Does ChatGPT search the internet, or answer from memory?

ChatGPT does both, and it decides question by question. When someone asks who to buy from, how much something costs, or when a business is open, ChatGPT searches the web. When someone asks for general advice or a definition, it often answers from memory, with no sources.

We asked ChatGPT 30 questions a Malaysian business owner or customer might ask, three times each. It searched the web in 69 of 90 answers, including every one of the 42 answers asking for a local business, a price or a named business's details.

When does ChatGPT search the web instead of answering from memory?

ChatGPT searches when the answer depends on current, local or specific facts. It answers from memory when the question is general enough that its training already covers it.

Every question and answer: download the CSV.

What does ChatGPT read when it searches for a business?

When ChatGPT searches, it reads businesses' own websites far more than you might expect. The pages it cited depended on the question:

• A named business's details: the business's own website, in 11 of 12 answers. Asked for Village Grocer Bangsar's opening hours, it quoted villagegrocer.com.my in all three runs.
• Local recommendations: a mix of businesses' own sites, directories such as recommend.my and WhatClinic, and free Google Sites pages, which appeared in 8 of the 18 answers.
• Prices: a mix of businesses' own price guides and property or renovation portals. For the kitchen renovation question, one run quoted a Subang Jaya renovation studio's own cost guide; the others used PropertyGuru and renovation platforms.

So a business that states its prices, areas and hours plainly on its own site gives ChatGPT something to quote. We found the same pattern in a larger sample of 482 pages ChatGPT cited.

Which questions does ChatGPT answer from memory?

ChatGPT answered general advice and definitions from memory. "How to choose a renovation contractor", "what is SEO", "what is a Sdn Bhd" and "Shopee vs Lazada for small sellers" got no web search in any of their three runs.

All 21 answers that didn't search came with no sources. No business was quoted, and none could be: the answer came from what ChatGPT already knew.

Some questions went either way. "How to get my business on Google Maps" searched in 2 of 3 runs, and "what is e-invoicing in Malaysia" in 2 of 3. The same question can get a different kind of answer from one day to the next.

What does this mean for my business?

The questions that decide who gets hired are the ones ChatGPT searches. "Who's good near me", "how much does it cost" and "are they open on Sunday" all sent ChatGPT to the web in our test, and the pages it read were often businesses' own.

That puts three things in your hands:

1. Let ChatGPT in. OpenAI says a site becomes eligible when it allows its search crawler, OAI-SearchBot, and that "Placement is not guaranteed"¹. Our five checks for why ChatGPT can't see a website cover the common blockers.
2. State the facts customers ask about. Prices or price ranges, areas you serve, opening hours and what you specialise in, as plain text on your site.
3. Answer the questions around your trade. The renovation studio ChatGPT quoted for kitchen costs had published its own price guide: a page that answered the question before anyone asked it.

What does ChatGPT find when it searches for my business?

When ChatGPT searches for a business like yours, it finds whatever your own website, listings and directory pages say, plus the competitors whose pages answer the question more plainly. To see it for yourself, ask the questions your customers ask, the way they ask them, and note whose name comes back. Because ChatGPT searches for those questions, the answer can change whenever the web changes, so one check is only a snapshot.

Our free AI visibility check does this for you. We ask ChatGPT what your customers would ask, with no chat history, and show you whether you're named, who is named instead, and which pages ChatGPT read to decide.

What can't this test tell me?

• The ChatGPT app. We used OpenAI's API with web search available, the location set to Malaysia and the gpt-5.4-mini model. The app, logged in, may search more or less often.
• Other languages. All 30 questions were in English. We've tested Malay and Chinese questions separately.
• Why it chose each page. We can see what ChatGPT cited, not how it ranked the pages.

When your customers ask ChatGPT who to hire, it goes looking. The free check below shows you what it finds when it looks for your business, and the first gap to fix.