Insights

The world of B2B SaaS is built on discovery. Digital transformation has accelerated changes in B2B SaaS discovery, reshaping how buyers and businesses interact with solutions. For years, discovery has meant mastering search engines through traditional SEO: keywords, backlinks, and ranking mechanics. Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the quality and quantity of website traffic from search engines, helping buyers discover relevant content. But a major shift is underway. Buyers are no longer typing a few words into Google and scrolling through ten blue links. They are asking questions in natural language, expecting instant, context-aware answers, and AI search has created new ways for buyers to discover solutions. This is the AI search revolution, and it is transforming how B2B SaaS companies and businesses are found, evaluated, and chosen. In this article, we explore the behaviour changes driving this shift, how AI search differs from traditional search, what it means across platforms, and the strategic implications for SaaS marketing leaders, including the impact of AI search on B2B SaaS businesses.

The Search Behaviour Shift

The B2B buyer journey has always been research-intensive. A typical SaaS purchase involves multiple stakeholders, months of consideration, and dozens of touchpoints. Traditionally, search engines like Google acted as the gateway to information. Buyers typed in keywords such as “best CRM for mid-sized businesses” or “enterprise project management software” and sifted through results, blogs, and review sites. Today, that same buyer is just as likely to turn to AI search tools. Customers now expect more conversational and context-aware answers from these tools. Instead of typing “best CRM”, they might ask:

• “Which CRM platforms integrate natively with HubSpot and support AI automation?”
• “What are the key differences between Salesforce, Pipedrive and Zoho for a 100-person B2B sales team?”

The difference is subtle but profound. Search is no longer about keywords, it’s about conversations. AI-powered engines automatically interpret a wide range of search queries, compare options, and summarise insights instantly. AI-powered search engines use Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Machine Learning (ML) to understand user intent and context. In many cases, buyers receive answers directly in the search results without visiting a given page. This means buyers are reaching informed conclusions faster, with fewer clicks, and often without ever landing on a vendor’s website. For SaaS companies, this shift means visibility and influence are no longer guaranteed by simply ranking high on Google.

Traditional Search Engine Optimization vs AI Search

Indexing and file management practices have evolved in AI search, with less emphasis on manual control of files and more on structured data and semantic understanding.

Traditional SEO rewarded content volume, technical optimisation, and backlinks. It relied heavily on PageRank, indexing, and managing files and URLs to ensure visibility in search results. For example, managing multiple URLs and same content was crucial, specifically through canonical tags and redirects to consolidate link equity and avoid duplicate content issues. Writing content and creating content remain important, but the focus has shifted toward authority and clarity. The choice of domain and descriptive URLs can still influence search visibility, especially when targeting specific markets or improving user experience. Creating compelling and useful content influences a website’s presence in search results more than any other SEO suggestions. It is less about chasing every keyword and more about ensuring your solution is consistently represented in AI-generated answers.

Platform Differences

AI search is not one monolithic channel. It manifests differently across Google’s SGE, independent AI tools, review platforms, and social networks. SaaS marketers must consider visibility across all these points of influence. Providing access to valuable resources across platforms is essential for enabling member participation and keeping users informed.

Connecting different types of content, including forum posts and other user-generated resources, can enhance visibility in AI search by improving discoverability and supporting ranking considerations.

Strategic Implications for B2B SaaS

The shift to AI search demands a broader strategy. SaaS companies must optimise for authority, structure, and presence across multiple platforms, while measuring success in new ways. It is also important to promote your company and services both online and offline to maximize reach and brand impact.

From Search to Conversations

The AI search revolution is not about the death of SEO, but its evolution. Traditional SEO principles — clarity, relevance, authority — still matter. But they must be reframed through the lens of conversations, not keywords. For B2B SaaS companies, this is both a challenge and an opportunity. The challenge lies in adapting fast: rethinking content strategies, investing in structured knowledge, and diversifying presence beyond Google.

With the introduction of AI mode in search engines, which leverages the web using a query fan-out technique to break down search queries into sub-topics, answers are generated with greater relevance and depth. AI-generated content is created by synthesizing information from across the web, drawing on a vast array of sources to provide comprehensive responses. Large Language Models enable AI-powered search to generate original content or summaries by synthesizing information from multiple sources.

The opportunity is clear: those who embrace AI search early will capture disproportionate visibility, shaping buyer perceptions before competitors catch up. The companies that thrive will be those that understand a simple truth: in B2B SaaS, discovery is no longer about being the loudest voice on Google. It’s about being the trusted answer wherever buyers ask their questions.

Measuring Success in Modern Search

In the rapidly changing world of search engine optimization, understanding how to measure success is more important than ever. As search engines evolve and user expectations shift, relying solely on traditional metrics like keyword rankings or organic traffic no longer provides a complete picture. Modern SEO requires a broader approach—one that explores how your content is discovered, cited, and engaged with across a variety of search platforms.

To effectively gauge the impact of your SEO efforts, focus on insights that reflect the true nature of today’s search environment. This includes tracking how often your brand or website is referenced in AI-generated search results, monitoring user engagement with your content, and analyzing the visibility of your pages across multiple search engines and conversational platforms. Additionally, consider metrics such as share of voice in industry-specific queries, the quality and relevance of inbound links, and the frequency with which your resources are included in curated lists or directories.

By exploring these modern KPIs, businesses can gain a deeper understanding of their search performance and make data-driven decisions to optimize their strategies. The key is to move beyond surface-level numbers and focus on the insights that truly matter—how users are finding, interacting with, and trusting your content in an increasingly complex digital landscape.

FAQs

1. Will SEO still matter in the age of AI search?
Yes. SEO remains critical, but its focus is evolving. Technical SEO, site performance, and structured content all remain relevant. However, content must be designed to be cited by AI systems, not just ranked by Google.

2. How can B2B SaaS companies measure success in AI search?
Beyond traditional rankings, SaaS marketers should track how often their brand is mentioned in AI-generated responses, presence on review platforms, and share of voice in conversational search engines like ChatGPT or Perplexity.

3. What type of content performs best in AI search?
AI engines prefer clear, structured, and authoritative content. This includes product comparison tables, API documentation, in-depth guides, customer case studies, and thought leadership that directly answers buyer questions.

This article was updated on 18th March 2026

Updated March 2026 - What actually happened after GPT-5 launched

This post was written on August 8, 2025 - the day GPT-5 launched - and contained our initial analysis. Now that GPT-5 has been live for several months, we can compare those predictions against what has actually happened.

What OpenAI confirmed at launch

GPT-5 launched on August 7, 2025. OpenAI stated that responses with web search enabled are approximately 45% less likely to contain a factual error than GPT-4o, and around 80% less likely when using extended thinking mode. OpenAI positioned it as the first model to meaningfully unify reasoning and real-time retrieval in a single system.

