TL;DR:
Evaluation-platform quotation share will increase meaningfully with stronger buy intent, based mostly on an evaluation of ~35,000 ChatGPT quotation URLs captured in Profound. Inside these citations, G2 and its lately acquired manufacturers — Capterra, Software program Recommendation, and GetApp — collectively command 84% share of citations within the review-platform class. This confirms that as patrons transfer deeper into the funnel, AI fashions more and more depend on the verified peer-generated sources discovered throughout the G2 portfolio to tell their suggestions.
Why this issues
The customer journey not begins with a demo request; it begins with a immediate. As a result of citations are one of many few observable proof layers behind an AI suggestion, they signify the place a model should present as much as be thought of.
AI solutions point out software program distributors by design. The extra fascinating query is which third-party sources these solutions cite. If overview platforms are cited extra as intent strengthens, that helps the concept that verified opinions and purchaser proof change into extra influential deeper within the funnel.
Speculation
As intent power will increase, the chance {that a} overview website (corresponding to G2 or TrustRadius) is cited will increase greater than for vendor websites or different third events.
Methodology
Information and scope:
- Supply: ~35,000 Profound citations
- Protection: US solely, ChatGPT solely
- Time window: December 2025
1) Assign intent to every immediate
Every immediate was labeled into one mutually unique consumer journey step (for instance: discovery, exploration, analysis, centered analysis, or different), then normalized right into a immediate key and mapped to a single intent.
|
Journey Step |
Description |
Intent power |
# prompts |
% |
|
Discovery |
“What’s …?” fashion, studying what a class or idea is |
Low |
376 |
11.8% |
|
Exploration |
“Which …” questions on integrations, capabilities, tradeoffs, normally searching for 1–few suits |
Medium |
1,179 |
37.1% |
|
Analysis |
Generic “greatest/prime” lists with out sturdy constraints |
Excessive |
1,367 |
43.0% |
|
Focused_evaluation |
“Finest/prime” with express constraints (section, use case, surroundings, efficiency, and so forth.) |
Very excessive |
255 |
8.0% |
2) Convert citations into analyzable items on the area degree
For every quotation URL, I extracted the foundation area and labeled it right into a website sort:
- review_platform (G2, Capterra, GetApp, Software program Recommendation, TrustRadius, Gartner as overview context)
- ugc_platform (Reddit, Wikipedia, Quora, YouTube, LinkedIn)
- writer (media, blogs, editorial websites)
- vendor_or_other (distributors plus every thing not mapped explicitly)
3) De-duplicate domains inside every run
- To keep away from a single response over-weighting a site by way of a number of URLs, I de-duplicated to 1 report per run_id × intent × area.
4) Compute shares
- Main view: For every intent stage, compute the share of distinctive cited domains by website sort.
- Secondary view: Inside the review_platform subset, compute share by overview area (G2 vs Capterra vs others), general, and by intent.
Outcomes
A) Quotation combine by website sort
Distributors dominate citations in each stage (about 67% to 74%). That is smart as a result of the prompts we checked out requested for distributors.
|
Intent |
Writer |
review_platform |
ugc_platform |
vendor_or_other |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Discovery |
4.5% |
7.4% |
17.8% |
70.4% |
|
Exploration |
2.4% |
7.7% |
18.2% |
71.8% |
|
Analysis |
4.9% |
13.2% |
15.1% |
66.7% |
|
Focused_evaluation |
4.7% |
8.4% |
17.2% |
69.6% |
|
Total |
4.0% |
8.6% |
17.1% |
70.4% |
Nonetheless, the nearer we get to a purchase order within the purchaser journey, the extra prevalent and influential platforms like G2 change into, because of a major share of genuine peer opinions and UGC. Evaluation-platform quotation share rises to 13.2%, roughly 1.8× discovery’s 7.4%. In the meantime, distributors see decrease affect on these selections at this identical stage.
Evaluation platforms are cited greater than publishers (8.6% vs 4.0%).
B) Evaluation-platform share break up by model
Inside review-platform citations, G2 is essentially the most regularly cited area by a large margin on this pattern and timeframe.
Since G2’s acquisition of Capterra, Software program Recommendation, and GetApp, it has established a dominant presence in AI-driven discovery. Right here is the mixed general share throughout main overview domains:
- G2 ecosystem (g2.com + acquired manufacturers): 84%
- gartner.com: 13%
- sourceforge.internet: 2%
- trustradius.com: 1%
- trustpilot.com: ~0%
This means that AI citations from overview websites are a powerful bottom-of-funnel lever for software program distributors, significantly after they come from a serious participant like G2.
Win with belief
The info confirms that overview websites are simplest on the backside of the funnel. When software program patrons attain the analysis stage of their journey, the suggestions they see from AI more and more stem from trusted peer proof sourced from platforms like G2.
With G2’s now vital affect on LLM citations and AI search visibility, there’s a sturdy case for distributors to take care of a gradual presence throughout the G2 ecosystem. This ensures that when AI seems for the ultimate layer of proof to suggest a product, it finds a wealth of genuine buyer voices.
