AI citation study: Websites AI cites most in Home Services

Home services split into two groups that people query very differently. The first is the emergency: a door locked shut, a blocked drain, wasps in the attic, bedbugs after a trip. The prompt is short, local and immediate, such as “locksmith open now in Lausanne” or “how to get rid of bedbugs fast”.

The second group is planned and recurring: a carer for an elderly parent, a weekly cleaner, after-school childcare. These questions are longer and revolve around money and trust, for example “what help can I get to pay for a home carer” or “how to choose a home help agency for someone with Alzheimer’s”.

An AI answer rarely mixes both, and the sources it relies on change from one to the other.

• Public and social security portals. For care and childcare, models turn to service-public.fr, the French government portal for older people, the family allowance fund (CAF) and the health insurance site ameli.fr. These pages explain funding, approvals and tax advantages.
• Consumer protection pages. Warnings about repair scams from the French economy ministry, the SignalConso reporting service and, in English, the Better Business Bureau show up in answers about emergency call-outs.
• National care networks. Large home care organisations, from nonprofit federations such as ADMR to private franchise networks, are cited when the question is about choosing a provider.
• Service marketplaces. Platforms that connect households with independent workers or neighbours, such as AlloVoisins, Yoojo or Yoopies for babysitting, come up for small jobs and childcare.
• Directories and municipal sites. PagesJaunes and local.ch supply phone numbers, and some town hall websites that list local services are cited too.
• Specialists’ own sites. Pest control firms such as Rentokil and many independent locksmiths or drain specialists are cited directly, usually for one precise problem.

Emergency home repair has a reputation problem. Inflated call-out fees and rogue troubleshooters are a recurring topic for consumer authorities, and AI assistants repeat their advice: ask for a quote before any work, check the company’s registration, be wary of flyers and sponsored listings.

That caution shapes recommendations. A model looking for a locksmith to suggest has more reasons to pick a company that publishes its call-out fee, its hourly rate and its legal details than one that only displays a phone number in large type.

Home care follows the same logic with other proof points: the approval or authorisation granted by local authorities, eligibility for tax credits and how carers are recruited and trained.

For a home service company, GEO (Generative Engine Optimization, the work of making a business easy for AI assistants to cite) therefore starts with the information a cautious customer would want anyway: prices, legal identity, approvals.

Most home service questions name a town or a neighbourhood, and the useful answer is a short list of providers who actually cover it. This is why directories, municipal websites and small local businesses can appear in the same answer as national brands.

It also explains why Swiss sources sit next to French ones. In Switzerland, local.ch is often the most complete public list of locksmiths, cleaners or plumbers in a given town, so models use it as a starting point.