What the traffic data now shows

The zero-click risk predicted in the original post is now measurable. Seer Interactive's November 2025 study of 3,119 informational queries across 42 organisations found organic CTR for queries with AI Overviews dropped 61% (from 1.76% to 0.61%) between June 2024 and September 2025. Even queries without AI Overviews saw a 41% CTR decline - suggesting users are going to ChatGPT and other AI tools before they even reach Google.

What this means for the original analysis

The predictions in the post below have largely held. The citation upside is real - Seer found that brands cited in AI Overviews earn 35% higher organic CTR and 91% higher paid CTR than uncited brands. SE Ranking's December 2025 study of 129,000 domains confirmed that referring domains are the single strongest predictor of ChatGPT citation.

When GPT-4 launched in March 2023, it was the first time many marketers realised that search might not be confined to Google forever. GPT-5, released in August 2025, makes that shift feel permanent.

It is not just a better chatbot – it is a new search layer, with its own retrieval system, ranking logic, and bias towards certain content types.

How does GPT-5 change SEO and visibility?

OpenAI has improved reasoning, accuracy, and long-context handling in GPT-5, but the more important change for SEO is behind the scenes.

The search experience is faster, citations are cleaner, and sources feel more intentionally selected. It is also more agent like - able to follow instructions across multiple steps - but the most impactful change is how it retrieves and ranks results.

How GPT-5 search actually works

If you assume GPT-5 is just passing your query to Google or Bing, things are in reality a bit more complex than that.

• • GPT-5 almost certainly uses a proprietary meta layer rather than raw SERP feeds go get its results.

• • Results seem to sometimes overlap more with Bing results than Google, but whilst also pulling from lots of other sources, re-ranking, changing the order of things etc. So it does not always mirror the search engine results page.

• • It appears not to be able to access live Google search results page, but it does seem to be able to access a Bing SERP if provided an exact URL.

Have a read of this great round up by Josh from Profound for more technical insights.

Why GPT-5 matters for SEO

With GPT-5 it seems more apparent than ever that there is not always a link between ranking highly on Google and being visible in AI results.

Optimisation for SEO/AEO/GEO now means thinking about AI search as a standalone channel – one where:

• • Authority is measured across multiple engines and ecosystems.

• • Content must be easily parsed, summarised, and cited by an LLM.

• • Being present on other trusted domains can matter as much as your own site.

• • Structured, context-rich content outperforms thin keyword-driven pages.

The risk of AI search for marketers

Zero click behaviour is likely to intensify. GPT-5’s improved answers mean users may never need to visit the source. That puts more pressure on measuring exposure in generative answers, not just traffic/clicks.

It also means you cannot assume that you will be highly visible in AI tools like ChatGPT even if your traditional SEO rankings stay strong – because the ranking logic is not exactly the same.

GPT-5 is not simply a better ChatGPT - it is a more sophisticated search engine in its own right, with a proprietary retrieval and ranking layer. Whilst it's still important to focus on SEO, the mindset shift, approach to measurement and more granular Answer Engine Optimisation/Generative Engine Optimisation approaches are key.

Google has written a new blog post, claiming that AI within its search products is resulting in happier users and better quality traffic for website owners.

The post published on Google's search blog is written by Google's VP, Head of Google Search, Liz Reid. In it, Reid writes that "Our data shows people are happier with the experience and are searching more than ever as they discover what Search can do now."

The post directly addresses "third-party reports that inaccurately suggest dramatic declines in aggregate traffic", claiming that the reports are using flawed methodologies to carry out their analysis, as Reid defends the changes Google has recently made to AI Overviews and more recently AI Mode, which many believe are responsible for declines in traffic/clicks.

In a B2B context, we have certainly seen some drops in clicks from Google as AI reshapes the B2B buyer journey. This is hardly surprising. If a user can get the information they need from Google without actually needing to click through to a website - why would they?

Reid acknowledges that some sites may be seeing less traffic, but explains the shifts in search behaviour as follows:

For many other types of questions, people continue to click through, as they want to dig deeper into a topic, explore further or make a purchase. This is why we see click quality increasing — an AI response might provide the lay of the land, but people click to dive deeper and learn more, and when they do, these clicks are more valuable. Liz Reid, VP, Head of Google Search

However, some parts of the SEO industry have reacted with a degree of scepticism. Like us, many SEOs are seeing clicks and traffic dropping as a result of AI in search - particularly AI Overviews, which has changed the shape of the search results page leaving less real estate for organic results.

We continue to crunch data and analyse search behaviour across all of our B2B SaaS SEO agency clients, and will be sharing some of our own data soon.

What is Google AI Mode?

Google AI Mode is an experimental search setting that uses Google’s cutting-edge machine learning to deliver tailored results and predictions. It continually adapts to your search behavior, aiming to provide faster and more relevant answers whenever you look for information online.

This article was updated on 18th March 2026

When this post was written in August 2025, the evidence on AI traffic quality was limited to early studies. There are now multiple primary datasets across different industries and time periods. The direction is consistent: AI referral traffic converts at higher rates than traditional organic for B2B and high-consideration purchases. The effect is weaker or neutral for transactional ecommerce.

The most robust study: Seer Interactive (B2B software, October 2024 to April 2025)

Seer Interactive analysed GA4 data from a single B2B software client across six AI platforms, tracking 1,370 AI-driven conversions against almost 14 million organic sessions. ChatGPT converted at 15.9%, Perplexity at 10.5%, Claude at 5%, Gemini at 3%, versus Google organic at 1.76%. ChatGPT users viewed 2.3 pages per session on average — nearly double the organic search average of 1.2 — suggesting they arrived mid-funnel, having already researched and compared options inside the AI tool.

Ahrefs: first-party data showing 23x conversion rate advantage

Ahrefs published its own internal data in June 2025: AI search traffic accounted for 0.5% of total visits but drove 12.1% of all new signups — a 23x higher conversion rate than organic search. These users also viewed 50% more pages per visit and had lower bounce rates. This is first-party data from Ahrefs on their own site, using Ahrefs Web Analytics.

Semrush: broader cross-industry finding

Semrush's July 2025 research found LLM visitors convert 4.4x better than organic search visitors on average. Their explanation: by the time someone clicks through from a ChatGPT response, the AI has already summarised their options and effectively pre-qualified the visitor. They arrive ready to act, not still browsing.

Microsoft Advertising: Copilot-driven journeys and lower-funnel conversion

Microsoft Advertising's April 2025 analysis found that Copilot-powered purchase journeys are 33% shorter and 76% more likely to lead to lower-funnel conversions than journeys that do not involve Copilot. This is first-party data from Microsoft's own advertising platform.

