{
 "title": "What Claude read to recommend local businesses in 10 US cities (October 27, 2026)",
 "url": "https://aeo.valor.digital/en/study/",
 "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
 "publisher": "Valor Digital (https://valor.digital/)",
 "date": "2026-10-27",
 "time_utc": [
  "2026-10-27T14:01:29.949+00:00",
  "2026-10-27T14:08:09.188+00:00"
 ],
 "assistant": "Claude Haiku 5.5 (claude-haiku-5-5), Anthropic API, web search on, up to 2 searches",
 "cities": [
  "New York, New York",
  "Los Angeles, California",
  "Chicago, Illinois",
  "Houston, Texas",
  "Phoenix, Arizona",
  "Austin, Texas",
  "Denver, Colorado",
  "Seattle, Washington",
  "Miami, Florida",
  "Boston, Massachusetts"
 ],
 "business_types": [
  "dentist",
  "accountant",
  "lawyer",
  "med spa",
  "gym",
  "real estate agency",
  "pet store",
  "restaurant"
 ],
 "answers": 80,
 "named_businesses": {
  "answers": 79,
  "average_names": 8.93
 },
 "caveat_at_start": {
  "answers": 79,
  "of_which_named_businesses": 78,
  "opened_with": {
   "texto": "There's no single objective \"best\"",
   "exibir": "There's no single objective 'best'",
   "respostas": 30
  }
 },
 "searches": {
  "total": 85,
  "answers_with_1": 75,
  "answers_with_2": 5
 },
 "pages_read": 825,
 "sources_cited": 283,
 "distinct_domains": 212,
 "by_site_type": {
  "directory": {
   "answers_read_or_cited": 80,
   "pages_read": 598,
   "pages_read_pct": 72.5,
   "sources_cited": 188,
   "sources_cited_pct": 66.4
  },
  "news_blog": {
   "answers_read_or_cited": 60,
   "pages_read": 137,
   "pages_read_pct": 16.6,
   "sources_cited": 69,
   "sources_cited_pct": 24.4
  },
  "business_site": {
   "answers_read_or_cited": 23,
   "pages_read": 37,
   "pages_read_pct": 4.5,
   "sources_cited": 16,
   "sources_cited_pct": 5.7
  },
  "social": {
   "answers_read_or_cited": 1,
   "pages_read": 1,
   "pages_read_pct": 0.1,
   "sources_cited": 0,
   "sources_cited_pct": 0.0
  },
  "maps": {
   "answers_read_or_cited": 0,
   "pages_read": 0,
   "pages_read_pct": 0.0,
   "sources_cited": 0,
   "sources_cited_pct": 0.0
  },
  "other": {
   "answers_read_or_cited": 36,
   "pages_read": 52,
   "pages_read_pct": 6.3,
   "sources_cited": 10,
   "sources_cited_pct": 3.5
  }
 },
 "top_directories": [
  {
   "name": "Yelp",
   "domain": "yelp.com",
   "answers_read": 74,
   "answers_cited": 40
  },
  {
   "name": "Tripadvisor",
   "domain": "tripadvisor.com",
   "answers_read": 15,
   "answers_cited": 0
  },
  {
   "name": "Trust Analytica",
   "domain": "trustanalytica.org",
   "answers_read": 13,
   "answers_cited": 6
  },
  {
   "name": "Clutch",
   "domain": "clutch.co",
   "answers_read": 11,
   "answers_cited": 6
  },
  {
   "name": "Best Lawyers",
   "domain": "bestlawyers.com",
   "answers_read": 9,
   "answers_cited": 7
  },
  {
   "name": "Best Law Firms",
   "domain": "bestlawfirms.com",
   "answers_read": 9,
   "answers_cited": 5
  },
  {
   "name": "OpenTable",
   "domain": "opentable.com",
   "answers_read": 9,
   "answers_cited": 4
  },
  {
   "name": "HomeLight",
   "domain": "homelight.com",
   "answers_read": 8,
   "answers_cited": 3
  }
 ],
 "wikipedia": {
  "answers_read": 34,
  "answers_cited": 5
 },
 "by_business_type": [
  {
   "business_type": "dentist",
   "answers": 10,
   "named_businesses": 10,
   "average_names": 9.1,
   "read_a_business_site": 2
  },
  {
   "business_type": "accountant",
   "answers": 10,
   "named_businesses": 10,
   "average_names": 11.2,
   "read_a_business_site": 1
  },
  {
   "business_type": "lawyer",
   "answers": 10,
   "named_businesses": 9,
   "average_names": 6.0,
   "read_a_business_site": 8
  },
  {
   "business_type": "med spa",
   "answers": 10,
   "named_businesses": 10,
   "average_names": 7.5,
   "read_a_business_site": 7
  },
  {
   "business_type": "gym",
   "answers": 10,
   "named_businesses": 10,
   "average_names": 8.5,
   "read_a_business_site": 1
  },
  {
   "business_type": "real estate agency",
   "answers": 10,
   "named_businesses": 10,
   "average_names": 11.6,
   "read_a_business_site": 3
  },
  {
   "business_type": "pet store",
   "answers": 10,
   "named_businesses": 10,
   "average_names": 8.2,
   "read_a_business_site": 1
  },
  {
   "business_type": "restaurant",
   "answers": 10,
   "named_businesses": 10,
   "average_names": 9.3,
   "read_a_business_site": 0
  }
 ],
 "method": [
  "One question per business type and city, written the way a customer would: \"What is the best dentist in Denver?\". The message was the question alone, with no system prompt.",
  "Assistant: Claude Haiku 5.5 (claude-haiku-5-5) through the Anthropic API, with Anthropic's server-side web search tool (web_search_20250305), up to 2 searches per question and the approximate location set to the city in the question.",
  "Pages read: the results the search returned to the model. Sources cited: the citations the API links to parts of the answer, plus links written in the text.",
  "Businesses named: a second request to the same model, without search, separated business names from platform names; only names written in the answer count.",
  "Site type: each domain was reviewed with the title and address of its pages and put on a list; the review was done by a Valor Digital AI agent, without human review."
 ],
 "limits": [
  "Only Claude was asked. ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI answers were left out.",
  "The model is Haiku 5.5 through the API, with up to 2 searches. The Claude app can use another model, search more and answer differently.",
  "One answer per question, at a single time. Answers change from one time to the next; this study does not measure how much.",
  "Claude's search is not Google's: the absence of Google Maps applies to this assistant, not to Google's AI.",
  "10 answers per business type is too few to compare types with each other.",
  "Sites were classified by an AI agent, without human review."
 ],
 "note": "No business is identified in this file: counts only. Platforms and directories are named."
}