Singapore is one market, so the geographic qualifier is the neighbourhood or the MRT station, not the city. The engines read Google Maps and Carousell, Lazada and Shopee before they answer. The ACRA UEN and the licence number on the site (EA licence for agencies, MOH for clinics, MAS for finance).
What changes when the buyer is in Singapore
Singapore is one market, so the geographic qualifier is the neighbourhood or the MRT station, not the city. Questions are price-sensitive and specific ('under $200', 'near Tanjong Pagar'), and the engines answer from local forums and comparison sites more than from the company's own site. The government registers (ACRA, MOH, MOM) are checked routinely.
The sources the engines read for Singapore
| Source | What it decides |
|---|---|
| Google Maps | the review score and count |
| Carousell, Lazada and Shopee | 'where to buy' is answered from these |
| PropertyGuru and 99.co | property |
| HardwareZone forums, Seedly and Reddit r/singapore | the engines read the threads as recommendations, and Seedly for financial products |
| The Straits Times, Mothership, SmartLocal | 'best X in Singapore' lists are read as rankings |
| ACRA, MOH, MOM and MAS registers | a company's existence, a clinic's licence, an agency's EA licence, a financial firm's MAS licence; all checked |
The report's 'sources the engines trust' table shows which of these were actually cited for your questions, and how often your own site was.
Language
English, with Singapore English phrasing understood. Chinese questions are answered from Chinese pages, which are few outside the largest brands.
What to put on the site for Singapore
- The ACRA UEN and the licence number on the site (EA licence for agencies, MOH for clinics, MAS for finance).
- The neighbourhood and the nearest MRT on the address page, since that is how questions are asked.
- Prices in SGD with GST stated.
How the report runs for Singapore
Every question is asked with the market set to Singapore, so an engine that would otherwise assume the United States answers for Singapore. The questions themselves are written with the country's cities and qualifiers where the site sells to one ('best accountant near Tanjong Pagar'), and the competitor discovery probe is asked for Singapore too, so the rivals in the table are the ones a buyer in Singapore is shown, not the global names.
Prices in the report are quoted as the engines quoted them, in SGD where the answer used it.
Read next
The UAE · Saudi Arabia · India · The UK · The US · Australia · Germany · All countries · By industry
Questions
Is Singapore too small for the engines to distinguish companies?
No. The engines name specific companies for neighbourhood and price questions; what they lack is pages that state the neighbourhood and the price.
Do the engines read HardwareZone?
Yes, and Seedly and r/singapore. A recommendation in a thread is read as a peer's, and quoted.
See who the engines name in Singapore
Your website, region and work email. The score appears in about three minutes, and the report is a link you keep.