We sampled AI Overviews responses for 200 commercial trades queries across HVAC, plumbing, roofing, electrical, and pest control in 12 Canadian metros — including 50 queries in Ottawa. The citation patterns we found are surprisingly consistent and surprisingly easy to act on.
We ran each query as a freshly-incognito session from a Canadian IP, captured the AI Overview's cited sources, and tagged each by domain authority, content type (service page, blog, listicle, directory), and recency. Sample: 200 queries across 12 metros, 40 Canadian trades businesses tracked.
(1) 68% of cited sources were either listicle/comparison content or industry association pages — not service pages. (2) Service pages were cited only when they had FAQPage schema AND an answer-first opening paragraph. (3) Local directories (HomeStars, BBB) were cited in only 11% of responses — far less than expected. (4) Original data from agency or association blogs was cited disproportionately when present.
Stop relying on plain service pages to win AI citations. Add comparison and 'best of' content to your site. Add FAQPage schema everywhere. Build a defensible original-data asset (a regional pricing benchmark, a seasonal demand chart) — that's the single highest-leverage AI-citation lift available.
68% of trades AI Overview citations are listicles or association pages — not service pages.
Service pages need FAQPage schema + answer-first opening to be cited.
Original data (pricing benchmarks, demand charts) is disproportionately cited.