ObsurfableShort answer: Buyer prompts about SEO, AEO, and AI visibility are not neutral territory for the engines answering them. In Obsurfable's Technology · SEO/AEO tools slice, ChatGPT mentions itself on 34.5% of answers — but Grok mentions ChatGPT on 82.6%, Gemini on 78.9%, and Claude on 74.5%. On 46 matched ChatGPT–Grok prompts, Grok puts ChatGPT first 67.4% of the time; ChatGPT puts itself first on only 34.8% of those same questions. Traditional vendors such as Semrush and Ahrefs show flat mention rates across engines (~15–20%). The asymmetry is specific to AI product brands, not the whole shortlist.
What we analysed
We used Obsurfable Explorer's research corpus: buyer-style prompts tagged Technology · SEO/AEO tools — questions about AI visibility, brand mentions in LLMs, share-of-voice in AI search, and tooling to measure or improve it.
For each prompt we keep the latest observation per platform family (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, Grok), preferring web-app captures over API runs when both exist. We built matched panels of prompts observed on two or more engines in this category.
| Scope | Value |
|---|---|
| Corpus window | 16 March – 14 October 2026 |
| Category prompts (unique) | 754 |
| Category observations (all platforms) | 1,109 |
| ChatGPT observations (latest per prompt) | 754 |
| ChatGPT + Grok matched panel | 46 |
| ChatGPT + Gemini matched panel | 71 |
| ChatGPT + Claude matched panel | 55 |
| Five-engine matched panel | 45 |
Metrics: mention rate (brand appears anywhere in the extracted list) and #1 pick (first brand named). We compare AI engine brands (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Grok, Google AI Overviews, Copilot) against traditional SEO/AEO vendors (Semrush, Ahrefs, Moz, and others).
Browse the category on SEO/AEO tools in Explorer and platform slices such as ChatGPT vs Grok.
What we found
1. Competitor engines mention ChatGPT far more often than ChatGPT mentions itself
Category-level mention rates (latest observation per prompt, each engine's prompt coverage):
| Engine answering | n | Mentions ChatGPT | Mentions self (own brand) |
|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | 754 | 34.5% | 34.5% (ChatGPT) |
| Gemini | 71 | 78.9% | 25.4% (Gemini) |
| Claude | 55 | 74.5% | 50.9% (Claude) |
| Perplexity | 49 | 61.2% | 55.1% (Perplexity) |
| Grok | 46 | 82.6% | 15.2% (Grok) |
Grok is the extreme case: it names ChatGPT on five in six answers while naming itself on fewer than one in six. ChatGPT is the only engine in this set whose self-mention rate equals its ChatGPT-brand rate — because it is the same label — and that rate is still half of Grok's ChatGPT mention rate.
2. On matched prompts, Grok and Gemini crown ChatGPT while ChatGPT demotes itself
Matched panels hold the question constant:
ChatGPT + Grok (n=46)
| Metric | ChatGPT | Grok |
|---|---|---|
| Mentions ChatGPT | 58.7% | 82.6% |
| #1 pick = ChatGPT | 34.8% | 67.4% |
| Mentions Grok | 7.0% | 15.2% |
On 32.6 percentage points more Grok answers than ChatGPT answers, ChatGPT is the first brand named — on identical prompts.
ChatGPT + Gemini (n=71)
| Metric | ChatGPT | Gemini |
|---|---|---|
| Mentions ChatGPT | 49.3% | 78.9% |
| #1 pick = ChatGPT | 28.2% | 52.1% |
| Mentions Gemini | 20.7% | 25.4% |
ChatGPT + Claude (n=55)
| Metric | ChatGPT | Claude |
|---|---|---|
| Mentions ChatGPT | 61.8% | 74.5% |
| #1 pick = ChatGPT | 38.2% | 56.4% |
| Mentions Claude | 13.1% | 50.9% |
ChatGPT vs Perplexity on 49 matched prompts is closer on mention rate (61.2% each) but still shows the same #1 pattern: ChatGPT leads with itself on 34.7% of answers; Perplexity leads with ChatGPT on 34.7% as well (ties on #1, not on full shortlists).
On the 45-prompt five-engine panel, ChatGPT mention rates range from 60% (ChatGPT) to 82% (Grok) — a 22 pp spread on the same questions.
