Why ChatGPT recommends your competitor instead of your business
In our tests, ChatGPT named the businesses it could sum up, check, and find telling the same story everywhere. What we saw testing our own, from Singapore.
From what we've seen, ChatGPT recommends your competitor because it can do three things with them that it can't yet do with you: sum them up in one clear reason, check what they claim, and find the same story wherever it looks. The exact words your customer typed, including whether they said where they live, matter too.
We've been on both sides of this. On 7 October 2026, asked once each on logged-out ChatGPT from Singapore, GetLean Clinic (the online GLP-1 clinic Lester co-founded) was named in 9 of 12 questions about which GLP-1 clinic to use, and first in 6. On the broadest question, "best GLP-1 clinic in Singapore", it wasn't named at all. And our own agency, TargetGuru, was named in none of the 15 questions we're targeting when we started tracking it on 12 October. So we know what it looks like when ChatGPT picks you, and when it picks someone else.
We asked ChatGPT this exact question
On 7 October 2026 we typed "Why does ChatGPT recommend my competitor instead of my business? I'm in Singapore." into ChatGPT, logged out, in a fresh chat. It listed six possible causes, among them a stronger online footprint, clearer positioning, more relevant reviews and mentions, and a closer match to what the customer typed. It said ranking first on Google doesn't mean ChatGPT will name you first. Its only source was OpenAI's own help page.
Google's AI Mode, asked the same question, drew on 21 pages: articles, Quora threads, social posts and videos. None of them came from Singapore. It also said that ChatGPT searches Bing. OpenAI's own wording is that ChatGPT's search uses third-party search engines. Studies have linked it to Bing, which isn't the same as OpenAI confirming it.
So here is the Singapore answer, from what we've seen testing our own businesses. There are five reasons.
Your customer asked a broader question than you think
In our tests, the wording mattered. On 7 October, GetLean was first on specific questions: a programme designed to get you off the medication, daily coaching, an online clinic. Asked "Recommend me an online GLP-1 clinic" three times, ChatGPT put GetLean first all three times. In the first run, it said: "GetLean Clinic — my top pick for a fully online experience."
On "best GLP-1 clinic in Singapore", answers led by a map won instead. In 5 of the 6 answers where another clinic came first, ChatGPT opened with a map and Google ratings.
If your competitor has more Google reviews, they may win the broad "best X in Singapore" questions. You may still win the narrower questions, the ones where your real difference matters. Try a few versions of your customer's question before you decide you've lost.
ChatGPT can sum your competitor up, and not you
In our tests, ChatGPT named businesses it could describe in a line. It describes GetLean's programme as "designed to end", the phrase that leads GetLean's description on its website, and on 7 October GetLean came first on a question about a programme designed to get you off the medication.
If your website says "quality service" and "customer first", ChatGPT has nothing to repeat. Your competitor may not be better than you. They may just be easier to describe.
Working out the one true reason to pick you is the hard part. It's where our strategy session starts.
ChatGPT can check what your competitor says
We've seen ChatGPT lean on facts it can verify. When a customer asks what something costs, it can quote only the prices it can find: it quoted GetLean's "from S$288/month" in every answer that gave a price. When a map comes first, it shows Google ratings. And every time ChatGPT cited GetLean, it cited a sales page: the homepage, about page, pricing page or a guide.
If your prices say "enquire for a quote" and your Google profile has a handful of old reviews, your competitor is simply easier to check. Two articles go deeper: why ChatGPT gets your prices wrong and how Google reviews affect ChatGPT's recommendations.
Your story isn't the same everywhere
ChatGPT reads more than your website, and it lags. On 7 October it quoted a follow-up schedule that GetLean had removed from its site that same day.
It happened to us too. When we asked ChatGPT about TargetGuru by name on 7 October, it described the business we used to be: "a Singapore-based digital/performance marketing agency". We had changed our website that day. ChatGPT was still working from our older pages, LinkedIn and company registries. By 12 October it described what we do now, with our prices.
If your website, Google profile, directory listings and LinkedIn tell different stories, or an old one, ChatGPT may repeat the wrong one.
Your customer said where they live
One detail in the question can change the answer. Asked from Singapore which website to use to find a care home in Malaysia, ChatGPT sometimes named Senior Living Malaysia, my care-home directory, first. When the question began "I live in Kuala Lumpur", it named other directories.
When you check, type the question the way your customer would, including where they live.
What it isn't
Ranking first on Google isn't enough. ChatGPT's own answer to this question said a first place on Google doesn't mean it will name you first.
It isn't ads. Under ChatGPT's answer to this question we saw a sponsored card from a Singapore agency. It was marked as sponsored and sat below the answer, which named no business. OpenAI says ads do not influence the answers ChatGPT gives you.
It isn't permanent. Answers vary from run to run, and ChatGPT can catch up when your facts change: it was quoting GetLean's new price within four days of the change.
What you can do about it
- See what ChatGPT reads about your competitor. Ask the question your customer asked, logged out, in a fresh chat, and open the sources it cites. Our guide to checking what ChatGPT says about your business has a method and a table to copy.
- Try narrower versions of the question. Find the questions where your real difference matters, and start there.
- Make yourself easy to check. A price on your website, and a complete Google profile with recent, genuine reviews.
- Then the hard part. Our method is three words: clear, checkable, consistent. One true reason to pick you, facts ChatGPT can verify, and the same story everywhere ChatGPT looks. The first one is worked out in person, which is why every client starts with a strategy session.
Want us to look?
If ChatGPT keeps naming a competitor instead of you, run our free ChatGPT check: in under a minute it shows who ChatGPT names instead of you. Then email me at dk@targetguru.net and I'll tell you what I see. AI Visibility starts with an in-person strategy session, comes with a monthly report, and is priced on our pricing page.
We're running the same test on ourselves, in public, starting from zero: our own ChatGPT score.