How do I get AI to put my product in the right category?
Engines place a product using the words on the pages they retrieve about it, so state your category plainly, in the language buyers use, on your home page, your product pages and your profiles. No engine documents how it assigns categories, but Google says clear organisation details and a specific type help it understand what you are.
Free to read, no signup. Nova shows which category each engine files you under.
What Google says about describing what you are
No engine documents how it assigns categories. Google's guidance on organisation markup and helpful content is the closest.
Use the most specific type
Google's Organization markup guidance says to use the most specific schema.org subtype that applies, instead of a generic type, so the organisation is described precisely.
Organization structured dataSay plainly what the page is for
Google's helpful-content guidance asks for content with a clear purpose that serves a defined audience, written to help readers, not to game search.
Creating helpful, reliable, people-first contentFive steps to fix your category
Do it by hand with these steps, or hand the whole thing to Nova.
See what category engines use
Ask "What is [brand]?" and "What kind of tool is [brand]?" Note the category words each engine picks.
Nova: asks across engines and lists the category each uses.
Find the words buyers use
Look at how buyers describe the category in sales calls, reviews and search. Choose the one or two terms you want to own.
Nova: suggests category terms from your prompts and reviews.
State it plainly on your site
Put one clear sentence on your home and product pages: '[Brand] is a [category] for [audience].' Avoid inventing new category names.
Nova: drafts the sentence for your approval.
Align your profiles
Use the same category words on directories, review sites and social profiles, and add accurate Organization markup.
Nova: lists the profiles to update and drafts the text.
Recheck
Re-ask the same questions in a few weeks and see whether the category words match yours.
Nova: re-checks the category each engine uses.
Short on time? Nova, your AI brand visibility expert, runs this Maneuver on your brand and tracks the result.
Take it to NovaHow each engine files you, and the fix
| Engine | Calls you | Target category | Likely source | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | [OLD CATEGORY] tool | [NEW CATEGORY] | Directory listing | Update listing category |
| Perplexity | [OLD CATEGORY] tool | [NEW CATEGORY] | Old blog post | Update and link |
| Gemini | [NEW CATEGORY] | [NEW CATEGORY] | Your home page | None |
Nova then re-checks at 30 days, so you see whether the category language has shifted.
Take this Maneuver into your own AI agent
Get category-fit.md, a ready-to-use skill file with a category audit, a one-sentence statement template and a profile alignment list. Drop it into Claude, Cursor or any agent that reads SKILL.md files.
Skill file for Claude, Cursor and other agents
- A category audit across engines
- A one-sentence category statement
- A profile alignment checklist
Questions, answered.
Relevant reads
All articlesLet Nova fix your category
Nova opens with this Maneuver loaded. You approve every change before it ships.