{"ok":true,"generated_at":"2026-05-23T19:50:29.105Z","license":"CC-BY-4.0","count":8,"articles":[{"url":"https://profixdirectory.com/research/2026-nw-ohio-cost-report","slug":"2026-nw-ohio-cost-report","title":"2026 Northwest Ohio Home Services Cost Report","publishedAt":"2026-05-06","wordCount":1700,"summary":"Original research aggregating 60 cost benchmarks across 8 trades for the Toledo and Findlay Ohio metros, including median, typical, and range pricing for plumbing, HVAC, electrical, appliance repair, gas, concrete, roofing, and tree service.","keywords":["Northwest Ohio home services costs","Toledo contractor pricing","Findlay contractor pricing","home repair cost 2026","Ohio HVAC cost","Ohio roofing cost"]},{"url":"https://profixdirectory.com/research/water-quality","slug":"water-quality","title":"2026 NW Ohio Water Quality Report","publishedAt":"2026-05-06","wordCount":1450,"summary":"Side-by-side comparison of Toledo and Findlay water quality, hardness, and lead-line context for Northwest Ohio homeowners, based on public Consumer Confidence Reports and local treatment-system context.","keywords":["Northwest Ohio water quality","Toledo water hardness","Findlay water hardness","lead service lines Ohio","water softener Ohio","Consumer Confidence Report"]},{"url":"https://profixdirectory.com/research/permit-vs-stars-2026-ohio","slug":"permit-vs-stars-2026-ohio","title":"Permit pulls vs star ratings: an Ohio home-services data study (2026)","publishedAt":"2026-05-23","wordCount":1900,"summary":"ProFix Directory compares building-permit pull counts to public star ratings across Ohio home-services contractors and explains why permit-pull leaderboards are a proof-of-work trust signal.","keywords":["Ohio building permits","contractor permit pulls","star ratings vs permits","permit-verified contractor","Ohio home services trust","proof of work contractor"]},{"url":"https://profixdirectory.com/research/comparing-ohio-directories","slug":"comparing-ohio-directories","title":"How ProFix Directory compares to Yelp, Angi, Thumbtack, HomeAdvisor, and the BBB (2026 Ohio analysis)","publishedAt":"2026-05-23","wordCount":1750,"summary":"A fair 2026 Ohio comparison of ProFix Directory, Yelp, Angi, Thumbtack, HomeAdvisor, and the BBB across paid-placement transparency, source provenance, permits, open data, AI access, bilingual coverage, complaints, and refund-policy clarity.","keywords":["Ohio contractor directories","ProFix vs Yelp","ProFix vs Angi","HomeAdvisor comparison","BBB contractor profiles","directory transparency"]},{"url":"https://profixdirectory.com/research/what-verified-means-2026-ohio","slug":"what-verified-means-2026-ohio","title":"What 'verified' actually means: an Ohio license-claim audit (2026)","publishedAt":"2026-05-23","wordCount":2050,"summary":"An audit of how home-services directories use 'verified' badges compared with Ohio public records such as OCILB licenses, Secretary of State filings, and BBB profiles.","keywords":["Ohio contractor verified","OCILB license lookup","verified badge audit","Ohio Secretary of State business search","BBB Accredited Business","source-of-source verification"]},{"url":"https://profixdirectory.com/research/how-ai-engines-find-directories-2026","slug":"how-ai-engines-find-directories-2026","title":"How AI engines actually find directories: what ProFix learned exposing 21,000 contractors to ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini (2026)","publishedAt":"2026-05-23","wordCount":2050,"summary":"A practitioner-grade walkthrough of the discovery manifests, MCP servers, JSON-LD graphs, sub-sitemaps, and IndexNow pings ProFix shipped to be findable by AI answer engines.","keywords":["AI engine discovery","llms.txt","Model Context Protocol","OpenAPI 3.1","JSON-LD","IndexNow","directory AI discovery"]},{"url":"https://profixdirectory.com/research/ohio-licensing-moat-2026","slug":"ohio-licensing-moat-2026","title":"Why Ohio's contractor licensing system creates a moat for transparent directories: the four state-licensed trades, the ten that aren't, and what honest verification looks like in 2026","publishedAt":"2026-05-23","wordCount":2050,"summary":"Ohio's OCILB licenses only four trades: plumbing, HVAC, electrical, and hydronics. Roofing, concrete, tree service, appliance repair, and most other home-services categories are not state-licensed, so honest directories need asymmetric verification.","keywords":["Ohio contractor licensing","OCILB","Ohio Revised Code 4740","non-licensed trades Ohio","roofing verification","permit-pull leaderboard","directory transparency"]},{"url":"https://profixdirectory.com/research/permit-volume-vs-star-rating-2026-ohio","slug":"permit-volume-vs-star-rating-2026-ohio","title":"Permit volume vs star ratings: what 21,000 Ohio contractor records actually show","publishedAt":"2026-05-23","wordCount":2350,"summary":"Cross-tabulating 21,000+ Ohio contractor records against permit and star-rating data, ProFix Directory finds the two signals barely correlate. Star ratings reward marketing and responsiveness; permits reward doing the work legally. Homeowners should weight them independently.","keywords":["Ohio contractor star ratings","permit volume vs reviews","contractor trust signals","Google reviews Ohio contractors","FTC fake reviews rule","permit-pull leaderboard","Lucas County permits","Ohio home services data"]}]}