Google didn't kill listicles, it demoted the self-serving ones
Google hasn't broadly nuked listicles, but it has squeezed them out of the strongest spots. Across 60,000 US queries, listicles still made the top 10 in 55.1% of results, yet their share of the top three fell from 35.9% to 23.5%, per this study. The sharpest signal: self-serving brand lists are the casualty, with several SaaS sites losing 29–49% of organic visibility in weeks.