AIs do not see the same web: Claude and ChatGPT share only 12 of 261 domains. The search mode of a single assistant can move local businesses from 0% to 54% of results. Cited pages share one trait: one service, a clearly named town, often a price, and current information. GEO does not replace SEO; it demands its most precise version.
2026 study
Where does AI look for answers in Quebec? Our study of 50 searches
Published September 23, 2026 — data collected September 22 and 23, 2026.
See the update log
- September 23, 2026 — Study and dataset published.
Everyone is talking about "getting cited by AI." Almost nobody shows data. Most GEO guides list best practices drawn from reading other guides, and even the Québec.ca blog described its five tips as coming from "our various readings." We chose to measure instead.
We asked two AI assistants, Claude and ChatGPT, 50 questions typical of Quebec customers and business owners, then logged every one of the 802 sources they consulted or cited. A plumber in Laval, a dentist on Saturday, a Quebec enterprise number, Bill 96, the cost of a website: the results show who AI actually listens to when someone in Quebec looks for a service, and what a small business has to do to be part of it. The full dataset can be downloaded at the bottom of this page.
The searches themselves were run in French, the way most Quebecers type them, so the examples below keep the original wording.
In this study
The 60-second summary How we measured Finding 1: two AIs, two webs Finding 2: the search mode changes everything Finding 3: directories are everywhere Finding 4: official sources win on paperwork Finding 5: the Quebec traps What gets a business cited The 7 moves to make SEO or GEO? What the data says The study's limits Download the dataThe 60-second summary
12 of 261domains are shared by Claude and ChatGPT. For 38 searches out of 50, they share no source at all.
0% → 54%local business websites when Claude switches from quick to in-depth search, across 10 local searches.
20 of 44service searches where ChatGPT puts forward at least one local business website.
100%of the sources ChatGPT cited for business paperwork (enterprise number, GST/QST, RBQ, grants) are official.
32%of Claude's quick-search results come from platforms and directories.
0Quebec sources, apart from Google, for "create a Google business profile" across all three measurements.
In other words, there is no single "AI visibility." Each assistant, and even each search mode of the same assistant, draws from a different pool of sources. The businesses that show up everywhere share one trait: pages that answer the exact question asked, with the service, the town and often the price.
The good news for a Quebec small business is that this trait is within reach. It takes no ad budget and no technical trick, just precise, dated, verifiable local content, which is exactly what search engine optimization already rewards.
How we measured
We wrote 50 searches the way Quebecers really type them, split into six groups: home services (15), health and personal services (8), professional services (8), starting and running a business (9), marketing and web (6), retail and consumer (4). Each search was run once, on September 22 and 23, 2026, without a personalized account.
The study has three parts. For Claude's quick search, its default tool, set to Montreal, we logged the 9 or 10 pages returned for each search, 458 results in all: that is the pool the assistant draws from when it answers. For Claude's in-depth search, we reran the 10 searches where the quick mode performed worst, for 93 results. For ChatGPT, in a temporary chat with web search on, we logged the 251 sources it cited or displayed, 186 of them with a visible URL. Each source was then classified by type: local business, large company, directory, official source, media outlet, foreign site, job posting and so on.
| Part | Searches | Sources | What it measures |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claude, quick search | 50 | 458 | The pool of pages handed to the assistant |
| Claude, in-depth search | 10 | 93 | The same pool, with the more thorough tool |
| ChatGPT | 50 | 251 | Sources cited or displayed in the answer |
Finding 1: two AIs, two webs
The most striking gap fits in one number: of 261 distinct domains logged, only 12 appear in both assistants, and they are almost all government sites (quebec.ca, Revenu Québec, the RBQ, the CNESST, the OQLF). For 38 searches out of 50, Claude and ChatGPT do not share a single source. Being highly visible in one guarantees nothing in the other.
The profiles differ too. Among the sources it cites, ChatGPT puts forward local business websites 28% of the time and official sources 42% of the time. The top three results of Claude's quick search are 35% directories, 18% French sites and 14% job postings. For the same question about a plumber in Laval, one proposes Laval plumbers, the other pages about Laval… in France.
