Why does ChatGPT only mention 2–4 brands? And how can you become one of them?

ChatGPT only mentions 2–4 brands when customers ask for local recommendations. This is down to ‘fan-out’ — the AI’s hidden search strategy. Here’s how your SME gets included in the answer.

What is ChatGPT fan-out — and why should SMEs be aware of it?

ChatGPT fan-out, also known as latent search, is the technique the AI uses when it cannot answer a question solely from its training data. Instead of guessing, ChatGPT translates a single user query into 5–10 separate web searches, runs them in parallel and compiles the best answers into a single comprehensive response. This is a fundamentally different way of searching compared to Google’s model, where a single search term yields a single list of results. ChatGPT’s fan-out approach differs from traditional search in that it is both broader (multiple sources are evaluated simultaneously) and narrower (only 2–4 brands are cited in the final answer).

A study by Aiso (April 2026) of 90 prompts showed that 78.3 per cent of commercial queries triggered fan-out web searches — compared with just 3.1 per cent of purely informative queries (Aiso, April 2026). This means that when a customer asks for a recommendation (commercial intent), ChatGPT actively searches the web for answers. When they ask “what is GEO?” (informative), it primarily uses its built-in knowledge.

And the competition is getting tougher: after OpenAI switched to GPT-5.3 Instant in March 2026, the number of cited domains per response fell from 19 to 15 (BotRank, 2026). The AI cites fewer sources — so every slot is more valuable than ever.

Why it’s urgent — Danes’ AI habits in 2026

Danish businesses can no longer ignore AI search. The figures speak for themselves:

• 70 per cent of Danish businesses now use AI — and ChatGPT is the most widely used tool, employed by six out of ten businesses (Dansk Erhverv, February 2026)
• Four in ten Danes have used AI to shop online — a figure that has doubled in the space of a year (Dansk Erhverv, April 2026)
• 72 per cent of Danish adults have tried ChatGPT — and a third use it weekly (Megafon/TV 2, 2026)

When nearly one in three Danes uses ChatGPT every week, and when they use it to search for local services, the fan-out mechanism determines which businesses get the attention. Google Analytics doesn’t show you when you’re losing a lead to AI — you simply don’t realise it.

3 reasons why your SME is losing the fan-out game

1. You don’t have shortlist pages — but your competitors do

ChatGPT’s fan-out overwhelmingly often cites lists and comparisons. Aiso’s study showed that fan-out concentrates citations on shortlist pages — “top 5 plumbers in X”, “best accountant in Y”, “X vs Y comparison”. If your website only has a generic homepage and an ‘About Us’ page, ChatGPT has nothing to cite. You won’t win the fan-out game with a brochure — you’ll win with content that answers questions.

The solution: Create at least one page on your site that answers a specific question with a list, a comparison or a guide. Use the format: “What is the best [service] in [town]?” and answer directly with specific recommendations.

2. Your site lacks structured data — the AI has no idea who you are

ChatGPT’s fan-out algorithm scans web pages for structured data (JSON-LD schema) — prices, ratings, opening hours, addresses, services. Pages without structured data are harder for AI to use as sources (Juan Felipe Simonsen, 2026). If your competitor has a LocalBusiness schema with opening hours, services, reviews and geodata — and you have nothing — then your competitor wins.

In Geoa’s own scan of 465 Danish business websites (July 2026), 51 per cent of law firm websites had no structured data — and they consequently performed worst in terms of AI visibility. Among plumbing firms, the proportion was lower, but still significant: a third lacked schema markup.

The solution: Implement the LocalBusiness or ProfessionalService schema on your website. This requires a single JSON block in the page’s head section and typically takes 30 minutes.

3. Your content has low fact density — the AI cannot cite you

Princeton research behind GEO (KDD ’24) showed that targeted optimisation can boost a page’s visibility in AI responses by up to 40 per cent — and that it clearly works best for pages that weren’t already at the top: adding statistics boosted visibility by 97.9% for a page ranked fifth, whilst the top-ranked page, conversely, lost ground (Aggarwal et al., KDD ’24). ChatGPT fan-out searches for pages containing specific, verifiable information — not vague claims about ‘good service’ and ‘competitive prices’.

If your competitor writes “we have completed 830 projects since 2008” and you write “we have many years’ experience”, your competitor will win every time in a fan-out search.

