hard to be mentioned or cited. So check your settings. Allowing AI crawlers in robots.txt explains how.

What does Claude look for when choosing sources?

Nobody knows exactly how the model chooses. In practice, though, Claude often uses sources that:

• answer the question directly. A page with a clear heading and a short answer below it is easy to cite.
• are factual and concrete. Address, service area, services, price indications and opening hours. Vague marketing copy does little.
• are consistent with other sources. When your website, business profiles and industry directories say the same thing, a model trusts that information more readily.
• are confirmed by others. Reviews, mentions in local media and comparison sites show that you really exist and do good work.

This is very similar to how other assistants work. Also read how ChatGPT chooses which businesses to recommend. The differences lie mainly in which sources each model finds and how it weighs them.

Practical tips to get mentioned in Claude more often

1. Write pages that answer questions. Think of the questions customers actually ask. Put the question in a heading and answer it straight away. A good FAQ page helps a lot here.
2. Strengthen your about page. Say who you are, how long you have been around, where you are based and what you are good at. That helps a model recognise you as an entity.
3. Use structured data. Schema markup such as LocalBusiness or Organization passes on facts in a fixed format.
4. Get mentioned on other sites. Industry directories, partner pages, local news sites and review platforms are sources AI often cites. More on that in mentions on other sites.
5. Keep your information up to date. Outdated prices or opening hours can end up in an answer. Update them as soon as something changes.
6. Test it yourself. Ask Claude the questions your customers ask. See whether you are mentioned, in which position and which sources are listed.

Why you should look at Claude separately

Every AI model gives different answers. So ChatGPT may mention you while Claude does not, or the other way round. That comes down to differences in training, search sources and how each model builds its answers. Look at your visibility per model, not just at an average.

Pay attention to your position in the answer as well. Are you mentioned first or fifth? And which competitors appear alongside you? That balance is called share of voice.

Frequently asked questions

Can I pay to be mentioned in Claude?
No. There is no advertising slot in the answers. You are mentioned based on the information the model finds.

Do I need to do anything different for Claude than for ChatGPT?
Mostly not. The basics are the same: clear content, consistent details and mentions on trusted sites. Do check that Anthropic's crawlers are allowed to visit your site.

How quickly will I see results?
Changes that Claude finds through live search can show up within weeks. Knowledge from training only changes with a new model version.

See whether Claude mentions you

Want to know what Claude says about your business today, alongside ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity? Take the free AI check: we ask five customer questions to all four models and you get a report with your opportunities. Want to follow it every week, including which sources Claude cites? Have a look at GEO tracking.