Finding 2: the search mode changes everything
We wanted to know whether these gaps came from the assistant itself or from its search tool. So we reran, with Claude's in-depth search, the 10 local searches where the quick search had failed. The result is clear: local business websites climb from 0% to 54% of results, job postings drop from 48% to 1%, and French or European content from 40% to 11%.
"Plombier urgence Laval" goes from zero Quebec plumbers to 8 Laval plumbers out of 9 results. "Inspecteur en bâtiment Longueuil" goes from 10 municipal job postings to 7 local inspectors. These 10 searches were picked because they failed, so the gap shows what the tool fixes, not a general average. But the lesson holds: you cannot talk about "what AI sees" without saying which tool it used, and a small business has no control over that. It only controls how clear its own pages are.
Finding 3: directories are everywhere
In Claude's quick search, 32% of results come from platforms, directories and comparison sites. Soumission Rénovation and hellodarwin show up 40 times each, Centris 21 times and Medimap 12 times. Eight searches are almost entirely taken over by a single domain: Soumission Rénovation fills 10 results out of 10 for "pavé uni prix au pied carré Québec", and hellodarwin does the same for "subvention PME Québec 2026". In ChatGPT, directories weigh less, at 19% of sources, but Soumission Rénovation is one of the rare domains present in both engines.
For a small business, that is both a threat and a way in. A threat, because the directory can answer in your place and send the lead to a competitor. A way in, because a complete, well-rated listing in your industry's directory is often the only way to exist in an AI answer when your own site is not there. Our article on consistent business listings explains how to keep those profiles current without spending your evenings on it.
Finding 4: official sources win on paperwork
For the nine searches about business paperwork (starting a business, the enterprise number, grants, RBQ licences, minimum wage, restaurant permits, Bill 96, GST/QST, startup financing), 100% of the sources ChatGPT cited are government sites: quebec.ca, Revenu Québec, the CNESST, the RBQ, the MAPAQ, the OQLF. In Claude's quick search, official sources make up only 30% of the top three results for the same searches.
The difference shows in answer quality. For "Loi 96 site web entreprise obligations", Claude's quick search pointed to a 2009 French legal article about France's own e-commerce law; ChatGPT cited the OQLF. For the 2026 minimum wage, 3 of the 9 quick-search sources still showed the old $16.10 rate, although the rate has been $16.60 since May 1, 2026. When a business publishes regulatory information, it competes with the government, so its only edge is being more concrete, more local and better dated.
Finding 5: the Quebec traps
Place names still trip AI up. Laval, Blainville and Saint-Sauveur also exist in France, and Claude's quick search sent 7 of 9 results to Laval in Mayenne, 7 of 9 to Blainville-sur-Mer in Normandy, and 9 of 9 outside Quebec for "coiffeur Saint-Sauveur". The in-depth search fixes Laval and Blainville, but not Saint-Sauveur: even with the better tool, not one Laurentians hair salon came up, only French pages and Wikipedia.
The second trap: some basic questions simply have no Quebec answer online. For "créer une fiche Google entreprise" and "comment apparaître sur Google Maps", none of the three measurements surfaces a Quebec source, apart from Google's own documentation. The answers come from French blogs and foreign software vendors. That is a content gap a local business can fill, which is why we published our 10 Business Profile optimizations.
What gets a business cited
Looking at the business websites that do come up, in ChatGPT as well as Claude's in-depth search, a clear profile emerges. Their pages carry the service and the town in the URL and the title ("snow removal in Saint-Jérôme", "foundation crack repair in Laval"). They answer the question as it is asked, often with a price or a range. They name their service area, their lead times and their warranties. Nothing exotic: it is the foundation of a good local page.
By contrast, the missing businesses usually run a generic brochure site: a homepage, a "services" page that lists everything, no town named, no price. The same goes for proof of expertise: the cited pages show who does the work, for how long and with which licences, exactly what our article on E-E-A-T for small businesses describes. Finally, in health and professional services, ChatGPT exposed no URL at all for 8 searches: it most likely answers from business profiles, which makes the Google profile as important an asset as the website.
The 7 moves to make
1. Name the place unambiguously. Write "Saint-Sauveur, in the Laurentians, Quebec", not just "Saint-Sauveur". 2. One page per service and per town, answering a single intent. 3. Publish prices or ranges: price guides by town are among the most reused sources, as our own Quebec SEO price grid shows. 4. Take care of your Google profile, especially in health and professional services.
