Your Patrons Are Utilizing AI to Discover Software program. This is What They’re Trusting.

In response to the G2 2026 AI Search Perception Report, 51% of B2B software program consumers now begin their analysis with an AI chatbot extra typically than with Google. Seven months in the past, that quantity was 36%. It is nonetheless climbing.

That is how the software program purchaser’s journey begins, and it occurs in actual time throughout 1000’s of prompts working by way of ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Perplexity, and Gemini, on daily basis.

One other stat that ought to make each advertising chief cease scrolling: 69% of B2B software program consumers ended up selecting a unique vendor than they initially anticipated. And 33% bought from a model they’d by no means even heard of — due to what an AI chatbot really helpful.

The shopping for journey hasn’t simply shifted. It is forked. And most manufacturers have not seen which fork their consumers took. We analyzed our Profound MCP and G2 MCP information to assist software program sellers get an entire image of the customer journey and the indicators software program consumers belief. This is what the information reveals — and what it means for each software program vendor attempting to point out up earlier than the shortlist is about.

TL;DR

AI has quietly changed Google as the primary cease within the B2B software program shopping for journey and the manufacturers exhibiting up aren’t those with the largest budgets.
The belief sign that makes or breaks your AI visibility is not what most advertising groups are centered on proper now.
G2’s information throughout three software program classes reveals a sample that modifications how it’s best to take into consideration your assessment technique.

The entrance door for software program shopping for and promoting simply modified

In 2025, AI search was shrinking the shortlist. However now, it is writing it earlier than your gross sales crew ever enters the room.

As we speak, a advertising chief sorts a immediate into ChatGPT: “greatest [your category] software program for enterprise groups.” Your model does not seem, however a competitor’s would possibly. What consumers are doing inside these chat home windows issues as a lot as the truth that they’re there. They don’t seem to be searching. They arrive with intent:

33% of consumers open with class comparability queries — “greatest CRM for enterprise” or “prime advertising automation instruments”
31% begin with competitor-based prompts — they’re already naming names
8 in 10 say AI accelerated their buying choice

[Source: G2 2026 AI Search Insight Report]

The shortlist is forming earlier than your web site even hundreds.

Supply: G2 inside information through Profound, March–June 2026

That is what makes it pressing for advertising leaders particularly: Your model’s first impression, its aggressive positioning, the way it stacks up in opposition to options — all of it’s more and more being fashioned inside an AI reply. Not in your web site. Not in a gross sales deck.

See additionally: MQLs Are Lifeless: Why AI Search Simply Killed Your Outdated Funnel

In response to G2’s 2026 AI Search Perception Report, 45% of software program consumers say a quotation from a assessment web site is the only most confidence-inspiring sign in an AI reply. Assessment websites rank because the no. 2 supply influencing purchaser shortlists general, sitting simply behind AI chatbots themselves.

And relating to which assessment platform AI trusts most in software program, the information is evident. G2 is essentially the most cited B2B software program platform in AI search, with 22.4% affect on software-related queries throughout ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Mode — based mostly on an impartial evaluation of 30,000 AI citations by Kevin Indig, progress advisor at G2.

💡 Do you know?

G2 receives a median of 1.53 million every day AI citations throughout software program class searches — a virtually 3x enhance in point out quantity since March 2026. The manufacturers showing in these citations are those with the deepest peer assessment foundations of their classes.

Supply: G2 inside information through Profound, monitoring quotation quantity throughout 1,668 software program classes, March–June 2026

We have been monitoring this shift for some time. After we first analyzed how G2 itself will get ranked in AI LLM search, the sample was already forming. The info has since confirmed that the platforms AI trusts most aren’t those with the largest budgets behind them. They’re those with the deepest, most verified peer indicators, and people indicators are constructed assessment by assessment.

We needed to see what that appears like in observe, so we pulled class stage information.

The sample we seen throughout three classes

We needed to see if the information held past concept. So we checked out three software program classes on G2 — Reply Engine Optimization, website positioning Instruments, and Advertising and marketing — and in contrast the manufacturers, their assessment counts, their scores, and the way G2 confirmed up in AI search when consumers searched in these classes.