Important nuance: the effect varies by sector

Not all AI traffic converts equally. Seer Interactive notes their B2B software finding may not generalise to transactional ecommerce where purchase intent is different. Semrush's cross-industry figure of 4.4x is an average across research-heavy and transactional categories. The conversion advantage is most consistent for B2B, SaaS, professional services, and other high-consideration purchases — the exact markets this blog addresses.

Update: Google have shared their own thoughts on quality of traffic coming from AI - read more here.

The increase in use of AI powered tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode is transforming how users discover content. While traditional SEO has long dominated  organic user acquisition strategies, the emergence of AI-driven answers is shifting the focus and putting more attention on quality over volume.

In a world where attention is scarce and zero-click search is on the rise, the big question is no longer "how much traffic?" but "what kind of traffic?"

Is AI growing it's share of search volume over Google?

We don't believe any brands should be choosing between AI search and Google as if it's a case of having to pick one over the other. SEO is not dead, and Google is not going anywhere. But it's hard not acknowledge the shifting search behaviour, and some of the important differences between SEO and GEO.

Research from clickstream data provider Datos recently highlighted that in the United States, the share of users that went to chatbots rather than traditional search engines reached 5.6% in June, up from 2.48% in June 2024 and 1.3% in January 2024. While Google still commands the lion's share of search activity, the growth of AI tools suggests a new class of traffic is emerging.

Are AI referral traffic conversion rates higher than Google?

Recent studies are starting to uncover a surprising pattern: AI search traffic, while lower in volume, may be significantly higher in quality.

• Ahrefs (June 2025) reported that AI search accounted for just 0.5% of their total visits, but drove 12.1% of all new signups. That’s a 23x higher conversion rate than organic search.
• These users also viewed 50% more pages per visit and had lower bounce rates, suggesting higher engagement.

In other words, AI referrals might be smaller in number, but they punch well above their weight.

Platform specific performance: ChatGPT and Perplexity

The picture becomes even clearer when looking at individual AI platforms.

A Seer Interactive case study found:

• ChatGPT accounted for 61% of AI-driven visits, Perplexity ~24%, Gemini ~15%
• AI visitors viewed an average of 2.3 pages/session compared to 1.2 for Google organic
• Engagement rates for AI referrals were on par with organic (~60%) but delivered 100% more attributed conversions year-on-year (Seer Interactive)

These tools appear to act as mid-to-late funnel accelerators: users arrive more qualified, more curious, and more ready to act.

Does AI SEO traffic convert higher in B2B SaaS?

We love this data study from Goodie showing a 56.3% higher close rate from leads that originated in AI search agents compared to Google or Bing.

Out of all the platforms analysed, ChatGPT was the most efficient B2B traffic source that they identified with nearly double the lead:close rate of traditional search engines. 

For B2B marketers, this means vertical context matters. But even modest AI visibility can yield strong ROI if aligned to the right funnel stage. Whilst Google was still leading top of funnel referral traffic, ChatGPT was clearing referring better quality, ready to convert traffic.

Why do AI referrals convert better?

Several factors may explain the high performance of AI referred traffic over Google referred traffic:

• LLM tools act as buyer enablement engines: they answer specific questions aligned with real problems
• Users arrive further down the funnel: often in exploration, comparison, or evaluation stages
• Less noise, more relevance: AI links are often more direct and intentional than search listings

The result? Higher commercial intent and better conversion efficiency.

Final thought: Smaller volumes, higher stakes

In the age of AI native B2B buyer journeys, it's not just about reaching more people - it's about reaching the right ones. B2B SEO has always been about quality over traffic, but at FirstMotion we think that's more important than ever now.

AI tools may deliver fewer users, but if those users convert at 10x or 20x the rate, the economics shift dramatically. As visibility in these tools becomes more competitive, now is the time to build an AI first visibility strategy that drives revenue, not just rankings.

This article was updated on 18th March 2026

Eight months of data on what the AI Mode rollout has meant

This post was published on the day Google launched AI Mode in the UK in July 2025. Since then, AI Mode has expanded globally and significant data has emerged on its impact on organic traffic, click behaviour, and publisher revenue. Here is what has actually happened.

By October 2025 Google had rolled out AI Mode to over 40 additional countries including Germany, Austria, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and Sweden, adding 38 languages simultaneously. France was excluded due to ongoing regulatory discussions. AI Mode now operates in more than 200 countries and territories.

The traffic impact on UK businesses

Tank research published in October 2025 analysed 800 UK companies across 16 sectors, using Ahrefs traffic data across 4,800 data points covering three years. Average monthly organic traffic growth dropped from 26.3% to 3.7% — a collapse of 22.6 percentage points. The hospitality sector was hardest hit with a 6.7% decline in monthly organic traffic, compared to 47.9% growth the previous year. The IT sector was most resilient, maintaining 2.1% growth.

CTR impact confirmed across a larger dataset

Seer Interactive's study of 3,119 informational queries across 42 organisations (June 2024 to September 2025) found organic CTR dropped 61% and paid CTR dropped 68% for queries where AI Overviews appear. Even queries without AI Overviews saw a 41% organic CTR decline, suggesting the broader shift to AI-first search behaviour is reducing clicks independently of AI Overview presence.

The upside: citations create a compounding advantage

The same Seer Interactive study found that brands cited in AI Overviews earn 35% higher organic CTR and 91% higher paid CTR compared to brands that are not cited. This means AI Mode and AI Overviews are not purely destructive for well-positioned brands — they create a significant performance gap between brands that are cited and those that are not.

Google has officially launched AI Mode in Search for users in the UK and beyond, marking a significant shift in how people interact with search results. Read the announcement here.

What are is Google AI Mode?

Google AI Mode offers a major step forward in how people interact with search engines. Instead of just compiling blue links on a search results page, AI Mode uses advanced artificial intelligence - powered by a version of Google’s Gemini 2.5 model - to answer complex, nuanced questions in conversational language and with deeper context.

Source: Google

Key features of Google's AI Mode include:

• A dedicated AI Mode tab appears in both desktop Search and the Google app on Android and iOS, allowing users to opt in easily.
• Users can pose multi-part queries or follow-up questions that would previously have required several searches, like planning a weekend trip, comparing products, or unpacking a complex how-to.
• The system employs a “query fan-out” technique, breaking a big question into subtopics, issuing multiple searches at once, and synthesizing an in depth, tailored answer with links for further exploration.
• AI Mode supports multimodal input: you can ask questions with text, voice, or images, enabling even richer search experiences.
• Early users are asking questions “two or three times the length” of standard search terms, highlighting how AI Mode enables more conversational and exploratory inquiry.
• When AI Mode can’t provide a confident answer, it defaults to regular search results -underscoring Google’s focus on balancing innovation with accuracy and transparency.

