# AI Local Report, October 2026: AI changed its #1 local pick in 58% of markets in one month

> We put 21,600 questions to 12 AI assistants across 600 local markets in 30 US metros. In the 245 markets we had also measured in September, the business the assistants recommended first had changed in more than half of them a month later. This is the first AI Local Report from AI Syndicate Research. Every number in it was measured by us, and every number is free to cite.

Updated October 5, 2026 · AI Syndicate team · https://www.aisyndicate.com/research/ai-local-report-october-2026/

**October 2026 in one paragraph:** Between September and October 2026, AI assistants changed their #1 local business in **58%** of 245 US markets, and in more than half under every stricter check we ran. **35.5%** of September's top-10 businesses fell out of the top 25. Only **22%** of markets had one #1 across three ways of asking, and more than half of all citations (**54%**) went to about 280 review sites, directories and other platforms.

**Cite this:** AI Syndicate Research, "AI Local Report, October 2026," AI Syndicate Local, measured 1–5 October 2026, https://www.aisyndicate.com/research/ai-local-report-october-2026/

**Use and reuse:** © 2026 AI Syndicate. You may quote up to 50 words, or share a single chart with its source line, with credit and a link to this page. Reproducing the report or large parts of it needs written permission from support@aisyndicate.com. The rankings behind it are open data under a CC BY 4.0 licence.

**Download the PDF:** https://www.aisyndicate.com/research/ai-local-report-october-2026/ai-local-report-october-2026.pdf

## Executive summary

**Figure 1. The October 2026 edition in six numbers**

| Item | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Markets where AI's #1 changed in a month | 58% |
| September top-10 businesses out of the top 25 by October | 35.5% |
| Answers that name even the market's #1 | 43% |
| Markets with one #1 across all three wordings | 22% |
| Assistants naming the #1 in a typical market | 8 of 12 |
| Citations that go to about 280 review sites, directories and other platforms | 54% |

_Source: AI Syndicate Research, AI Local Report, October 2026 (aisyndicate.com/research)_

### Key findings

1. **AI's first pick changes more often than it holds.** The #1 business changed between September and October in 58% of the 245 markets measured both months. Under four stricter tests the figure stays between 52% and 62%.
2. **Leaders with broad support hold on.** A September #1 named by ten or more of the twelve assistants was still #1 in October 74% of the time. A #1 named by five or fewer held 33% of the time.
3. **Even the leader is missing from most answers.** In a typical market the #1 business is named in 43% of the 36 answers. Most answers name someone else.
4. **There is no single AI ranking.** Only 22% of markets have the same #1 for "best", "recommended" and "affordable". The "affordable" #1 matches the "best" #1 in just 28% of markets.
5. **The assistants broadly agree with each other.** A typical market's #1 is named by 8 of 12 assistants. Gemini named the #1 that the other eleven agreed on in 88% of markets; Perplexity and Google AI Overviews in about half.
6. **A few hundred platforms supply most of the evidence.** About 280 sites, each cited in five or more markets, took 54% of all citations. Websites we could identify as a ranked business's own took 11%. Yelp is the most-cited site overall, but in 13 of 20 trades a different site leads, such as Carfax for auto repair, Zillow for real estate and EnergySage for solar.

**What it means.** A single AI answer about a local business is one reading, not a verdict. Position is better judged across months, across assistants and across the different ways customers ask. Businesses that kept a strong position tended to be named by many assistants and to appear on the third-party sites those assistants cite. A business's own website is only one part of that footprint. These are observed patterns, not proof of cause.

**Scope.** 600 markets: 30 metros in Florida, California, New York and Texas, times 20 types of business. 12 assistants, 3 fixed questions each, 21,600 questions asked between 1 and 5 October 2026. Month-to-month comparisons use only the 245 Florida and California markets measured in both editions. The method, its limits and what we hold back are set out at the end.

## What does AI Syndicate Local measure?

AI Syndicate Local is a public index of which local businesses AI assistants recommend. Once a month we ask 12 assistants the same three questions about a type of business in a metro area: the best one, the one to recommend to someone who needs one, and an affordable one nearby. A market is one metro area and one type of business, so 36 answers go into each market.

A business is ranked only when it is named in at least two answers that are independent of each other: two different assistants, or one assistant answering two different questions. A name that appears in a single answer is counted but not ranked, because one answer may be a guess. Businesses are ordered by how many answers name them, then by how many assistants do. Each market's published ranking lists up to 25 businesses.

