Here's something wild that's happening right now: people are asking ChatGPT and Claude for course recommendations.
Not Google. Not their friends. AI.
"What's the best launch course for creative service providers?" "Recommend a program to help me build my email list." "I need help with my offer messaging—what should I take?"
And if AI doesn't know about your course? You're invisible.
Your competitor who figured this out six months ago? They're getting recommended instead of you.
This isn't some future trend. It's happening right now. And most course creators have no idea they're missing out.
Why This Matters (Like, Actually Matters)
AI is becoming the new search engine. People trust it because it feels like getting advice from a smart friend instead of wading through SEO-optimized garbage.
When someone asks AI for a course recommendation, they're not just browsing. They're ready to buy. They have a problem, they want a solution, and they're asking for a specific recommendation.
That's hot traffic. And if AI doesn't know about you, that person is buying from someone else.
The good news? Most course creators aren't doing anything about this yet. Which means if you start now, you have a massive advantage.
How AI Actually Learns About Your Course
AI models like ChatGPT and Claude were trained on massive amounts of internet data. But here's the thing: they have knowledge cutoffs. ChatGPT's training data ends at a certain date. Claude's ends at another date.
If your course launched after those dates, or if there isn't enough public information about it online, AI literally doesn't know you exist.
But AI isn't static. It can access current information through:
- Web search (ChatGPT can search the web in real-time)
- Citations from recent sources
- Public information that's widely distributed and linked
So your job is to make sure there's enough high-quality, publicly available information about your course that AI can find it, understand it, and recommend it.
What AI Needs to Recommend You
AI isn't going to recommend your course just because you want it to. It needs specific information to make a recommendation. Think about what you'd need to know if someone asked you to recommend a course:
Who is it for? AI needs to know your specific audience. "Creative service providers" is better than "entrepreneurs." "Web designers who want to book out their services" is even better.
What problem does it solve? Not vague outcomes like "clarity" or "confidence." Specific problems like "how to warm up your audience before a launch" or "how to price your design packages."
What makes it different? There are 10,000 courses out there. Why yours? What's your unique approach, framework, or POV?
What do people say about it? Social proof matters to AI just like it matters to humans. Testimonials, case studies, results.
Where can people find it? AI needs to know where to send people. Your website, your sales page, how to sign up.
The clearer and more specific this information is online, the better chance AI has of recommending you.
Actually Getting AI to Know About Your Course
Okay, so how do you actually make this happen? Here's what works:
Write Public Content About Your Course
This is the most important thing you can do. AI learns from publicly available information, so you need to create content that explains what your course is, who it's for, and why it works.
Blog posts on your website:
- "What [Your Course Name] teaches and who it's for"
- Case studies from students
- Behind-the-scenes of how you built it
- Your framework or methodology explained
Guest posts and interviews:
- Podcast interviews where you talk about your course
- Guest blog posts on other sites in your niche
- Interviews in newsletters or publications
Your sales page: Make sure your sales page is public (not behind a waitlist or login) and clearly explains:
- Who it's for (specific ideal client)
- What problem it solves (specific outcome)
- Your unique approach (what makes it different)
- Social proof (testimonials, results)
AI needs to be able to find and read this information. If it's all locked behind a waitlist or hidden on social media, AI can't access it.
Get Mentioned on Other Sites
AI weighs information that appears across multiple sources. If your course is only mentioned on your own website, that's one data point. If it's mentioned on 10 different podcasts, blogs, and publications, that's much stronger.
How to do this:
- Guest on podcasts in your niche
- Get featured in roundups ("Best courses for X")
- Get mentioned in other people's newsletters
- Be interviewed on blogs or publications
- Have students write about their experience on their own sites
Every mention is another signal to AI that your course exists and is worth knowing about.
Use Clear, Consistent Language
AI works best when information is clear and consistent across sources. If you call your course five different things in five different places, AI gets confused.
Be consistent with:
- Your course name
- Your tagline or positioning
- Who it's for
- What problem it solves
- Your unique framework or methodology
The more consistent your messaging, the easier it is for AI to understand and remember you.
Create Transcripts and Text-Based Content
AI is trained on text, not video or audio. If all your content about your course is in videos or podcast episodes without transcripts, AI can't access it.
Make sure you have:
- Transcripts of podcast interviews
- Blog posts, not just videos
- Written case studies, not just video testimonials
- Text-based explanations of your framework
Audio and video are great for humans, but AI needs text.
Show Up in Community Spaces
AI can access some public forums, Reddit threads, and community discussions. When people ask for recommendations in these spaces, show up and add value.
Where to show up:
- Reddit threads in your niche
- Public Facebook groups
- Forums and community sites
- Comment sections on blogs and articles
You're not just helping the person asking—you're creating a public record that AI can learn from.
Build Social Proof That Lives Online
Testimonials on your sales page are great, but AI needs to see social proof across the internet.
Encourage students to:
- Write case studies on their own blogs
- Share their results on social media (publicly)
- Review your course on public platforms
- Mention it in interviews or podcasts
The more places your course shows up as "this worked for me," the more confident AI will be in recommending it.
What NOT to Do
Don't try to game the system. AI is designed to recommend helpful, legitimate resources. If you're trying to trick it or manipulate it, it won't work. Just create genuinely helpful content.
Don't lock everything behind a waitlist. If all your information requires an email signup, AI can't access it. Make your core messaging public.
Don't rely on social media alone. Social media content is hard for AI to access consistently. You need content on your own website and other public sites.
Don't assume AI already knows about you. Even if you've been around for years, AI might not have enough information to recommend you. You still need to do this work.
Testing If AI Knows About You
Want to see if AI can find and recommend your course? Test it.
Go ask ChatGPT or Claude:
- "What's the best course for [your niche/problem]?"
- "I'm looking for a program to help with [specific problem]. What do you recommend?"
- "Do you know about [your course name]? What can you tell me about it?"
If AI doesn't mention you or doesn't know about you, that's your answer. Time to start creating more public content.
If AI does know about you but gets details wrong, you need clearer, more consistent messaging across your content.
This Is Just the Beginning
AI search is only going to get bigger. More people are going to ask AI for recommendations instead of Googling. More people are going to trust AI's suggestions.
The course creators who figure this out now are going to have a massive advantage over everyone who's still ignoring it.
You don't need to be an AI expert. You just need to create clear, public, helpful content about your course that AI can find and understand.
Start now. Because your competitors are.
FAQs
Q: Can AI really recommend courses? A: Yes, AI like ChatGPT and Claude can search the web and access public information to make course recommendations when users ask.
Q: How long does it take for AI to learn about my course? A: It depends on how much public content you create and how widely it's distributed. Start seeing results in 3-6 months with consistent effort.
Q: Do I need to pay to get AI to recommend my course? A: No, AI recommendations are based on publicly available information, not paid placements.
Q: Will this work for any type of online course? A: Yes, as long as you create clear, public content about who your course is for and what problem it solves.
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