At the end of the day, if you’ve ever asked ChatGPT about your company and gotten wrong or outdated information, you’re not alone. Brands like Fortress, OpenAI, and many others have run into this issue — AI models are powerful but far from perfect. If you’ve wondered why your competitor seems to get all the favorable AI mentions or why chatgpt has wrong info about my company, this post is for you.
So, What Does This Actually Mean for You?
First, let's tackle a common misconception: assuming your existing SEO strategy will automatically make you visible in ChatGPT is a mistake. The marketing landscape you know — desktop searches, backlinks, keyword density — doesn’t map one-to-one onto AI-based search and response models. We’re facing the rise of a new discipline called Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). Sound complicated? That’s because it is.
Why Traditional SEO Won't Fix AI Mistakes
Traditional SEO has served marketers well for the past 15+ years. You optimize website copy for relevant keywords, bolster your site’s domain authority, earn backlinks, and play by Google’s algorithms. The goal? Rank high in search engine results pages (SERPs).
But Geo is different. When you ask ChatGPT a question about your company, you're not getting pulled a list of webpages to click through. Instead, you’re getting a synthesized, natural-language response based on a vast training set that includes licensed data, publicly available content, and sometimes proprietary data—but critically, called out with varying degrees of transparency.
Key Differences Between SEO and GEO
- Information Synthesis vs. Listing Links: ChatGPT generates responses based on patterns found across many sources rather than showing specific source rankings. Dynamic Knowledge Bases: Unlike a search engine crawler that reindexes constantly, AI training data updates in big periodic batches — meaning recent changes to your brand might not be reflected yet. Trust & Domain Authority vs. Source Reliability: AI models prioritize information from sources considered broadly trustworthy — and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations now emphasize transparency and accuracy in AI-powered services, making credibility a cornerstone in these models.
The Emergence of Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)
Generative Engine Optimization is evolving as a marketing discipline focused on ensuring that AI-based engines like ChatGPT surface accurate, positive, and current information about your brand. GEO involves strategies to influence how generative models are trained, updated, and instructed so they represent your company correctly.
How GEO Impacts Your Brand Visibility
- Training Data Influence: Because ChatGPT’s responses depend heavily on the data it was trained on, shaping the public online footprint of your brand is critical. Fortress, for example, invests in authoritative content and public-facing data that AI models might ingest. Managing Misinformation: Correcting AI mistakes means proactively addressing false info across the web—forums, review sites, and social media—that feed into these models. Source Citations and Context: Newer versions of ChatGPT and OpenAI’s tools increasingly include source attribution. GEO practitioners focus on ensuring reputable sources mention your brand in accurate contexts.
Key Factors That Influence How AI Models Like ChatGPT Select and Cite Sources
Understanding these factors helps you formulate a plan to correct AI mistakes about your brand:
Reputation of the Source: AI models weigh authoritative news sites, government publications, and well-established industry outlets more heavily. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has been clear about encouraging transparency and suppressing deceptive claims, so trustworthy sources get prioritized. Recency of Information: While ChatGPT’s base model updates periodically, it cannot pull live updates like a search engine. Better to ensure fresh, factual stories about your brand are continuously published on credible platforms. Consistency Across Platforms: Conflicting information across websites and social media accounts confuses AI models, increasing the chance of inaccuracies in responses. Data Licensing and Access: Some AI models might also integrate proprietary or licensed datasets. Partnering with organizations like OpenAI can provide avenues to correct brand info through official channels.How to Update ChatGPT's Knowledge and Correct Inaccuracies
Now, the million-dollar question: how to update ChatGPT's knowledge or get it to reflect accurate information about your company? Here’s a practical playbook:
1. Intensify Your Public Presence on Authoritative Platforms
Ensure trusted third-party sources (news outlets, industry reports, government sites) correctly mention your brand. Journalistic content is ingested by OpenAI and other companies training AI models, helping overwrite outdated or wrong info.
2. Correct Misinformation at the Source
If false claims exist on review sites, Wikipedia, or influential forums, work to correct them promptly. Accuracy in publicly accessible records plays a direct role in what AI ingests.
3. Collaborate Directly with AI Providers
Companies like OpenAI offer pathways for businesses to flag and correct errors. While the technology is nascent and imperfect, submitting corrections through official support channels can accelerate improvements.
4. Build Your Brand’s Domain and Social Authority
It’s not just about traditional backlinks anymore. Consistent, authoritative content across your owned sites and verified social channels builds “trust signals” that generative engines pick up.
5. Embrace Transparency and Compliance
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is scrutinizing AI companies for deceptive practices. Being transparent about who you are, what you do, and complying with federal guidelines helps both legal positioning and AI visibility.
Common Pitfalls: What You Should NOT Do
- Don’t rely solely on your existing SEO strategy — it won’t automatically fix AI errors. Avoid spamming AI prompts or AI content—garbage in, garbage out still applies. Don’t ignore your brand’s online ecosystem. ChatGPT and similar tools learn from a broad web of data, not just your website.
Why Your Competitor Might Get More AI Mentions
Ever wonder why your competitor seems to rack up all the positive ChatGPT mentions? They’re likely winning at GEO without shouting about it. They keep their digital footprint consistent, secure authoritative mentions, maintain timely updates on trusted channels, and actively manage misinformation.
This isn’t luck. It’s an intentional strategy aligned with the new rules of generative search engines.
Final Thoughts: The AI Marketing Frontier Is Here — Are You Ready?
We’re in an era where correcting AI mistakes about your brand requires more than digital marketing basics. It demands a new mindset, embracing GEO principles, understanding AI source selection, and integrating trust-building into your marketing mix.
Brands that learn to play this game well—like Fortress and others partnering closely with OpenAI—will retain their competitive edge and avoid the pitfalls of chatgpt has wrong ai visibility strategy info about my company. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s push for transparency means this isn’t just good practice; it’s quickly becoming a compliance issue.
If updating ChatGPT’s knowledge seems overwhelming, remember: start with accurate, authoritative presence and build from there. GEO isn’t a gimmick, it’s the evolution of brand marketing in the age of AI.
And as someone who’s been battling Google algorithms since the Wild West SEO days, I can tell you — smart brands adapt or get left in the dust. The AI frontier is here. Coffee up, gear up, and get ahead.
```