How the twelve are asked:

- **Live web search:** ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity answer with web search on. Google AI Overviews is the AI Overview Google shows for the question. Microsoft Copilot is the Copilot answer Bing shows; when Bing shows none, we reconstruct one from the same Bing results.
- **Model memory only:** Grok, Meta AI, DeepSeek and Mistral answer from what the model learned, because no consumer live-search access is available for them.
- **Reconstructed voice answers:** Siri and Alexa cannot be asked programmatically. We reconstruct their answers from the kinds of sources each draws on, in the short, single-pick style each speaks in. Read them as close approximations, not recordings.

**Figure 2. The index has grown each edition**

_Markets measured. New York and Texas joined in October; the September-to-October comparison uses the 245 Florida and California markets present in both._

| Edition | Markets |
| --- | --- |
| August 2026 | 105 |
| September 2026 | 245 |
| October 2026 | 600 |

_Source: AI Syndicate Research, AI Local Report, October 2026 (aisyndicate.com/research)_

Of October's 21,600 questions, 20,044 (93%) returned an answer. The edition ranks about 12,700 businesses. The question wordings have not changed since the index launched in August 2026, so editions can be compared.

## How often does AI change its #1 local recommendation?

Often. In the 245 markets measured in both months, the business the assistants named most in September was still #1 in October in **42%** of markets. In the other 58%, the top spot went to someone else.

**Figure 3. Where September's #1 stood in October**

_245 markets in Florida and California, September to October 2026. Share of markets._

| October position | Share of markets |
| --- | --- |
| Still #1 | 42.0% |
| Slipped to #2 or #3 | 27.8% |
| Slipped to #4–#10 | 11.0% |
| Slipped to #11–#25 | 4.1% |
| Out of the top 25 | 15.1% |

_Source: AI Syndicate Research, AI Local Report, October 2026 (aisyndicate.com/research)_

Seven in ten (69.8%) of September's #1 businesses were still in the top three. Further down, the list moved more. Of all businesses in a September top ten, **35.5%** were out of the top 25 in October, and **39%** of October's top-ten businesses had not been in September's top 25. A business ranked in both months typically moved **3 places**.

### How robust is the 58%?

Some changes at the top are close calls. In 16% of September markets the #1 was tied with #2 on answers, and in about 5% the two were tied on assistants too, so the published order fell back to the alphabet. October coverage also changed, because we re-asked questions that went unanswered the first time. So we re-ran the comparison four ways.

**Figure 4. Share of markets where the #1 changed, under four tests**

_245 markets, September to October 2026._

| Test | #1 changed | Markets |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Published rankings, all 12 assistants | 58% | 245 |
| Only the 8 assistants that answered well in both months | 62% | 245 |
| Leaving out markets tied at #1 in either month | 54% | 177 |
| Counting a tie for first in October as holding | 52% | 245 |

_Source: AI Syndicate Research, AI Local Report, October 2026 (aisyndicate.com/research)_

Under every test, the #1 changed in more than half of the markets.

Florida has now been measured three times, which shows whether the movement settles. It has not settled yet.

**Figure 5. Florida, three editions: how often the #1 held**

_105 Florida markets measured in August, September and October 2026. Share of markets._

| Comparison | Share of markets |
| --- | --- |
| Same #1, August to September | 53% |
| Same #1, September to October | 43% |
| Same #1 in all three editions | 28% |

_Source: AI Syndicate Research, AI Local Report, October 2026 (aisyndicate.com/research)_

Of the businesses in an August Florida top ten, 64% were still in the top 25 in October.

> **Why so much movement?** Part of it is the assistants. Most of them search the live web each time, and the pages they find change. Part of it is the shape of the answers. A typical market draws 58 different business names across its 36 answers, and 61% of those names appear in only one answer. Even the #1 business is named in a median 43% of answers, so a handful of answers going another way is enough to change the order. We cannot yet separate real change in a market from the assistants' own variability. That needs repeated measurement of the same market within a month.

## What separates a #1 that holds from one that doesn't?

Breadth of support. September leaders that more assistants agreed on were far more likely to still be #1 in October.

**Figure 6. Share of September #1s still #1 in October, by how many assistants named them**

_245 markets, September to October 2026. Assistants counted in September, out of 12._

| Assistants naming the September #1 | Still #1 | Markets |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 5 or fewer | 33% | 52 |
| 6 or 7 | 36% | 109 |
| 8 or 9 | 51% | 65 |
| 10 to 12 | 74% | 19 |

_Source: AI Syndicate Research, AI Local Report, October 2026 (aisyndicate.com/research)_

The size of the lead tells the same story. A September #1 that was tied with #2 on answers held 28% of the time. One that led by six or more answers held 69% of the time. National brands held more often than independents. When September's #1 was a brand in the top three of five or more October markets, it was still #1 in 60% of cases (30 markets), against 40% for everyone else.