To place it to the take a look at, we pulled G2 and Profound MCP information throughout three software program classes — Reply Engine Optimization, website positioning Instruments, and Advertising and marketing — and measured assessment quantity, star scores, and G2’s AI visibility rating for every. The query: does a deeper assessment basis truly transfer the needle on AI visibility?

Be aware: This evaluation attracts on G2’s product catalog information and G2’s AI search quotation monitoring throughout 1,668 software program classes through Profound, March 1–June 3, 2026. AI visibility scores replicate G2’s quotation prominence when consumers search these classes throughout AI platforms. (Supply: G2 inside information through Profound)

Reply Engine Optimization (AEO) G2’s AI search visibility rating (consumers looking this class in ChatGPT): 8.53 (Supply: G2 inside information through Profound, March–June 2026)

Product	G2 Critiques	Star Score
Semrush	3,878	★ 4.5
Similarweb	1,167	★ 4.4
Profound	959	★ 4.5
AirOps	122	★ 4.6
Visby AI	96	★ 4.8

Supply: G2 product catalog information through G2 MCP

The best-rated product on this class has 40 instances fewer evaluations than essentially the most reviewed one. In a class the place G2’s AI visibility rating is 8.53 out of 10, the assessment hole between merchandise is putting — and per G2’s evaluation of 30,000 AI citations, assessment quantity is among the strongest predictors of how confidently AI recommends a product.

Seems that the manufacturers consumers love most of their evaluations aren’t all the time those exhibiting up when somebody asks an AI chatbot for a advice.

website positioning Instruments G2’s AI search visibility rating (consumers looking this class in ChatGPT): 7.58 (Supply: G2 inside information through Profound, March–June 2026)

Product	G2 Critiques	Star Score
Birdeye	4,065	★ 4.7
Semrush	3,878	★ 4.5
SE Rating	1,562	★ 4.8
BrightEdge	818	★ 4.4
Conductor	773	★ 4.5

Supply: G2 product catalog information through G2 MCP

SE Rating, for instance, carries the very best star score on this group and fewer than half the evaluations of the 2 leaders. In a class as established and aggressive as website positioning instruments, what does it truly take to maneuver from being well-reviewed to being well-represented in AI solutions?

The info does not inform us how any particular person product seems in AI solutions. However throughout 500 G2 classes, the sample is constant: Classes and merchandise with deeper assessment foundations get cited extra typically. Star score alone does not transfer that needle.

Advertising and marketing (Advertising and marketing Automation, Analytics, and Technique) G2’s AI search visibility rating (consumers looking this class in ChatGPT): 8.92, the very best of the three (Supply: G2 inside information through Profound, March–June 2026)

Advertising and marketing generated extra AI search mentions than the opposite two classes mixed — greater than 32,000 ChatGPT mentions tracked in the identical window. [Source: G2 internal data via Profound] It is essentially the most energetic class for AI-driven software program discovery proper now, which makes it essentially the most aggressive for any model attempting to point out up.

Throughout three classes, the identical query saved surfacing: Does an amazing star score translate to AI visibility? Or does one thing else drive it? Kevin Indig’s evaluation of 30,000 AI citations throughout 500 G2 classes provides a transparent reply — classes with 10% extra evaluations see roughly 2% extra AI citations, which is a compounding benefit.

Star scores inform consumers how good a product is. Assessment quantity tells AI how trusted a product is in addition to how confidently to suggest it. These aren’t the identical sign. Proper now, most manufacturers are optimizing for the improper one.

Assessment indicators drive discovery. However there is a second drawback: AI is not all the time proper, and consumers realize it.

64% of consumers encounter AI errors: This is their security web

AEO is the extra intentional cousin of website positioning, and belief is earned, not manufactured. AI search is not infallible, and consumers realize it. However the place do they search for belief when AI fails them?

64% of B2B software program consumers encounter AI inaccuracies incessantly — weekly or extra. [Source: G2 2026 AI Search Insight Report] When an AI chatbot leaves out a model they belief or will get one thing improper about one they’re evaluating, their intuition is not to just accept the reply. It is to confirm it. And the go-to verification supply? Peer evaluations — each time.

Evan Reiss, Vice President of Advertising and marketing at Foxit, put it plainly: “Advocacy is trendy website positioning — it defines how AI sees your model. G2 provides us the platform to show that advocacy into actual visibility the place it issues.”

