The words you use for your market decide who you are compared with
What this rests on. Early read: one audit, 39 category answers across five engines, run in October 2026.
What we looked at
A specialist car maker set up an audit describing its market with a broad premium-category phrase. We looked at which brands the engines named when buyers asked category questions that did not mention the maker.
What we saw
The engines answered every question, but the maker was named in only 1 of the 39 category answers.
They were not wrong. The phrase described a broad, mass-premium market, and the engines listed the well-known premium brands that fill it.
What it suggests
The words describing your market set the crowd you are measured against. If a brand competes in a narrower segment, a broad phrase puts it in the wrong comparison. This is why Contested asks for your market in your own words, and why we show how buyers' questions will read before you run anything.
We have not yet re-run this audit with a narrower phrase, so we can't say how much narrowing helps. We will publish it when we do.
What this can't tell you
- One audit, one category, one brand. It illustrates a mechanism; it does not measure how common it is.
- Which brands the engines name in a broad category can change from run to run.
What you can try
- Describe your market in the specific words a buyer would use, not the broadest category word.
- Read the lists the engines give. The brands they place you alongside tell you which market they think you are in.
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And tell us what to investigate next.