Discoverable study finds Google's number one unnamed in nearly three in four ChatGPT answers

Sep 16, 2026

Discoverable tested 1,000 buying questions across six consumer AI services, collecting 17,537 completed answers and 3,000 Google results captures.

London, United Kingdom (PRUnderground) September 16th, 2026

A business can rank first on Google and still go unnamed when a potential customer asks ChatGPT the same buying question. That happened in 72.5% of eligible ChatGPT answers in Discoverable's new UK AI Shortlist Study.

Discoverable tested 1,000 buying questions across 25 commercial categories. The study collected 17,537 completed answers from ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Mode and Google AI Overviews, alongside 3,000 captures of Google results for the same questions.

For the headline comparison, Google's first organic result had to be a supplier's own website. Discoverable then checked whether the business was named in the ChatGPT answer. It went unnamed in 1,183 of the 1,632 answers that could be scored. That comparison covered 575 questions and 396 businesses, including repeat checks.

"Getting to number one on Google takes work," said Jon David, Media Relations at Discoverable. "A business owner could quite reasonably think that means they're easy to find. Then someone puts the same question into ChatGPT and the business doesn't get a mention. That's the gap we wanted to understand."

The pattern appeared across the wider study too. Across all six services, the business at Google's first organic position went unnamed in 66.2% of scored comparisons.

Take coffee. For "cheap coffee for a moka pot", Google's first-ranked supplier went unnamed in all 17 available AI answers. For "free platform for selling digital products", the top supplier was named in all 18 answers. Both examples appear in the full study. They were chosen after collection to show different outcomes.

An AI answer can link to a business as a source without mentioning its name in the text. When source links were counted too, the ChatGPT omission figure fell to 68.0%.

Some answers explained a process or asked a follow-up question without naming any suppliers. Those answers still count. The research did not measure lost sales or judge which business deserved a recommendation.

Discoverable carried out the research and analysis. It collected answers from the consumer websites using browser automation, submitting identical question wording across services in three rounds on 6 and 7 September 2026. The final findings have been human-verified.

This is a UK-focused snapshot. All requests specified Great Britain. The questions were selected for the study and were not weighted by search volume. Missing answers and ambiguous matches were excluded, and AI Overviews were scored only when one appeared. The results describe this sample during the collection period.

The full study and supporting evidence are available without registration.

About Discoverable

Discoverable helps businesses see whether they appear in AI answers and work out what to improve. Its AI visibility software serves businesses internationally. The company is operated by Be Discoverable Ltd, based in London.

Website: bediscoverable.ai

Media contact

Jon David
Media Relations, Discoverable
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: +44 7850 378532