Skip to main content
Your chatbot answers from the content you give it. It does not browse the internet. For each question, SiteGPT finds the passages of your content that match the question best. The AI then writes an answer from those passages and follows your instructions and persona. If the passages do not contain the answer, the chatbot replies with your fallback message. This page explains each part of that process. It also explains the common reasons an answer goes wrong and how to fix each one.

​
The short version

  • Does it only answer from my content? It answers from the passages it finds in your content. It does not search the web, and it cannot open links or look up live data. The rule to stay inside your content is an instruction to the AI, so it is strong but not absolute. See Does it only use my content?.
  • Why was this answer wrong? Usually the right content was missing, outdated, split into pieces, buried in page noise, or contradicted by another page. See Why answers go wrong.
  • How do I fix it? Fix the content first. For one question that must always get the same answer, add a custom response. Step-by-step help is in Fix a wrong answer.

​
How SiteGPT prepares your content

When you add content, SiteGPT does this work in the background:
  • It reads the content. For a web page, it fetches the page and keeps the text. For a file, it extracts the text. For a connected app, it imports the documents you chose.
  • It converts the text to a plain format and removes code such as scripts and styles.
  • It splits the text into short passages.
  • It indexes each passage by meaning. SiteGPT can then find the passage later for a question with the same meaning.
This is what “training” means in SiteGPT. Training does not change the AI model. It only builds a searchable index of your content for this chatbot. Each chatbot searches only its own content. When the work finishes, the document shows as trained in your content list. If you change a page on your website, the chatbot keeps the old version until SiteGPT reads the page again. See Keep content up to date. You can add content from these sources: Content counts toward your plan’s pages quota. See Plans and limits.

​
How SiteGPT finds passages for a question

When a visitor sends a message, SiteGPT first turns the message into a search. It uses the recent conversation to do this. So a follow-up such as “How much does it cost?” becomes a search about the product the visitor asked about before. SiteGPT then searches your content by meaning, not by exact words. A question about “refunds” can find a passage about “returning an order”. The other side of this is that exact strings, such as product codes, part numbers, or rare names, are not matched letter by letter. A passage that contains the exact code can rank lower than a passage with a similar meaning. SiteGPT takes the passages that match best and passes them to the AI. It does not rank sources by type. A passage from a text snippet or a file gets no priority over a passage from a web page. Only custom responses are handled differently.

​
Custom responses are searched separately

SiteGPT searches your custom responses in a separate search that uses the visitor’s own words. It places the custom responses that match best above the other passages. It also tells the AI to prefer a custom response when one answers the question. This makes custom responses the strongest way to control the answer to a specific question. It is still a preference, not a copy-paste. The AI can shorten or rephrase the answer to fit your persona. If the wording must be exact, say so in your instructions.

​
How the AI writes the answer

The AI receives these items:
  • SiteGPT’s base rules. These tell the AI to answer from the passages it received, and to reply with your fallback message when the passages do not contain the answer.
  • Today’s date. This lets you write instructions that depend on the date, such as “If today is after the event date, say that tickets are sold out.”
  • Your persona, which sets the tone and length of answers.
  • Your instructions.
  • Your lead collection and human support rules, if you turned those features on.
  • The matching custom responses.
  • The matching passages from your content.
  • The recent messages in the conversation, starting with your welcome message.
  • Extra context that your website sends through the widget SDK, if your developer set this up.
  • The address, title, and description of the page the visitor is on, if you turned on Enable Page Context Awareness in Settings > General. SiteGPT does not send the text of that page.
The AI then writes the answer. You choose the AI model in the chatbot settings. The models are GPT-4.1 and GPT-4.1 mini. See Choose a model. SiteGPT does not set a reply language for answers. If the chatbot must reply in the visitor’s language, or always in one language, add this rule to your instructions.

​
What visitors see with the answer

Under an answer, the widget can show links to the web pages that SiteGPT found for the question. These are all the matching web pages, so a link can appear even if the AI did not use that page. Files, text snippets, and custom responses have no link. You can hide these links with the Hide Sources setting on the Appearance page. See Appearance. If SiteGPT blocks a message by its content rules, the visitor sees “I’m not able to respond to that. Please try rephrasing your question.” You cannot change this text.

