What to do when ChatGPT or Google AI describes your business incorrectly

When an AI assistant describes your business incorrectly, the fix is almost always to find the source it is reading from and correct that source, then make sure every other place your business is described says the same thing. AI engines do not hold a private file on your company. They assemble a description from your website, your listings, and third-party pages, and when those disagree or go stale, the answer goes wrong. Here is how to track the error down and fix it.

Why AI gets businesses wrong

Three causes account for most errors.

Stale information. You moved, changed your name, dropped a service line, or expanded into a new one, and some page on the web still says the old thing. Directory listings and old press mentions are the usual culprits.

Vague or missing information. Your own site never says plainly what you do, so the engine fills the gap from whatever it can find, which may be a competitor’s description of your category or a guess.

Conflicting sources. Your website says one thing, your Google Business Profile says another, a directory says a third. The engine either picks one or blends them.

Step 1: Pin down exactly what is wrong

Ask the engine the question that produced the error, in a fresh chat, and copy the answer. Then ask follow-ups: “Where did you get that?” or “What sources describe this business?” Perplexity and Google AI Mode show their sources directly. ChatGPT and Claude will often tell you if asked. Note every wrong detail and every source the engine names.

Do this in all the major engines, not just the one where you noticed the problem. The same wrong detail usually appears in more than one.

Step 2: Find the source of the error

Search for your business name with the wrong detail. For example, if an assistant says you are in a city you left two years ago, search “your business name” plus that city. The pages that come up are the likely sources. Common ones include old directory listings, outdated review profiles, press mentions from years ago, and your own site’s footer or about page that nobody updated.

Step 3: Fix your own site first

Your website is the source engines weight most, and it is the only one you control completely. Make sure the home page, about page, and contact page each state, in plain sentences, what you do, who you serve, and where you operate. Put the correct information in the first paragraph, not buried below the fold. Add or update Organization schema so the structured version matches the written version.

Step 4: Correct the third-party sources

Work through the list from step 2. Update your Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Apple Business Connect, and any industry directories. Claim listings you have not claimed. For old press or blog mentions you cannot edit, email the publisher and ask for a correction; many will oblige for a simple factual update. For sources that will not change, the goal is to outweigh them with enough consistent, correct sources elsewhere.

Step 5: Make everything match

Pick one canonical description of your business, two or three sentences, and use it everywhere: website, listings, social profiles, email signatures, partner pages. Same name format, same services, same location. Consistency is the single strongest signal you can send that the correct version is the real one.

Step 6: Wait, then re-check

AI engines re-crawl frequently, but not instantly. Give it two to four weeks, then ask the same questions again in the same engines. If the error persists, go back to step 2; there is usually one more source you missed. Keep the before-and-after answers so you can see the change.

What not to do

Do not try to argue with the assistant inside the chat. Telling ChatGPT “that is wrong” fixes nothing for the next person who asks. Do not stuff your site with repeated keywords hoping to override the error; engines are good at ignoring that. And do not pay anyone who promises to “submit a correction to the AI.” There is no such form. The fix is on the open web, in the sources the engines read.

When to get help

If the errors are spread across many sources, if you are not sure which sources the engines are using, or if you want the correction tracked across every engine month by month, that is what an AEO audit is for. Book a call and we will run your customers’ questions, show you what each engine says, and trace every wrong detail to its source.