Study
What AI assistants quote when they recommend a local business
We read 1,786 answers from ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini and Grok about 139 local businesses in France, Switzerland, Belgium and Luxembourg, between July and October 2026. Here is where their sources come from.
87%
of answers quote web sources
43%
of what they quote is a directory or review site
31%
of answers quote the business's own website
3%
of what they quote is press
Directories weigh more than websites
Google Maps listings, local.ch, TripAdvisor, PagesJaunes: directories and review sites make up 43% of everything the AIs quote. Other businesses' own websites come next with 37%. Guides and rankings 6%, the business's own site 5%, press 3%.
- Directories & reviews43%
- Players in the market37%
- Guides, rankings & blogs6%
- The business's own site5%
- News & media3%
- Wikipedia & official sites2%
- Shops & marketplaces2%
- Social & forums1%
- Market studies1%
Each AI reads the web differently
Perplexity quotes 17 sources per answer, half of them directories. Gemini 6, mostly businesses' own sites. ChatGPT and Claude 3 to 4.
| AI | Sources per answer | What it quotes most |
|---|---|---|
| Perplexity | 17.0 | Directories & reviews 50% |
| Gemini | 6.4 | Players in the market 54% |
| ChatGPT | 3.9 | Players in the market 48% |
| Claude | 3.0 | Directories & reviews 39% |
The sites they quote most
- 1 Google Maps listings 1,032 quotes
- 2 local.ch 337 quotes
- 3 tripadvisor.fr 144 quotes
- 4 pagesjaunes.fr 143 quotes
- 5 alexia.fr 140 quotes
- 6 pagesdor.be 117 quotes
- 7 planity.com 86 quotes
- 8 search.ch 83 quotes
- 9 tripadvisor.com 82 quotes
- 10 petitfute.com 80 quotes
By country
France
- Directories & reviews46%
- Players in the market35%
- The business's own site5%
Switzerland
- Directories & reviews42%
- Players in the market36%
- The business's own site6%
Belgium
- Directories & reviews39%
- Players in the market44%
- The business's own site6%
What to do with it
-
1
Complete every directory listing the AIs quote in your market: details, hours, photos, recent reviews. It is the biggest lever.
-
2
Get into the guides and "best of" lists of your city and trade.
-
3
Keep your own site clear and complete: it is quoted in a third of answers, and that is where an AI checks what you do.
Method
Every answer comes from the AIs' official APIs with web search on, as they answer their own users, for the businesses tracked in kwerve and audits we ran. Each quoted site is sorted by type, by rules and a one-time AI label. A measurement of what the AIs answered, not a random sample of all businesses.
Numbers as of 27.10.2026: 1,786 answers, 11,999 quoted sites.