Listicles Drive 9 in 10 Third-Party Mentions in AI Search

Marketing School - Digital Marketing and Online Marketing Tips

Eric Siu and Neil Patel

Careers, Business, Marketing

4.6 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 30 October 2025

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode, Neil and Eric break down new AirOps data revealing why listicles dominate AI search and what it means for marketers. They explore how algorithmic visibility favors authority, not spam, and debate the future of AI-driven rankings, remote work performance, and pricing resilience in a shaky economy. The duo wraps up with strategies for long-term brand durability and growth. TIMESTAMPS (00:00) Listicles dominate AI search (01:16) Algorithms will refine sources (07:06) Human nature fuels spam (09:53) Remote done right takes work (15:31) Playing the bigger business game 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗟 Welcome to Marketing School, one of the top business podcasts with over 61 million downloads. Each episode delivers actionable marketing tips and strategies from two entrepreneurs who truly practice what they preach. The show is hosted by Eric Siu, founder of Leveling Up and Single Grain, and Neil Patel, co-founder of Neil Patel Digital and recognized by Forbes as a Top 10 Marketer. LEARN MORE ABOUT THE HOSTS Eric Siu – Leveling Up: https://www.youtube.com/@LevelingUpOfficial Neil Patel: https://www.youtube.com/@neilpatel FREE RESOURCES Growth Newsletter: https://levelingup.beehiiv.com/subscribe Ubersuggest: https://www.ubersuggest.com/ Answer The Public: https://www.answerthepublic.com/ https://www.youtube.com/@neilpatel

Transcript

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0:00.0	Did you know that listicles drive nine and ten third party mentions in AI search?
0:04.3	Nine and ten? Yeah. So a latest solace. So third party sources drive 85% of brand discovering AI search. So AirOps did this study, okay?
0:13.9	Listicals drive nine and ten. So 90% of third party mentions an AI search. Product pages and home pages drive 26% of first page visibility. 68% of brand mentions are often unique to a single AI model. Okay, you got this over here, right? I knew the 9 and 10. Yeah, which is high. But here's the problem with listicles. I actually did a presentation on this three days ago. Where were you three days ago? I was here. It was a virtual presentation for a private equity firm.
0:39.9	The problem with listicles right now, let's actually use chat GPT for example.
0:45.1	Right now, if I want to be the best camera company, right, the best camera for a YouTube video or whatever, if I create tons of listicles, the best camera for YouTube videos, best camera for Instagram videos, the best camera for a YouTube video or whatever. If I create tons of listicles, the best camera for YouTube videos,
0:55.7	best camera for Instagram videos, the best camera for a podcast,
0:58.9	best camera for a video commercial.
1:01.5	And I keep breaking them all down.
1:04.0	The problem is, is if I put them on junk sites,
1:06.9	chat GBT sites them most of the time, and you start ranking really high.
1:11.5	It's just a ton of spam.
1:13.4	And that's how Google was, right?
1:15.5	And I'm giving a hypothetical.
1:16.4	I'm not saying I'm actually creating that type of content, but if you look at it, it's just a bunch of spam.
1:20.5	I believe chat GBT, not now, but within the next 12 months, we'll start refining their algorithm, just like how they don't cite Reddit as much, because Reddit isn't as high quality.
1:33.4	And, you know, if you look at the same example, when Eric Googled NP Digital, it was my company name, LinkedIn name, and then it was someone who wasn't happy after they interviewed with the company.
1:43.5	I don't read it all, but they probably didn't get the job.
1:45.9	Which is not a good result.
1:47.2	It's not a good result.
1:48.2	Yeah.
1:48.4	But forget me and my image.
1:51.7	That's not what really people are looking for when they search NP Digital.
	...

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