Introducing Rank Monthly: the marketplace for spots in the lists AI quotes

Rank Monthly (rankmonthly.com) books businesses into the listicles, newsletters and LinkedIn creator posts that buyers read and AI assistants quote, and keeps them there. Publishers get paid every month for the spots they hold. Brands pay monthly, only while the spot is live. Pricing is on request.

I'm Joran Hofman, the founder. This post explains why I built it, how it works for both sides, and what it does not do. It is the page we point to when someone asks what Rank Monthly is.

Why does Rank Monthly exist?

Buyers ask AI assistants what to buy. The assistants answer from pages other people wrote. In a Prefer study from July 2026, 40% of the sources ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude cited for buyer questions were independent lists. Vendors' own sites got 34%. Review sites got 3%.

The brand's own website plays a small part. Foundation and AirOps looked at 5.1 million AI responses for 50 B2B brands in seven sectors. On unbranded questions (ones that do not name a brand), only 2.24% of citations went to the brand's own pages. The rest went to pages the brand does not own.

So the lists matter. A "best CRM for startups" article on a site the assistants trust can shape the shortlist before a buyer ever visits your site. If you are not in that list, the answer can leave you out.

Getting into those lists is messy today. You find the publisher, email them, agree a price, pay once and hope. I wrote more about the options in our guide to listicle placements.

Why monthly, and not a one-off payment?

This is the part I care about most. After a one-off purchase, nobody checks whether the spot is still live. I saw brands pay a lot for spots that quietly disappeared.

Paying monthly fixes that. You only pay for the time the spot is live. It also keeps the publisher accountable: the spot has to stay up for them to keep getting paid. For brands it is an annual agreement, paid monthly, so you only pay for the time the spot is live. A new sponsored post is paid once.

How does Rank Monthly work for brands?

1. Add your website. Rank Monthly reads what you sell, scans your competitors and finds the searches you want to show up for.
2. Set a budget. You can filter publishers by topic, site strength and rating.
3. We match you to lists on real data. Autopilot writes your entry and adds you to articles that already rank, or books a new sponsored article or LinkedIn post.
4. Your payment is held until the placement is verified live. Then you pay monthly, only while the spot is live, or once for a new post.
5. You see everything in one ledger: every placement, page visit, click and AI mention, month by month, with what was paid.

Placements today are positions in existing list articles, new sponsored articles and LinkedIn posts. Newsletter placements follow. Content can be live within 7 days when the publisher has auto-accept on. More on the brand side is on the page for businesses.

How does Rank Monthly work for publishers?

1. Connect Search Console, Analytics and WordPress. Every number is measured, never typed in.
2. Choose how deals come in. Autopilot is on by default. With it off, you approve each deal yourself.
3. Brands are matched to your articles on real data. Autopilot writes the entry, publishes it on your site and tracks every placement.
4. Rank Monthly checks that each spot is live and pays you every month for the spots you hold.

You need your own domain (no yourname.medium.com) and connected Google data. If you run list articles that bring in traffic, our guide to earning from list articles and the page for publishers explain more.

Are sponsored spots labeled?

The sponsored label and rel="sponsored" are on by default. Each publisher decides whether to keep them on their site.

What does Rank Monthly not do?

• We do not promise rankings. Google decides where a page ranks.
• We do not promise AI mentions. ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and the other assistants decide what they cite.
• We are not an AI visibility tracker or an agency. We book and keep placements, and we report what each one does.
• We only work with publishers who joined and connected their data. If the list you want is not on Rank Monthly, you can still contact that publisher yourself.

What we can do is put you in lists that already rank, keep you there, and show you what each spot brings. If you want to know what spots cost in the market today, see the listicle placement price index.

Where is Rank Monthly today?

We are new. There are no customers, results or case studies yet, and I will not pretend otherwise.

Pricing on request.

Who runs Rank Monthly?

Rank Monthly BV, based in Maarn, the Netherlands. I founded it and run it. You can reach us at hello@rankmonthly.com. More about the company is on our about page, and every way to reach us is on the contact page.

How do I get started?

Brands start on the page for businesses. Publishers start on the page for publishers. If you have a question first, email hello@rankmonthly.com.