5. Be listed in your industry's recognized directories: Soumission Rénovation for renovation, Medimap for health, PagesJaunes.ca and Yelp for retail. 6. Date and update your content: an AI drawing on an outdated page gives an outdated answer. 7. Measure in several AIs, because visibility in one assistant does not carry over to another. For a bilingual site, add an eighth move: a complete, distinct French version, as our guide to bilingual SEO and Bill 96 explains.
SEO or GEO? What the data says
In October 2025, the Québec.ca blog claimed that search engine optimization was "being replaced" by GEO. Our data tell a different story. The sources AI keeps are well-optimized pages that are clear, local and current: exactly what SEO has always produced. None of the cited pages owes its place to a GEO-specific technique; all of them owe it to their relevance for the question asked. Google Search Central's documentation published in July 2026 points the same way: for Google, optimizing for its AI features means doing good SEO.
What really changes is the demand for precision. A classic engine shows ten links and lets people sort; an AI keeps two or three and answers for them. The vague page that used to rank fifth no longer exists in the answer. To dig deeper into the difference, read GEO versus SEO, our article on Google AI Overviews and our complete small business SEO guide.
The study's limits
Each engine ran one pass on a given date: results vary from one search to the next and will change as the tools evolve. The two parts do not measure exactly the same thing, since Claude was observed at the level of the source pool returned by its tool, and ChatGPT at the level of cited or displayed sources; 26% of ChatGPT's sources were not exposed by its interface. The in-depth part covers 10 searches chosen because they had failed in quick mode.
About 80 business and quote-request sites found in ChatGPT were classified from their domain name, without being visited. ChatGPT also added "Québec" to the search "notaire achat maison frais". Finally, the web and SEO agencies that appear in the results are not named, by editorial choice. These limits do not erase the trends, which are sharp, but they are a reason to read the percentages as orders of magnitude.
Download the data
The full dataset has 802 rows: search, search group, engine, rank, URL, domain, source type and citation status. Web and SEO agency domains are anonymized. Journalists, researchers, teachers and business owners may reuse it freely by citing "Ton Consultant study on AI sources in Quebec, September 2026" with a link to this page.
The study's three infographics can also be embedded on your site with the "Embed" button under each image. We will rerun the measurement in 90 days to track changes, especially on searches where no Quebec source exists yet.
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Book my free consultation →Frequently asked questions
Which sources do AI assistants cite most in Quebec?
It depends on the assistant. In our study, ChatGPT mostly cited official sources (42%) and local business websites (28%), while Claude's quick search mostly returned directories and platforms (35% of its top three results).
Is being visible in ChatGPT enough?
No. Of 261 domains logged, only 12 appeared in both Claude and ChatGPT, and for 38 searches out of 50 the two assistants shared no source at all. You need to measure your visibility in several assistants.
How can a small business get cited by AI?
With pages that answer the exact question: one service, a clearly named town, ideally a price or a range, and proof of expertise. A complete Google Business Profile and listings in your industry's recognized directories help too.
Is GEO replacing SEO?
Our data say the opposite: the pages AI keeps are well-optimized, clear, local and current. GEO adds a demand for precision, but it rests on the same foundations as search engine optimization.
Why do some Quebec towns cause problems?
Because towns like Laval, Blainville or Saint-Sauveur also exist in France. Without a clear geographic cue, some AI search tools send people to the French namesakes. Naming the region and Quebec on your pages reduces that risk.
Can I reuse the study's data?
Yes. The 802-row CSV file is free to download; cite "Ton Consultant study on AI sources in Quebec, September 2026" with a link to the study page.
Method: 50 Quebec searches run September 22-23, 2026 in Claude (quick search, 458 results; in-depth search on 10 searches, 93 results) and ChatGPT (temporary chat with web search, 251 sources). Context: Québec.ca blog, "Optimiser son contenu numérique pour les moteurs génératifs d'intelligence artificielle" (October 7, 2025); Google Search Central documentation on optimizing for AI features (July 2026); CNESST minimum wage rate as of May 1, 2026.
Key takeaways
