What to do when an AI assistant gets your business wrong

An assistant tells a buyer that you closed last year, or that your plan costs twice what it does. It is annoying, and it can lose you a customer. There is no switch that corrects an answer, but there is a sensible order of work. This guide walks through it.

The short answer

Do five things in order. Write down exactly what the assistant said. Find the page it got the claim from. Fix the claim on your own pages. Ask the owners of other pages to fix theirs. Ask again in a few weeks, and keep a record.

Be ready for a mixed result. Google says plainly that AI Overviews "can and will make mistakes". Nobody can promise that a fix will change a particular answer, and answers can differ from one run to the next, which is why the steps below ask you to repeat each question. Your job is to remove the wrong source, not to win an argument with the assistant.

Step 1: capture the wrong claim

Before you change anything, save the evidence.

1. Ask the question again, exactly as a buyer would put it.
2. Take a screenshot of the full answer, including any source links.
3. Copy the text into a log, with these details: the assistant, the model if it is shown, today's date, the exact question, and the sentence that is wrong.
4. Ask the same question twice more, a few minutes apart. Note whether the wrong claim appears every time or only sometimes.

Label every saved answer as AI output. It is not a statement from you or from anyone else.

A simple log line:

Step 2: trace where it came from

Many assistants that search the web show the pages they used. Open every one.

• Look for the wrong claim, or a close cousin of it, on the page. Use your browser's find tool.
• If one of the pages says it, you have found a source. Write down the address and who runs it.
• If none says it, the assistant may have combined facts, misread a page, or relied on what it learned in training. You cannot fix that directly, but you can make the right answer easy to find (Step 3).
• Check the date on the page. Old pages often hold old facts.
• Search for the wrong claim yourself, with your business name. The search results may reveal a third-party page the assistant did not list.

Sort what you found into three piles:

1. Pages you own: your website, your documents, your own profiles.
2. Pages you can claim: directory and map listings where you can sign in and edit.
3. Pages other people own: articles, forums, review sites and competitor comparison pages.

Step 3: fix your own pages first

For every page you own, make the right answer plain.

• Put the fact in the text, in a sentence a stranger can quote. "We are open Monday to Saturday, 10:00 to 16:00 on Saturdays" works better than a timetable made of an image.
• Remove or correct the old claim. If an old page must stay online, add a clear note and a link to the current page.
• Update markup too. Google's guidelines say structured data should match what readers can see, so change them together. See mark up one product for prices.
• Update claimed listings. Keep your local details consistent covers Google, Apple and Bing.
• Add the fact to your facts sheet so it is checked again.

Check that the page can be read. Google says a page must be indexed and eligible to appear in Search with a snippet to be shown as a supporting link in its AI features, with no extra technical requirements. The page also needs to be reachable by crawlers. See our guide to AI search bots.

Step 4: ask other sites to correct their pages

Write to a person, not to a general inbox if you can help it. Keep it short, polite and easy to act on. Do not threaten. Many site owners will make a small fix if you make it easy.

A template:

Subject: Small correction on your page about Harbour Lane Candles

Hello [name],

I run Harbour Lane Candles. Your page at [address of the page] says
that we are [what the page says]. This is out of date. The correct
information is [correct fact].

You can confirm it here: [address of your own page that states the fact].

Would you be able to update the page? If it helps, here is the sentence
as it should read:

"[Corrected sentence]"

Thank you for your time, and for writing about us.

[Your name]
[Your role, business name, website]

Tips:

• Include the exact address of the page and the exact sentence.
• Link to a page of yours that states the correct fact. Make that page easy to find.
• If the site is a directory with a claim link, use the claim link rather than email.
• Send one reminder after two weeks. Then let it go.
• Write down the date you sent each message in your conflicts list.

Step 5: tell the assistant

Many assistants have a feedback control. It is worth a minute, but do not rely on it.

• Google AI Overviews: under the overview, use the thumbs-down icon, choose Report a problem and add details. Google says the feedback includes your most recent search and its results.
• Perplexity: use the flag icon below the answer, or create a ticket through the support window its help article links to. Perplexity asks for the address of the query and a description of the error and the result you expected.
• Other assistants: look for a thumbs-down or "report" control in the answer. We did not check every product, so look in each one's help pages.

Stick to facts. Say what is wrong and give the page where the right fact is published.

Step 6: recheck later

Changes reach assistants slowly and unevenly. Set a calendar reminder for two weeks, then again for six.

At each check:

1. Ask the same question, on the same assistant, three times.
2. Add the new results to your log.
3. Note which sources are shown now.
4. If the wrong claim persists and a source still says it, go back to Step 4 for that source.
5. If the wrong claim is gone, note the date and move on.

Our AI answer correction planner helps you turn a wrong claim into a list of pages to fix.

How to check it worked

• Your own pages state the right fact in plain words, and old versions are corrected or gone.
• Each third-party page on your list is either fixed, or has an email date and a follow-up date next to it.
• The same question, asked three times, no longer repeats the wrong claim. If it still does, check whether the sources shown have changed.
• Your log shows dates, so you can see what moved.

What this won't do

• It will not force an assistant to change an answer. Corrections reach assistants in ways we cannot see.
• It will not make a site owner reply.
• It will not guarantee the assistant will recommend you after the fact is fixed.
• It will not help with opinions. If a reviewer dislikes your product, that is a view, not an error. Reply to the review if the site lets you, and focus on the facts you can prove.
• If a claim is false and harmful, such as a false accusation, talk to a lawyer. This guide does not give legal advice.