How can a software company in Malaysia get recommended by ChatGPT?

A software (SaaS) company in Malaysia gets recommended by ChatGPT mostly through its own website, going by our tests. In our one test of packaged software, café POS systems, more than nine in ten links in ChatGPT's answers went to a seller's own pages, and two tests of tech services showed the same. In the POS test, ChatGPT searched for brands it already knew by name, and smaller systems got in mostly on questions about a specific need.

Picture a software founder in Cyberjaya who asks ChatGPT about her own category and sees three rivals. We went back through 60 saved answers to see what the named sellers had in common.

What does ChatGPT read before it recommends a software company in Malaysia?

ChatGPT read software and tech sellers' own websites first. We recounted three earlier tests the same way: café POS systems, WhatsApp chatbot builders and IT support companies. Only the first is about packaged software; the other two are about companies that mostly sell a service.

Of the 249 links in those answers, 232 went to a seller's own site (CSV). In the POS test alone, it was 66 of 72.

Nearly all the pricing-page links came from the POS test, the one about packaged software.

We found no link to a review site, an independent directory, a forum or a news site. The only listings linked were Microsoft's and AWS's own partner pages. Reddit was in the search results of all 60 answers and was never linked, as in our other trades.

The five large international software review sites we looked for weren't in any results we could see. Smaller software directories and comparison sites were in some results, and IT directories were in the results of 9 of the 20 IT support answers.

ChatGPT's own advice differs. Asked this article's title and a SaaS version of it, all four answers advised building profiles on review or directory platforms, the same gap we saw with IT support firms.

Does ChatGPT already have software brands in mind before it searches?

For packaged software, ChatGPT seemed to have brands in mind before it searched. In the café POS test, its first web search usually contained a POS brand the owner never typed. For chatbot builders and IT support firms, it searched by category and town instead.

The first column uses one definition across the tests. The second is counted from each test's own data file, where names were merged slightly differently; the POS count includes one government e-invoicing tool.

In 8 of the 20 chatbot answers, a later search did name a seller. Each time, one of the names was a global self-serve platform, a packaged product too.

Our reading, from one packaged-software test set against two service tests: where a category has well-known products, ChatGPT checks the names it knows, then fills in their prices and features, as the POS test suggested. We haven't tested another software category, so treat it as a lead, not a rule.

Big names don't win everywhere: across five other trades, ChatGPT named independents about as often as chains and big brands.

How can a smaller Malaysian software company get into ChatGPT's answer?

In our tests, smaller sellers got into ChatGPT's answers mostly on questions about one exact need, trade or area, and often with a page that matched it. Only the first finding below comes from packaged software, and the tests measured this differently, so we report them separately:

• A specific need. In the POS test, smaller systems were named mostly on narrow questions such as working offline, delivery orders or support in Johor Bahru.
• A trade. For property agency and restaurant questions in the chatbot test, 16 of 20 links went to a page written for that trade.
• An area. In the IT support test, half the answers about a city or region linked a page written for that one area.

Published prices travelled too. A named system's price or free plan was stated in 15 of the 20 POS answers. A builder's own published price was in 12 of the chatbot answers. Five IT support answers quoted one.

Self-published comparisons were cited. Sellers' own articles, guides and comparisons took 16 links, including a local vendor's own list of the best tools in its category. Glen Allsopp of Ahrefs found this outside Malaysia as well: "a self-promotional blog list still showed up in more than a third of ChatGPT responses in the software category when its publisher was recommended" (Ahrefs).

"Best" lists of every kind, written by sellers or by others, were far more common in his global study, at 43.8% of the page types ChatGPT linked. Whether a list buys you a place is in can you pay to become ChatGPT's top recommendation?

What can't these tests tell a Malaysian software company about ChatGPT?

• Other kinds of software. Only the POS test is about packaged software. Chatbot builders and IT support firms mostly sell a service, and we haven't tested accounting or HR software.
• The app. We used OpenAI's API with search required. The ChatGPT app, with your chat history, can differ.
• Cause. We saw what ChatGPT linked, not why it chose. These are 60 answers from one week, and answers change between runs.

What should a Malaysian software company do to get recommended by ChatGPT?

Most of the work is on pages you already control. We sell this kind of work, so weigh our steps accordingly.

1. See what ChatGPT says about you today. Our free check asks the questions your buyers type, like "We're a 12-person accounting firm in PJ, which software should we use to track client jobs?", and we go through the answers with you on a free call.
2. Write one plain page per need, trade or area you serve. Say what the product does for that buyer, in text ChatGPT can read.
3. Keep your pricing page current. If you can't show a figure, say how you charge and what each plan includes.
4. Make your home page say what you sell, for whom and where. For about four in ten of the seller sites linked, it was the only page linked.
5. Publish an honest comparison or buying guide, and say it's yours.

You can also hand this to EasyFound, a founder-led AI SEO service in the Klang Valley. We put your buyers' questions to six AI tools in English, Malay and Chinese: ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode. Then we fix the pages they read, starting with the free check below.