Half of B2B buyers start in AI chat. Will it quote your brand?
Yuri VonchitzkiUpdated 5 min readIn the months before November 2025, several of my sales calls started with the same line: "We found out about you from ChatGPT." G2 research confirmed what we saw on the ground.
Half of B2B software buyers now begin their search in an AI chatbot instead of Google Search, according to a G2 survey of more than 1,000 buyers published in October 2025. The AI answer is now the front door to your funnel, not your blog. To get through that door, a company needs deep, opinionated content that AI tools can quote, on its own site and on G2 and Reddit.
What G2 found about how B2B buyers search
The G2 research gives two numbers that every B2B marketer should know:
- 50% of B2B software buyers begin their buying journey in an AI chatbot, not in Google Search.
- 87% of buyers say AI chatbots are changing the way they research.
A third number, from a different study, matters too: 72% of B2B tech buyers saw Google's AI Overviews during their research, according to the TrustRadius report covered by Digital Commerce 360. AI Overviews are the AI-generated summaries that Google shows above the classic list of links.
Google is still part of the process. But more and more, Google works as plumbing under an AI layer. The AI answer is the surface that buyers see. This is no longer fringe behavior. It is the default pattern.
Why do B2B buyers prefer AI chat to Google?
Buyers prefer AI chat because it answers their exact situation in seconds. A buyer can ask a specific, contextual question, for example: "Which CRM fits a 10-person agency with usage-based pricing and a short sales cycle?" The AI gives back one synthesized, opinionated answer.
With Google, the same buyer has to click through ten SEO-optimized posts. They skim each one, compare the options and build the answer themselves. AI chat removes that work.
| Google Search | AI chat (ChatGPT and similar tools) | |
|---|---|---|
| What the buyer types | A keyword | A full question with their context |
| What the buyer gets | Ten blue links to compare | One synthesized, opinionated answer |
| Who does the research | The buyer | The AI |
| What wins for a vendor | Ranking for a keyword | Being cited in the answer |
Where do AI tools get their answers about vendors?
AI tools lean on two trusted data sources: verified user reviews on G2 and unfiltered conversations on Reddit. G2 itself says that AI-powered search engines prioritize user-generated content from trusted sources, and in October 2025 it announced a partnership with Reddit to bring software brands into Reddit communities. Reddit is one of ChatGPT's two most-cited domains, according to a Semrush study of more than 100 million AI citations. So when someone asks an AI for the "best automation platform for a 20-person team," the AI leans heavily on Reddit, and in my experience on G2 as well.
Vendors that answer key buyer questions clearly get cited more often. That applies to answers on the vendor's own site and to answers on third-party platforms.
The uncomfortable question for every business is simple. If ChatGPT summarizes Reddit threads and G2 reviews, what happens when your brand is not in those sources? Or worse, what happens when only your competitors are there?
I saw the other side of this risk at Ninjabot: an AI can cite you and still describe you wrong. I wrote about that in AI recommended us for the wrong thing.
How AI search changes your organic traffic
AI search moves your top-of-funnel organic traffic away from the "10 blue links" and into AI Overviews and chatbot answers. The shift is quiet. In the short term, being cited becomes more important than ranking for a specific keyword.
Over the next few years, buyers will treat AI search as a meta-layer. That layer combines your website, your G2 profile, your Reddit footprint and your customer content into one narrative about your product. You do not control that narrative directly. You control only the sources it reads.
How to become the source that AI search quotes
AI search does not kill content, it kills lazy content. The goal is to be the most quotable source in your niche, not the most prolific one. For a company under 200 people, that means four steps.
- Stop producing thin, generic SEO articles. AI answers replace the clicks these articles used to win, so their value drops. Move that budget and time to fewer, deeper assets.
- Publish deep, opinionated assets on your own site. Write sharp guides that take a position. Share real benchmarks. Tell detailed customer stories. These are the assets an AI can quote because nobody else has them.
- Answer key buyer questions clearly. Vendors that answer clearly get cited more often. Put the direct answer first, in plain words, so an AI can lift it without rewriting it.
- Repurpose each asset on G2, Reddit and in communities. Turn the guide into Reddit answers. Ask customers for G2 reviews. Post the benchmark in community threads. The result: LLMs find your expertise in the sources they trust when your ideal buyer types the next question into ChatGPT.
To check how AI assistants describe your business today, and what to fix on your website first, read If ChatGPT can't describe you, it won't recommend you.
The bottom line
Half of your B2B buyers start their search with an AI, and that AI reads G2, Reddit and your own site before it answers. Thin, generic content no longer brings those buyers to you. Deep, opinionated, experience-rich assets, spread across several platforms, put your brand into the answer.
Build a calmer business,Yuri
Frequently asked questions
Do B2B buyers use ChatGPT instead of Google to find software?
Many do. A G2 survey of more than 1,000 B2B software buyers, published in October 2025, shows that half of them begin their search in an AI chatbot instead of Google Search, and 87% say AI chatbots are changing the way they research. Google still matters, but more and more it works as plumbing under an AI layer that buyers see first.
Where do AI tools like ChatGPT get their answers about B2B software vendors?
AI tools draw heavily on two trusted sources: verified user reviews on G2 and unfiltered conversations on Reddit. In October 2025, G2 and Reddit announced a partnership that brings software brands from G2 into Reddit communities. When a buyer asks for the best automation platform for a 20-person team, the AI leans heavily on those sources (a Semrush study of more than 100 million AI citations puts Reddit among ChatGPT's two most-cited domains), so a brand that is missing from G2 and Reddit is easy to leave out.
How can a small B2B company get cited by AI search engines?
A B2B company under 200 people gets cited by becoming the most quotable source in its niche, not the most prolific. Publish sharp, opinionated guides, real benchmarks and detailed customer stories on your own site. Answer key buyer questions clearly. Then repurpose those assets into Reddit answers, G2 reviews and community posts that LLMs can quote.
Does AI search make SEO content useless?
AI search does not kill content, it kills lazy content. Thin, generic SEO articles lose value because AI answers replace the ten blue links that sent traffic to them. Deep, experience-rich assets spread across a company website, G2 and Reddit gain value, because AI tools quote them when they build an answer for a buyer.