Google's Top Result Often Ignored by ChatGPT
A study by Discoverable found that Google's number one result is often not named when asked about in AI chatbots. The research, which tested 1,000 buying questions across 25 commercial categories, found that a business could rank first on Google but still go unnamed when a potential customer asked ChatGPT the same question.
The study collected 17,537 completed answers from various AI services, including ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and Google AI Mode. It also gathered 3,000 captures of Google results for the same questions. The researchers compared the first organic result with the business's name in the ChatGPT answer.
The study found that a business at Google's first organic position went unnamed in 66.2% of scored comparisons across all six services. In some cases, even when the AI answer linked to the business as a source without mentioning its name, the business was still not named.