Why ChatGPT Prefers Pages With Tables — Data Study + SEO Insights

As AI-driven search grows, we keep hearing that structured content performs better in LLM environments. Lists, bullets, headings — all of these help AI understand page structure.
But one question kept coming up in our agency conversations:

Do tables actually influence whether ChatGPT cites your content?

We kept seeing the same pattern: when ChatGPT referenced a webpage, that page almost always included a well-formatted comparison table. Yet there wasn’t much public data to validate the trend.
So our team ran a large-scale study — and the results were eye-opening for anyone optimizing for AI Overview, ChatGPT search, or Agentic SEO.

Why We Conducted This Study?

New Study Reveals ChatGPT Citations Are 2.3x More Likely to Include Tables. AI search doesn’t evaluate content the same way Google Search does. Instead of heavy algorithmic scoring, LLMs often rely on clear structure, extractable elements, and machine-readable formatting.

Tables seemed to show up repeatedly in ChatGPT citations, especially in:

Software comparison pages
Pricing breakdown posts
Feature lists
Roundups and buyer guides

But how much more common are tables in AI citations compared to standard Google results?
We wanted real data — not assumptions.

Our Methodology

Building Comparable Datasets

To understand how often tables appear in Google Search versus ChatGPT citations, we first needed clean, industry-aligned datasets. Since our agency works heavily with SaaS and tech brands, we used the Capterra SaaS query set as the benchmark to keep both datasets consistent.

For Google Search, we pulled Capterra’s top queries and used Ahrefs Keyword Explorer to collect all ranking URLs. This gave us a robust dataset of 25,000+ pages, representing how often tables naturally appear across standard search results.

On the AI side, we used our internal AI Visibility Tracker, which monitors how often URLs are cited inside ChatGPT’s responses. By exporting the “Top Cited Pages” data, we captured a large sample of pages frequently referenced by the model for SaaS-related prompts.

Extracting Table Usage

After gathering both datasets, the next step was to understand the structural differences—specifically, how often each page used HTML table elements. Using Screaming Frog, we created a custom extraction to detect any <table> tag within the content of each URL.

We then crawled both datasets—Google’s 25K URLs and ChatGPT’s top-cited pages—to determine whether a table existed on each page. This allowed us to directly compare how often tables appear in traditional search results versus the content most frequently pulled by AI systems.

The Results: Why ChatGPT Absolutely Loves Tables

Once we compared both datasets side by side, one thing became very clear: AI agents have a serious preference for structured content — especially tables.

What the Google Data Showed

After crawling more than 25,000 high-ranking Google Search URLs, we found that tables were actually pretty uncommon.

Only 13% of Google-indexed pages contained a <table> element. In other words, most traditional SEO content still leans heavily on paragraphs, bullet points, and headings.

What the ChatGPT Data Revealed

ChatGPT’s citations told a completely different story.

While tables didn’t dominate the majority, a striking 30% of the most-cited pages included tables — more than double what we saw in Google’s dataset.

The Big Insight: A 2.3× Lift

Put simply:

➡️ ChatGPT is 2.3× more likely to cite a page that includes a table compared to Google Search.

This aligns perfectly with what many SEOs have suspected for months:

AI agents depend on structured, digestible, comparison-ready information — and tables are the cleanest, most scannable format available.

Tables don’t just organize information; they package insights in a way LLMs can instantly parse and reuse.

And as AI-driven search continues to grow, this preference for structured content becomes a powerful opportunity for brands to increase visibility in AI agent responses.

Examples of Table-Driven AI Visibility

1. SoftwareConnect

This site consistently appears in ChatGPT answers (250+ citations in 90 days).
Their roundup posts include highly structured tables summarizing:

Product name
Core features
Starting price

ChatGPT uses these tables directly to build its comparisons.

2. Cotocus

Shockingly, Cotocus — a very low-authority site — beat industry giants like Forbes, Capterra, and SoftwareAdvice.
Why?
Its pages are:

Simple HTML
Clean headings
Bullet lists
Extremely table-heavy

Even if the content is AI-generated, the structure is optimized for extraction — and ChatGPT rewards it.

3. Other Strong Examples

ClickUp
Nextiva
Peerspot
TechRadar
Zapier

All heavily use comparison tables in their top-ranking or frequently referenced content.

What This Means for Marketers & SEOs

After digging through thousands of URLs and comparing Google results with ChatGPT citations, a few insights became impossible to ignore — and honestly, they’re game-changing.

✔ Tables massively boost your visibility inside LLMs

If you want AI agents to understand, reuse, and cite your content, tables are your best friend.
They break information into clean little blocks that LLMs can instantly “chunk,” making your content:

easier to scan
easier to compare
and much easier to cite in answers

In other words: structured data = higher AI visibility.

✔ LLM crawlers are still pretty basic compared to Google

Google’s crawler is a seasoned detective. LLMs? Think more “smart intern.”

They rely heavily on structure, clarity, and formatting — not subtle context signals.
So the cleaner your content layout, the more likely an AI agent can extract and understand it.

✔ Comparison content gets a major advantage

Any page that uses structured comparison formats performs better in LLM citations. Things like:

pricing tables
feature grids
pros and cons lists
side-by-side breakdowns

These formats mirror the way AI agents prefer to deliver answers back to users, so they naturally rise to the top.

✔ Even small, low-authority sites can beat industry giants

And here’s the wild part: In AI results, authority matters less than structure.

We repeatedly saw low-traffic, low-domain-authority sites outrank big brands simply because their content was cleaner, simpler, and more extractable.

If your page is structured better than your competitors’, you can absolutely win — even in competitive industries.

Key Takeaways for Your SEO & AI Strategy

If you want your content to perform well in:

AI Overview
ChatGPT responses
AI agents
Autonomous search models
LLM-driven discovery

…you must make your content AI-readable.

Here’s what we recommend:

1. Add tables to high-intent pages

Especially:

“Best X” roundups
Product comparisons
Pricing pages
Feature matrices

2. Use simple, clean HTML

Avoid overly styled tables. Stick to <table>, <thead>, <tbody>, <tr>, <td> for maximum clarity.

3. Keep content scannable

Use:

Bullet lists
Clear headings
Summaries
Extractable key points

4. Audit your pages for AI extractability

If LLMs struggle to read your content, your visibility drops.

5. Don’t treat AI SEO like traditional SEO

Google rewards depth and authority. AI agents reward structure and clarity.

Final Thoughts: The Future of AEO (AI Engine Optimization)

AI search is changing the SEO landscape. Google doesn’t always match what ChatGPT cites — and LLMs are shaping the next era of discovery.

This study shows one clear trend:

Structured content wins.
Tables win even more.

If you want visibility in AI-driven search, your content needs to be readable, extractable, and comparison-friendly.

Need Help Structuring Content for AI?

Invospire Can Do It for You.

At Invospire, we specialize in Agentic SEO — optimizing your website not just for search engines, but for AI models, AI Overview, ChatGPT citations, and autonomous agents.

We help businesses create: