Why Doesn't ChatGPT Mention Your Company? Our Test and What You Can Do About It

"Why doesn't ChatGPT mention our company when you ask about providers in our region? And when you ask about us directly, it gives a description that hasn't been accurate for a long time."

These are the kinds of questions—or nearly word-for-word versions of them—that we’re now receiving, both during initial consultations and in Search Console. The search queries that lead people to this post are hardly keywords anymore, but rather complete sentences: why ChatGPT doesn’t mention a company, what criteria it uses to make decisions, and what to do if the description is incorrect. We asked the question ourselves on September 29, 2026, for our own business, and weren’t mentioned.

This post shows what ChatGPT cited as reasons for its choices in this test, what OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft have officially said about it, and what steps to take as a result. Where something is based solely on our own observations, we’ve noted that accordingly.

In a nutshell (as of September 2026)

Ask your most important customer question today in a temporary chat without personalization, and read the reasoning—not just the names. In our test, ChatGPT provided a rationale for every recommendation: an explicit offer tailored to the target audience, real industry references, transparent pricing on the website, and positive reviews in the company profile. These are exactly the four things you should then check on your own site. Technically, only one thing needs to be in order: the OAI-SearchBot search crawler must be allowed to crawl your website.

Our test from September 29: four providers were named, but not us

Ask questions the way a customer would, and see what you get in return. In a test chat with GPT-5.6 Sol, we asked, “Which web design agencies in Cologne can you recommend for a small business?” ChatGPT took 43 seconds to think, searched through eight websites according to the display, and then suggested four providers. Marschfahrt wasn’t among them, even though we’re based in Cologne and offer exactly that.

The answer consisted of three parts. At the top was a map showing the four providers, each with a 5.0-star rating and listed under the category “Web Designer”—information typically found in company profiles on mapping services. Below that was a table with the columns “Provider,” “Why It’s Interesting for Tradespeople,” and “Price Range / Impression.”

Our test: (1) Map showing four Cologne-based providers, all with 5.0 stars based on their company profiles; (2) “Why It’s Interesting for Tradespeople” column with offerings for target audiences and industry references; (3) “Price Level / Impression” column with prices “according to the current website.” Provider names have been redacted. Temporary chat, September 29, 2026.

The rationale included phrases such as “Explicit offerings for trades businesses, local SEO, Google Business Profile” and “Many genuine references from the construction and trades sectors.” The price column listed specific amounts in euros, explicitly noting “according to the current website,” along with information for each provider on how long they’ve been in business and how many projects they’ve completed according to their own website. The very first sentence of the response set the criteria: local SEO, genuine reference projects from the construction and trades sectors, good mobile inquiry channels, and hassle-free maintenance.

For us, this was an unpleasant but useful finding. Our page for small businesses has only been online since mid-September, and the response doesn’t explain exactly why we’re missing. It wasn’t a technical issue—our robots.txt file allows all crawlers.

We can only compare what the examples show with what we're still missing, and that's exactly what the following sections do. Repeat this test for your own industry and location before making any changes to the website.

Why doesn't ChatGPT mention our company when you ask about providers in our region?

Most of the time, it’s because your website doesn’t contain the information the question is asking for, or because the search isn’t allowed to crawl your site at all. For questions like these, ChatGPT searches the web in real time. According to OpenAI’s help page on web search in ChatGPT, this happens automatically when up-to-date information is helpful, and the approximate location is determined based on the IP address to provide local results.

According to ChatGPT, it sometimes collaborates with other search providers and reformulates your question into one or more targeted search queries. After the initial results, further, more specific queries may follow. So, “web design for tradespeople in Cologne” becomes a search in which pages that explicitly mention this exact combination of service, target audience, and location rank higher.

This points to three common causes. First, you’re missing a page that specifically addresses your target audience. Second, you’re missing the evidence that supports a recommendation—such as testimonials, prices, and reviews. Third, your robots.txt file or your web host is blocking OpenAI’s search crawler.

Check the third cause first, because it will only take five minutes.

What criteria does ChatGPT use to decide which companies to mention?

OpenAI doesn't provide a list, so go by what ChatGPT itself states as the reasoning in its responses. The help section only says that search results are ranked based on several factors intended to lead to relevant and reliable information, and that a specific ranking is not guaranteed. OpenAI doesn't reveal what those factors are. Anyone who sells you a detailed list is selling you nothing but guesswork.

Google’s statements about its own local search have been confirmed. The German help section for business profiles states: “Local search results are primarily based on relevance, distance, and popularity.” It continues: “The more reviews and positive ratings your business receives, the better its ranking in local search results can be.” There is no evidence to suggest that ChatGPT applies the same criteria.

Our observations from the test nevertheless align strikingly with this: All four companies mentioned had a 5.0-star rating, all had a specific offer for the industry in question, and the justifications were based on information that could be found on their websites. None of this consisted of promotional phrases like “creative and reliable.” So make sure to include on your websites information that a machine can use as justification: who the service is for, how much it costs, and who has already used it.

