Can I get recommended by ChatGPT when customers ask in Chinese?

Yes, ChatGPT can recommend your business to customers who ask in Chinese (中文), and it replied in Chinese every time in our tests. Asked about one business by name, it searched the web in Chinese too, usually the name next to Chinese words like 评价 (reviews). Asked to recommend a business, it searched in English almost every time. So a Chinese page should carry your Chinese and English names together, and your English page needs the words those English searches use.

Picture a customer typing: "[your business] 冷气清洗靠谱吗？" (is this aircon cleaning firm reliable?). In our test, ChatGPT searched for the name next to 冷气清洗 (aircon cleaning) and 评价, then in English. A parent in Johor Bahru asking "我孩子明年考SPM，有什么好的补习中心推荐吗？" (my child sits SPM next year, any good tuition centre?) got searches like "Johor Bahru SPM tuition centre recommendation 2026" instead.

Does ChatGPT search in Chinese when a customer asks about my business by name?

Yes, in our test ChatGPT searched in Chinese when a customer asked about one business by name. We asked about four businesses this way, from an aircon cleaning firm and a renovation company to a bakery chain and an Ipoh food business. Every answer that searched ran at least one search containing Chinese words, usually the business name next to words from the question, such as 装修公司 (renovation company) or 评价 (reviews). Each also ran at least one English search, such as "[business] renovation company review Malaysia".

When we asked about the Ipoh business by its Chinese name, ChatGPT searched for both its Chinese and its English name in all three answers. For recommendation questions, the English-first pattern is the one we reported in Do I need Malay or Chinese content?, and it held a week later; Malay questions behaved much the same.

OpenAI describes the step: ChatGPT search "typically rewrites your query into one or more targeted queries" before sending them to search providers (OpenAI). Our reading is that a name gives ChatGPT something specific to look up in the customer's own words. It's only four businesses, so treat it as a pattern to check, not a rule.

What English words should my page use for customers who ask ChatGPT in Chinese?

Your page should use the English words ChatGPT translated the question into: the plain name of the service and the place, plus the words Malaysians already type in English.

Three things to copy from those searches:

• Spell out your town in English. For questions that said 吉隆坡, ChatGPT wrote "Kuala Lumpur" in 60 of 64 searches. Only 2 used "KL".
• Keep the English words your customers mix in. "Solar", "Sdn Bhd" and "SPM" went straight into the searches as typed, so use them the same way on your page.
• Show proof, because 靠谱 has no English twin. For questions asking which firm is 靠谱 (reliable), ChatGPT never searched "reliable" or "trusted". Our reading is that it looks for proof on the page instead, so state your registration, licence or warranty in plain English.

Does ChatGPT cite Chinese pages when customers ask in Chinese?

Rarely, but one small business shows how a Chinese page can still be found. For recommendation questions, 7 of 338 cited pages were in Chinese (per-run data):

• Learning Centre A, a Johor Bahru learning centre, twice. Its descriptions are in Chinese, but its English name and its branch addresses are in English. ChatGPT cited and named it in two of three Chinese answers from Johor Bahru, after English-only searches.
• A condominium's house rules, twice. It isn't a business.
• International hotel chains' Chinese pages, three times, each in an answer that had also run a Chinese search.

The same page turned up in 2 of 6 English answers from Johor Bahru too, though it's mainly about English classes, not SPM. Our reading: a page naming your towns in English, with Chinese for your customers, can be found from both languages. It's one business, so treat it as an example.

For the name questions, 3 of 21 cited pages were in Chinese, all food and travel guides covering the Ipoh business.

What should I change on my website to get recommended when customers ask ChatGPT in Chinese?

Change two pages, an English one and a Chinese one, after checking what ChatGPT finds today.

1. Write down five Chinese questions customers really ask, the chatty way: "吉隆坡排屋装修预算不多，找哪间装修公司好？" Add one that asks about you by name, such as "[your business] 靠谱吗？"
2. Put each question to ChatGPT in a logged-out browser, then open Sources to see which pages it read, including any competitor's, and in which language.
3. On your English page, name the service plainly, spell out your town and state the proof customers look for.
4. Give your Chinese page your Chinese and English names side by side, your service in customers' words, like 冷气清洗 (aircon cleaning), and your towns in both languages. ChatGPT searched for the Ipoh business by both names.
5. Make sure OAI-SearchBot, the crawler behind ChatGPT search, can reach both pages (which AI bots to allow).
6. Keep your Chinese results apart from your English ones, and recheck them, since one answer is only a snapshot.

What doesn't our Chinese-question test show about ChatGPT recommendations?

• The ChatGPT app. Our answers came from OpenAI's API, and the app, with its memory and settings, may search differently.
• Why Learning Centre A was picked. We saw which page was cited; we can't say its Chinese text was the reason.
• Other businesses. The name questions covered only four businesses, including a bakery chain.
• Other wording and tools. We asked in Simplified Chinese across nine kinds of business, on one model. Traditional Chinese, Cantonese phrasing and other AI tools weren't tested.

Where should I start if I want ChatGPT to recommend my business in Chinese?

Start with what ChatGPT says today, in Chinese, then fix the two pages its searches are most likely to reach.

1. Request EasyFound's free check to see what ChatGPT tells customers who ask in Chinese, including when they ask about you by name. Then we'll go through it together on a free call.
2. Fix one English page and one Chinese page, as in steps 3 and 4.
3. A month later, put the same Chinese questions to ChatGPT and see what moved.

As an AI SEO service for Malaysian businesses, EasyFound tests the Chinese, Malay and English questions your customers ask across six AI tools, and works on the pages behind the answers. It begins with the free check below.