Prunderground iconPrundergroundSep 16, 2026 ~3 min source read

Discoverable study: Google’s top organic result often unnamed in ChatGPT answers

A UK-focused study found that when ChatGPT answers buying questions, it omitted the business occupying Google’s number one organic spot in 72.5% of scorable cases. The pattern appeared across multiple consumer AI services.

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

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Useful takeaways from this story.

Across 575 questions and 396 businesses, ChatGPT did not name Google’s first organic result in 72.5% of 1,632 scorable ChatGPT answers.

Discoverable tested 1,000 buying questions across 25 commercial categories, collecting 17,537 completed AI answers and 3,000 Google result captures.

The useful part

London, United Kingdom · Global (PRUnderground) September 16, 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.

How it works

  • "Getting to number one on Google takes work," said Jon David, Media Relations at Discoverable.
  • Across all six services, the business at Google's first organic position went unnamed in 66.2% of scored comparisons.
  • Some answers explained a process or asked a follow-up question without naming any suppliers.
  • The research did not measure lost sales or judge which business deserved a recommendation.
  • The questions were selected for the study and were not weighted by search volume.

What to take from it

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. That comparison covered 575 questions and 396 businesses, including repeat checks.

Example or evidence

  • The results describe this sample during the collection period.
  • 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.

Details worth keeping

It went unnamed in 1,183 of the 1,632 answers that could be scored. 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.

Related coverage

  • Insurancebusinessmag: ChatGPT is top for recognition - but not necessarily peoples' favourite to use
  • Hubspot: Something big just shifted in how people find answers online.
  • Yahoo: Forget Chatbot Benchmarks. Google Just Found 1,000 Ways Into Microsoft's Best Customers.

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