3. ChatGPT's #1 slot usually goes to non-AI brands — rivals put ChatGPT first
Across all 754 ChatGPT observations in the category:
| #1 brand (ChatGPT answers) | Share |
|---|---|
| ChatGPT | 19.9% (150/754) |
| 7.6% | |
| Google Search Console | 4.9% |
| Profound | 4.8% |
| Semrush | 4.6% |
| Ahrefs | 2.8% |
| No brand extracted | 23.1% (174/754) |
ChatGPT is not the default #1 on its own AEO-style prompt set. Meanwhile, on Grok's 46 category answers, ChatGPT is #1 67.4% of the time — OpenAI and Google trail at 8.7% and 6.5%.
4. Traditional SEO tools do not show the same platform skew
Mention rates for incumbent SEO vendors stay in a narrow band across engines (latest-per-prompt, category scope):
| Brand | ChatGPT | Gemini | Claude | Perplexity | Grok |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Semrush | 20% | 14% | 31% | 16% | 15% |
| Ahrefs | 15% | 11% | 16% | 12% | 15% |
There is no 50+ pp spread for Semrush or Ahrefs between ChatGPT and Grok. The competitor-amplification pattern concentrates on models recommending other models in a category where buyers ask how to win in AI search.
5. Citing a vendor's domain nudges mentions — but does not explain the cross-engine gap
When an answer in this category cites openai.com, ChatGPT appears in 81.8% of those answers (n=22) vs 42.7% when openai.com is not cited (n=953) — a +39.1 pp lift. semrush.com and ahrefs.com show smaller lifts (+13.1 pp and +17.0 pp respectively).
Search-backed answers cite more often (see citation anatomy across engines), but citation lift alone cannot produce 82.6% Grok mention rates for ChatGPT while ChatGPT sits at 34.5% on a 754-prompt slice of the same category.
Worked examples (live corpus)
These prompts are in the SEO/AEO tools category; compare platform views on Explorer.
- LLM brand mention monitoring — typical buyer wording in this slice.
- Building share-of-voice reporting for AI search.
- Profound alternatives for AI visibility.
Open the prompt page and switch platform observations (ChatGPT vs Grok) to see shortlist and #1 shifts on the same question.
Why this matters
Teams tracking AI visibility often treat "mentions in ChatGPT" as one channel and "mentions in Perplexity/Grok" as others. In the SEO/AEO tools category, those channels are coupled: rivals systematically surface ChatGPT as the reference product while ChatGPT surfaces Google, Profound, and classic SEO suites as often as it leads with itself.
A single blended "mention rate" across engines hides directional bias — especially for AI-native vendors competing in categories where buyers explicitly ask about AI search.
Limitations
- Uneven platform coverage: ChatGPT has observations on all 754 category prompts; Gemini (71), Claude (55), Perplexity (49), and Grok (46) reflect a smaller, overlapping run set. Matched-panel claims use the intersection only (46–71 prompts per pair).
- Brand extraction: Lists come from structured extraction on model answers; empty or narrative-only replies count as no brands (23.1% empty on ChatGPT in this category).
- Category scope: Findings apply to Technology · SEO/AEO tools buyer prompts in the research corpus — not all industries or prompt types.
- Window: Observations run through 14 October 2026; engine behavior and product names can change.
Methodology
Corpus: Public Explorer research prompts (buyer-style, multi-platform). Platforms: ChatGPT (web app preferred over API capture), Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, Grok. Deduping: Latest observation per prompt per platform family using UI-over-API priority and recency. Brands: Canonical names from Obsurfable's extractor; list order defines #1. Matched panels: Prompts with observations on both engines in the pair. Citations: Hostnames parsed from linked sources; own-domain lift compares mention rate when the vendor's domain is cited vs when it is not, within the same category.
Conclusion
On SEO and AEO buyer prompts, ChatGPT is a competitor's favorite answer more than its own default #1. Grok names ChatGPT first on 67% of matched prompts where ChatGPT names itself first on 35%. Mention rates for Semrush and Ahrefs do not swing that way. If you sell AI visibility tooling — or compete with ChatGPT in this narrative — measure per engine and expect asymmetric amplification, not a neutral shortlist averaged across models.