Brands that ChatGPT rarely named when answering without using search results were generally the brands ChatGPT rarely named when it did a search (even when those brands were included in many of the web pages ChatGPT referenced). This is the primary result from an Oct. 16 analysis by Graphite comparing logged-out ChatGPT responses for comparison prompts with search versus without it.

Among brands substantially mentioned on at least 15% of cited pages, median visibility with search was 11% when ChatGPT named them in under a quarter of its no-search answers. Graphite, a growth agency that sells AEO services, argues brands should work on what AI models learn in training as well as on citations, and calls that parametric knowledge optimization (PKO).

Search Visibility Rose With Visibility Without Search

Graphite’s comparison uses entity-comparison prompts, which ask ChatGPT to compare brands or products, from its Aug. 20 paper on prompt tracking .…