- Your facts are in PDFs or images the engine cannot read.
- Your competitor has a dedicated page for the exact product; you have a catalogue.
- Your company name differs across site, marketplaces and listings.
- Marketplaces answer the question better than your site does.
- You have no third-party confirmation.
- Your site is slow or unreachable from abroad.
1. The facts are locked away
MOQ in a PDF, certificates as JPGs, capacity in a video. An AI engine composing an answer needs text it can quote.
2. They have a page for the exact product
In our September 2026 index, suppliers named repeatedly — Yanse Cosmetics and Skincraftlab — both publish a separate page for each product line. A competitor with an "acne patch OEM" page beats a factory whose acne patches are one thumbnail on a products grid.
3. Your identity is inconsistent
If your website says one name, your Alibaba store another and your trade-show listing a third, the engine cannot be sure these are one company. It names the supplier it is sure about.
4. Marketplaces answer better than you
Perplexity often cited Alibaba, Made-in-China and Accio listings. When a marketplace page states your MOQ and your own site does not, the marketplace becomes the source.
5. Nobody else confirms you
Directories, industry roundups, association listings and trade media are how engines cross-check claims. A supplier that exists only on its own site is harder to trust.
6. Crawlers cannot reach you
Heavy scripts, aggressive bot protection or mainland-only hosting can make your site slow or invisible to overseas crawlers. Test from outside China.
What to do next
Run five of your buyers' prompts, note who is named and open the pages they are cited from. The gap is usually obvious. Or let us run the snapshot for you.