AI looks beyond your website

By Victoria Barton · Updated 11 November 2026

Your website might show your current services while an old business listing shows something different. A business listing is a page about you on another website, such as a local directory. Customers can come across either version.

AI tools such as ChatGPT can search public web pages when answering a question. They may find your website, public social profiles, directory entries or reviews. They do not read every page on the internet for every answer. Keeping those pages accurate helps people understand the business they have found.

Google is part of AI search too

You may have seen an AI-written answer above the usual Google results. Google calls these AI Overviews. It also offers AI Mode, where people can ask follow-up questions.

When checking AI answers, treat Google’s AI-written responses separately from its usual list of website links. Finding yourself in that list does not show that an AI answer recommends you.

Your own profile matters

A study shared by LinkedIn looked at the links used in business-related answers from 6 AI models. LinkedIn was the 2nd most-used source in that study, after YouTube. Of the LinkedIn links, 75% went to personal profiles and 25% to company pages.

That study does not promise a result for your business. Start with the profile you already have. Open the public page people see when they select your name. Read the short description below your name and the About section. Check that they describe the work you offer now.

Check your information in this order

• Open your website’s home page, services page and contact page. Check the business name, what you sell, where you work and how someone can book. These are the details a customer needs before contacting you.

• Open each public business profile you use, such as LinkedIn or a directory listing. Compare its services, location and contact details with your website. If you no longer offer something, update or remove that description.

• Search the web for your business name. Open relevant articles and listings you find. If another website has the wrong details, use its contact or correction option to ask the owner to update them.

• Check an AI answer using a customer question that leaves out your name. Previous chats about your business could influence your own result. Use the linked step-by-step guide below to start a Temporary Chat and choose Unpersonalized before testing.

Follow the step-by-step ChatGPT check

Show the work behind your advice

In my reviews, I’ve found a website that stopped Google from reading it and businesses showing different offers on different pages. Explaining a real problem and how it was fixed is more useful than saying “we help businesses grow”.

For an example of your work, explain the customer’s problem, what you checked and what you changed. Show a result only when you have evidence for it. Remove names and identifying details unless you have permission to publish them.

Start with the pages customers can already find. Fixing an incorrect phone number or an old service description gives them more reliable information. It does not guarantee that an AI tool will recommend you.

Google’s explanation of AI in search

The research shared by LinkedIn

ChatGPT gets my services or prices wrong. What should I check first?

Start with the links shown beside or below the incorrect AI answer. These are often called sources: pages the answer points to. Select each relevant link and read the price or service description. Compare it with your current website. If no links are shown, you cannot tell from the answer alone where the mistake came from.

To let AI help compare pages, copy the relevant text from each page into a separate chat. Put the page’s web address above its text so you can trace each finding. Use the request below. Check every reported difference on the original page before changing anything.

“Compare the page extracts below. List any differences in business name, services, areas served, prices and contact details. For each difference, quote the wording and give the page address I supplied. Do not decide which version is correct and do not invent missing information.”

You know which offer is current. Check the original pages, decide what needs correcting and update the pages you control. For a page owned by someone else, contact its owner. An edit does not guarantee that the next AI answer will use the new information.

Want me to check your business?

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