Outside the US, ChatGPT sends customers to Yelp. Gemini never does

Short answer: it depends on the engine. When ChatGPT tells a customer in Britain, France or Brazil where to read reviews, it names Yelp in 266 of 1,364 answers: 113 of 462 in France, 89 of 488 in the UK, 64 of 414 in Brazil, in nearly the same sentence everywhere, "Google, Yelp or PagesJaunes", "Google Meu Negócio, Yelp ou Facebook". Gemini names Yelp twice, both times in answers that had wandered off to Birmingham, Alabama. It points instead to each country's own sites, Checkatrade and Which? Trusted Traders, PagesJaunes, Doctolib and Planity, GetNinjas and Reclame Aqui, in 382 answers against ChatGPT's 187. In the United States the two engines agree: Yelp in 118 ChatGPT answers and 149 Gemini answers out of 436.

The advice is the same in three languages: Google, Yelp, or something local.

What was measured

Our four studies, re-read on October 13, 2026: the same buyer questions ("the best plumbers in Lyon", "the most recommended dentists in Glasgow"), asked in each country's language and put to ChatGPT (gpt-4o-mini) and Gemini through their APIs, without web search and without any location, in the United Kingdom (collected July 31, 2026), France (July 30), Brazil (August 6) and, as a reference, the United States (September 13): 1,364 answers per engine outside the US, 436 per engine inside. In each answer we looked for Yelp; for the review and directory sites of the customer's own country (Checkatrade, Which? Trusted Traders, Rated People and Yell in Britain; PagesJaunes, Doctolib, Planity and AlloVoisins in France; GetNinjas, Reclame Aqui, Habitissimo and OLX in Brazil, among others); and for sites that only serve the United States (Healthgrades, The Knot, WeddingWire, Angi, HomeAdvisor, Thumbtack, the Better Business Bureau). Trustpilot, Google and Facebook, which work everywhere, count as neither. The detectors were first tested on phrasings they must catch and phrasings they must not: "Blink Brow Bar (BBB)" is a London brow bar, not the Better Business Bureau, and Houzz has European sites. Then we read every answer outside the US that named Yelp or a US-only site: 275. Each of ChatGPT's 272 is advice to the customer ("consulte des sites comme Google, Yelp ou PagesJaunes"); none says that a named business is rated on Yelp. Gemini's 3 are all in answers that described Birmingham, Alabama, not the British city.

The same sentence in three languages

ChatGPT's review advice is a template. In French it reads "consulte des sites comme Google, Yelp ou PagesJaunes"; in Portuguese, "utilize plataformas como o Google Meu Negócio, Yelp ou Facebook"; in Britain, "Google, Yelp or Trustpilot". In 159 of its 266 Yelp answers, no site of the customer's country appears beside it. The template carries other American sites with it: 8 of ChatGPT's 26 answers about British wedding photographers send couples to The Knot or WeddingWire, British dentists get Healthgrades three times, locksmiths and plumbers Angie's List or Thumbtack, an electrician in Île-de-France HomeAdvisor, and one in São Paulo Thumbtack. Gemini names the country instead: Planity for French salons in 30 answers (ChatGPT, none), Which? Trusted Traders in 37 British answers (ChatGPT, one), Reclame Aqui in 43 Brazilian answers (ChatGPT, 11). The gap is not absolute: ChatGPT names Rated People and Habitissimo more often than Gemini does. And Gemini's only two Yelp mentions outside the US come from the answers it set in Alabama when asked about Birmingham, which we described yesterday: Newcastle: one Gemini answer in three is about Australia.

What Yelp itself shows

Yelp's consumer sites for France and Brazil, yelp.fr and yelp.com.br, are online. Its business sites for the same countries and for Britain, biz.yelp.fr, biz.yelp.com.br and biz.yelp.co.uk, visited on October 13, 2026, all redirect to one English page, business.yelp.com, titled "Yelp for Business: Free and paid advertising solutions". We did not measure how many reviews a French or Brazilian business has on Yelp, only how often an assistant sends customers there.

What it means if you are the business

Find out which site each assistant sends your customers to. In Britain, France or Brazil, ChatGPT's advice often reads "Google, Yelp or …": search for your business on Yelp, and if a page exists, claim it and check the address, hours and photos; if none exists, a customer sent there finds no page for you. Keep your profile up to date on your country's own platforms, PagesJaunes, Doctolib or Planity, Checkatrade or Which?, GetNinjas or Reclame Aqui: that is where Gemini sends people. And Google everywhere: both engines name it more than any other site. Nothing here guarantees being named.

What this does not prove

• These are the models' answers through their APIs, without web search and without the user's location: the way our audit asks. The apps, with search switched on, may name other sites.
• We counted which sites are named, not how many people use Yelp in France or Brazil, nor how many reviews businesses have there.
• The list of each country's sites is ours and may miss some; it was the same list for both engines.
• One pass per question, collected between July 30 and September 13, 2026. The models have moved since.