# Asked in German, searched in English: three AI visibility findings from our own measurement ChatGPT phrased 84 percent of its searches for German questions in English on average. Yet the German page often got cited, depending on the topic. Plus: with a comparison site in the answer, Gemini named us in 33 instead of 12 percent of cases. aclipp is a European PR analytics platform for media monitoring, PR analysis and AI visibility, meaning how visible a brand is in AI answers. We measure our own visibility continuously with our platform. In this article, we share three findings that strongly shaped our work. ## The findings in brief - **ChatGPT mostly searches in English.** From August to October 2026, an average of 84 percent of ChatGPT's searches for German questions were phrased in English. Gemini and Claude also searched in English more than half the time. - **Which language version gets cited depends on the topic.** At aclipp, every page exists in German and English by default. The versions get cited at different rates, though: on topics from the German-speaking market such as media monitoring, mostly the German pages; on international topics, the English ones. - **Mentions on third-party sites help.** In our case, those are comparison sites. Since two comparison sites started listing us, our visibility has nearly tripled. ## Asked in German, searched in English AI assistants have long stopped relying on their training alone when they answer questions. They decide for themselves to put search terms into a search engine and read specific web pages. In aclipp, we store these search queries with every AI answer. For this finding, we analysed up to 500 search queries per provider and month for German questions, and counted how often ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude searched with English terms. | Provider | English search queries, monthly average (range) | | -------- | ----------------------------------------------- | | ChatGPT | 84% (74 to 94%) | | Gemini | 64% (59 to 77%) | | Claude | around 55% (35 to 63%) | One example. For the question "Welche PR-Tools sind DSGVO-konform und aus der EU?" (which PR tools are GDPR compliant and based in the EU?), ChatGPT searched on 16 September with these three queries, among others: - `EU PR media database tool GDPR compliant Germany press distribution` - `deutsches PR Tool Medienkontakte DSGVO EU Hosting` - `PR software Europe GDPR media monitoring press distribution EU company` Two of the three are in English, although the question was German and aimed at the German-speaking market. ## The search language decides which page gets cited English searches tend to find English pages, and German searches German ones. We analysed a selection of our pages from July to October 2026. In total, the German versions were cited 2,078 times and the English ones 1,669 times. The German version led for 18 of the 31 pages. The table shows six clear examples. | Page | Citations 🇬🇧 English : German 🇩🇪 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------- | | [AI visibility tools for PR teams](/en/blog/best-ai-visibility-tools-pr-teams) | 🇬🇧 **215** : 33 🇩🇪 | | [PR tools compared](/en/blog/best-pr-tools) | 🇬🇧 **183** : 60 🇩🇪 | | [CoverageBook alternatives](/en/blog/coveragebook-alternatives) | 🇬🇧 **154** : 30 🇩🇪 | | [Media monitoring tools](/en/blog/best-media-monitoring-tools) | 🇬🇧 239 : **437** 🇩🇪 | | [Cision alternatives](/en/blog/best-cision-alternatives) | 🇬🇧 29 : **337** 🇩🇪 | | [pressrelations alternatives](/en/blog/pressrelations-alternatives) | 🇬🇧 20 : **188** 🇩🇪 | English wins on internationally framed topics, German on topics from the German-speaking market. Where the models search in German, they find the German page. ### What this means for your website If you want to own international topics, you need an English version, even when your audience only speaks German. On topics from the German-speaking market, the German page stays the more important one. That is why we publish every page in both languages and check per topic which version gets cited. ## Third-party sites tripled our visibility A brand gets named mostly when others write about it. That is classic PR work. The only new part is that you no longer have to guess what gets read. With AI, you see exactly which sources it uses, which gives you a media list based on data. For software, those sources are often comparison sites. For aclipp in the German-speaking market, two of them matter most: [clipping-anbieter.de](https://www.clipping-anbieter.de) and [komsoftware.de](https://www.komsoftware.de). From May to June 2026, we analysed more than 800 Gemini answers. When an answer cited one of the two sites, it named aclipp almost three times as often. | Gemini answers that … | aclipp named | | --------------------- | --------------- | | cite one of the sites | 33% (78 of 234) | | cite neither site | 12% (72 of 588) | Besides these two, there are many other comparison sites. A listing is usually quick to request and can do a lot for your AI visibility. ## What the numbers don't show - **One brand, one category.** All data comes from our own project on PR software. Shares may differ in other industries and languages. - **Samples, not a full count.** The monthly figures are based on samples and vary by a few percentage points. That ChatGPT mostly searches in English holds in every month. - **Mixed search queries.** Many searches mix both languages, such as "unicepta alternative medienmonitoring deutschland". We count them as German as soon as a clearly German word appears, so the English share is more likely understated. - **Comparison sites with Gemini only.** We measured the comparison-site effect over a little more than three weeks, with Gemini only. It is a correlation, not proof of cause and effect. ## Measure it yourself Only your own measurement shows whether these findings hold for your brand. The [GEO Playbook](/en/geo-playbook) walks you through your own project step by step, from the questions to the actions. With aclipp, you see the search queries and sources behind every answer, as in this analysis.