Study says three Borås websites dominate AI local recommendations

A KLOTA study of 350 AI answers found that three local websites, including two controlled by the City of Borås, appeared far more often than any others in recommendations for local questions in Borås, Sweden. The findings raise questions about how AI systems surface local businesses, how stable those recommendations are, and which companies benefit from being listed first.

Why it matters: - AI assistants are becoming a gateway for local discovery in Borås, Sweden, shaping what people see when they ask where to eat, shop or find services. - The study suggests that a small set of local websites can heavily influence which businesses AI recommends, especially in a market where visibility can affect customer traffic. - Two of the top three sources are controlled by the City of Borås, raising questions about how municipal and semi-municipal sites influence AI-driven local search.

What happened: - KLOTA AB, a digital marketing agency in Borås, tested four AI services with 45 common local questions on October 10 and October 15, 2026. - The company analyzed 350 answers and found 374 different websites cited as sources. - The services tested were Google’s AI Mode, Google’s AI Overviews, OpenAI with web search and Google’s Gemini with Google Search. - The destination site boras.com was cited in 57 of the 350 answers. - The town center site borascity.se was cited in 40 answers. - The municipal website boras.se was cited in 27 answers. - Facebook.com was the next most cited website, appearing in 21 answers. - The same three sites ranked first through third in both measurement rounds, in the same order.

The details: - At least one of the three top local websites appeared in 35% of all answers that included sources. - Those three sites appeared in answers to 28 of the 45 questions. - All of the AI services cited the three sites, from 22% of answers with sources in Google’s AI Mode to 47% in Gemini. - A manual check in ChatGPT, logged out and on location in Borås, found the three sites in 29% of answers with sources. - boras.se is controlled directly by the City of Borås. - boras.com is controlled through Borås & Co AB, which is 91% owned by Borås Stadshus AB, the municipality’s parent company. - borascity.se is run by Borås City Samverkan AB, which is owned by associations of local retailers and property owners, with the municipality represented on its board. - The editorial lists on boras.com do not say how businesses are selected. - borascity.se includes a presentation in a membership aimed at businesses in the town center. - Seven of the eight restaurants on a boras.com list of popular restaurants were among the 15 restaurants the AI services recommended most often. - KLOTA describes that restaurant overlap as a correlation, not proof of cause. - The AI services were mostly accurate, with KLOTA checking all 536 recommended businesses and attractions against Google Maps. - Two percent of the answers with recommendations included a business that has permanently closed.

Between the lines: - The study suggests AI systems may favor sources that package many local businesses in one place, which can amplify already prominent local lists. - The findings also show how unstable AI recommendations can be, even over a five-day window. - Of 1,000 business and attraction recommendations from Google’s AI Mode, OpenAI and Gemini, 67% came from only one of the three services. - Only 12% of those recommendations were shared by all three services. - Between 44% and 63% of the businesses a service recommended on October 15 had also been recommended by the same service for the same question five days earlier. - KLOTA founder Anders Karlsson said the result points to the importance of municipal and town-center lists in shaping AI answers, while also raising questions about access for businesses outside the town center. - Karlsson also said a complete Google Business Profile, reviews that reflect the actual work and mentions from others still matter for local visibility.

What’s next: - KLOTA plans to repeat the measurement in other Swedish municipalities. - The method, data tables and limitations are published in the full study in Swedish. - KLOTA said it conducted and funded the study independently, while also noting that the agency sells services in this field and is a member of Borås Näringsliv, which owns 9% of Borås & Co.

The bottom line: - In Borås, a few local websites appear to be shaping a large share of AI-driven local recommendations, and that may matter as more people use AI instead of traditional search to find local businesses.