The ten-or-more group (19 markets) and the national-brand group (30) are small, so read their exact figures with care. The direction is consistent across all three measures. These are associations. They show which leaders held, not why.

## Which types of local business have the most stable AI recommendations?

Stability differs a lot by trade. The chart shows, for each type of business, the share of its compared markets that kept the same #1 from September to October. Beside it is how many of the 12 assistants named the #1 in a typical October market. Each type has only 12 or 13 compared markets, so read each row as a hint, not a verdict.

**Figure 7. Share of markets that kept the same #1, by type of business**

_September to October 2026, 12 or 13 markets per type. Second column: assistants naming the #1 in a typical October market, all 600 markets._

| Type of business | Kept #1 | Assistants on #1 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Roofing | 69% | 6.5 |
| Speeding ticket lawyers | 67% | 7.3 |
| HVAC and air conditioning | 62% | 6.9 |
| Garage door repair | 58% | 9.8 |
| Pest control | 54% | 8.4 |
| Water damage restoration | 50% | 7.6 |
| Window and door replacement | 50% | 9.4 |
| Plumbers | 46% | 6.7 |
| Personal injury lawyers | 42% | 7.8 |
| Restaurants | 42% | 9.1 |
| Hotels | 42% | 10.3 |
| Auto repair | 42% | 6.1 |
| Med spas | 33% | 6.3 |
| Solar installation | 33% | 8.4 |
| Moving companies | 33% | 8.3 |
| Electricians | 31% | 6.5 |
| Cosmetic dentists | 25% | 6.4 |
| Business litigation lawyers | 25% | 8.2 |
| Real estate teams | 17% | 7.9 |
| Criminal defense lawyers | 17% | 6.0 |

_Source: AI Syndicate Research, AI Local Report, October 2026 (aisyndicate.com/research)_

Agreement in one month does not guarantee stability the next. Hotels had the broadest agreement, with 10.3 assistants on the #1 on average, and still changed #1 in 58% of markets. Roofing had below-average agreement and was the most stable.

National brands anchor some trades. In October, **13%** of all top-three placings went to a brand that is in the top three in five or more markets. In the 245 compared markets that share rose from 11% in September to 14% in October. The brands most often in a top three were Renewal by Andersen, Orkin, Terminix, Servpro, PuroClean and Two Men and a Truck. In pest control and water damage restoration a national brand is #1 in about two thirds of markets; in window replacement and moving, about three in ten. Across all trades it is 15%.

The full rankings for each trade are in the index: [Auto repair](/ai-local/best/auto-repair/), [business litigation lawyers](/ai-local/best/business-litigation-lawyers/), [cosmetic dentists](/ai-local/best/cosmetic-dentists/), [criminal defense lawyers](/ai-local/best/criminal-defense-lawyers/), [electricians](/ai-local/best/electricians/), [garage door repair](/ai-local/best/garage-door-repair/), [HVAC and air conditioning](/ai-local/best/hvac/), [hotels](/ai-local/best/hotels/), [med spas](/ai-local/best/med-spas/), [moving companies](/ai-local/best/moving-companies/), [personal injury lawyers](/ai-local/best/personal-injury-lawyers/), [pest control](/ai-local/best/pest-control/), [plumbers](/ai-local/best/plumbers/), [real estate teams](/ai-local/best/real-estate-teams/), [restaurants](/ai-local/best/restaurants/), [roofing](/ai-local/best/roofing/), [solar installation](/ai-local/best/solar-installation/), [speeding ticket lawyers](/ai-local/best/speeding-ticket-lawyers/), [water damage restoration](/ai-local/best/water-damage-restoration/), [window and door replacement](/ai-local/best/window-replacement/).

## Do ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and the other assistants recommend the same businesses?

Mostly, but not fully. In a typical October market the #1 business was named by **8 of 12** assistants. In 84% of markets at least six named it. All twelve named the same #1 in only **16 of 600** markets (2.7%).

