The short answer
There is rarely a single reason. An AI assistant weighs several sources: your website, reviews, mentions elsewhere and whatever else can be found about your business. If your competitor is clearer or more consistent on those points, they are easier to mention.
What you can check yourself
Go through these points on your own website:
- Does it say clearly what you do, for whom and where?
- Are prices or a price range on the site?
- Is your business information the same everywhere: site, Google Business Profile and directories?
- Do you have structured data (JSON-LD) and an llms.txt?
- Does your robots.txt block AI crawlers?
What you cannot control
Answers differ per assistant, per question and per moment. You cannot force a mention, and anyone who promises one is not to be trusted. What you do control is how well your website can be understood.
How to approach it
Measure your website first, tackle the top of the fix list and scan again. With AgentRank you get a score across six categories, a fix list in order and files such as llms.txt and JSON-LD you can publish.