TL;DR Summary:
Inconsistent AI Recommendations: ChatGPT mentions different brands each time you ask the same question, pulling from pools of 44 to 95 brands across 100 responses while only mentioning about 10 brands per individual response.Dominance Requires Consistency: Only 5 brands achieve "dominant" status by appearing 80% or more of the time, with 72% of brands in competitive categories appearing less than 20% of the time.Niche Strategy Wins: Positioning as the best solution for specific industries or use cases gives you three times better odds of achieving dominant ChatGPT visibility compared to competing in broad categories.ChatGPT Brand Recommendations Change Every Time You Ask
A groundbreaking study reveals something surprising about ChatGPT brand visibility. When you ask the same question 100 times, you get wildly different answers every single time.
Mike Sonders ran 12 B2B software prompts through ChatGPT 100 times each. He used different IP addresses to simulate real users starting fresh conversations. The results show why tracking AI brand mentions is harder than most people think.
ChatGPT Mentions Way More Brands Than You’d Expect
Each ChatGPT response mentions about 10 brands on average. But across 100 responses to the same question, ChatGPT pulls from a pool of 44 different brands.
Some categories showed even more variety. One response set included 95 different brands across 100 queries. This massive rotation means your brand competes for attention in a much bigger pool than it appears.
The study compared competitive software categories like accounting tools with niche categories like security analytics platforms. Competitive categories featured twice as many brands as niche ones. But individual responses still mentioned roughly the same number of brands regardless of category.
Only 5 Brands Achieve True ChatGPT Brand Visibility
Here’s the shocking part. Out of those 44 brands mentioned across 100 responses, only about 5 brands appeared 80% of the time or more. That’s just 11% of all mentioned brands reaching what researchers call “dominant” status.
These dominant brands are household names you’d expect. In accounting software, QuickBooks, Xero, and Sage consistently appeared in most responses. Smaller or newer brands got mentioned far less frequently.
The math is brutal for most companies. In competitive categories, 72% of brands appear less than 20% of the time. You’re either a dominant player or you’re barely visible.
Niche Categories Offer Better Odds for Brand Recognition
The research reveals a clear advantage for specialized companies. In niche categories, 21% of mentioned brands achieve dominant status. Compare that to just 7% in competitive categories.
This finding changes how B2B marketers should think about positioning. Instead of fighting for visibility as “the best accounting software,” you’re better off becoming known as “the best accounting software for commercial real estate companies.”
The study also tested simple prompts versus detailed ones with specific personas and use cases. Nuanced prompts mentioned slightly fewer brands overall but didn’t dramatically change the competitive landscape.
Why Most AI Tracking Tools Give You Wrong Data
This research exposes a major problem with ChatGPT brand visibility tracking. Most tools check each prompt once and report that as your “AI visibility score.” The study proves this approach is worthless.
If ChatGPT only mentions your brand 30% of the time, a single check might show you’re completely invisible or perfectly visible. Both readings would be wrong.
For meaningful data, you need to run each important prompt at least 5 times. Better yet, run key prompts dozens of times if you want reliable insights. Single spot checks tell you almost nothing about your real AI visibility.
Smart Positioning Beats Broad Competition Every Time
The research points to a clear strategy for most B2B companies. Don’t try to dominate broad categories unless you have massive brand recognition and marketing budgets.
Focus on becoming the obvious choice for specific use cases or industries. The data shows you’re three times more likely to achieve dominant ChatGPT brand visibility in a niche category.
This approach works because AI models have limited knowledge about most brands. ChatGPT struggles to match solutions to specific problems when it doesn’t understand what makes each brand unique.
Tools like AI_Mentions help you track these patterns across multiple queries and identify the specific niches where your brand already shows strength. Instead of guessing which prompts matter, you get data on where you’re winning and where you’re invisible.
What specific prompts would reveal whether your brand has achieved true AI visibility in your target niche?