**Figure 8. How many of the 12 assistants named the #1 business**

_600 markets, October 2026. Number of markets at each level of agreement._

| Assistants naming the #1 | Markets |
| --- | --- |
| 2 | 1 |
| 3 | 4 |
| 4 | 30 |
| 5 | 59 |
| 6 | 88 |
| 7 | 106 |
| 8 | 95 |
| 9 | 89 |
| 10 | 67 |
| 11 | 45 |
| 12 | 16 |

_Source: AI Syndicate Research, AI Local Report, October 2026 (aisyndicate.com/research)_

Lower down the rankings, support is thinner. 34% of ranked businesses were named by exactly two assistants, and 20% by a single assistant answering two different questions.

The next chart asks a stricter question of each assistant. Leave that assistant out, find the business the other eleven named most widely, and check whether the assistant named it too. This avoids counting an assistant's own vote toward the consensus it is measured against.

**Figure 9. How often each assistant named the #1 that the other eleven agreed on**

_October 2026. Share of the markets where the assistant named at least one ranked business._

| Assistant | Agreed with the other eleven |
| --- | --- |
| Gemini | 88% |
| Microsoft Copilot | 86% |
| Claude | 78% |
| ChatGPT | 67% |
| Siri | 65% |
| Meta AI | 65% |
| DeepSeek | 63% |
| Grok | 55% |
| Mistral | 54% |
| Alexa | 53% |
| Perplexity | 50% |
| Google AI Overviews | 50% |

_Source: AI Syndicate Research, AI Local Report, October 2026 (aisyndicate.com/research)_

Gemini is the closest thing to a bellwether: it named the other eleven's choice in 88% of markets. [Copilot](/blog/microsoft-copilot-visibility/) and Claude follow. [Perplexity](/blog/how-to-get-cited-by-perplexity/) and [Google AI Overviews](/blog/how-to-get-cited-in-google-ai-overviews/) agreed only about half the time, which usually means they were naming businesses the others were not. A business that leads in [Gemini](/blog/how-to-get-recommended-by-gemini/) is not necessarily leading where its customers ask.

Two cautions. First, these are shares of markets, not of users; an assistant with few users that disagrees with the rest matters less to a business than one with many. Second, the twelve are not fully independent witnesses. Several share underlying models or search indexes, and the reconstructed voice answers draw on the same kinds of sources as the others, so agreement between some pairs overstates independent confirmation.

## Does the way you ask change which business AI recommends?

Yes, more than most people expect. We ask each market three ways: the best one, the one to recommend to someone who needs one, and an affordable one nearby. In October, only **22%** of markets had the same business at #1 for all three wordings (133 of the 597 markets where all three were answered).

Some of that is close calls. With only twelve answers per wording, the top of a wording's list is often a tie; 28% of the time the #1 was tied with #2 on both answers and assistants. Leaving out every market with such a tie, 39% had one #1 across all three wordings. Most markets still do not.

**Figure 10. How often two wordings put the same business first**

_597 markets, October 2026. Share of markets where both wordings have the same #1._

| Pair of wordings | Same #1 |
| --- | --- |
| Best vs. recommend to someone who needs one | 53% |
| Recommend vs. affordable nearby | 32% |
| Best vs. affordable nearby | 28% |

_Source: AI Syndicate Research, AI Local Report, October 2026 (aisyndicate.com/research)_

The "affordable" question changes the list most. Its #1 matches the "best" #1 in only 28% of markets. The overall leader usually stays visible: in 82% of cases it is in a wording's top three. But a customer who asks about price is often shown a different first choice from one who asks about quality. There is no single AI ranking to win. There is one per way of asking.

## Which websites do AI assistants cite when recommending a local business?

Mostly review sites, directories and other platforms. The live-search assistants returned 37,355 citations across the 600 October markets. We grouped every citation by how widely its site is cited.

| Where the citations went | Share of all citations |
| --- | --- |
| About 280 sites cited in five or more markets: review sites, directories, "best of" lists, forums | **54%** |
| Websites we could identify as a ranked business's own | **11%** |
| Sites cited in only one to four markets: local news, smaller directories, and some businesses' own sites we could not match | 20% |
| Citations beyond the 25 most-cited sites we record by name in each market | 15% |

So more than half of the evidence comes from a few hundred platforms that recur from city to city, and a business's own website is a small part of it.

