27.2% of ChatGPT answers to questions asked from Canada cite a .gov, .edu, .mil or .us website (US government, university, military or US-registered sites), almost as many as the 29% that cite any Canadian .ca website. American health and finance agencies such as the NIH and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are among the sources cited in answers written for Canadians.
Analysis of ChatGPT and Gemini answers to 500 questions asked from four countries · ChatGPT and Gemini, September 2026
Key Findings
- 1.27.2% of ChatGPT answers to questions asked from Canada cite a .gov, .edu, .mil or .us website, against 29% that cite any Canadian .ca website.
- 2.24.1% of ChatGPT answers to questions asked from Australia cite a .gov, .edu, .mil or .us website, against 36.6% that cite an Australian .au website.
- 3.Gemini cites a .gov, .edu, .mil or .us website in 6.3% of answers to questions asked from Canada, about a quarter of ChatGPT's rate, and a .ca website in 13.1%.
- 4.PubMed and the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are each cited in 24 ChatGPT answers to Canadian questions, more than any Canadian source except canada.ca.
- 5.General domains such as .com and .org make up 66.9% of the websites ChatGPT cites in answers to questions asked from Canada.
Summary
A Toronto couple asks ChatGPT a question about investing, then one about vitamins. The answers are written for someone in Canada, and the websites ChatGPT cites in its Canadian answers include the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, investor.gov and the US National Institutes of Health.
That matters for Canadian brands and publishers: every citation that goes to a US source is one a Canadian source did not get, so the gap is an opening to become the local source ChatGPT cites.
27.2% of ChatGPT answers to Canadian questions cite at least one .gov, .edu, .mil or .us website, nearly as many as the 29% that cite any .ca website at all. Those are the sources that are unmistakably American; US companies on .com addresses count as general sources, so the full American share is larger.
What we measured
On September 23, 2026 we asked ChatGPT and Gemini 500 English questions, 250 about the best products and 250 general questions on topics such as health, money and food, with the location set to the US, the UK, Canada and Australia. Each question was asked twice. The questions are part of a larger 14,000-answer study of how AI answers vary by country and language.
We sorted every website cited in the answers by the ending of its address. A US source ends in .gov, .edu, .mil or .us, endings used by American government bodies, universities, the military and US-registered sites. A local source ends in the country's own code: .ca for Canada, .au for Australia, .uk for the UK. General sources end in .com, .org and similar endings used worldwide. Each figure is the share of answers that cite at least one website of that kind, among answers that cite any source.
US sites ending in .gov, .edu, .mil or .us nearly match Canadian .ca ones
Against the 29% of answers that cite any Canadian .ca website, that is near parity: a Canadian reader is almost as likely to see a .gov, .edu, .mil or .us source as a Canadian one. The pattern repeats in other countries. ChatGPT cites .gov, .edu, .mil or .us websites in 24.1% of Australian answers and 23.4% of UK answers, but local websites do better there, at 36.6% and 37% of answers. Canada gets the fewest local sources of the three.
Source: Suff Digital analysis of ChatGPT and Gemini answers to 500 questions asked from four countries · ChatGPT and Gemini, September 2026
| Country | Engine | Cite a .gov, .edu, .mil or .us site | Cite a local-domain site |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | ChatGPT | 27.2% | 29% |
| Canada | Gemini | 6.3% | 13.1% |
| Australia | ChatGPT | 24.1% | 36.6% |
| Australia | Gemini | 6.5% | 11.1% |
| UK | ChatGPT | 23.4% | 37% |
| UK | Gemini | 5.4% | 27.6% |
Gemini cites far fewer .gov, .edu, .mil or .us websites, 5.4% to 6.5% of answers, but it also cites fewer local ones in Canada (13.1%) and Australia (11.1%). The two engines also differ in how often they cite anything: ChatGPT gives sources in about 98% of these answers and Gemini in 62% to 65%. In ChatGPT's Canadian answers, general .com and .org websites make up 66.9% of the sources cited.
Which US sites show up for Canadians
The US websites ChatGPT cites most for Canadian questions belong to health and finance agencies. PubMed, the US National Library of Medicine's research database, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau each appear in 24 Canadian answers, followed by the NIH's Office of Dietary Supplements, investor.gov and the USDA's food safety service. The Bureau of Labor Statistics and the IRS appear too.
Source: Suff Digital analysis of ChatGPT and Gemini answers to 500 questions asked from four countries · ChatGPT and Gemini, September 2026
On the Canadian side, the federal government's canada.ca leads with 42 answers, followed by Ontario's financial regulator, FSRA (13), bestbuy.ca (10), toyota.ca and autotrader.ca (9 each). Apart from canada.ca, no Canadian website is cited as often as PubMed or the CFPB.
| Canadian website cited | Answers |
|---|---|
| canada.ca | 42 |
| fsrao.ca | 13 |
| bestbuy.ca | 10 |
| toyota.ca | 9 |
| autotrader.ca | 9 |
| ontario.ca | 8 |
| rates.ca | 8 |
| ratehub.ca | 7 |
What this means for Canadian and Australian brands and publishers
If you publish for Canadian or Australian readers, there is room to become the local source ChatGPT uses. Health, money and food safety questions are where US agencies are cited most, so clear pages on Canadian rules, prices and products, written to answer the question directly and easy for AI engines to read, give ChatGPT a Canadian page to cite.
If you are a brand selling in Canada, ask ChatGPT your customers' questions with a Canadian location and read the sources. Where an answer cites US sources, publish the Canadian version of that information on your .ca site and earn mentions from Canadian publishers such as rates.ca and ratehub.ca. As an international seo agency, Suff Digital tracks which sources AI engines cite in each country you sell in.
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Cite this study
Suff Digital. (2026). 27% of ChatGPT Answers to Canadians Cite a .gov, .edu, .mil or .us Site vs 29% Citing .ca. https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/canadian-ai-answers-cite-us-sites
27% of ChatGPT Answers to Canadians Cite a .gov, .edu, .mil or .us Site vs 29% Citing .ca - Suff Digital - https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/canadian-ai-answers-cite-us-sites
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