What ChatGPT cited as a reason for a recommendation in our test, and what you need on your website so that the same reason applies to you as well.

A page tailored to the exact target audience you're looking for

Create a separate page for your most important customer group that mentions the industry and location in the headline and first paragraph. The first reason listed in the table was “Explicit offer for small businesses.” A services page that offers “Web design for businesses” does not answer this question, but a page titled “Websites for small businesses in Cologne” does.

This page should include the questions that these specific customers ask, with an answer provided in the first two sentences below each one. For small businesses, these might include questions about making inquiries via cell phone, the company profile, and who will maintain the site after it goes live. You can find out which terms your customers use by conducting keyword research based on a real-world example.

One page per target audience is enough—specifically for the one that generates the most revenue for you. In its guide to AI features, Google explicitly warns against creating separate content for every conceivable question just to influence the answers. Write that one page this week—not ten.

Post prices or price ranges on the website without specifying them

Give a starting price or a realistic range, even though every project is different. In the “Price Level / Impression” column, the providers listed specific amounts with the note “according to current website.” ChatGPT was only able to provide pricing information because the providers had published it themselves. Anyone who writes “Price upon request” is excluded from this column.

It doesn't have to be a fixed price. You can use a phrase along the lines of “Websites for small businesses starting at … euros; typical prices range from … to … euros,” substituting your actual figures. It's important that the service, price, and terms are all included in a single sentence—not in an image or a PDF.

Many businesses fear that displaying prices openly will deter inquiries. However, anyone who makes an inquiry after seeing the price has already accepted it. Include the price on both the target audience page and the services page, making sure it’s clearly visible in the text on each page.

Label references with industry, location, and result

For each testimonial, include a line listing the industry, location, and what has changed. The second reason listed in the table was “Many genuine testimonials from the construction and trades sectors,” with examples such as carpentry and construction companies. ChatGPT was only able to write that because the industry was listed alongside the testimonials.

On many websites, the only information listed for projects is the client’s name. For someone who knows the clients, that’s enough; but it’s not enough for a search for “craftsman references in Cologne.” A line like “Carpentry, Rhein-Erft District, new website with contact form” is machine-readable without you having to do anything technical.

Only include figures if the client has given their approval and the figures are accurate. Start by adding the text to the three references that best match your primary target audience.

Company profile with reviews and the same company information everywhere

Ask satisfied customers specifically to leave a review on your Google Business Profile, and make sure your name, address, and phone number are consistent across all platforms. In our test, the map showed a 5.0-star rating for all four providers. OpenAI does not specify where ChatGPT obtains this information, only that trustworthy third-party providers may be used for local results such as business listings. One thing is certain: Without a profile and without reviews, you won’t appear on any of these maps.

Google itself states in its German Help Center: “Businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to appear in local search results.” In its guide to AI features, Google also mentions the business profile as a way to make services visible in AI responses. You can find out how to create, verify, and maintain your profile in our article on the Google Business Profile.

Consistent company information may sound trivial, but it’s a common source of inaccurate descriptions. An outdated address in a business directory, a former company name in a partner’s legal notice, two phone numbers—any discrepancy can resurface in a response. Create a list of all listings where your company appears and reconcile them thoroughly.

An "About Us" page with facts instead of opinions

On the “About Us” page, include the year the company was founded, its location, team size, areas of focus, and the number of projects—as long as these can be verified. In our test, ChatGPT explicitly took the information from one provider’s website regarding when it began operations and how many projects it had completed, according to its own website. Sentences like these form the basis from which a machine compiles a description of your company.

Statements about values and passion don't help with this. In its guidelines, Google describes as valuable content that offers a unique, firsthand perspective rather than repeating well-known facts. For a company website, this means: who you are, what you actually do, and what you don't do.

This page is also the key factor in addressing the next issue: the incorrect description. Add a paragraph stating the status and date so it’s clear which information is current.

ChatGPT describes our company in an outdated or incorrect way: what should we do?

Find out where the incorrect information comes from and correct it at the source, because OpenAI does not have a form for this. We did not find an official procedure in the Help section for companies to have a description corrected by OpenAI. OpenAI itself acknowledges there that search results and source citations may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect.

There are two ways in which an outdated description can arise. Without a web search, the model responds based on its training data, which, according to OpenAI, ends on a specific cutoff date—so later events are missing. With a web search, the error comes from a page that ChatGPT has just read, such as an old directory listing or an article about you from years ago.

So ask the question twice: once as usual, and once by asking people to search online and cite their sources. Click on each source cited and have them correct any inaccuracies—whether in the directory, the association, or the press. On your own website, the correct version should appear under “About Us,” in the legal notice, and in the company profile, using the exact same wording in each case.

