No Hacks: Optimising the Web for AI Agents
Your next million website visitors won't be human.
AI agents are already browsing the web. Comparison shopping, researching products, filling out forms, booking travel, extracting information. And most websites are completely unprepared. Navigation that makes sense to humans confuses agents. Checkouts break. Critical information is invisible.
No Hacks is the podcast about this shift. We explore how to optimise websites for AI agents: what breaks, what works, and what companies need to do now to stay visible in an agent-driven web.
Hosted by Slobodan Manic (slobodanmanic.com), consultant and speaker on Agent Experience Optimisation (AXO).
New episodes weekly. Subscribe to the companion newsletter at nohacks.substack.com.
No Hacks: Optimising the Web for AI Agents
204: #ChatGate - Your ChatGPT Conversation Could Be Indexed and Anyone Could Read Them
In this emergency solo episode I walk you through #ChatGate, the discovery that thousands of “shared” ChatGPT conversations are now fully searchable on Google. We de-mystify the site: operator, trace the unusual timeline that puts OpenAI, Google Cloud and Microsoft on a collision course, and explain why some marketers cheer while privacy advocates panic.
Most importantly, you’ll learn how to check whether your chats are exposed and what to do next.
Key Takeaways
- Shared ChatGPT links are public if you tick “Enable search indexing.”
- A sitemap discovered in late 2024 helps Google crawl those pages automatically.
- OpenAI now pays Google for compute while Microsoft cools its spending — timing that looks suspicious.
- Marketers cheering the “SEO gold-mine” are ignoring the privacy fallout.
- Audit yourself (site:chatgpt.com/share "Your Name"), delete stray links, and think twice before sharing sensitive prompts.
Enjoy the listen — and remember: what happens in ChatGPT doesn’t necessarily stay in ChatGPT.
Resources & Further Reading
- Google Support – Advanced Search Operators (official guide to site:)
https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/2466433?hl=en - OpenAI Help Center – “Share your conversations” (checkbox controls indexing) https://help.openai.com/en/articles/7925741-chatgpt-shared-links-faq
- LinkedIn Post by Senthil Kumar – “OpenAI’s /shared-convos-sitemap.xml SEO play” https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/unboxing-chatgpts-organic-traffic-deep-dive-openais-seo-hariram-jhtkc
- TechCrunch (31 July 2025) – “Your public ChatGPT queries are getting indexed by Google” https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/31/your-public-chatgpt-queries-are-getting-indexed-by-google-and-other-search-engines/
- Fast Company (30 July 2025) – “Google is indexing ChatGPT conversations—here’s why it’s a privacy nightmare” https://www.fastcompany.com/91376687/google-indexing-chatgpt-conversations
- Yahoo Finance (Dec 2024) – “Microsoft has invested nearly $14 billion in OpenAI but is pulling back”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/microsoft-invested-nearly-14-billion-000512844.html - Reuters (16 July 2025) – “OpenAI taps Google Cloud TPU chips to meet soaring demand”
https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/openai-lists-google-cloud-partner-amid-growing-demand-computing-capacity-2025-07-16/ - Juliana Jackson – Substack Essay “ChatGPT Indexed Conversations”
https://julianajackson.substack.com/p/chatgpt-indexed-conversations
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