You asked ChatGPT who the best firms are for what you do. It named your competitors. You weren't in the list, or you were described wrong.
Start here
Before you fix anything, run the question a few times. AI tools don't give the same answer twice. A 2026 SparkToro study had 600 volunteers run the same prompts almost 3,000 times, and the odds of getting the same list of brands twice were under 1 in 100. One answer isn't proof. A pattern across several runs is.
If the pattern holds, here are the five reasons I'd check, in this order.
1. It can't read your site
OpenAI says sites that opt out of OAI-SearchBot won't be shown in ChatGPT search answers. That's the crawler for search. GPTBot is a different one, used for training, and you can allow one and block the other.
Open your robots.txt and look. If OAI-SearchBot is blocked, allow it. OpenAI says changes can take about 24 hours to show up. Check your firewall and security settings too, since they can block crawlers without anyone deciding to.
2. It can read it, but the pages don't say what you do
If a competitor's page says "penetration testing for fintech companies in the EU" and yours says "comprehensive security solutions," the first one is easier to match to a buyer's question. The AI isn't judging your quality. It's matching words to a question.
3. What it finds is old, or doesn't agree with itself
If your site, your LinkedIn page, your directory listings and an old press release describe you in four different ways, the AI has four versions to pick from. It might pick the old one. This is the usual reason a tool describes a service you stopped offering.
4. Your competitors are mentioned in more places
I couldn't find a published recipe from OpenAI for how it ranks sources, so I can't tell you this is certain. It's a reasonable guess. If a competitor appears on partner pages, in directories, and in articles, those are more places for an AI to find them.
5. The question is too broad
A broad question like "best managed IT provider" tends to favor the big names. A narrow one, like a service for a certain industry in a certain region, has fewer firms that fit, so smaller firms get a better chance. That's my reasoning, not something I've seen measured, so test it with your own questions.
How to check, in about an hour
- Write ten questions your buyers would actually ask. Use real ones from sales calls or emails if you have them.
- Run each one three times in ChatGPT and in Perplexity. Perplexity shows numbered links to its sources, which helps with the next step.
- For each answer, note who's named, how you're described, and what's wrong.
- For anything wrong, look at the sources the tool cites and find where the wrong information came from.
You'll end up with a short list: pages it can't read, pages that don't say enough, and outside sources that are out of date. Fix them in that order.
Sources
- OpenAI, Overview of OpenAI crawlers.
- Perplexity, How does Perplexity work?
- Search Engine Land, AI recommendation lists rarely repeat, SparkToro study, January 2026.
Common questions
Why does ChatGPT recommend my competitors and not my firm?
Common causes are a blocked crawler, pages that do not say what you do, old or conflicting descriptions of your firm, fewer mentions across the web, or a question that is too broad.
Can my website appear in ChatGPT search?
OpenAI says sites that opt out of its search crawler, OAI-SearchBot, will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers. GPTBot is a separate crawler used for training.
Why does an AI tool describe a service we stopped offering?
Usually because your site, LinkedIn page, directories and old press disagree with each other, and the tool picks the older version.
Kryston's AI visibility audit gives you a dated baseline of this for your own firm: what ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, AI Overviews and Google say about it today, and what to fix first.
Kryston guides
Analysis for IT services and software development firms on search, AI visibility and buyer trust.