The solution: Go through your website and replace vague claims with specific figures. How many customers have you served? How long have you been in the industry? What is your average customer rating?

How to win the fan-out game — 3 concrete actions

Here are the three most important steps you can take this week — prioritised by impact:

1. Create a shortlist page. Write a single page that answers the question “What is the best [your service] in [your town]?” with a list of quality criteria, prices and recommendations. Format it as a guide — not as sales material.
2. Implement the LocalBusiness schema. Add JSON-LD structured data with your address, opening hours, services, CVR number, reviews and geocoordinates. Geoa’s Auto Fix can generate this automatically.
3. Make your content citable. Rewrite your key pages using a BLUF structure (answer first, context afterwards), with specific figures and external source references. A page containing 3 facts per 1,000 words is cited significantly more often than one without.

What do our own measurements show?

We’ve measured this on real businesses — not on clients, but on 465 random Danish business websites that are visible in search results for their town. We asked four AI engines 576 questions of the type “which accountant do you recommend in …” and noted who they themselves suggested (see the full analysis). Two things stood out:

Sector	Measurable companies	Mentioned by name
Solicitors	106	57%
Plumbing	162	38%
Accountants & bookkeepers	127	32%
Total	395	41

Firstly, there’s room. Around four in ten were mentioned by at least one search engine — the rest were not. When the AI only has room for 2–4 names, it’s not an exclusive club, but a queue.

Secondly, your sector matters more than your website does. A solicitor was almost twice as likely to be mentioned as an accountant. And when we measured the technical score, it predicted nothing about who the AI recommended — but it strongly predicted who the AI used as a source. These are two different outcomes, and fan-out determines the latter.

That’s the honest version of the point: fan-out doesn’t necessarily reward the best company — it rewards the most citable one. Citatability is something you can build. We haven’t yet measured over time just how much this affects your recommendations — we’re stating this openly, rather than promising a specific figure.

Get started — your 3-step plan

1. Measure your current visibility. Get a free GEO Score in 60 seconds. You’ll see exactly where your business stands in terms of fan-out optimisation.
2. Create shortlist content. Set up 1–2 pages that answer the questions your customers ask the AI. Prioritise the questions with the highest commercial intent.
3. Track your progress. Measure your GEO Score and citation rate weekly. When you see the data moving, you’ll know that the fan-out game is shifting in your favour.

Also read our guide on how to write content that AI cites and get a complete overview of Geoa’s pricing plans.

Frequently asked questions

What is ChatGPT fan-out?
Fan-out is the technique ChatGPT uses when it cannot provide an answer based on its training data alone. Instead of guessing, it translates a single user query into 5–10 parallel web searches, runs them simultaneously and compiles the most quotable sources into a single answer. This is a different model to Google, where a single search term yields a single list of results.

Why does ChatGPT only mention 2–4 companies?
Because fan-out evaluates many sources but only uses the few most citable ones in the final answer. The breadth lies in the search, not in the answer. After OpenAI switched to GPT-5.3 Instant in March 2026, the number of cited domains per answer fell from 19 to 15 (BotRank, 2026) — so there are fewer places available, not more.

Is it enough to rank highly in Google?
No. In our own scan of 465 Danish company websites, all were visible in search results for their town, and yet only around four out of ten were mentioned by at least one AI engine. Google ranking and AI coverage are two different things, and one does not automatically follow from the other.

How big is the difference between sectors?
Significant. Of the companies surveyed, 57 per cent of solicitors were mentioned by at least one search engine, compared with 38 per cent of plumbing firms and 32 per cent of accountants (Geoa, 465 sites, July 2026). The sector therefore had a greater impact on visibility than the site’s technical setup.

Can technical optimisation get AI to recommend me?
Our data says ‘no’ to the former and ‘yes’ to the latter. The technical score predicted nothing about who the AI recommended (p=0.988), but strongly predicted who the AI used as a source (p=0.000). The ‘source’ figure covers two things: Perplexity searched the web itself, whilst ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude obtained their sources from a shared search plugin. You can therefore familiarise yourself with the AI’s source base — being recommended depends on more than just technology.

How can I see if ChatGPT mentions my business?
You can’t see this in Google Analytics, as a lost AI lead leaves no record. This requires asking the search engines the questions that customers ask, and counting who comes up. That is exactly what Geoa’s mention check does – free of charge and without needing to log in.