What does the 43.8% listicle stat actually mean?
It means the format you publish matters as much as the words inside it. When Ahrefs analyzed over 1 billion data points to see which pages AI chatbots cite, listicles came out on top at 43.8% — more than any other content type. Not your homepage. Not your services page. A numbered list of named options.
That tracks with how people actually use AI. Nobody asks a chatbot “tell me about ABC Plumbing.” They ask “who’s the best plumber in Sacramento?” The model’s job is to return a short, ranked, justified list — so it reaches for source pages that are already shaped like a short, ranked, justified list. The format pre-answers the prompt, which makes it cheap to quote and easy to attribute.
Why listicles beat every other format for AI citation
A language model citing a source is doing pattern-matching at scale. Listicles win on three structural properties that no service page can match.
Named entities. A “best roofers” list names specific businesses. The model can lift “Acme Roofing” and hand it back as a recommendation. A homepage describes one company in marketing language — there’s nothing comparative to extract.
Ranked structure. Position carries meaning. “#2 of 7” is a signal the model can reuse. Prose buries that judgment; a list exposes it.
One-line justifications. “Best for emergency calls,” “most affordable,” “highest-rated for tile roofs” — these slot directly into an AI answer. They are the citation, ready to copy.
Which formats get cited — and which work for local businesses?
Not every cited format suits a local service business. Here’s how the major formats stack up on both AI-citation share and practicality for someone selling HVAC, plumbing, roofing, or similar services in a defined city.
| Content format | Share of AI citations | Suitability for local service |
|---|---|---|
| Listicles (“Best X” / “Top X”) | 43.8% | Excellent — “best [service] in [city]” is the native query |
| How-to & guides | Strong second | Good — builds topical authority around your service |
| Comparison / vs. pages | High | Excellent — cite-ready criteria tables |
| Review pages | Moderate | Good — review volume is a ranking signal |
| Product / service pages | Low | Weak — reads as an ad, rarely cited directly |
| Homepages | Lowest | Weak — too broad for a specific recommendation |
Format shares per Ahrefs’ analysis of 1B+ data points; suitability is FlashCrafter’s assessment for local service verticals.
The pattern is clear: the two formats that win citations — listicles and comparison pages — are also the two that fit local businesses best. That’s a rare alignment. Most SEO advice asks you to choose between “what ranks” and “what sells.” Here they’re the same page.
The “Best [service] in [City] 2026” money-page test
To pressure-test this for local search, we looked at comparison-style money pages across 50 niches in 30 cities — pages titled in the pattern “Best roof repair in [City] 2026,” “Best HVAC company in [City] 2026,” and so on. The question: when a chatbot is asked for a local recommendation, which of a business’s URLs gets quoted?
The comparison pages won by a wide margin. When the page contained a ranked table, named options, and a stated set of criteria, chatbots cited it far more often than the same business’s service pages or homepage. The service page is invisible to the model because it has nothing to compare; the listicle is a buffet.
The practical takeaway: every local business should own at least one comparison-style page per core service and city — a page that names the real players (you included), states why each is a fit, and carries a current year in the title. This is your comparison hub in miniature, pointed at one city.
How to build your own listicle money page
You can write a page that lists your own business and still get cited — as long as it’s genuinely useful. The bar is honesty, not self-denial. Here’s the structure that earns citations:
- Title it like the query. “Best [service] in [City] ([year])”. Match the words people actually type and speak.
- Name real options. List 5–8 actual local providers, including yourself. A list of one is an ad; a list of seven is a resource.
- State your criteria up front. Response time, pricing transparency, warranty, review rating, licensing. Criteria are what AI lifts.
- Give each entry a one-line verdict. “Best for emergency calls,” “best value,” “best for commercial jobs.”
- Add a comparison table. Models lift tables verbatim — make the data clean and current.
- Keep it current. Re-date and refresh annually. AI heavily favors recent pages for “best of [year]” queries.
If you want a working template, study how vertical comparison pages are built — for example, best CRM for roofers and best website builders for plumbers both use named options, criteria, and tables — the exact structure AI rewards.
How to earn spots in third-party listicles
Your own page is half the game. The other half is being named in lists you don’t control — local newspaper “best of” roundups, niche directories, “top 10 plumbers” blog posts, and review-platform rankings. These carry independent authority, so AI weights them heavily.
To get into them, work the signals those publishers and platforms use:
- Reviews, relentlessly. Recent, detailed, high-volume Google reviews are the number-one input to who gets named. Make review generation a standing process, not a once-a-year push.
- A complete Google Business Profile. Categories, hours, photos, services, and Q&A all feed the data layer that listicle authors and AI both read.
- Local citations and consistency. Same name, address, and phone everywhere builds the entity confidence models need before they’ll recommend you.
- Pitch the roundups directly. Local journalists and bloggers publish “best of” lists every year. A short, specific pitch with proof (ratings, job count, specialty) gets you considered.
Where this fits in a broader AI-search strategy
Listicles are the highest-leverage format, but they live inside a wider shift toward generative engine optimization. The fundamentals — being a well-defined entity with strong reviews, consistent citations, and content structured for extraction — apply across AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini alike. For the full picture, see our guide to GEO for local service businesses and the data behind the shift in our State of Local Search 2026 report.
The strategic point is simple. The query AI is answering — “who’s the best near me?” — is the exact query you’ve always wanted to win. The format has changed from ten blue links to one spoken recommendation, but the prize is the same, and listicles are how you claim it.