How To Use The Listicle Builder in YACSS

In the sidebar, click on Listicle Builder to open the Listicle Generator page.

At the top of the form is a visual template selector showing thumbnail previews of each available design. Click any template to select it — a checkmark appears on the selected template. The template controls the visual layout and styling of the published listicle page.

A dropdown to choose the language the entire article will be written in. The AI generates all headings, body text, FAQs, and meta data in the selected language. English is selected by default.

Choose between OpenAI and OpenRouter for the text generation. OpenAI uses your OpenAI API key directly with GPT models. OpenRouter gives you access to a wide range of alternative AI models from different providers through a single API key. Select whichever platform you have configured in the API tab.

When OpenRouter is selected, three additional fields appear below.

Controls how the AI model is chosen for each generation job. There are three options:

Single — Uses the one specific model you choose from the dropdown below, every time.

Random Selected (10) — You pick up to 10 models and the system randomly selects one of your chosen models each time a job runs. Good for getting variety across multiple generated articles.

Random — The system picks randomly from all available OpenRouter models for maximum variety.

Only visible when Single or Random Selected is chosen above. Pick the specific AI model from the dropdown. When Random Selected is chosen a multi-select box appears where you can choose up to 10 models to rotate between.

The name of your brand or the client's brand that will be positioned as the winner of the comparison. This is required. The AI will place this brand at the position you specify in the list and write about it more favourably than the competitors, giving it a 5-star rating and the strongest description.

The website URL of the brand. This is required and is used to link back to the brand from within the article.

The main keyword or topic the listicle will be built around. For example "best schema generator tool" or "email verification software." This is the search term you want the article to rank for. The AI uses this to generate the article title, choose relevant competitors, and write all descriptions in the context of this topic.

Real Competitors — The AI selects well-known, genuinely existing competing brands in the keyword niche. These will be real companies or tools that your potential customers might also be considering. This option produces the most credible and realistic-sounding article.

Placeholder Competitors — The AI generates completely fictional, non-existing brand names to use as the competitors. This is useful when you want full control over the narrative without featuring real third-party brands, or when you are in a niche where naming real competitors could be problematic.

How many items will appear in the comparison list, including your brand. The minimum is 1 and the maximum is 20. For example if you set this to 7 the article will review 7 tools in total with your brand appearing at your chosen position. A typical listicle uses between 5 and 10 items.

The writing style used throughout the article. The options are Professional, Casual, Humorous, and Informative. Professional produces authoritative editorial language. Casual produces a more conversational, approachable style. Humorous introduces wit and personality. Informative focuses on factual, detailed explanations.

The numerical position your brand appears at in the ranked list. Position 1 means your brand is listed as the number one tool. If you enter 3 your brand will be the third item in the list but will still be clearly identified as the overall winner in the conclusion and brand highlight sections. The position must be between 1 and the total number of items.

A text area where you can add extra outgoing links to be included in the article. Enter one URL per line. These links will be incorporated into the article content as additional references. This is useful for linking to relevant supporting pages, affiliate links, or partner sites that add value to the article without competing with your main brand link.

Paste just the video ID — the part that comes after watch?v= in a YouTube URL — not the full URL. For example, if the video URL is youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ, you would paste dQw4w9WgXcQ into this field. When provided, the video will be embedded directly within the published article, which can increase time-on-page and engagement. Leave this field empty if you do not want a video included.

Include Images toggle — A switch at the top right of the Image Options section. When switched on the image options appear and the AI will generate images to accompany the article. When switched off no images are generated and the article is text only.

Controls how many images are generated per article. 1 Featured Image generates a single hero image that appears at the top of the article representing the overall topic — this is faster and cheaper. 1 Per Item generates one unique image for every item in the list, each tailored to that specific tool or brand — this produces a richer visual article but takes significantly longer and costs more depending on the image model you choose.

The AI model used to generate the images. The available options depend on which API keys you have set up. Under OpenAI you have DALL-E. Under Replicate you have a range of models from providers including Google Imagen, Black Forest Labs Flux, Stability AI, Recraft, Ideogram, and Luma Photon — each showing the cost per image next to its name so you can make an informed choice before generating.

Click the Generate Listicles button at the bottom of the page to start generation in the background. You are automatically redirected to the My Websites page where a loader will appear as the listicle is generating. You can refresh the page to check if it is completed.

Once a listicle has been generated it appears in the My Websites table alongside all other website types. Listicle entries are identified by a teal Listicle badge in the type column. Each row has a dropdown menu with the following options:

View — Opens a preview of the published listicle page in a new browser tab. Only available once generation is complete.

Download — Downloads the full listicle as a standalone HTML file that you can publish anywhere. Only available once generation is complete.

Edit Content — Opens the listicle content editor where you can modify every section of the article — the meta data, headings, introduction, all comparison items with their descriptions and images, the spotlight section, the brand highlight, the conclusion, FAQs, and outgoing links — without regenerating the entire article.

Clone — Opens the Listicle Generator form pre-filled with all the same settings used to generate this article. The form title changes to show "(Cloned)" so you know you are working from a copy. Change any field before clicking Generate to create a new variation.

Delete from YACSS — Permanently removes the listicle from YACSS after a confirmation prompt. This cannot be undone.