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ChatGPT searches in English, even when you don't

Nearly half of research steps for non-English prompts still hit the English web — local leaders can disappear at home.

Feb 12 2026

Ask in German, Polish, or Spanish from the matching country, and ChatGPT still runs a large share of fanouts in English. Local market leaders can be missing or buried while global brands win.

What the data shows

  • A large majority of non-English sessions include at least one English sub-search
  • Roughly 40%+ of fanout steps for non-English prompts run on the English web
  • Rates vary by language but stay high everywhere studied

What to do

  1. See which English sources ChatGPT cites in your category
  2. Compare competitor English footprints
  3. Invest strategically — key product pages, English listicles, review profiles — not blind full-site translation

Anny's source and fanout views make the English bias visible so localization budgets follow evidence.