For advisors asking how to get noticed in the new frontier of ChatGPT searches, many are likely overlooking an old technological answer: their own websites.
So suggests a study conducted by the website designer and digital strategist Bonfire Studio identifying sources ChatGPT is most likely to cite in recommendations of financial advisors. Of the 1,048 sources ChatGPT pointed to in its responses, 45% were websites owned by individual advisor or advisory teams, according to Bonfire. That surpassed citations of government and regulatory agencies and professional associations (returned in nearly 11% of searches) and sites owned by banks, wirehouses and insurance companies (8.2%).
Sara McQueen, the president and founder of Bonfire Studio, said many advisors build their websites early on and then put almost no effort later into keeping them up to date. Her firm's study of ChatGPT results suggest a little refreshening would be far from a waste of time.
"Your website, you might think that is old technology, but it's not," McQueen said. "It's actually the best place for AI engines and search engines to learn about who you are, what you do, where you're located — all of that stuff."
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How a website can be a voice of authority
Questions about how to best get noticed on OpenAI's ChatGPT, Anthropic's Claude, Google's Gemini and other large language models have swirled in recent years as these AI systems have started infringing on the online search business once dominated by Google. Old methods of attracting attention — such as packing sites with keywords likely to appear in search results — are losing their power to ensure a top position in search results.
Marketers have called on firms to instead
Fran Merlie, the senior vice president of content and AI strategy at the marketing firm Gregory, agreed that websites are often neglected by firms racing to get themselves noticed in AI search results. Large language models like ChatGPT tend to consult a large variety of sources when trying to gauge authority.
Websites may make the biggest difference, but ignoring any means of obtaining publicity is likely a mistake.
"It's your own website, it's PR, it's social media, it's YouTube and things like that," Merlie said. "It's a lot of different buckets that normally haven't been connected in the past. But your website is absolutely one of those pieces — I think we see it often — where it's just not always clear what the company does."
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How Bonfire tested ChatGPT's advisor recommendations
McQueen said Bonfire chose to use ChatGPT in its study of AI search results after seeing research finding it's the large language model
The queries were directed toward finding financial advisors in five specific metropolitan areas — New York, Chicago, Dallas Fort Worth, Phoenix and Charlotte. They asked things like: "Who does retirement planning in Charlotte, NC?," and "I'm looking for a financial advisor in Chicago, IL — who should I talk to?"
McQueen said the first step to being cited in AI responses to such queries is to have blogs or other writings online showing expertise on topics like tax planning or working with high net worth clients. But it's not enough to post just once.
McQueen said ChatGPT and other large language models are known to favor information published in the previous six months.
"But across the board with our clients, a lot of times it's: They built a website, and now they consider it done," she said. "They hire new financial advisors, or a financial advisor leaves them, they open a new location, or the website itself looks outdated."
The website domain most cited in the results was the trade group National Association of Personal Financial Advisors'
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Ask a second time, you may get a different answer
For advisors who have poured resources into making their online presences stand out from competitors', that's no doubt welcome news. But not everything was so encouraging.
Bonfire also wanted to learn if firms that were cited once would appear again if the same question were posed a second time to ChatGPT. So McQueen and her team re-entered their initial queries seeking financial advisors in or near Charlotte, North Carolina. The second time around, the websites cited in ChatGPT's responses changed nearly 45% of the time.
McQueen said AIs are known to work from probabilities. With Bonfire's study, her hypothesis is that ChatGPT has drawn up a short list of firms whose subject-matter authority would make them most likely to be recommended by industry experts.
For a place like Charlotte, that list could contain as many as 20 firms.
"But it only wants to give you, say, three," McQueen said. "If you ask it at 9 a.m., it picks these three. You ask it at 1p.m., and perhaps it picks these other three. But my hypothesis is: It's pulling from the same bucket."
Merlie said firms can run their own similar tests, asking ChatGPT multiple times to recommend a financial advisor in a particular place and seeing what the answers are. Sometimes subtle changes in the query — asking who provides the best tax advice rather than merely just tax advice — can make a difference.
"And it's not just looking at one question, but the questions that matter to all of your service areas, and seeing where you're strong, where you're maybe a little weaker, and what are the next steps for improving that visibility?" Merlie said.
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Wirehouses, banks more likely to get high net worth referrals
Bonfire's test found that ChatGPT tends to cite different types of firms' websites depending on the type of financial advice sought in queries. Users who ask about tax planning, fee-only planning, retirement or who made general inquiries were overwhelmingly pointed to sites owned by individual advisors or advisory teams. Wirehouses, banks and insurance companies gained ground when the questions were about high net worth services involving portfolios of $5 million or more. Law firms and legal professions were most often cited when a query was about estate planning.
McQueen said Bonfire's study should be of particular interest to advisors who are seeking to build their business referrals. Many firms now draw new clients through recommendations from existing clients or accountants, lawyers and other professionals engaged for services.
In the future, referrals are likely to come with more frequency from AI.
"To me, ChatGPT is as good as any other referral source an advisor could get," McQueen said. "In fact, it's possibly better because ChatGPT is chatting with thousands or even millions of people every day."