**Figure 11. The ten most-cited sites for local recommendations**

_Share of all 37,355 citations, 600 markets, October 2026._

| Site | Share of citations |
| --- | --- |
| Yelp | 4.4% |
| Expertise.com | 2.1% |
| Reddit | 2.1% |
| Better Business Bureau | 2.1% |
| Thumbtack | 2.0% |
| Angi | 1.5% |
| ConsumerAffairs | 1.4% |
| Avvo | 1.3% |
| Justia | 1.2% |
| Google (Maps and Business Profile links) | 1.2% |

_Source: AI Syndicate Research, AI Local Report, October 2026 (aisyndicate.com/research)_

The long tail is long. No single site reaches 5% of citations, and a typical market draws on 35 different source sites. What dominates depends on the trade. Yelp is the most-cited site in 7 of 20 trades; in the other 13, a site specific to the trade leads.

| Type of business | Most-cited site | Its share of the trade's citations | Next two |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Auto repair | Carfax | 10.9% | Yelp, RepairPal |
| Business litigation lawyers | Super Lawyers | 8.7% | Best Lawyers, Avvo |
| Cosmetic dentists | Yelp | 5.2% | Zocdoc, Opencare |
| Criminal defense lawyers | Justia | 6.9% | Avvo, Super Lawyers |
| Electricians | Yelp | 6.0% | Thumbtack, Angi |
| Garage door repair | Yelp | 6.6% | Thumbtack, Expertise.com |
| Hotels | Tripadvisor | 11.2% | Expedia, Hotels.com |
| HVAC and air conditioning | Yelp | 5.6% | ConsumerAffairs, ServiceAgent |
| Med spas | Yelp | 6.5% | TrustAnalytica, Medical Spa Locator |
| Moving companies | MoveBuddha | 8.1% | Great Guys Moving, FreightWaves |
| Personal injury lawyers | Justia | 5.9% | Super Lawyers, Avvo |
| Pest control | Yelp | 6.0% | ConsumerAffairs, Thumbtack |
| Plumbers | Yelp | 5.8% | Angi, Thumbtack |
| Real estate teams | Zillow | 9.4% | HomeLight, FastExpert |
| Restaurants | Tripadvisor | 9.8% | OpenTable, Wanderlog |
| Roofing | Yahoo Local | 5.6% | BBB, Yelp |
| Solar installation | EnergySage | 11.9% | EcoWatch, ConsumerAffairs |
| Speeding ticket lawyers | Avvo | 10.4% | Justia, FindLaw |
| Water damage restoration | BBB | 7.6% | Expertise.com, Yelp |
| Window and door replacement | EcoWatch | 7.6% | Yelp, Expertise.com |

Shares are of all citations in each trade. Ranked businesses' own websites, and dictionary sites that assistants cite to define a word, are left out of the list. The practical reading: the sites that matter for a plumber are not the sites that matter for a solar installer or a personal injury lawyer. [Reviews](/blog/do-reviews-affect-ai-recommendations/) and [Reddit](/blog/reddit-and-ai-answers/) matter across trades, but the trade's own directory often matters more.

## What should a local business do with this?

- **Judge position over several months, not one screenshot.** With the #1 changing in more than half of markets in a month, a single good or bad answer proves little. Three months in the same position says much more.
- **Look at how many assistants name you, not only your rank.** In this data, leaders named by ten or more assistants held #1 74% of the time; those named by five or fewer, 33%.
- **Check every way your customers ask.** Only 22% of markets have one #1 for best, recommended and affordable. Look at which question's list you are missing from.
- **Look past your own website.** More than half of all citations go to a few hundred review sites, directories and lists. Find the ones AI cites for your trade, using the table above as a starting point, and make sure you are present and accurate on them.
- **Know whether you compete with a national brand.** In pest control and water damage restoration a national brand is the first pick in about two thirds of markets, and national brands held #1 more often than independents.

These are patterns in what the assistants said, not guarantees. Our software tracks the same signals for a single business in its own market; the index is the public, market-wide version.

## How was this measured, and what can it not tell you?

**Method.** Each month the index asks 12 assistants three fixed questions per market, with the city named in the question and no user location or account history. A model extracts the business names from each answer, and spellings of the same business are merged. A chain's locations that share one website count as one business. Rankings follow the rule described above: at least two independent answers to be ranked, ordered by answers and then by assistants, up to 25 per market. Sources are the citations the live-search assistants return with their answers. The full method is on the [methodology page](/ai-local/methodology/).

**What changed between editions.** In October we re-asked any question that went unanswered the first time. That raised the share of questions answered from 73% in September to 92% in the same markets, mostly by adding answers from Meta AI, Mistral and DeepSeek. Longer lists can make movement look larger than it is, which is why the robustness tests above include one that uses only the eight assistants that answered well in both months.