After that, it's a matter of waiting. The search engine won't re-crawl your corrected pages until the crawler visits again; with Bing, you can speed this up using the IndexNow protocol, which Microsoft explicitly recommends in its guidelines. Check the description again after four weeks, not after four days.

We rank well on Google, but we don't show up in ChatGPT

First, check whether your robots.txt file blocks the OAI-SearchBot crawler, and then check whether your well-ranked page actually answers the query. According to OpenAI’s crawler overview, websites that block OAI-SearchBot do not appear in ChatGPT’s search results—at most, they may appear as a navigation link. OpenAI recommends allowing the crawler in your robots.txt file and not blocking the published IP ranges with your hosting provider.

GPTBot is often confused with other bots. According to OpenAI, this crawler collects content for training the models, and the settings are independent of one another. So you can block GPTBot and allow OAI-SearchBot: Your site will then be used in search results but not for training. According to OpenAI, it takes about 24 hours after changing the robots.txt file for the search engine to reflect the changes.

If the traffic is there, the problem usually lies with the content. A page might rank highly for “web design Cologne” but still fail to provide an answer to “recommend for a small business” because it contains no information about the trade, no client testimonials, and no pricing. Google states that for its own AI-powered search results and AI mode, there are no additional requirements, and good SEO remains the foundation; read more about this in our post on AI mode and fewer clicks.

Google also makes it clear in its guidelines what doesn’t help: breaking text into small pieces, creating your own AI text files such as llms.txt, or buying fake mentions online. Structured data doesn’t hurt, but according to Google, it isn’t a requirement. Instead, go to eure-domain.de/robots.txt in your browser and look for a line that says ` Disallow: /` under ` User-agent: OAI-SearchBot ` or under `User-agent: *`.

How can I check to see if we appear in AI responses?

Create a fixed list of five to ten questions and ask them once a month in a temporary chat without personalization. According to OpenAI, a temporary chat does not appear in the chat history, but it can use existing memories and your own instructions. Personalization can only be turned off before the first message; after that, it cannot be disabled. If you forget to do this, you’ll get a response tailored specifically to you.

Formulate the questions exactly as customers would ask them, including the industry and location. In addition, include two questions about your own company, such as “What does Company X in Cologne do?” Pay attention to the location: According to the help section, ChatGPT estimates it based on the IP address, so using a VPN will skew the local results.

The monthly test in four steps: Define the questions, ask them without personalizing them, note the reasoning, and check the sources.

For each question, note whether you are mentioned, who is mentioned instead, and what the reasoning is. The answers vary from time to time, so a single query doesn’t tell you much; three months of data, however, reveal a trend. Additionally, there’s actual measurement data: According to OpenAI, ChatGPT appends the parameter `utm_source=chatgpt.com` to links in search results, so in your web analytics, you’ll see visits from ChatGPT listed as a separate source.

For Google, Search Console has featured a dedicated report on generative AI features since the end of August; you can find out how to access it in the post “How to Use Search Console Effectively.” For Microsoft Copilot, Bing Webmaster Tools has included an “AI Performance” section since February, which, according to Microsoft, shows how often your content is displayed as a source in AI responses. Set up both reports before you start working through the first list of questions.

Conclusion: Today, This Week, and Later

Today: Check your robots.txt file and ask your most important customer question yourself. It takes just five minutes to review your robots.txt file, and doing so rules out the only technical issue that could make you completely invisible. The test question in the temporary chat—without any personalization—shows you who is mentioned in your place and why.

This week: work through the justifications. One page for the most important target audience, a price statement with a starting price or price range, three references including industry and location, and facts on the “About Us” page. At the same time, create a list of all directory listings and have any discrepancies in company information corrected.

Later: Collect reviews and track them monthly. After every completed project, ask for a review on your company profile—this is the slowest but most visible part on the map. Update your list of questions every month and set up Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. If you’d like help with this: We’re currently conducting this very audit for ourselves and also offer it for your website as part of our SEO services at a fixed price.

What Has Changed and What That Means for You

February 10, 2026: Microsoft has introduced the AI Performance section in Bing Webmaster Tools as a public preview. There, you can see how often Copilot and AI summaries in Bing cite your pages as a source, rather than just making guesses.

May 15, 2026: Google has published a guide on optimizing for generative AI features, last updated on July 10, 2026. For you, this means: Don’t waste time on llms.txt, fragmented text, or paid mentions—instead, focus on your own first-hand content and a well-maintained company profile.

August 31, 2026: The “Generative AI in Google Search” setting and the performance report on generative AI features are available in Search Console for all websites worldwide. Make sure your property isn’t excluded, and check the report to see which pages are shown in AI overviews and in AI mode.

Do you want to know why ChatGPT doesn't mention you?

We’ll compile your most important customer questions, review the rationale behind them, and determine which ones your website already addresses. Please send us a brief message via the contact form, specifying the industry and location for which you’d like to be listed. We’ll respond within 24 hours—personally and without any sales pitch.