THE SHORT ANSWER
An assistant describes you incorrectly when it has to infer facts you never stated. It fills the gap from context: similar companies, old pages, directory entries, a review that mentions something you no longer do. The fix has two halves, and both are necessary: state your model, scope and terms explicitly on your own site, then make the third-party sources agree with that statement.
The four most common misdescriptions
Wrong commercial model. Being called a marketplace when you sell exclusively, or a retainer agency when you sell per unit.
Wrong scope. Being described as national when you serve four regions, or as serving industries you left years ago.
Stale pricing. An old figure from a page you removed but which is still cached or quoted elsewhere.
Merged identity. Being conflated with a similarly named business, which is common for short or generic names.
Why your own site alone does not fix it
Engines corroborate. A single authoritative page saying you sell exclusively is weighed against five directory entries and two old articles suggesting otherwise. Correcting only your own site changes one voice in that chorus.
This is why the correction is a tidying exercise across the web rather than a copywriting exercise on one page.
The correction sequence that works
State the facts plainly on your own site: model, scope, terms, price, in text, with Organization and Service markup that matches.
Find the sources contradicting it. Search your own business name and read the first three pages of results as a stranger would.
Correct or remove the contradictions you control: old directory listings, outdated profiles, stale pages you forgot to redirect.
Request corrections where you do not control the source. Many directories will update on request.
Re-check the assistants monthly. Live-retrieval engines correct within weeks; model-knowledge answers take much longer.
The expectation to set internally
Retrieval-based answers correct quickly once the underlying pages change. Answers drawn from model knowledge do not, and there is no mechanism to force them. Plan for the fast half to improve within a month and the slow half to take considerably longer.
Related answers
Frequently asked questions
Why does an AI assistant get my business model wrong?
Because you did not state it explicitly, so it was inferred from context: similar companies, old pages, or directory entries.
How do I correct a wrong AI description?
State the facts plainly on your own site with matching markup, then correct the third-party sources that contradict it. Both halves are needed.
How long does a correction take?
Weeks for engines that retrieve live, once the underlying sources change. Much longer for answers drawn from model knowledge.
Can I request a correction directly from an AI provider?
Some offer feedback mechanisms, but the reliable route is fixing the public sources the answer is built from.
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