Win the questions your competitors own

Why it matters

If "Restaurant A" is named in eight answers out of ten, the assistant has found something on or about Restaurant A that fits the question. It might be a clear page, a listing on a site the assistant trusts, or many recent reviews.

All of that is public. You can read it, write down what they have and you lack, and fix the gaps on your own site and on the same sources.

Two rules for the whole guide. Never copy a competitor's text, and never make claims about them you cannot prove. You win by being clearer and more specific about your own business.

V2 · V3Got your Snapshot or Starter audit? This guide fixes V2 (competitors recommended instead of you) on page 04, Competition. The Starter audit also marks V3 there: a question or language no competitor wins yet, which is the easiest place to start.

Reference

Three words used here

Before you start

Have these ready

• Your scorecard from Guide 01, with the competitors and the cited sites written down for each answer.
• Your offer pages, ideally already rewritten with Guide 06: Write pages ChatGPT can quote.
• A login to your website editor, or your web agency's contact.
• A spreadsheet (Excel or Google Sheets) for the worksheet below.

Steps

Find the gaps and close them

1. Pick three questions a competitor wins

   In your scorecard, filter the questions without your name. Keep the rows where you scored 0 and the same competitor was recommended.

   Choose three. Prefer questions that bring paying customers and that came back in several assistants or languages. A competitor named once in one assistant is not a pattern yet.

   • Good: "Restaurant avec salle privée à Kirchberg" where Restaurant A appears in ChatGPT, Gemini and Google.
   • Skip for now: a question where five different businesses appear and none twice.

2. Open the sources the answer cited

   Ask each question again in a new private window, the same way as in Guide 01. Open every source link in the answer, plus the competitor's matching page.

   For each source, write down in your own words what it says about the competitor. Is it a listing, a review site, a news article, a "best of" list? Are you on it too?

   ChatGPT · example

   Restaurant avec salle privée à Kirchberg pour un déjeuner d'affaires ?

   Restaurant A a une salle privée jusqu'à 20 personnes, menus à partir de 39 €. Restaurant B et Restaurant C proposent aussi des espaces pour groupes.

   Sources city-guide.examplereviews.examplerestaurant-a.example/salle-privee

   Answers change between attempts. If a competitor appears but no sources are shown, ask once more or try an assistant that shows links, such as Perplexity or Google.

3. Fill in the gap worksheet

   Use one worksheet per question. Compare the competitor's matching page and listings with yours, line by line. Answer each line with what you see, not with what you think.

   gap-worksheet.csvCopy

   Question:,[paste the exact question],,,
   Competitor:,[name],Date checked:,[YYYY-MM-DD],
   Check,Competitor,Us,Gap? (Yes/No),Fix (guide)
   Direct answer in the first lines of the page?,,,,
   Offer named the way the customer asks?,,,,
   Place named (town or district)?,,,,
   Page in the language of the question?,,,,
   Prices or price ranges shown?,,,,
   Proof shown (reviews / awards / memberships)?,,,,
   Listed on the sites the answer cited?,,,,
   Reviews (number and how recent)?,,,,
   Page updated recently with real changes?,,,,
   Other sources cited (press / lists / guides)?,,,,

   Paste it into Excel or Google Sheets and split text into columns by comma. Keep notes short, such as "yes, top of page" or "no, only in German".

4. Decide the fix for each gap

   Each "Yes" in the Gap column gets one fix. Most gaps fall into one of four groups:

   Gap	Fix	Guide
   No direct answer, offer or place unclear, no prices, no proof	Improve your page	Guide 06: Write pages ChatGPT can quote
   Not on the listings or review sites the answer cited	Add or complete your listings	Guide 07: Get listed where ChatGPT looks in Luxembourg
   No page in the language of the question	Add a language version	Guide 08: Be visible in French, German and English
   Wrong or old facts about you on the cited sites	Correct the facts	Guide 04: Correct the wrong facts

   Fix the sources too. If the answer cited a site you are missing from, a better page alone may not be enough.

5. Write or update one page per question

   For each of the three questions, have one page on your site that answers it. Start from your existing offer page if it fits; create a new page only if nothing fits.

   • Answer in the first two lines. "Yes, our private room seats 8 to 16 guests for business lunches in Kirchberg, from €45 per person."
   • Be more specific than the competitor. Exact hours, price ranges, the languages you speak, how fast you reply.
   • Add proof you can show. Reviews, awards, memberships, quoted with permission.
   • Write it yourself. Google asks whether content adds original value and does not simply copy or rewrite other sources. Copying with small changes is listed in its spam policies.
   • Change the date only when you change the content. Google lists changing dates to make pages seem fresh, without real changes, as a warning sign.

   Comparing yourself with a competitor

   You do not need to name competitors to win these questions. If you do compare, EU rules on comparative advertising (Directive 2006/114/EC) require the comparison to be objective, verifiable and not misleading, not to denigrate the competitor, and to meet the other conditions in Article 4. Check with your lawyer before publishing a comparison.

6. Ask the same questions again in 4 to 6 weeks

   Use the same questions, assistants and languages as in your scorecard. Compare totals: how many answers named you before and after.

   Search engines and assistants need time to find a new or changed page, and nothing guarantees they will recommend it. If nothing has moved after two rounds, go back to the worksheet and look at the sources you have not fixed yet.

Example · fictional

A filled-in worksheet

Question: "Dentiste à Esch-sur-Alzette avec rendez-vous le soir ?" Practice A was named in 4 of 5 assistants; our practice in none. Both practices and the findings are invented to show how to fill in the sheet.

Result: one French page on evening appointments in Esch-sur-Alzette, opening with the hours, plus a corrected listing. No mention of Practice A anywhere on it.

Check it worked

Confirm the work is complete

Common mistakes

What usually goes wrong

• Copying a competitor's page. Their wording describes their business. Copied text adds nothing new, and Google lists copying with small changes in its spam policies.
• Chasing every question at once. Ten half-done pages help less than three clear ones. Finish three, measure, then pick the next three.
• Judging on one answer. The same question can name different businesses on different days. Compare totals across assistants and attempts.
• Fixing only your page. If the answer cited a listing or review site, the competitor may be winning there. Get onto the same sources.
• Making negative claims about competitors. "Cheaper than Restaurant A" needs proof you can show. Write about what you offer instead.