​
Does it only use my content?

SiteGPT gives the AI only your content, your settings, and the conversation. The AI does not browse the internet, open links, or connect to your other systems during a chat. So it cannot check an order status, a stock level, or a customer account. To help visitors with live data, link them to the page where they can see it. The rule to answer from your content and to use the fallback message is an instruction to the AI. It is not a filter that checks every word. The AI writes in its own words, and it can add general knowledge, especially for general questions or when your instructions ask it to. To keep it closer to your content:
  • Add clear, complete content for the questions visitors ask.
  • Tell the AI what to do outside your scope. See Keep answers on topic.
  • Do not ask for facts that are not in your content. See the list below.
Everything you add to a chatbot can appear in an answer to anyone who can reach that chatbot. Only add content that is fine for all of those people to see.

​
When the chatbot says it does not know

If the passages do not contain the answer, the AI replies with your fallback message. You can change this message. See Keep answers on topic. SiteGPT records these questions as unanswered. On the Growth plan and above, the Analytics page lists them so you can add the missing content. See Analytics. A fallback answer is often a good result. It means the chatbot did not guess. The fix is to add the content that answers the question.

​
Why answers go wrong

Most wrong answers have one of these causes. Each cause has a different fix.
The chatbot can only answer from content it has. If no page covers the question, the AI uses the fallback message or answers from a passage that is only close.Fix: add the page, file, or text that answers the question. Check the unanswered questions in Analytics to find these gaps. See Add your website and Add a text snippet.
SiteGPT keeps the version of a page it read last. If the page changed after that, the chatbot still uses the old text. A page you deleted from your website can also stay in your content.Fix: resync the page, or remove it from your content. For regular updates, set up auto-sync. See Keep content up to date.
If an old blog post and your pricing page give different prices, SiteGPT can find both. The AI then has to choose, and it can choose the wrong one. SiteGPT does not know which page is newer or more official.Fix: remove or correct the outdated page. If you cannot change it, add a custom response with the correct answer.
SiteGPT splits content into short passages. Large tables, long price lists, and comparison grids are often split in the middle. A passage can then contain a row of numbers without the column headings that explain them.Fix: write the key facts as plain sentences, for example in a text snippet or a custom response. “The Team package includes 5 users” works better than a table cell that says “5”.
Menus, footers, cookie banners, and sidebars appear on every page of a website. If SiteGPT keeps them, the same text appears in many passages. This noise can push useful passages out of the results.Fix: when you add a website, keep Extract main content only turned on, and exclude page parts such as the footer. See Add your website.
SiteGPT reads pages that are publicly reachable. It does not read pages behind a login unless you add them with a login cookie or token. Content that loads only after a click and text inside images are usually not read. Scanned PDFs that contain only images give no text.Fix: for pages behind a login, see Pages behind a login. For other content, upload it as a file or paste it as a text snippet. See Upload files.
Instructions such as “Always give the price” or “Always include our phone number” push the AI to produce that fact. If the fact is not in the passages it received, the AI can make one up.Fix: add the fact to your content, or change the instruction to “If you know the price from the content, give it.” See Write instructions.
Search by meaning can miss exact strings such as SKUs, error codes, or rare product names.Fix: make sure each code appears in a clear sentence that also describes it. For the most important ones, add a custom response.
The default persona keeps answers short. This can cut a detailed answer, such as a list of steps.Fix: choose another persona, or add an instruction such as “Give step-by-step answers in full when the visitor asks how to do something.” See Write instructions.

​
How to fix answers

Start with real questions. Read conversations in Review conversations, and check the unanswered questions in Analytics. Then choose the fix that matches the cause:
  • If the content is wrong or missing, fix the content. This helps every question on that topic.
  • If one specific question must always get the same answer, add a custom response.
  • If the problem is behavior across many questions, such as tone, scope, or what to say when the answer is not known, change the instructions.
The full procedure is in Fix a wrong answer. To practice these steps with your own chatbot, follow Your first week.