This launch signals a major shift in online search behaviour. For users, it means more natural, fast, and insightful answers—while for publishers and advertisers, it’s raising critical questions about visibility and referral traffic, since fewer users may click through to traditional sites.

What AI Mode means for B2B marketers

Google’s rollout confirms that AI native search is here to stay. For B2B brands, this means:

• Content strategies must evolve: Winning in generative search means aligning content with buyer questions, topics and tasks, not just keywords.
• Traditional SEO isn’t enough: You can rank #1 in classic search and still be absent from AI Overviews.
• Visibility = trust: If your brand or product isn’t cited in AI-generated content, it may not exist in the user's shortlist.

At FirstMotion, we help B2B software companies adapt to this new world of Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO). From prompt mapping to AI visibility audits, we position brands where buying decisions are increasingly being made: inside AI tools.

Every few years, someone proclaims the death of SEO. In 2025, with AI agents embedded in every browser, document and workspace, the question has resurfaced.

So, is SEO dead?

Short answer: no. But it is evolving.

Today, buyers aren’t just using Google. They’re turning to AI co-pilots like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini and others to summarise vendors, compare options, draft RFPs, or answer specific questions about your product category.

These tools are now part of the buying unit. And so we believe that changes how B2B marketers need to think about search.

Google still matters, but it’s no longer alone at the table

Let’s start with what hasn’t changed:

• Great content still drives engagement.
• Technical health still impacts discoverability.
• Links, internal structure, and clean architecture still matter.

But here’s what has changed:

• Google is no longer the only discovery engine.
• AI answers increasingly sit above the fold, summarising multiple sources.
• Some AI tools bypass SEO rankings entirely, surfacing vendors based on inferred trust, structure, and topical relevance.

We've now seen examples where:

• Sites ranking top 5 in Google are missing from Perplexity for some relevant prompts.
• Start ups with little traditional SEO traction and very low domain authority appear in ChatGPT answers.

SEO as a discipline hasn’t died. But SEO used to be only about Google. So the context it lives in has fundamentally shifted.

It's worth noting that in Google's second quarter 2025 financial results, they saw advertising revenue grow to $71.34 billion - up about 10.4% from $64.61 billion the year prior. So it seems despite AI changing the search results page and the role out of AI mode in the US, Google is still thriving.

From search engine to co-pilot

B2B buyers are now assisted by AI co pilots embedded in tools they use every day. Microsoft Copilot, Notion AI, ChatGPT, Gemini in Google Workspace - these tools aren't just for search tasks. They’re used to:

• Ask early-stage research questions
• Compare vendors by feature or reputation
• Draft outreach emails to suppliers
• Summarise websites, analyst reports or customer reviews

They are acting like virtual team members.

In some cases, they are the first touchpoint with your brand. That means they’re not just influencing buying decisions - they are shaping the journey itself.

But in other cases, they may not drive a discovery moment but just play a supporting role instead. It's not about having to pick between 'SEO' and 'GEO' as if they are completely different unrelated things, but it is important to acknowledge some of the differences and stay on top of a brand's visibility.

Sometimes it's just about accuracy

Even if you don't believe AI search tools are driving discovery moments and tons of new traffic, why would you not want to know how your brand is being talked about, and if the LLM's understanding is accurate?

In the last few months we've seen some interesting examples of errors that needed correcting inside AI tools:

• We asked Perplexity to compare 3 software brands, and our client was incorrectly referenced as not being SOC 2 compliant when it actually is.
• We found one individual review in a Medium post from 6 years ago was being cited by ChatGPT to talk about another client, even though the review was out of date and related to a previous version of their product.
• One of our clients has a brand name similar to another company in an unrelated industry, and ChatGPT was incorrectly confusing them.

In all of these cases, we took steps to make critical corrections that were then reflected inside the respective AI tools.

It's about balance

It's not about having to pick between SEO or GEO - they are not independent from one another.

But we do believe every B2B software brand should now be considering their SEO and AI search presence side by side. Search is shifting, the Google search results page is changing and in some cases action is needed to really optimise a brand inside AI tools. A search strategy defined in 2025 should consider the full picture.

Backlinks have long been one of the most prized assets in the SEO world - the holy grail of domain authority and playing a big role in rankings. Link building was the a key lever to pull when you wanted to climb Google's search results pages.

But AI search and the world of generative engine optimisation has changed things. ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Google AI Overviews don’t display rankings. They synthesise responses. They don’t just look at keywords and backlinks - they assess information quality, structure, and context.

So where does that leave backlinks in this new world of Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) and optimising visibility inside LLMs?

Let’s unpack it.

Backlinks as a trust signal: still relevant, but not decisive

Backlinks are still part of the ecosystem. LLMs like GPT-4 and Claude have been trained on data scraped from the web - and therefore backlinks help shape how that content gets discovered and understood.

Citations still matter too. Tools like Google AI Overviews and Perplexity often reference URLs. High-authority domains tend to appear more frequently in those citations. And yes – strong backlink profiles are still a proxy for trust.

But that trust alone doesn’t guarantee inclusion in AI answers.

You could have a page with thousands of backlinks and still not be cited in a single generative response. Because it’s not just about popularity - it’s about usefulness, and AI models have an ability to align content with user intent more effectively and with less reliance on backlinks as a signal.

You might also like: What's the difference between SEO & GEO?

The data: backlinks aren't strongly correlated with AI visibility

A recent study by Seer Interactive looked at which brands are being cited most frequently in AI-generated answers - and what factors contributed to that visibility.

Their finding? There’s little to no correlation between backlink volume and brand mentions in AI answers.

In fact, some brands with modest backlink profiles were regularly referenced. Why? Because they appeared in trusted third-party content – review sites, Reddit threads, comparison pages, and practical how to guides.

These are the sources LLMs like to pull from. Not just “official” pages or blog posts with a high domain rating, but helpful content with context.

Read the full study

In the GEO world, not all links are equal

Let’s be clear: not all backlinks matter anymore.

What matters now for B2B software brands:

• Natural citations in trusted sources (G2, Gartner, community blogs)
• Brand mentions in third party roundups or comparison content from credible sources
• Mentions in user generated content (Reddit)
• Inclusion in technical documentation or analyst content

GEO is about earning inclusion - it's about citation authority, not chasing a Domain Authority score. And sometimes that can be done without needing to worry too much about backlinks.

What matters more than backlinks for GEO?

To earn influence in AI-generated answers, focus on:

• Content clarity - direct answers, scannable formats, structured layouts
• Semantic richness - fully addressing the user intent behind likely prompts
• Source credibility - getting referenced by sources LLMs already trust
• Contextual mentions - being part of wider industry discussions, reviews, and thought leadership
• Entity strength - ensuring your brand and product names are well-associated with key concepts across the web

So… do backlinks still matter?

