AI search in Europe
How AI engines answer, cite and recommend brands across the UK, Germany, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, Italy and Belgium.
Winning AI visibility in Europe
Brands’ own websites are cited less often in unbranded European answers than in the benchmark as a whole, and institutions, consumer bodies and national press do more of the work. In Europe, being described accurately by those independent sources matters as much as your own content.
Behaviour differs sharply by country. UK answers draw on public-sector and health institutions; German answers rely more on brand sites, consumer-protection bodies and specialist tech publishers; LinkedIn is rarely cited in Germany. Plan GEO country by country, in the local language. See the dedicated United Kingdom and Germany pages for detail.
Questions asked in local languages pull in local sources. A single English-language site is unlikely to be cited for German, French or Spanish questions, so localised pages are part of AI visibility in Europe.
Local sources. European answers cite national institutions and consumer bodies heavily: the NHS and GOV.UK in the UK; Verbraucherzentrale, Bundesnetzagentur and Finanztip in Germany; plus national tech and business press such as CHIP, Computer Bild, Handelsblatt and FAZ.
AI adoption in Europe
- 32.7% of people aged 16–74 in the EU used generative AI tools in 2025, from 48% in Denmark to 18% in Romania. Source: Eurostat, 32.7% of EU people used generative AI tools in 2025
- In the UK, about 30% of Google searches now show an AI Overview, and 53% of adults say they often see them. Source: Ofcom, From apps to AI search: how the UK goes online in 2025
- In Germany, 34% of people aged 16+ use AI at least weekly; among users, 71% use ChatGPT and 50% Gemini (2026). Source: Bitkom, Ein Drittel nutzt KI mindestens einmal pro Woche
- 48% of people in France use generative AI, up 15 points in a year. Source: Arcep, Baromètre du numérique 2025
Figures compare Europe with all 24 markets in the benchmark. They reflect the industries studied for Europe, so differences partly reflect sector mix. Languages in the Europe sample: English, German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish and Italian. Filter the explorer to Europe to go deeper.
What AI engines cite in Europe
Share of all cited sources, by type of source
| Measure | Europe | All markets |
|---|---|---|
| Brand & corporate | 27%31% | |
| Earned media | 26%20% | |
| Social & UGC | 6.1%8.0% | |
| Reference | 4.4%3.6% | |
| Government & public sector | 4.1%5.4% | |
| Academic & research | 4.4%8.8% | |
| Institutions & associations | 8.6%7.6% | |
| Marketplaces & aggregators | 2.3%2.6% |
Community and reference platforms
Share of answers with sources that cite each platform
| Measure | Europe | All markets |
|---|---|---|
| 11%9.5% | ||
| YouTube | 15%16% | |
| Wikipedia | 3.9%5.9% | |
| 5.4%8.7% |
Are brands recommended?
In questions that do not name the brand a study was built around
| Measure | Europe | All markets |
|---|---|---|
| Focus brand named (unbranded questions) | 23%27% | |
| Focus brand’s own site cited (unbranded questions) | 6.5%12% |
Country by country
Countries whose data draws on studies from at least two organisations. The others are included in the Europe totals above but not shown separately.
| Country | Answers | Sources / answer | Brand sites | Earned media | Institutions | YouTube | Most-cited sites | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 95k | 9.9 | 21% | 18% | 9% | 15% | 13% | nih.gov, youtube.com, reddit.com, nhs.uk, linkedin.com |
| Germany | 44k | 8.3 | 44% | 27% | 10% | 15% | 8% | youtube.com, chip.de, verbraucherzentrale.de, hifi.de, reddit.com |
| Spain | 12k | 7.2 | 36% | 38% | 5% | 26% | 11% | youtube.com, reddit.com, elpais.com, instagram.com, ocu.org |
| France | 12k | 7.9 | 24% | 50% | 5% | 25% | 10% | youtube.com, reddit.com, futura-sciences.com, bfmtv.com, mordorintelligence.com |
How each AI engine answers in Europe
Engines with enough answers that cite sources. Shares of cited sources and of answers with sources.
| Engine | Sources / answer | Brand sites | Earned media | YouTube | Wikipedia | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | 9.7 | 23% | 30% | 13% | 3% | 3% | 1% |
| Google AI Overviews | 8.7 | 34% | 17% | 13% | 37% | 1% | 6% |
| Perplexity | 9.0 | 25% | 31% | 10% | 12% | 2% | 9% |
| Google AI Mode | 11.5 | 32% | 19% | 16% | 38% | 6% | 13% |
| Claude | 7.1 | 35% | 31% | 0% | 2% | 6% | 1% |
| Gemini | 4.2 | 36% | 24% | 3% | 4% | 3% | 0% |
| OpenAI API | 7.1 | 39% | 22% | 2% | 0% | 43% | 1% |
| Microsoft Copilot | 7.7 | 15% | 13% | 3% | 9% | 7% | 13% |
| Grok | 7.3 | 13% | 10% | 13% | 2% | 8% | 15% |
AI engines tracked
Answers collected in Europe
| ChatGPT | 51k |
| Google AI Overviews | 50k |
| Perplexity | 46k |
| Google AI Mode | 9,171 |
| Claude | 8,967 |
| Gemini | 7,319 |
| OpenAI API | 3,774 |
| Microsoft Copilot | 2,641 |
| Grok | 1,938 |
| Meta AI | 1,938 |
| DeepSeek | 1,932 |
Industries covered
Industries with enough answers in Europe to report
- Consumer · 66k answers
- Healthcare · 53k answers
- Financial Services · 22k answers
- Government · 15k answers
- Energy & Industrials · 14k answers
- Automotive · 9,600 answers
- Technology · 4,928 answers
- Travel & Tourism · 789 answers
Frequently asked questions
- Which European markets are included?
- The United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, Italy and Belgium. The UK and Germany have the most data.
- Are questions asked in local languages?
- Yes. The benchmark includes German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish and Italian questions as well as English.
- How does Europe differ from Asia-Pacific in AI search?
- In the benchmark, European answers lean more on institutions, consumer bodies and public-sector sources, and brands’ own sites are cited less often in unbranded questions than in the Asia-Pacific markets.
Insights for Europe
- AI search statistics 2026: usage, clicks, citations and GEO, with sources
- What is GEO? Generative engine optimisation explained, with data
- The GEO checklist: 25 ways to improve your brand's AI visibility
- ChatGPT vs Gemini vs Perplexity vs Google AI Overviews: how each AI engine cites sources
- How to measure AI visibility: share of model and the new GEO KPIs
- Named but not cited: why AI engines describe your brand using other people's pages
- AI search for consumer brands: reviewers and YouTube write the shortlist
- AI search for banks and financial services: why money answers are more cautious
- Reddit, YouTube, LinkedIn and Wikipedia in AI answers: what changed in 2026
Other markets: Australia · Singapore · Malaysia · Indonesia · India · United Kingdom · Germany
How is your brand showing up in AI answers?
We benchmark how ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, Claude and Copilot describe, cite and recommend brands, then build the content and earned-media plan to change it.
Want to understand your brand opportunities and risks on AI search? Contact We AI & Data Advisors for a sample audit: AIAdvisors@wecommunications.com