Why does AI name competing law firms instead of mine?

Causes you can check

1. Access. OpenAI says sites opted out of its search crawler, OAI-SearchBot, are not shown in ChatGPT search answers. On Google, a page must be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet to appear as a supporting link in AI Overviews or AI Mode. Our answer on which AI crawlers to allow covers the settings.
2. Where the question was asked. Google says relevancy can depend on the searcher's location, language, and device. OpenAI says ChatGPT can use location, including an approximate location from an IP address, to find local results. A competitor named in a test run from across town may not be named for a client in your county.
3. How the question was asked. Google says AI Overviews and AI Mode may run several related searches across subtopics to build a response. A competitor with a page on the exact subtopic, such as filing deadlines or costs, may be pulled in where your general page is not.
4. Specificity. From our testing, pages that name the state, the county, and the actual process get repeated more than pages that could apply anywhere. Treat that as a working hypothesis.
5. Prominence. Google counts links and reviews toward how well-known a business is. See how reviews affect AI recommendations.

Test before you conclude

One screenshot proves little, because answers vary by person, place, and day. Run the same set of client questions on a schedule and record who was named and which sources were cited, as described in how to track AI citations. In crowded markets like the one in our Charlotte guide, the cited sources usually show you exactly which questions your pages do not yet answer.

Go deeper

The GEO guide for law firms covers what makes a page worth citing by name.

Keep reading