Published 9 min read
OpenAI model (gpt-5.6-luna) via Codex CLI with web search, not the ChatGPT app, 01.11.2026, 1 question, 3 runs.
Why does ChatGPT confuse your company with another one? It joins pages by name. When names are close and your own page is thin, it can mix two companies into one answer.
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Your company (Your company)Competitor
What is Example Co. and what does it cost?
Example Co. is a help desk tool for teams.
It also offers payroll services in three countries.
ChatGPT confuses companies when it finds pages of several companies with close names. Then it may join their facts into one answer. Fix it with one clear description, your name next to your domain, and the same facts everywhere.
It is often a mix-up. The facts may be true, but they belong to another company with a close name.
It happened to us. Asked about our own name 3 times, AI found pages of other companies with close names every time.
You fix it with facts. One description, name plus domain, sameAs links and an about page that says who you are not.
AI searches for your name, reads the pages it finds and writes one answer. If pages of three companies come back, facts can move from one to the other.
A customer types: "What is Example Co. and what does it cost?"
It looks for the name. A close name, like a shorter or longer spelling, can match too.
Your page, a page of a company with a close name, and a directory that lists both.
If your page is thin, the other pages fill the gaps. The answer now holds facts of two companies.
Short names and common words match pages of more companies. Our own name is short, and our results held many names that start the same way.
A new company has a second problem. The trained model may know the older company well and you not at all.
All 3 answers found our site. But in all 3 runs, the search results also held pages of other companies with close names.
On 1 November 2026 we asked an OpenAI model one question 3 times: "What is Nenn (nenn.io)? What does it do, who is it for, and what does it cost?"
3 of 3
Runs with pages of other companies with close names in the search results
0 of 3
Answers that gave our real prices
1 of 3
Answers that listed prices that are not ours
1 of 3
Answers that added AI engines we do not check
OpenAI model (gpt-5.6-luna) via Codex CLI with web search, not the ChatGPT app, 01.11.2026, 1 question, 3 runs. Sources: nenn-self
| Fact | Our facts | What the answer said |
|---|---|---|
| Prices | On our pricing page, in euros | Three paid prices in dollars that are not ours |
| AI engines | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews | Also Gemini and Claude |
| What it does | Checks if AI names your company, drafts the fix | Correct |
We could not find these three prices on any nenn.io page. The other two answers found no paid prices at all.
We cannot prove where the wrong prices came from. The close-name pages were in the results, so a mix-up is one likely cause.
One answer did something useful. It added, without being asked, that a product with a similar name is a different company.
We do not name the other companies here. Our about page lists the names we are not related to.
Often it is a mix-up. The facts can be true, but they belong to another company.
The test takes one minute. Open the links next to the wrong claim. If the page is about another company, it is a mix-up.
Make it easy for AI to tell you apart. These six fixes work for any company, and none of them needs a tool.
Write two plain sentences: who you are, what you do, where. Use them word for word on your site, LinkedIn and every directory.
Write "Example Co. (exampleco.example)" in your about page, footer and profiles. Add your legal name and city on the about page.
In your Organization markup, list your own profiles under sameAs. Schema.org defines it as a page that clearly shows the item's identity.
Add one factual line: "Example Co. is not related to Example Payroll." No opinion, no judgement, just the fact.
Check the directories your buyers use. Fix old names, old addresses and old descriptions.
Ask in a new chat, with and without your domain. Write down what changed.
Google says Organization markup can help it tell your company apart from others. It also says AI features need no special markup. So markup supports your page text. Read what markup does and does not do.
See what AI says about your name today. Try the test run
Stay with your own facts. Pages about the other company can make the mix-up worse.
Do: State your own facts, with your domain next to your name.
Do: Write "not related to" as one plain line.
Do: Fix your own old pages and profiles first.
Avoid: Put the other company's name in your page titles or ads.
Avoid: Say anything bad about the other company.
Avoid: Write long pages about the other company.
Ask four short questions in a new chat, 3 times each. Do it on ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google.
| Ask | What it tests |
|---|---|
| What is [your name]? | Which company AI thinks you are |
| What is [your name] ([your domain])? | Whether the domain helps AI find you |
| What does [your name] cost? | Whether your price comes from your own page |
| Where is [your name] based? | Whether your city and country are right |
Open the links next to each answer. Count how often a page of another company shows up.
We know of no OpenAI tool that lets a company edit answers about itself. You can rate a wrong answer with the thumbs-down button. The lasting fix is your own pages and profiles, because every AI engine reads them.
No single tag fixes it. Google says this markup can help it tell your company apart from others with similar names. AI answers still come from the pages it reads, so your visible text must say the same.
Each answer runs new searches, so it finds different pages. In our 3 runs on our own name, only 1 answer listed prices that are not ours. Read why AI gives different answers.
Not because of one answer. First fix your own facts and check by name every week. If the mix-up stays, talk to a lawyer about names and trademarks.
It means telling two things with the same or a close name apart. For a company, AI needs clear facts to know which one you are. See what a brand entity is.
See if it mixes you up with another company, and which pages it read. Try the test run first, or start the 7-day trial.
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What is Example Co.?
Fix wrong facts, learn the term, and see who we are.