Patrons additionally cross-check throughout instruments. If ChatGPT and Gemini describe your model in a different way, that inconsistency registers as a purple flag. The manufacturers which have essentially the most to lose right here aren’t those with unhealthy merchandise. They’re those with skinny assessment profiles — manufacturers the AI does not have sufficient sign on to characterize precisely.

A robust assessment presence is not only a discovery play. It is your model’s protection in opposition to being misrepresented, incomplete, or absent within the solutions that matter most.

Your assessment technique is your AI technique

When boardroom discussions kick off with questions like, “What are we doing for AI visibility?”, the stakes are excessive, and CMOs want to point out up ready.

The manufacturers successful in AI search aren’t working a separate AI visibility program. They’re working a powerful assessment program that is doing double responsibility.

G2 profiles with robust assessment foundations present up 5 instances extra typically in AI search solutions.

From immediate to pipeline

Step again for a second and take into account what this information is definitely exhibiting.

Patrons aren’t ready in your subsequent marketing campaign. They’re opening AI chatbots, typing class queries and competitor comparisons, and strolling away with a shortlist, weeks earlier than your gross sales crew enters the image. 69% of them ended up selecting a unique vendor than anticipated. A 3rd purchased from a model they’d by no means heard of earlier than that search.

The manufacturers exhibiting up in these solutions aren’t there due to greater budgets or higher advert focusing on. They’re there as a result of AI has sufficient verified, particular, present peer proof to confidently suggest them.

Assessment quantity. Recency. Class readability. That is the belief stack AI is drawing from, and it is constructed on G2.

The manufacturers successful aren’t outspending anybody. They’re out-trusted by the verified, present, particular peer proof that AI reaches for when a purchaser sorts their first immediate.

That is the brand new job of selling management, and it begins with a easy query price sitting with: If a purchaser typed your class into ChatGPT proper now, what would come again? Would your model be in that reply? Wouldn’t it be represented precisely? Wouldn’t it even present up?

In case you’re unsure, that is price understanding.

Regularly Requested Questions

What makes a software program vendor present up in AI search suggestions?

Three issues drive it: the quantity and recency of verified peer evaluations on platforms AI trusts, how utterly and precisely a model is positioned inside its class, and constant third-party validation throughout authoritative sources. AI does not choose manufacturers at random — it surfaces those that impartial, verified communities have already endorsed at scale. The manufacturers with the deepest assessment foundations on platforms like G2 have a structural, compounding benefit in each AI-generated shortlist.

Can I belief what AI says about software program distributors?

AI is a robust place to begin, however not an ideal one. In response to G2’s 2026 AI Search Perception Report, 64% of B2B software program consumers encounter AI inaccuracies incessantly. That is precisely why peer assessment websites stay the go-to verification layer, even for AI-fluent consumers. When AI will get it improper, consumers cross-check in opposition to peer evaluations. Manufacturers with a powerful G2 presence present up at each touchpoints — within the AI reply and within the verification step that follows.

How do I enhance my firm’s visibility in AI solutions?

Begin with the muse: construct assessment quantity and recency on the platforms AI trusts most. G2 is the most cited B2B software program supply in AI search. Getting your product well-represented there’s the highest-leverage place to begin. Optimize your G2 profile with particular, category-clear positioning. And use an AEO device to measure the way you’re showing throughout ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Mode — as a result of 78% of selling groups say their present method to measuring AI visibility is inaccurate. Measurement is the first step.

Edited by Supanna Das

DATA AND METHODOLOGY

This text attracts on the next sources:

G2 2026 AI Search Perception Report — Survey of 1,076 B2B software program consumers and decision-makers, March 2026, world respondents throughout North America, EMEA and APAC.
G2 AI search quotation information — G2’s monitoring of quotation quantity and visibility scores throughout 1,668 software program classes through Profound, March 1–June 3, 2026. Displays G2’s quotation prominence throughout ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Google AI Overviews, Google Gemini, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot, Grok and Meta AI.
G2 product catalog information — Assessment counts and star scores sourced from G2’s dwell product database at time of publication.
Kevin Indig correlation evaluation — “Do Extra G2 Critiques Imply Extra AI Visibility?” Evaluation of 30,000 AI citations throughout 500 G2 software program classes through Profound, revealed October 2025 on G2 Be taught.