Ask Claude who to hire for a new roof, and the answer often leans on a page that already lists several local roofers. Who writes those pages? We checked every one Claude cited, by hand.
Original study · v1.0
Who writes the “best contractors” lists Claude cites
Claude cited a page that lists local companies in 433 of 864 answers. We checked who published each one, and whether the publisher put itself on the list.
By Found ClearlyPublished October 29, 20264 min read
Part 3 of 4 in our study How Claude picks contractors, with the method and the other parts.
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Abstract
In October 2026 we asked Claude 9 buyer questions about 6 home service trades in 4 US metros, each question four times in each city and trade: 864 answers, 36 for each city and trade. A list page names several local companies on one page, like an article titled “Top roofers in Kansas City”. Claude cited at least one in 433 of 864 answers (50.1%). We checked every publisher by hand: 66.6% of the list-page citations went to pages from directories and lead-generation sites, and 22.8% to pages on contractors' own websites. Of the 11 contractors that published list pages, 10 put their own company on the list.
Key points
- Claude cited a list page in 50.1% of the 864 answers: 773 of 6,471 citations (11.9%).
- Directories and lead-generation sites published the pages behind 66.6% of those citations, and contractors' own websites 22.8%.
- Of the 11 contractors with a list page, 10 put their own company on it.
Our data · Oct 2026 · Claude · Method →
List pages
Who writes the list pages Claude cites
The numbers on this page come from 864 answers: each question asked four times in each city and trade, 36 answers for each.
A list page names several local companies on one page, like an article titled “Top roofers in Kansas City”. Claude cited at least one in 433 of 864 answers (50.1%): 773 of 6,471 citations (11.9%), on 78 pages from 34 publishers.
Claude labeled each publisher’s site, and then we checked all 40 candidate sites by hand. Of those, 6 had no real list page, and the labels below are the corrected ones.
Who published the list pages: 773 list-page citations
| Publisher | Share of list-page citations | Citations | Publishers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Directories, lead-generation and rating sites | 66.6% | 515 | 17 |
| Contractors’ own websites | 22.8% | 176 | 11 |
| News and content sites | 7.6% | 59 | 3 |
| Other | 2.2% | 17 | 1 |
| Manufacturers | 0.5% | 4 | 1 |
| Marketing agencies | 0.3% | 2 | 1 |
| Government or nonprofit | 0.0% | 0 | 0 |
10 of 11
contractors with a list page put their own company on it: 12 of their 15 list pages, 160 of 176 citations (90.9%)
List pages by trade (144 answers per trade)
| Trade | Answers citing a list page | List pages' share of citations |
|---|---|---|
| Roofing | 83.3% (120 of 144) | 24.3% (256 of 1,053) |
| Kitchen remodeling | 79.2% (114 of 144) | 21.2% (230 of 1,083) |
| Bathroom remodeling | 57.6% (83 of 144) | 13.8% (143 of 1,038) |
| Windows and doors | 39.6% (57 of 144) | 7.5% (82 of 1,100) |
| Foundation repair | 25.0% (36 of 144) | 3.3% (38 of 1,141) |
| Siding | 16.0% (23 of 144) | 2.3% (24 of 1,056) |
The hand check agreed with Claude’s publisher label for 34 of 40 sites and with its call on self-listing for 32 of 40. It also took out 8 pages that turned out not to be lists (17 citations). We do not name the publishers.
Our data · Oct 2026 · Claude · Method →
What this cannot tell you
- We asked Claude outside the Claude app. The app can answer differently: it may know where you are, remember earlier chats and use other settings.
- Claude and the way it searches the web change over time, so read this as a snapshot of October 2026.
- The study covers 4 metros and 6 home service trades. Other cities, trades and wordings can give other lists.
- Link groups come from a dictionary of known domains. Pages from domains it does not know are counted as not sorted, so the other shares are lower bounds.
- The hand check of list-page publishers was added after the answers were collected. It describes the data and tests no hypothesis.
- We measured who publishes the list pages Claude cites, not whether those lists are fair or right.
How to cite this
Found Clearly. "Who writes the “best contractors” lists Claude cites", from "How Claude picks contractors", version 1.0. Published 2026-10-29. Data: Claude (Anthropic), October 2026.
The text and the figures on this page are under CC BY 4.0: quote, chart and republish them with credit to Found Clearly and a link to this page. That includes competitors.
Primary sources
FAQ
Related questions
Who writes the “best contractors” lists that Claude cites?
In our data, mostly directories and lead-generation sites: 66.6% of Claude's citations to list pages went to their pages, and 22.8% to pages on contractors' own websites (our data, October 2026). Of the 11 contractors that published a list page, 10 put their own company on it.
How often does Claude cite a list of local companies?
In 433 of 864 answers (50.1%) in our data, Claude cited at least one page that lists several local companies, like an article titled “Top roofers in Kansas City” (our data, October 2026). Those were 773 of its 6,471 citations (11.9%).
Do contractors put themselves on the lists they publish?
In our data, 10 of the 11 contractors that published a list page Claude cited put their own company on it (our data, October 2026): 12 of their 15 list pages.
Keep reading
Evidence you can check. Public prices, month to month.