How ChatGPT Search Actually Works Behind the Scenes

When someone asks ChatGPT a question in your category, your brand is either in the answer or it is not. There is no results page, just one response that shapes how people think and what they choose.

Impaca.ai helps brands show up in those answers across ChatGPT and other AI platforms. To do that, we run ongoing experiments, measure what models actually read, and study how they pick sources.

Here is a straight overview of how ChatGPT Search works and what that implies for your brand.

1. ChatGPT does not search like Google

When ChatGPT "uses search", it does not just take the top ten links and summarize them. There is a pipeline behind the scenes:

1. Decision step ChatGPT first decides whether it needs the live web at all. For generic or timeless questions, it can often answer from its internal training. For recent events, product details, and specific brands, it usually calls search.

2. Query step Instead of one keyword query, it may generate several variants and send them to a mix of sources. That can include its own index and traditional search engines.

3. Context building The model pulls snippets and page content into a hidden context. There is no visible SERP for the user. The context is like a private reading list that the model uses while it writes the answer.

4. Answer generation The answer is then written from that context, sometimes with citations. The user sees the final text, not the sources behind it.

For brands, the key point is simple: you are not competing for a click on a results page. You are competing to be included in the internal context that the model reads before it answers.

2. Two main ways ChatGPT uses the web

In our research, we see two dominant patterns.

Quick lookup mode

This is the default for most practical questions.

• Often triggered when the user hits the Search button or asks something time sensitive.
• Runs a small set of focused queries.
• Fetches enough content to answer, then stops.

This is where a lot of "Which tool should I use for X" and "What are the main options for Y" questions live. Those are the moments when you want your brand name to appear in the answer text.

Deeper reasoning mode

Sometimes ChatGPT behaves more like a research assistant:

• It decides when to search again inside the same conversation.
• It may open more pages, compare information, and refine its own view before replying.

These multi step flows are harder to predict, but the rule is consistent. If your content is unclear, hard to parse, or inconsistent, it is less likely to be pulled into that reasoning process.

3. What we actually do at Impaca.ai

Our product exists for one job: help brands appear in ChatGPT and other AI platform responses in a reliable way.

To support that, we invest heavily in research, such as:

• Controlled experiments We run test environments where we can observe how AI systems crawl, what they fetch, and which pages they use when generating answers.

• Agent level visibility We analyze what AI agents actually see on your site, not just what a human sees in a browser. That includes structure, entities, and key facts about your brand and product.

• Content and presence diagnostics We map where your brand is mentioned in AI answers across key queries and where it is missing, including competitor presence for the same prompts.

From this, we give brands practical, focused guidance. For example:

• Make key facts about your company, product, pricing model, and use cases easy to extract.
• Avoid conflicting descriptions of your offering across domains you control.
• Strengthen coverage around the specific questions your buyers actually ask inside ChatGPT.

We do not rely on gimmicks or short term tricks. Our work is based on understanding how these systems search, select, and synthesize, then aligning your web presence with that reality.

If your buyers are asking AI what to do next, your brand needs to be in the answer. Impaca.ai is built to make that happen.