Yes - but not in the way most SEO agencies still think.

They’re a trust amplifier, not a visibility driver.

They can support your overall domain credibility, but they won’t guarantee inclusion in AI answers. That comes from strategic deep audience intelligence, prompt alignment and content structure.

In the GEO world, backlinks are a piece of the puzzle - not the whole picture.

What we do differently at FirstMotion

At FirstMotion, we don’t chase backlinks. We chase buyer influence.

We use our proprietary ContextualJourney™ platform to map buyer prompts using lots of AI and data enrichment, all built exclusively around B2B software buyer journeys. And we use tools like Peec AI to understand where AI tools are sourcing their answers, and help our clients earn visibility at every stage of the B2B buyer journey.

B2B buyer behaviour is shifting fast - and it’s being led by generative AI.

From ChatGPT to Perplexity and Google AI Overviews, buyers are turning to AI tools to research, compare, and shortlist B2B software. This isn’t a future trend. It’s already happening.

For B2B SaaS brands, this means the traditional playbook of SEO and PPC is no longer enough. If you want to influence the journey, you need to show up inside the tools your buyers are using to guide their research or get help with making decisions.

That’s where Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) comes in.

So, what should you actually expect to see in term of results if you invest in an AI search strategy? Let’s break it down.

1. Engage buyers earlier in the journey

Buyers aren’t starting with Google anymore. They’re starting with a prompt in an AI tool like ChatGPT.

Instead of searching “best procurement software,” they’re asking:

“What are the top-rated procurement software platforms for large manufacturing companies that integrate with Microsoft and are SOC 2 compliant?”

That’s a big shift. GEO helps you identify and show up in these prompts so you can engage buyers at the point of curiosity or before they even know they need a solution - and certainly before they even know your brand name.

2. Improve visibility inside AI agents

Most companies still obsess over keyword rankings. But as search shifts, what really matters now is whether you appear inside AI generated answers.

GEO is how you increase your brand’s probability of being:

• Cited in a ChatGPT answer
• Referenced in a Perplexity source list
• Included in a Google AI Overview
• Summarised by Claude or another LLM

The companies that are already visible didn’t get there by accident. There might be some overlap with the SEO work they have already been doing, or they might be working actively on AI search.

3. Understand why your competitors are showing up

Generative engine optimisation gives you clarity on why certain competitors keep appearing in AI tools - and how to reverse-engineer their visibility.

By analysing prompts, citations, and model behaviour, you can understand:

• What types of content are being cited
• Which third party sources are trusted (e.g. G2, Reddit, Gartner)
• How you stack up by persona and prompt cluster

With this intel, you can shape your own AI search and content strategy with confidence.

4. Increase pipeline velocity

AI enabled B2B buyers are moving faster because the information they need is

They’re using LLMs to:

• Explore solutions
• Generate vendor checklists
• Compare features side by side
• Draft RFPs
• Analyse customer reviews
• Create evaluation scorecards

By aligning your content to those interactions, you’re reducing friction and helping buyers move from research to action. This means fewer surprises in sales conversations and faster consensus across the buying group.

5. Reduce dependency on SEO and PPC

GEO doesn’t replace SEO or PPC - but it makes your growth more durable. In many cases we believe B2B buyers are using AI alongside Google searches. But we're almost certain that AI assistants are playing some role at some point in the buying journey.

By building visibility inside the answers themselves, you:

• Future proof against declining click through rates
• Lower paid search costs by capturing interest earlier
• Stop chasing keyword rankings that no longer drive ROI

The Search Results Page is changing fast. AI Mode is on the way. It's unclear how paid ads are going to play a role in the future of search or inside AI tools.

6. Shift from random acts of content to strategic orchestration

Most content strategies still look like scatterguns.

GEO forces discipline. It helps you:

• Map prompts by buyer persona and journey stage
• Create content with defined strategic roles
• Coordinate content production across marketing, sales and product

This is how you stop creating content for the sake of it, and start creating it in a way which aligns it with real buyer intent.

7. Improve alignment across your go-to-market teams

When you go deep into understanding what buyers might be asking AI tools at each buyer journey stage, you can:

• Help sales anticipate and respond to questions
• Inform product of common feature gaps or confusions
• Coordinate marketing messaging across channels

We see AI search supporting the length of the B2B buyer journey - it isn’t just a visibility play. It’s can be a glue between functions.

8. Deliver measurable insights to leadership

If you want executive buy in for GEO, it starts with data. If traffic from Google in decline and you don't have a plan - now is the time.

We use tools like Peec AI to help companies:

• Track brand visibility in AI answers
• Benchmark inclusion against competitors
• Monitor prompt-level performance
• Prove influence across the funnel

But even just using Google Search Console might give you some early insights into shifting B2B search behaviour. Generative engine optimisation can give marketing teams the evidence they need to lead in the boardroom.

9. Build an AI-first marketing function

GEO is a forcing function for modernisation.

It pushes teams to:

• Rethink how they create and measure content
• Embrace AI-powered research, planning, and publishing
• Collaborate across silos using shared audience intelligence

The result? A future-fit marketing function that can keep pace with how buyers actually behave and is fully AI enabled.

Many SaaS brands are already seeing the “crocodile” in their Search Console – impressions going up, clicks going down.

That’s often the result of AI Overviews giving users the information they need without clicking through to a website.

A GEO strategy helps you respond, adapt, and regain influence. And while attribution is imperfect today, it’s getting clearer fast. Google, OpenAI, and others will continue improving visibility analytics.

But if you wait for perfect data, your competitors will have already taken the lead.

At FirstMotion, we help enterprise B2B SaaS companies build GEO strategies that:

• Increase AI search visibility
• Map prompts & content strategy to buyer stages
• Connect content to commercial outcomes

If you're ready to get started, we’re ready to help.

The way buyers search is changing fast. And if you're a B2B marketing leader still relying solely on traditional SEO, you might already be falling behind.

Tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews are rewriting how B2B buyers discover, explore, and evaluate software. That means your marketing strategy – and budget – needs to adapt.

But how do you make the case for investing in something as new as Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO)? How do you balance investment alongside 'traditional SEO', especially when the data is still catching up?

This post gives you a structured way to build that business case and make AI search/GEO a priority in your marketing roadmap.

1. Start by reframing the risk

Working on GEO/AI SEO isn’t about taking a bet on a new channel.

It’s about responding to a structural change in buyer behaviour.

Millions of users are already turning to AI assistants like ChatGPT and Perplexity instead of Google. Gartner predicts that by 2026, traditional search volume could drop by 25%.

Team's need to ask what’s the bigger risk?

• Investing early and learning fast?
• Or staying static while buyers migrate to a channel you’re invisible in?

