First, check it properly
One answer is not a verdict. Assistants write each answer fresh and can name different businesses each time.
- Before you change anything, ask the questions your customers ask, several times each, in a clean session, and count how often you are named. Our six-step check shows how.
- Named in some asks and not others? Then you have something to build on.
The usual causes
1. Your pages do not answer the question
This is the most common one. The customer asks "who services boilers in Stamford", and your site says "heating solutions" without ever saying, plainly, that you service boilers in Stamford. Assistants lean on pages that answer the question directly, near the top, in the customer's words.
2. Your facts do not match across the web
Different names, addresses, services or prices on your site, your Google profile, directories and social pages make it harder for an assistant to be sure who you are. Pick one version of each fact and make it match everywhere.
3. Crawlers cannot read your pages
Pages behind logins, blocked in robots.txt, or that only show text after a click or a script may never be read. Check that your key pages load their main text for a simple crawler, and that schema markup describes the business correctly.
4. Few others mention you
Assistants often draw on third-party sources: trade bodies, local news, review sites, comparison pages and lists. If you are rarely mentioned outside your own site, a rival who is mentioned often can look like the safer answer.
5. Your information is thin or out of date
A services page last updated years ago, no prices or ranges, no evidence of recent work: all of these give an assistant less reason to choose you. Fresh, specific, checkable details help.
6. The question is not one you can win yet
Some questions are dominated by large national names. It can be more realistic to target narrower questions first: a specific service, a town you really serve, a type of customer you know well.
What to do next
Take a baseline, fix the causes above in order, then re-check the same questions the same way. The fixes are set out step by step in how to get your website cited in AI answers, and whether schema markup helps covers the technical part.
- Score a page free. GEO Agency's free plan scores a page across seven areas, including answerability and crawlability, with the reasons and suggested fixes.
- An estimate, not a transcript. It runs on Google Gemini, so the result is an estimate, and it cannot tell you exactly what ChatGPT will say to a customer.
- No promises. Nobody can promise you a place in an AI answer; we sell the checking, the fixes and an honest measure of change.
Common questions
Is ChatGPT ignoring my business on purpose?
Very unlikely. Assistants name the businesses they can find, understand and trust for that question. Being left out usually means one of those three is weak, or a rival is a clearer fit.
Why does it recommend a competitor that is worse than us?
Because the assistant can only judge what it can read. If the competitor answers the question plainly, is described consistently and is mentioned on other sites, it is an easier choice, whatever the quality of the work.
I was named last week and not today. What changed?
Possibly nothing. Answers are written fresh each time and vary. Count across several asks before deciding anything has changed.
How long will it take to fix?
There is no fixed timescale, and anyone who gives you a date is guessing. Fix the causes, then re-check the same questions on a schedule.
Can GEO Agency fix it for me?
We can check the causes and help fix them, on the self-serve tools or as a done-for-you service. We cannot promise you will be named, because nobody controls what assistants say.