The AI Reputation Check – Mathew's Library

01 The sentence you never see

A buyer has the card out and asks a chatbot one last question: is this worth it? The answer is mostly positive, then one line about a complaint. The tab closes. You never find out why.

In a survey by Exploding Topics, published on the Semrush blog in September 2026 (2,338 U.S. adults, surveyed in July):

About 58% of people who use AI said a chatbot has talked them into buying something. The same share said a chatbot has talked them out of a purchase. Almost half of everyone surveyed at least sometimes asks a chatbot about a company or seller before they buy. 74% of everyone asked would be at least somewhat less likely to buy if a chatbot flagged mixed or negative reviews.

One caveat: Semrush sells tools that track what AI says about brands, and the survey can't tell us whether the chatbot was right.

OpenAI's help page says ChatGPT's review summaries are written by the model, from reviews on public websites, to pull out what people commonly like and dislike. In OpenAI's words, those reviews and ratings are not verified by OpenAI.

It is often just wrong. Searchable had 1,704 brands review 32,556 facts AI engines stated about them. They marked about 9% as false. Price was wrong most often, 13.5% of pricing facts.

02 Check one: ask what a buyer asks

Skip "do you know my company?" Ask the buying questions in ChatGPT and in Gemini, and ask each one more than once, because the sources they cite keep changing. One study found 40-60% of the sources AI models cite turn over within a single month.

The buying questions

Is [YOUR COMPANY] worth it?
What do customers complain about with [YOUR COMPANY]?
How much does [YOUR COMPANY / YOUR PRODUCT] cost?
How does [YOUR COMPANY] compare to [YOUR BIGGEST COMPETITOR]?

Ask every question in ChatGPT. Then ask them again.

Ask every question in Gemini. Same questions, more than once.

Check more facts than feels necessary. Searchable found brands that only spot-check two or three facts often find nothing wrong.

Write down every sentence with a "but" in it. That's your list for check two.

Your answer log

Answer log

Chatbot: [CHATGPT / GEMINI]
Question asked: [QUESTION]
The "but" sentence: [COPY IT WORD FOR WORD]
Sources it showed: [LINKS]
Is it true? [YES / NO / PARTLY]
Who owns the source? [ME / SOMEONE ELSE]

03 Check two: trace the sentence

When an answer shows its sources, open them. Where the chatbot reads depends on what you sell:

You sell What one study found it cites

Business software Review sites under 1% of citations; G2 and Capterra zero. Mostly independent blogs and vendors' own articles, every page written as a list.

Local services Of 10,000 local businesses, the ones ChatGPT and Perplexity recommended averaged about 133 Google reviews. The ignored ones averaged 11. A pattern, not proof of cause.

Beauty products Across 10.7 million ChatGPT citations, Reddit was the most cited source.

Then fix what you own, and go after what you don't:

Missing from the "best of" lists it cites? Contact those authors. Articles that rank the options in your category.

Quoting an old price? Put current prices on your own site, in plain text. Written on the page, not only inside an image or a PDF.

On Shopify? Your product data already reaches ChatGPT. OpenAI says it arrives through Shopify Catalog. Other stores can apply to send a product feed directly.

Local business? Claim your Google Business Profile and fill in every field. It's the box with your phone, hours and address on Google Search and Maps.

Same complaint in every answer? Reply to it where it lives. On the review site or thread the chatbot cited.

Wrong product details in ChatGPT? Report them. OpenAI says users can report incorrect products or use its feedback form.

04 Check three: is the complaint true?

If the complaint is true, fix the product. Not the marketing. If the motor really does give out after a year, the chatbot didn't steal that sale. It was the honest friend. No page you publish will outweigh a hundred people saying the same thing.

If the sentence is Then

False, and on a page you own Correct the page.

False, and on a page you don't own Contact the author, reply where it lives, or report it.

True Fix the product or service.

You can't buy the answer. ChatGPT has shown ads in the U.S. since February, only on its free and Go plans. About 42% of people in the survey dislike chatbot ads, and two thirds of those say ads make them doubt the AI's answers. An ad doesn't change what the chatbot says about you.

Sources

Semrush / Exploding Topics: AI chatbots talked 57.5% of AI users out of buying MarTech: AI is telling consumers not to buy your product OpenAI Help Center: Shopping with ChatGPT Search Searchable: The AI Brand Misinformation Report DerivateX: B2B SaaS AI Citation Study Insites: What it takes for local businesses to rank in AI PPC Land: Reddit beats Sephora and Allure when ChatGPT recommends beauty products

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