Why does ChatGPT cite my competitor and not me?

Often because a page about your competitor turned up in that search and ChatGPT chose it. Your page may not have turned up, or turned up and wasn't picked. In our test, every business ChatGPT named for a local question came with a link to a page from that search, and which pages turn up can change every time you ask.

That makes it a visibility problem you can work on, not a ranking you've lost for good. Five checks tell you which part applies to you.

What happened when we asked ChatGPT for a dentist three times?

ChatGPT named a different set of dental clinics each time we asked it for a "good dentist in Petaling Jaya", three times through OpenAI's API with web search and no chat history:

• First answer: five clinics: four linked to the clinic's own website, and one to a different clinic's website.
• Second answer: five different clinics, all linked to pages on one dental directory.
• Third answer: five clinics again: two linked to Google (a Maps link and a Business Profile) and three to the same directory.

That's 13 different clinics in 15 places. Two clinics appeared twice and none appeared in all three answers. ChatGPT also found more clinics than it named: the search behind the first answer returned 12 clinic websites, and it named 5. A page that turns up gives a clinic a chance; it doesn't guarantee a place in the answer.

Check 1: Does ChatGPT name my competitor every time?

ChatGPT often doesn't name the same competitor every time. In our 135-answer language test (15 Malaysian buying questions in three languages, each asked three times), two answers to the same question in the same language shared on average only 15% of the businesses they named (our language test). It varied by trade: hotel answers were steadier than accounting ones.

How to check: log out of ChatGPT, so your memories, past chats and custom instructions can't shape the answer, and ask the same question three times. If your competitor appears in only one answer, it may be chance. If they appear in all three, keep going.

Check 2: Did ChatGPT search the web, or answer from memory?

In our test, ChatGPT searched the web for every local recommendation question, such as "good dentist in Petaling Jaya" or "halal bakery in Subang Jaya": 18 of 18 answers (how ChatGPT decides to search). For general advice it often answered from memory, and then it can only name businesses it learned about in training, which is likely to favour better-known names.

How to check: look for sources under the answer. Source links mean it searched. No links usually means it answered from memory, though once in our test it searched and cited nothing. A new page on your site won't change a from-memory answer quickly.

Check 3: Which page did ChatGPT cite for my competitor?

The source link under ChatGPT's answer shows which page it cited for your competitor. In the dentist answers it was a clinic's own website, a directory page or a Google page. Links aren't always right: in one answer, a clinic's name was linked to a different clinic's website, so click through before you act. Each kind of page needs a different response:

Check 4: Can ChatGPT read my page at all?

If ChatGPT never cites your site, it may not be able to reach it. To be eligible for ChatGPT search, a site has to let in OpenAI's search crawler, OAI-SearchBot, and even then OpenAI promises nothing: "Placement is not guaranteed"¹. None of the 59 robots.txt files we could read blocked ChatGPT, though most were sites ChatGPT already cites, so also look at your firewall or CDN settings and at pages that need JavaScript to show their text.

How to check: go through our five checks for why ChatGPT can't see a website. Then look at your page as text only: if your prices or services are only in images, ChatGPT can reach the page and still find nothing to quote.

Check 5: Which sources does ChatGPT use for my trade?

Different trades lead ChatGPT to different sources (the breakdown by industry). For hotels, booking and review sites together were 58% of its citations. For renovation, marketplaces and classifieds were the largest single type (37%), though businesses' own pages together were cited more. For company secretaries, ChatGPT mostly cited SSM's own pages (its list of registered secretaries, fees and how-to guidance) and gave "how to choose" advice rather than naming firms.

How to check: note which kinds of source appear in the answers for your trade, then make sure your business is on the ones that list businesses, and says the same thing there as on your website.

How do I stop losing ChatGPT's answer to my competitor?

You win ChatGPT's answer back from a competitor by being on a page it can find and cite next time. Because the names change from run to run, a competitor's place in the answer is rarely fixed.

Where can I beat my competitor in ChatGPT's answers?

Three things work in your favour:

• The answer is rarely owned. In our 135-answer language test, just 6% of the businesses ChatGPT named appeared in all three runs of the same question.
• Every name we saw came with a page from that search, so a readable page puts you among the businesses ChatGPT can choose from.
• Your own ChatGPT isn't a fair test. It may use your memories and past chats, so you need the answers a customer sees.

What should I do first to win back ChatGPT's answer?

Start here:

1. Request EasyFound's free check. See what ChatGPT says when your customers ask, without your chat history getting in the way, then go through it with us on a free call.
2. Match the source your competitor wins on: their website, a directory or Google, using the table in Check 3.
3. Re-ask the same questions next month to see whether you're now in the answers.

EasyFound, an AI SEO service for Malaysian businesses, watches six AI tools for your business and your competitors, in English, Malay and Mandarin, and works on getting your pages read. Find out where you stand with the free check below.