I was messing around with Perplexity, asking it for the top AI meeting note takers. It spat out Otter, Fireflies, Avoma, Fathom, and Granola. Seemed straightforward enough.
But then, I swapped one word. Changed “best” to “shortlist” and poof—Fathom disappeared. Sembly AI stepped in to take its place.
Same query, one word. A brand gone.
A study from 2026 showed that small changes, like throwing in a question mark, can completely alter which sources Google’s AI Overviews cite. Another study found that just rephrasing “which vendors should I shortlist” shifted about half of the recommended brands. Crazy, right?
Try it yourself, no strings attached. Fire up ChatGPT or Perplexity (make sure to be logged out) and ask your buyer question three different ways.
If the names change, you don’t have a solid AI ranking. It’s like a coin flip—landing differently based on how the buyer asks.
Forget chasing just one phrasing. Buyers typically ask the same thing in multiple ways, and you need to be the answer for all of them.
This week, focus on crafting that page for every buyer question. The slow part? Shaping those answers like engines cite. That’s why we built Outrank: to create answer-shaped articles straight to your CMS.
Original article: https://www.outrank.so/blog/change-one-word-lose-a-spot-in-ai-rankings