How to get into 'best X tools' articles that AI answers cite
Ask AI engines your category's 'best X' question, list the articles they cite, and pitch each author a short, factual note. How to find and pitch lists.
LLaunchScaler·Published ·8 min read
To get into the "best X tools" articles that AI answers cite, first ask ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI Mode your category's "best X" questions and write down every article their answers cite. Then send each author a short, factual pitch with exactly what they need to add you, and offer nothing in exchange for the link.
The articles an engine already cites are worth more than any others, because they sit where your buyers' questions are answered. Some listicles are paid placements; those must be labelled, and their links marked as sponsored. A review page about your product gives authors an independent source to check you against. Below is the method, from finding the articles to tracking which ones list you.
How do you find the listicles AI engines already cite?
Ask each engine the questions your buyers ask, open the sources behind each answer, and log the "best X" articles. Google says its AI Overviews and AI Mode show "a wider and more diverse set of helpful links," and Perplexity says it may visit a page and "include a link to the page in its response," so the cited pages are on screen.
Write 5 to 10 questions in your buyers' words: "best invoicing tool for freelancers", "Acme Invoices alternatives", "cheapest invoicing app with recurring billing". Replace the examples with your category.
Ask each question in ChatGPT with search on, in Perplexity and in Google's AI Mode. OpenAI says its OAI-SearchBot crawler is used "to surface websites in search results in ChatGPT's search features," so the answers that draw on search are the ones with sources to open.
Open every cited source. Keep the ones that are lists or comparisons of several products.
Log each in a sheet: the question, the engine, the article URL, its author, its last-updated date, the products it lists, and whether it lists you.
Run the same questions in ordinary Google search and add any listicle in the top ten that the engines missed.
Google adds that AI Mode and AI Overviews may use "query fan-out," issuing "multiple related searches across subtopics and data sources." That's why phrasing the same need several ways surfaces different articles.
Which listicles are worth pitching first?
Pitch the articles that appear for several questions or several engines, list at least a few of your competitors, were updated recently, and have a named author you can reach. Ahrefs makes the same point about link prospects: "the best opportunities come from listicles mentioning multiple competitors because the topic of the page is more likely to be relevant to your business."
Questions, answered
What people ask about this
01
How do I get my product into 'best of' articles?
Find the 'best X' articles that already rank or that AI answers cite for your category, then send each author a short, factual pitch with what your product does, who it's for, its price and one verifiable difference. Offer nothing in exchange for the link.
It is where answers to your buyers' questions come from
Your sheet
Lists two or more of your competitors
The author already covers your category
The article
Updated in the last year
An author who updates the list is open to additions
The date on the page, or "last updated" in the text
A named author with a contact route
You can reach the person who decides
Byline, author page, contact page
Discloses paid placements, if it has any
An unlabelled paid placement breaks the FTC's disclosure rule
The article's disclosure and link attributes
Drop articles with no author, no date and no disclosure policy. They give readers little reason to trust the list, and give you no one to pitch.
How do you pitch the author?
Send one short email with only the facts the author needs to add you: the article's title, the products it lists that you'd sit beside, what your product does and for whom in one line, your price, one difference they can verify, and a link to try it. Offer nothing in return for the link.
A pitch an author can act on:
Subject: A candidate for "[article title]"
Hi [first name],
Your list of [category] tools includes [Competitor A] and [Competitor B]. Acme Invoices could sit beside them for freelancers who bill clients monthly: it sets up recurring invoices from one form and chases late payers automatically.
Price: free for up to 5 clients, then $12 a month. You can try it without a card at acme.example/start, and I'm happy to send screenshots or a test account.
Thanks for keeping the list current.
[Your name], founder
Four rules keep it credible:
Pitch only articles your product genuinely fits. A list of enterprise suites is the wrong place for a solo-founder tool.
State facts the author can check, such as prices, limits and integrations, and skip adjectives.
Don't offer money, a link swap or a free account in exchange for inclusion. Google's link spam policy lists "exchanging goods or services for links" and "excessive link exchanges" as link spam. Offering a test account so the author can evaluate the product is different from paying for a mention.
Send one follow-up at most, a week later.
If the author declines or doesn't reply, the article stays in your sheet. Lists get updated, and a new feature or price change is a fresh reason to write.