**Collection gaps.** In this edition, Google AI Overviews and Microsoft Copilot returned usable answers in fewer than a third of California markets, against 84% to 99% of markets in the other three states. Alexa was also lower in California. We treat this as a gap in our collection, not as those assistants declining to answer. Every market is measured again each month. Agreement figures count only the markets where each assistant answered.

**What this cannot tell you.**

- It measures what assistants say, not what customers do. A #1 here is a share of answers, not a share of sales.
- It cannot yet separate real change in a market from the assistants' own answer-to-answer variability.
- Twelve or thirteen markets per type of business is a small sample, so trade-level figures are directional.
- The assistants were asked without a user location or history. A real customer's answer can differ.
- Siri and Alexa answers are reconstructions, and Copilot's are when Bing shows no Copilot answer.
- New York and Texas have one edition so far, so they appear only in October-wide figures.

**What stays private.** The public index publishes each market's rankings and sources. The month-by-month movement of individual businesses, the per-assistant answer sets, and our records of what changed on ranked businesses' websites are not published. They are the basis of our paid service and of future reports.

## How can I cite or reuse these numbers?

Quote any figure in this report with credit to AI Syndicate Research and a link to this page. You may quote up to 50 words of text, or share a single chart with its source line intact. Reproducing the report or large parts of it needs written permission. A suggested citation:

> AI Syndicate Research, "AI Local Report, October 2026," AI Syndicate Local, measured 1–5 October 2026, https://www.aisyndicate.com/research/ai-local-report-october-2026/

A [PDF copy](/research/ai-local-report-october-2026/ai-local-report-october-2026.pdf) is available, and a plain-text [Markdown version](/research/ai-local-report-october-2026/index.md) shows every chart as a table. The rankings behind the report are published under a CC BY 4.0 licence at [aisyndicate.com/ai-local/](/ai-local/), with machine-readable copies at [/ai-local/data.json](/ai-local/data.json) and [/ai-local/all.md](/ai-local/all.md). The next AI Local Report follows the November edition. Journalists and researchers who need a cut of the data that is not here can write to support@aisyndicate.com.

## FAQ

### How often does AI change its recommendation for a local business?

In AI Syndicate Research's measurement of 245 US markets, the #1 business recommended by 12 AI assistants changed between September and October 2026 in 58% of markets, and in more than half under every stricter test. 35.5% of September's top-10 businesses had fallen out of the top 25 a month later.

### What keeps a business at #1 in AI recommendations?

In AI Syndicate Research's October 2026 data, leaders named by many assistants held on far more often. A September #1 named by ten or more of twelve assistants was still #1 in October 74% of the time, against 33% for one named by five or fewer. This is an association, not proof of cause.

### Do ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity recommend the same local businesses?

Mostly. In October 2026 a typical market's #1 was named by 8 of 12 assistants. Measured against the other eleven, Gemini named the consensus #1 in 88% of markets, ChatGPT in 67% and Perplexity in 50%. All twelve agreed in only 2.7% of markets.

### Which websites do AI assistants cite for local business recommendations?

In October 2026, about 280 review sites, directories and other platforms, each cited in five or more markets, took 54% of all citations. Websites identifiable as a ranked business's own took 11%. Yelp was the most-cited site overall at 4.4%, but in 13 of 20 trades a trade-specific site led, such as Carfax for auto repair, Zillow for real estate and EnergySage for solar.

### Does the wording of the question change which business AI recommends?

Yes. Only 22% of markets had the same #1 business for the best one, the one to recommend, and an affordable one nearby. The affordable question's #1 matched the best question's #1 in only 28% of markets.

### Can I quote these numbers?

Yes. Quote any figure with credit to AI Syndicate Research and a link to this report. The market rankings behind them are published under a CC BY 4.0 licence at aisyndicate.com/ai-local/.

## Sources

1. [AI Syndicate Local: the October 2026 edition (600 markets)](https://www.aisyndicate.com/ai-local/) — AI Syndicate. Read Oct 5, 2026.
2. [AI Syndicate Local methodology: how the index is measured](https://www.aisyndicate.com/ai-local/methodology/) — AI Syndicate. Read Oct 5, 2026.
3. [AI Syndicate Local, machine-readable rankings (CC BY 4.0)](https://www.aisyndicate.com/ai-local/data.json) — AI Syndicate. Read Oct 5, 2026.
4. [AI Syndicate Local, every ranking in Markdown (CC BY 4.0)](https://www.aisyndicate.com/ai-local/all.md) — AI Syndicate. Read Oct 5, 2026.