Your company (Your company)Competitor
ChatGPT
What is Northdeck Languages?
I could not find reliable information about a company called Northdeck Languages.
AI has never heard of my company. What now?
Published 6 min read
ChatGPT has never heard of your company? Then it found no page it trusts that names you for that question. New and niche companies start here. This page shows how to test it and where to begin.
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Why AI does not know your company
If ChatGPT has never heard of you, it found no page it trusts that names you for that question. That is normal for new companies. Start with a plain facts page, service pages, directories and real mentions.
Key points
Size does not decide. A known company can still be unknown to AI if few pages describe it clearly.
Test two ways. Ask by your name and by a customer question. They fail for different reasons.
Start with your own pages. Plain facts on your site come first. Directories and mentions follow.
Why doesn't AI know my company?
Usually AI found nothing it could use. Your company is newer than its training, or few pages name you clearly.
- You are new. The model was trained before your company existed or grew.
- Few pages name you. AI finds your site, but no other page confirms it.
- Your site is hard to find. It is missing from the search index, or it blocks AI bots.
- Your page does not say it plainly. Your page never states what you do, for whom and where.
Check your bots first. OpenAI says sites that block OAI-SearchBot are not shown in ChatGPT search answers. See the 4 checks for AI crawlers.
Does AI know companies from memory or from search?
From both. Memory is fixed at training, and search reads the web when someone asks.
A model's memory stops at a cutoff date. A company that started later is not in it. With search on, AI can still read your pages today.
So a new company depends on search. Read how often AI updates what it knows for cutoff dates and timing, and where ChatGPT gets its information.
Is AI unaware of you, or naming someone else?
Ask two ways. By name shows if AI knows you, and by category shows if AI suggests you to buyers.
| Question | ChatGPT | Perplexity | Google AI Overviews |
|---|---|---|---|
| By name: "What is Northdeck Languages?" | Not named | Named | Mixed up |
| By category: "Evening language courses for adults in Hamburg?" | Not named | Not named | Not named |
- Not named by name: AI lacks facts about you. This page is for you.
- Named by name, not by category: AI knows you but suggests others. Read how to become the page AI finds.
- Mixed up: AI joins you with a close name. Read why AI confuses companies.
How do you test what AI knows about your company?
Ask the same few questions on three AI engines, in new chats, 3 times each. Write down what you see.
- 1
Ask by name
"What is [your name]?" Then again with your domain in brackets.
- 2
Ask by category
Use the words a buyer would type, with your city or field.
- 3
Repeat on three engines
ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google. Each one searches in its own way.
- 4
Open the links
Note which pages each answer used. Is your site there at all?
One answer is only a sample. Answers change from run to run, so look at all 3.
What should a company do when AI does not know it?
Give AI a few clear pages to read and a few other sites that confirm them. Start with your own site.
- 1
Write an about page with plain facts
Name, domain, what you do, for whom, where, since when. See an example of a plain facts page.
- 2
Make one page per service
Each page answers one customer question in its first sentence.
- 3
Let search engines and AI bots in
Allow OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot and Googlebot in robots.txt. Add your site to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
- 4
List your company in 3 to 5 directories
Pick the ones your buyers use. Use the same name, address and description everywhere.
- 5
Earn a few real mentions
Partners, local press, a customer case or an industry list. Never pay for reviews.
See what each AI engine says about you today. Try the test run
Questions about being unknown to AI
Can ChatGPT know about a company that started this year?
Yes, through search. The trained memory has a cutoff date, but ChatGPT can read new pages when it searches. So your pages must be easy to find.
Do I need a Wikipedia page?
No. Wikipedia asks for significant coverage of a company in independent sources first. Many new companies do not have that yet. Your own facts page, directories and real mentions come first.
Is it enough to rank on Google?
It helps. To appear as a link in Google AI Overviews, a page must be indexed and able to show a snippet. ChatGPT and Perplexity run their own searches, so test them too.
How long until AI knows my company?
There is no fixed time, and nobody can promise it. Check the same questions every week and note the date when it changes.
See what each AI engine says about you today
Check your company by name and for your buyers' questions. Try the test run first, or start the 7-day trial for weekly checks.
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Evening language courses for adults in Hamburg?
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