2. Use lots of data

We're seeing this shift already reflected in real world data, and data is powerful when it comes to building your AI search investment case:

• Studies from Ahrefs, Semrush, TollBit, Similarweb, and others show clicks from Google are dropping
• AI generated answers are taking up more space in the SERPs
• Zero-click behaviour is rising

Meanwhile, tools like Peec AI are beginning to give us real visibility into how often brands appear in ChatGPT and Perplexity answers.

If you're looking for some statistics on the growth of AI post, see our post here. We also run the largest collated live and updated database of AI search research and studies here.

3. Zoom out and anchor it in buyer journey impact

AI assistants aren’t just top of funnel tools and 'visibility'. Visibility is a fluffy metric unlikely to get sign off from a CFO.

AI assistants are becoming B2B buyer enablement co-pilots across the entire buyer journey.

Buyers might be:

• Asking ChatGPT which vendors to shortlist
• Getting instant summaries from Perplexity about product pros and cons
• Using Claude to draft evaluation frameworks and RFPs

This is happening across every stage:

• Problem identification: “Why are our sales cycles getting longer in enterprise SaaS?”
• Solution exploration: “What platforms can automate B2B intent data capture?”
• Requirements building: “What should we ask vendors in a demo of an ABM platform?”
• Supplier evaluation: “Compare 6sense vs Demandbase for large deal ABM.”

The business case starts by showing that AI search isn’t a new channel – it’s now where much of the B2B buyer journey takes place.

Even if buyers are still using Google - there's a good chance that somewhere in the buyer journey, a persona is going to use an AI assistant at some point to guide them, validate their thinking, help with a task or assist with evaluation.

4. Highlight how traditional SEO is becoming less reliable

SEO traffic reports might still look healthy - but dig deeper, and you’ll often find:

• Rankings are holding, but traffic is falling
• Impressions are rising, but clicks are flat

Why? Because AI Overviews and AI assistants are are giving users the information they need without them ever needing to click through to a website.

AI search is cannibalising traditional SEO results. And unless you're adapting, your returns are diminishing. If you already have signs of this happening in your search console account or SEO data, it's critical to include it in your business case.

Keep an eye out for the so called crocodile effect!

5. Translate GEO investment into revenue outcomes

Don’t position GEO as a visibility project. Position it as a revenue growth lever.

Explain how investing in GEO can might be able to help with:

• Influence buyers earlier in the journey
• Build preference before the demo request
• Increase brand recall when it comes to RFPs
• Reduce drop-off by answering objections preemptively
• Speed up the sales cycle

At FirstMotion, we position GEO not just as AI SEO - but as buyer enablement in the AI era.

It might be that you already have some traffic being referred from ChatGPT that you can see in analytics, and you may even be getting conversions - make sure you include any data you have in your business case.

6. Link it to your broader marketing strategy

A generative engine optimisation strategy doesn’t sit in a silo. It aligns with your existing initiatives and so it's important to tie AI search into the wider marketing mix in your business case:

• Content marketing: Repurpose assets into prompt relevant formats
• Demand generation: Meet buyers earlier and influence downstream
• ABM: Shape personalised AI journeys for your high value accounts
• Attribution: Track influence across the 'dark funnel' using tools like Peec and proxy metrics
• PPC: reduce the reliance on paid performance channels, lower CAC longer term
• SEO: future proof your search strategy, reducing reliance on declining SEO clicks

This is about evolving your full funnel strategy, not replacing anything.

7. How to spot if AI search is already impacting your traffic

You don’t need new tools to spot the early signs. Start with Google Search Console.

Look for:

• Clicks falling while rankings hold steady: AI Overviews could be taking the traffic
• Impressions up, clicks down: The ‘crocodile mouth’ of AI disruption
• Brand searches rising with fewer landing page clicks: Users saw your brand in AI and came later
• Higher bounce rates: They got their answer before they got to you

If you’re seeing any of these, it’s time to act. For more on this, see our post here.

8. Build your business case around readiness, not perfection

Your exec team may want to see numbers. That’s fair.

But your job is to help them see what’s coming, not just what’s measurable today.

Frame the case around:

• Competitive advantage - be early, be visible, be cited
• Buyer access - influence more of the journey
• Strategic readiness - test and learn before it’s urgent
• Revenue impact - align to pipeline, not just rankings
• AI future proofing - be prepared as AI evolves

AI assistants like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google’s AI Overviews are reshaping how B2B software buyers discover and evaluate solutions. Traditional SEO agencies aren’t always built for this new reality. You need a partner that understands Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) - and more importantly, understands B2B SaaS, complex buying journeys, and how AI assistants now influence decisions long before anyone reaches your website.

Here’s what to look for when choosing a GEO agency with strong B2B SaaS & Software credentials.

You can download our GEO/AI SEO agency evaluation scorecard here: Download [doc]

1. Proven results in generative visibility and a focus on revenue outcomes

Any agency can show you keyword rankings and traffic graphs. That’s not enough anymore.

Look for a partner that can show evidence of visibility in AI generated answers from ChatGPT and Perplexity to Google AI Overviews. Ask to see how they track prompts, citations, and competitor coverage using tools like Peec AI. Ask to understand their methodology, and how they are approaching the process of improving AI search performance.

2. A focus on revenue outcomes

But visibility isn’t the end goal. You want an agency that connects AI presence to real commercial outcomes: buyer influence earlier in the journey, more qualified leads and stronger pipeline.

AI search is still evolving and attribution sometimes difficult, but you need an agency with the right mindset and that speaks your language.

At FirstMotion, we believe AI search is changing the entire length of the B2B buyer journey - not just initial discovery. It's our goal to prove that AI search can be a revenue driver for B2B software brands, not just a visibility measure.

3. A deep understanding of how LLMs actually work

Generative Engine Optimisation is not just SEO with new keywords. You need a partner that understands:

• How LLMs cite and reference content
• The importance of structured data and clean formatting
• The sources models trust (e.g. G2, Reddit, Gartner, community forums)
• How prompts vary by buyer role and journey stage

GEO is about earning influence, not just publishing content. AI search is more technical than ever, and so an agency partner should have proven technology credentials.

LLMs are new and the world changing fast - so you can't expect a partner to always have answers. This is no different to SEO and algorithm changes. But you should expect them to always be learning, testing, sharing their insights, and have a clear B2B focused methodology for approaching the AI SEO landscape.

4. Fluency in B2B SaaS buyer behaviour

Generic content doesn’t win in AI search. The best GEO strategies are built around audience intelligence.

That means:

• Mapping the decision-making unit, not just personas
• Understanding long sales cycles and complex buying processes
• Aligning prompts to buyer roles, not just funnel stages

Your agency should speak your language – ACVs, RFPs, compliance risks, enablement content, analyst briefings. Not just keywords and blog posts.

