Your buyers stopped searching. They ask.
For twenty years the first move was a Google search. Now, for half of B2B buyers, it's a question typed into an AI tool, and the answer is a shortlist of three to five names.
WHERE YOUR BUYERS ARE ASKING NOW
Claude
Gemini
Perplexity
Grok
Google AI
Copilot
Meta AI0%
of B2B software buyers start research with an AI chatbot more often than Google, up from 29% a year earlier.
G2, 2026
0%
say AI chatbots are the single biggest influence on their shortlist, ahead of review sites and vendor websites.
G2, 2026
0%
bought from a company they'd never heard of because an AI named it.
G2, 2026
Interactive · click each step
How AI builds an answer
BUYER ASKS
Old search vs AI search
Why ranking on Google doesn't get you in
Only a small share of the pages AI cites also sit on Google's first page. You can rank first and still be missing from every AI answer.
GOOGLE · 10 BLUE LINKS
The buyer clicks, compares and decides.
AI · ONE ANSWER
For startups, the strongest options are Firm A, Firm B and Your company [1][2][3]. Firm A is best for…
AI decides the shortlist. The buyer never sees the other seven.
Quick self-check
The five things AI checks. How do you stack up?
01
Can it reach you?
Crawler access, speed, schema.
02
Can it quote you?
Pages shaped like answers.
03
Does it know who you are?
The same facts about you everywhere.
04
Do others vouch for you?
Reviews, directories, communities.
05
Is there proof?
Sourced claims, press, case studies.