Why does AI name my competitor and not me?

Usually not because their offer is better, but because it is easier to find and to quote. A concrete price, a fixed quantity and a public method are easier to put in an answer than an invitation to a conversation.

Does structured data help you get recommended?

It helps with recognition, not with persuasion. Structured data makes clear who you are and what you offer. Whether you are then recommended depends on price, evidence and what others write about you.

Can I force AI to mention my brand name?

No. You can make it possible by tying your name unambiguously to your proposition, in the text and in the structured data. We saw on our own site that a page was cited without the brand name being mentioned; that link was missing.

External confirmation. Mentions on sites you do not own weigh more than anything you can do on your own domain — and it is the one point where technology does not help.

Explainer · selection logic

Which factors determine whether AI recommends a business?

An AI assistant does not choose at random. There is a chain behind it, and at every link parties drop out. Whoever understands where that chain breaks also knows where to intervene.

Five things decide it: whether your page is reachable for the crawler, whether the system understands who you are as a distinct entity, whether your claims are backed up, whether your offer matches the question asked, and whether others confirm it. That last one weighs most and is the only one you cannot arrange on your own site.

The five factors, in the order of the chain

They work in sequence: if you drop out at step two, step four no longer matters.

Reachability

Can the crawler fetch and read your page? A robots.txt that blocks AI crawlers, content that only appears via JavaScript, or pages that load slowly already drop out here. This is the easiest to fix and the least distinctive: almost everyone gets through.

Entity clarity

Does the system understand who you are as a separate business? A name, an address, a registration number and structured data that links your organisation to your services. Without that link you are a page, not a party that can be recommended.

Evidence

Are your claims backed by figures, method or research? “We are the best” is meaningless to an AI system. “48 measurements across six platforms, method public” is a verifiable fact that can be quoted.

Match with the question

Does your page answer the question being asked, or does it promote your service? Those are not the same. A page that opens with the answer — price, quantity, delivery time — provides something quotable. A page that warms up for three paragraphs first does not.

External confirmation

Do others write about you? This weighs most and is the hardest. In our own measurements the widely cited parties were quoted from research pages and trade articles, not from their own services page. One independent mention does more than ten pages on your own domain.

Where do you drop out, and what do you do about it?

The level at which you get stuck points to the factor that is lacking.

You get no further than	Likely cause	Where to start
Not retrieved	Crawler policy or technology	robots.txt, load time, content in the HTML
Retrieved, not cited	Content adds nothing to the answer	Concrete facts instead of promises
Cited, not named	Brand name not tied to the claim	Name and proposition in the same sentence and in structured data
Named, not recommended	Offer does not convince or is unclear	Make price, delivery time and terms explicit

Frequently asked questions

Why does AI name my competitor and not me?: Usually not because their offer is better, but because it is easier to find and to quote. A concrete price, a fixed quantity and a public method are easier to put in an answer than an invitation to a conversation.
Does structured data help you get recommended?: It helps with recognition, not with persuasion. Structured data makes clear who you are and what you offer. Whether you are then recommended depends on price, evidence and what others write about you.
Can I force AI to mention my brand name?: No. You can make it possible by tying your name unambiguously to your proposition, in the text and in the structured data. We saw on our own site that a page was cited without the brand name being mentioned; that link was missing.
What weighs most?: External confirmation. Mentions on sites you do not own weigh more than anything you can do on your own domain — and it is the one point where technology does not help.

Where do you get stuck?

A measurement shows per platform which level you reach: retrieved, cited, named or recommended. That tells you which factor is your bottleneck.

Run the free check Which scan suits me?

Based on two of our own measurements of 29 August 2026 across six AI platforms, and on the sources those platforms cited in the process. See the measurement →

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