At FirstMotion, we're unique in having our own ContextualJourney™ AI search audience intelligence platform to help us deeply understand buyer behaviour as we shape AI SEO strategies and map/align prompts.

5. Strategic alignment with your marketing goals

AI search doesn’t sit in isolation. It feeds into brand, content, demand generation, ABM and revenue marketing.

The right agency won’t just deliver tasks. They’ll act as an extension of your team, helping you:

• Prioritise the right prompts based on intent
• Build content that supports both AI and human journeys
• Make smart bets based on research and data
• Translate visibility into buyer influence and pipeline

If they don't understand your goals as a B2B marketer, they can’t help you meet them.

6. Built for experimentation and rapid change

The AI search space is evolving every week. You need a partner who’s:

• Testing LLM behaviour in real-time
• Tracking changes to AI visibility across a large number of prompts
• Monitoring shifts in prompt phrasing and source influence

At FirstMotion, we treat GEO like a living system, not a set-and-forget checklist. We maintain the largest up to date database of GEO/AI SEO research studies as well as carrying out our own visibility index reports.

7. Modern, AI-first delivery model (not the old agency playbook)

Most SEO agencies are built on bloated account teams, manual reporting, and recycled strategies.

FirstMotion is different. With our founder having previously built and sold a SEO agency in the pre-AI era, we're building FirstMotion differently, firmly believing that the traditional agency model is dead.

We’re AI first, lean by design, and powered by our proprietary ContextualJourney™ platform. That means:

• No layers of account managers slowing you down
• Leaner, faster delivery
• A focus on consultancy and client empowerment
• Real time insight, automation, and buyer contextual strategies

Our goal is to combine consultancy grade thinking with technology grade speed.

8. Transparent tracking and reporting

You can’t manage what you can’t measure. Your agency should:

• Show you which prompts you’re visible for
• Break down your inclusion in different LLMs
• Track changes in citation sources and formats
• Benchmark you against competitors
• Iterate quickly

We use tools like Peec AI and integrate with your broader analytics stack to give full funnel visibility.

9. Proven track record by a B2B SEO leader

FirstMotion was founded by Alex Price, who previously built and sold one of the UK’s leading B2B SEO agencies. His agency led enterprise SEO strategies for brands like:

• Amazon
• Inmarsat
• SparkCognition
• Nexthink
• Amplitude
• Vertex
• Qt
• SuperAwesome
• Codat
• NetDocuments
• Sitecore
• Peak AI

FirstMotion's B2B software credentials run deep.

10. Ability to help with 'traditional SEO'

We're in a shift at the moment - Google is still the most used search engine, but AI usage and traffic is increasing, and expected to continue to do so.

So it might be important for you to have an agency or consultancy partner that can help with your 'traditional SEO' strategy too. A good AI focused search agency should have its roots in SEO, and therefore be able to assist with both - keeping your agency roster simple, reducing the number of partners you have to manage and making sure SEO and GEO are aligned - which makes a lot of sense given how they overlap in many areas.

Conclusion: AI SEO is a strategic capability

Choosing the right GEO agency or consultancy is one of the most important decisions a B2B SaaS brand will make over the next 12 months. It’s the difference between showing up in the next wave of AI-native buying journeys.

You can download our GEO/AI SEO agency evaluation scorecard here: Download [doc]

At FirstMotion, we help B2B software companies turn buyer understanding into prompt strategy, prompt strategy into AI visibility, and AI visibility into pipeline.

In the old world of B2B marketing, your website was the main event. Buyers Googled their way to your homepage, clicked through carefully structured landing pages, filled out forms, and got nurtured through the funnel.

But that playbook is collapsing.

It seems we're heading for the zero click (or at least the 'very few click') era - a world where perhaps lots of the buyer journey takes place without a single visit to your site. Where AI assistants like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Overviews act as the primary research layer. Where answers are synthesised and surfaced directly in the AI tools your buyers are already using.

So if your website isn’t the starting point anymore, what is it?

Maybe it's your final impression.

Your website is no longer the beginning – it’s the handshake

By the time someone reaches your homepage, they may already have:

• Asked ChatGPT for a shortlist of solutions
• Read reviews on G2 or Capterra
• Compared features in Perplexity
• Evaluated you through Reddit or LinkedIn threads
• Checked analyst commentary in Gartner or Forrester

All or lots of this information may have been served up to them without ever having left the chat with their AI assistant of choice. It gets them everything they need and delivers it to them in one centralised location where they can continue to interrogate it, clarify things, ask for more follow information etc. It's clear that this is a much improved research experience for the buyer when comparted to the old world of opening lots of sites, adding them to a spreadsheet, manually taking notes and so on.

In other words: they’ve done their homework without you. Now they’re looking for a final confirmation. A spark of confidence. A moment of clarity. An emotional hook.

Your site now serves two audiences: humans & machines

In the AI-powered B2B software buyer journey, your website has a split role:

• For AI assistants: provide clear, structured, citable content. That means:
  • Semantic markup (schema, FAQs, definitions)
  • Declarative answers (not marketing fluff)
  • Author pages, citations, source clarity
  • Explicit product details, integrations, and positioning
• For humans: deliver a differentiated, memorable experience. That means:
  • Clear navigation and messaging hierarchy
  • Standout brand impact, creative and UX design
  • Memorable experience
  • Visual trust signals (logos, quotes, stats, awards)
  • Emotional resonance and storytelling

If you only focus on one audience, you’ll lose the other. You need both.

Creativity is no longer optional - it’s your edge

When every category starts to feel the same in AI answers, your brand becomes the differentiator.

If a buyer lands on your site after already seeing summaries of your competitors, your job is to break the pattern.

• Surprise them with bold messaging
• Use interaction, motion, and emotion
• Tell stories, not just specs
• Make it memorable enough to stick

This isn’t fluff - it’s conversion science for a new age of research and reference.

So what now? A creative renaissance for B2B websites?

As AI search continues to grow and a greater amount of the B2B buyer journey takes place without a website visit, perhaps it's time to refocus your website as mainly serving the last mile of the buyer journey.

But this shift isn’t something to fear. It’s an opportunity.

If the AI assistant handles the facts, your website can finally focus on what AI can’t do: make people feel something.

At FirstMotion, we think this could be the beginning of a creative renaissance in B2B SaaS website design. A chance to break free from the rinse-and-repeat grid of safe, samey websites. A powerful chance to stand out.

When the functional job of 'providing information' (whatever that might mean) is already handled by ChatGPT or Perplexity, your site can go beyond clarity. It can be bold. Emotional. Artful. A true expression of your brand’s personality, not just its product.

This doesn’t mean sacrificing usability - it means pairing substance with soul. Being clear and courageous. If buyers already have the facts, your job is to leave an impression they’ll remember.