What should your own site show before you pitch?
Authors check claims before they add a product, and AI answers repeat what they can find. Make the facts in your pitch easy to verify on your own site, so an author can confirm them in a minute and an engine can read the same facts the article states.
A pricing page with every plan's price and limit in plain text, not only inside images or a calculator.
A features or product page that says what the product does, for whom, and what it doesn't do.
An integrations list, if you have integrations, with each one named.
A press or "about" page with a one-line description, your logo and two or three screenshots an author may use.
A dated changelog, so an author updating a list can see what changed since they last looked.
Keep the one-line description identical everywhere: your site, your pitch, your review profiles and your listings. When an article, a review page and your own site describe you in the same words, an author has less to rewrite and less reason to get a detail wrong.
What about listicles that charge for inclusion?
Some publishers sell places in their lists. Paying is legal if the placement is disclosed clearly and the link is marked. An unlabelled paid spot breaks the FTC's disclosure rule, and a followed link in it breaks Google's. Ask how the publisher labels paid entries before you buy, and walk away if the answer is that it doesn't.
The FTC's Endorsement Guides say a material connection, such as payment, "must be disclosed clearly and conspicuously" when readers wouldn't expect it. Google names "advertorials or native advertising where payment is received for articles that include links that pass ranking credit" as link spam, and says paid links should carry rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow". A paid entry that follows both rules still reaches the article's readers and still names you on the page. A paid entry that follows neither puts the publisher, and your link, on the wrong side of both rules.
Why does a review page about your product help?
Listicle authors need a source to check you against, and a review page written by someone other than you is that source. It describes your product in independent words, which makes a pitch easier to accept, and it is the kind of page AI answers draw on, since it answers "[your product] review" directly.
Mentions matter for AI visibility too. Ahrefs studied 75,000 brands and found brand web mentions had the strongest correlation (0.664) with visibility in Google's AI Overviews, ahead of link metrics, while noting that correlation is not causation. Each listicle and review that names you adds to those mentions. Why engines prefer these third-party pages to your homepage is in why AI answers cite third-party sites, and the full set of ways to get reviewed is in how to get your product reviewed.
How do you track whether it's working?
Rerun the same questions in the same engines once a month and update the sheet: which articles now list you, which new articles appear, and which engines now name you in the answer itself. Answers change as pages are updated, so a monthly check shows movement a one-off test can't.
Track three columns over time: articles that list you, answers that cite an article listing you, and answers that name you directly.
A monthly routine:
Rerun your saved questions in each engine, in a fresh chat so earlier answers don't carry over.
Open every cited source and mark new listicles in the sheet.
Pitch the new ones that pass the checks above, and follow up once on last month's pitches.
Note any article that added you. If one describes you inaccurately, ask the author for a correction and check your own pages state the fact clearly. If competitors keep appearing and you don't, when ChatGPT recommends your competitors but not you covers the gaps to close.
Give authors an independent review to cite
A pitch lands better when there is already a third-party page that reviews your product. LaunchScaler's Review article is one: an editor-written, hands-on review on LaunchScaler's blog, labelled as commissioned, "optimised for Google and the AI answer engines that quote sources." It is one permanent indexed page with 3 links back to you, a slot in the weekly newsletter and a share to the community feed, and the editor calls the product as they find it. It costs $59, one time, ordered against a product you have claimed. Order your review.
Ask ChatGPT with search on, Perplexity and Google's AI Mode your category's 'best X for Y' questions and open the sources each answer lists. Keep the articles that appear for more than one question or more than one engine.
03
Should I pay to be included in a listicle?
Only if the placement is clearly labelled as paid and the link carries rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow". The FTC requires material connections to be disclosed clearly and conspicuously, and Google counts unqualified paid links as link spam.
04
What should a listicle pitch include?
The article's title, the products it already lists that you sit beside, one line on what your product does and for whom, your price, one difference the author can verify, and a link to try it. Keep it to a few sentences.
05
Why do AI answers cite listicles instead of my website?
A 'best X' article compares several products for the exact question the user asked, and AI features draw on indexed pages that answer that question. Your own homepage describes only you.
A launch badge is a link from your site to the directory, so it helps the directory. When a badge-for-link trade is fine and when it becomes a link scheme.
