89.3% of Google AI Overviews are mostly bullet points, against 37.5% of ChatGPT answers to the same questions. Across five AI engines, 60.5% of answers are mostly lists and 91.6% contain at least one.
Analysis of 25,940 AI answers to 2,984 questions · answers from ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI features, September 2026
Key Findings
- 1.89.3% of Google AI Overviews are mostly bullet points or numbered lists, more than twice the 37.5% of ChatGPT answers.
- 2.60.5% of AI answers to everyday questions are mostly lists, with at least half their words in bullet points or numbered steps.
- 3.91.6% of AI answers contain at least one bulleted or numbered list.
- 4.99% of Google AI Overviews contain a list, against 79.2% of Perplexity answers.
- 5.AI answers about gardening are mostly lists 79.8% of the time, against 48.1% of AI answers about the weather.
Summary
Search Google for how to get rid of aphids and the AI summary at the top of the page is a list: five bullet points, each a remedy in a few words. Ask ChatGPT the same question and you are more likely to get two or three paragraphs that walk through the options in sentences.
That difference matters to anyone writing content they want AI to use. An AI answer built from bullets lifts short, self-contained points: a step, an option, a fact with a label. An answer built from prose lifts clear sentences that state the answer. The format an engine prefers decides which parts of your page it can reuse.
For Google's AI Overviews the format is overwhelmingly lists: 89.3% of them are mostly bullet points, against 37.5% of ChatGPT answers. Across all five engines, six answers in ten are mostly lists, and nine in ten contain at least one.
What we measured
On September 23, 2026 we asked 2,984 everyday questions in 31 topics, from money, taxes and insurance to recipes, pets, gardens and weather, to five AI engines: ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Mode and Google AI Overviews (the AI summary above Google's search results). That produced 25,940 answers, with each engine answering the same questions.
For each answer we measured the share of its words that sit in bulleted or numbered lists. An answer counts as mostly lists when at least half its words are in list items, and as containing a list when it has at least one bulleted or numbered item. We compared the rates by engine and by topic.
Six in ten AI answers are mostly lists
The typical AI answer is a list. 60.5% of answers have at least half their words in bullet points or numbered steps, and 91.6% use at least one list somewhere. A paragraph-only answer is the exception, about one in twelve.
Lists suit how AI engines answer: they break a topic into options, steps or factors, each summarized in a line. That shapes what gets pulled from your content. Steps, options, pros and cons, and short labeled points translate directly into an AI answer. Long narrative paragraphs have to be broken down first, and the engine may take its points from a page that has already done that work.
Google AI Overviews are almost always a list
Google AI Overviews almost always format as a list: 99% contain one and 89.3% are mostly lists. Gemini (70.8% mostly lists) and Google AI Mode (60.1%) also lean heavily on bullets. ChatGPT (37.5%) and Perplexity (38.3%) are the prose writers, although most of their answers still include a list: 89% for ChatGPT and 79.2% for Perplexity.
Source: Suff Digital analysis of 25,940 AI answers to 2,984 questions · answers from ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI features, September 2026
| AI engine | Mostly lists | Contain any list |
|---|---|---|
| Google AI Overviews | 89.3% | 99% |
| Gemini | 70.8% | 89.8% |
| Google AI Mode | 60.1% | 95.9% |
| Perplexity | 38.3% | 79.2% |
| ChatGPT | 37.5% | 89% |
The split follows the product. Google AI Overviews sit above the search results, where people scan rather than read, and they come as bullets. ChatGPT and Perplexity answer in a conversation, where a few paragraphs read naturally. The same question can therefore come back as a checklist on Google and as an explanation on ChatGPT, and a page that offers both a clear list and a clear summary sentence serves each engine.
How-to topics get the most bullets
Gardening (79.8%), beauty (73.8%), money (71.7%) and parenting (70.2%) answers are the most list-heavy. These are how-to topics where the answer is a set of steps or options: what to plant, which products to try, where to save. Cars, recipes, fitness and home follow close behind, at 68% to 70%.
Source: Suff Digital analysis of 25,940 AI answers to 2,984 questions · answers from ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI features, September 2026
Weather (48.1%), software (48.8%), pets (50.6%) and mental health (50.9%) get the most prose, and taxes, legal and health questions sit between 53% and 57%. These topics call for explanation and nuance more than a checklist. Even so, no topic falls below 48%: in every subject, about half of AI answers or more are mostly lists.
What this means for content writers and SEO teams
Structure pages the way AI answers are structured. Use numbered steps for processes, bulleted lists for options and features, and a short labeled summary near the top. That makes it easy for an engine to lift your points intact.
Write list items that stand on their own. A bullet such as "Water deeply once a week in summer" can be quoted as it is; a bullet that depends on the paragraph above it cannot. Then match the format to the engine you care about most: lists dominate Google's AI features, while on ChatGPT and Perplexity a clear paragraph that states the answer in its first sentence matters as much.
Check the answers for your own topics and compare their structure with your pages. Our seo copywriting services restructure content so AI engines can quote it, list by list.
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<p style="font:14px/1.5 system-ui,sans-serif">Source: <a href="https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/ai-answers-mostly-bullet-lists">Google AI Overviews Are Mostly Bullet Points 89% of the Time vs 37.5% for ChatGPT - Suff Digital</a></p>
Cite this study
Suff Digital. (2026). Google AI Overviews Are Mostly Bullet Points 89% of the Time vs 37.5% for ChatGPT. https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/ai-answers-mostly-bullet-lists
Google AI Overviews Are Mostly Bullet Points 89% of the Time vs 37.5% for ChatGPT - Suff Digital - https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/ai-answers-mostly-bullet-lists
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