The AI age doesn’t kill creativity. It demands it.

Your website’s moment isn’t gone - it might just come later in the journey. And when it comes, it had better hit hard.

The B2B software buyer journey has changed. And not just a little bit. Thanks to AI search tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Google AI Overviews, it’s being fundamentally rewritten.

For years, marketers optimised for traditional search engines by aligning content with keywords. But AI search doesn’t behave like Google. There are no search result pages with ten blue links, no fixed rankings, and no linear journey.

And that changes everything. Welcome to the new world of AI native B2B SaaS & software buyer journeys.

The emergence of AI search in B2B research

AI tools are being used across the B2B buying journey as buyer enablement co-pilots, answer engines, and recommendation engines.

• Users are bypassing Google to ask ChatGPT directly for recommendations
• Google’s own AI Overviews are pushing traditional organic listings further down the page
• Models are citing trusted sources, not necessarily the brands themselves

In short, there are now entire buying journeys happening that brands have much reduced visibility of. This is the new B2B dark funnel.

At FirstMotion, we see AI tools as being inside the B2B decision making unit. They are part of the buying unit, providing guidance, counsel, advice and active assistance as B2B buyers navigate their buying journey.

How AI assistants shift behaviour at each journey stage

AI might not be always be changing what buyers search buyers search for, but it's certainly changing how they search.

Problem identification
Buyers are turning to AI assistants to articulate challenges, validate pain points, or explore peer experiences:

• “As a CISO at a mid-sized fintech company expanding into the EU, what are the common third-party risk challenges I should be aware of going into 2025?”
• “How do in-house legal teams at high-growth SaaS companies typically manage visibility and control over contract renewals across departments without relying on shared drives or email threads?”

Solution exploration
Buyers use LLMs to map the landscape of solutions based on their specific context:

• “What tools are used by growth-stage cybersecurity companies to automate ongoing SaaS vendor risk assessments while maintaining ISO 27001 compliance?”
• “Compare Ironclad, LinkSquares, ContractPodAi, and SpotDraft specifically for legal teams in B2B SaaS companies with 200–500 employees that need Google Workspace and Salesforce integrations.”

Requirements building
LLMs help buyers define the scope and specifics of what they actually need:

• “What features should a legal team prioritise in CLM software if we’re aiming to automate fallback clauses, track negotiation workflows, and ensure version control across sales and procurement?”
• “We’re preparing an RFP for an enterprise DAM platform – what technical requirements, integration capabilities, and user access controls should we specify for a distributed marketing team operating across three global regions?”

Supplier evaluation
Buyers are now getting multi-dimensional comparisons based on their role, goals and constraints:

• “As the VP of Legal in a late-stage tech company preparing for IPO, which CLM platform is rated highest for rapid deployment, scalability, and audit readiness – LinkSquares, Ironclad, or ContractWorks?”
• “What do in-house counsel teams in 500+ employee SaaS companies typically say in reviews about the quality of implementation support and ease of adoption when comparing Ironclad to SpotDraft?”

It's important to notice that these prompts are longer, more contextual, and more reflective of real decision making than 'SEO keywords' ever were.

Read more: What AI prompts should B2B software brands optimise for?

AI tools aren't just providing information

AI assistants like ChatGPT are no longer just search engines in disguise. They’re not simply surfacing content or summarising articles - they’re actively doing the work sometimes.

In B2B marketing, this shift is subtle but profound.

Buyers aren’t just asking for lists of tools or pros and cons anymore. They’re using AI to create the artefacts that drive purchase decisions:

• Researching how other similar businesses might be solving similar problems
• Creating business cases for investing in a new solution
• Drafting full RFPs tailored to internal requirements
• Building vendor comparison frameworks with weighted criteria
• Generating scoring models for evaluating product demos
• Creating checklists for compliance or technical due diligence
• Drafting internal summaries for board or budget approval

This means the assistant isn’t just part of the research phase - it’s shaping the actual decision making process.

If your content, product positioning, and proof points aren’t being picked up, understood, and incorporated by these tools, you’re not just missing traffic - you’re missing influence at the most critical moment.

B2B marketers now need to think beyond visibility. You need to ask:
“Is my brand showing up in the outputs buyers are taking into meetings?”

That’s a very different game. And winning it starts with understanding buyer behaviour and ensuring your information is findable, credible, and structurally usable by AI.

Why audience intelligence is more important than ever

Because buyers are using AI assistants like humans - in plain English, in long form, with detail - your prompt strategy is only as strong as your understanding of the buyer.

At FirstMotion, we use our ContextualJourney™ technology platform to:

• Map real companies and their buying units
• Identify individual personas and their needs, pain points, triggers etc
• Enrich the ICP & persona data with AI & various sources such as review data, analyst research
• Align likely prompts across each buyer journey stage
• Generate prompts that may be used across each stage of the buyer journey

Prompt strategy without buyer context is guesswork. We don’t do guesswork.

Implications for B2B content strategy

This shift in buyer behaviour, and the role AI tools are playing across the full length of the B2B buyer journey, demands a new B2B SEO/content strategy approach:

• Answer full questions, not just keywords
• Provide structured, scannable content that LLMs can parse
• Focus on semantic depth over SEO fluff
• Align all content with ICP, persona & buyer stage
• Think about usable assets that can assist the buyer journey - checklists, templates, spreadsheets etc

If ChatGPT is building your buyer’s shortlist, your content needs to shape the answer.

Why visibility tracking is now critical

With AI search, you can’t just rely on Google Analytics to tell you what’s happening.

We use tools like Peec AI to:

• Monitor how often your brand appears in AI answers
• Track changes in inclusion over time
• Compare against competitors
• Spot which prompts are driving the most visibility
• Understand the sources of influence and content that LLMs reference

Generative engine optimisation isn’t about a specific ranking position - it’s about the probability of being visible - and that's a big shift in mindset for lots of B2B marketers.

What B2B SaaS marketers need to do

To keep up with the shifting buyer journey, B2B software marketers should:

• Map their ICPs, personas, and journey stages
• Identify and map prompts at each stage
• Audit prompt visibility using specialist tools
• Create content aligned with buyer needs and language
• Optimise for influence, not just presence
• Monitor and iterate continuously

The AI search revolution isn’t coming. It’s already here.

B2B buyers are researching, evaluating, and shortlisting using AI assistants as their one source of truth and buyer enablement co-pilot - from 'first prompt' through to 'closed won'. If your strategy doesn’t adapt, your brand risks becoming invisible.

At FirstMotion, we help enterprise B2B SaaS & software brands navigate the shift from SEO to the new world of AI native B2B buyer journeys. Check out our recent post if you need help building your business case to invest in AI search.