Listicle

What type of content chat GPT, perplexity, and Google's AI overviews reach for when answering a question? The finding? No single format wins.

Listicles and roundups? Lead, but only at 22%.

Articles are next at 17%.

Product pages at 14%.

So the first version of the product you built.

How long did it take to build, and what sort of tools were you using to bring it to life? And I think this would be post Listicles, obviously, 'cause there's heart in where you were inspired there.

But this would be when you and your co-founder started building.

This is pre-Claude Code, pre-Codex.

Yeah.

And just so I want to spend a bit of time on listicles and how to do this effectively, because Listicles are so, so prominent in AI platforms.

Every single AI platform is using best blog lists in their responses.

It's no hiding, no shame in creating these.

Informative, authoritative content backed by credible sources.

Listicles, how-to guides, definition-based content, well-structured FAQs.

Those tend to perform well.

Basically, anything that answers a question clearly and comes from a source the AI model already trusts.

Like, uh, Reuters, AP, those tend to get cited.

Um, but they also include government sources, academic sources, and then, like, listicles and other reference points like Wikipedia, what have you.

Listicles.

Yeah.

Listicles are very popular [laughs] actually.

Still?

Yeah.