Why B2B Companies Need GEO in 2025

By Damiano Mastrangioli, Co-Founder of Oltre.ai | Published December 2025

Your competitors are showing up in ChatGPT. You're not.

When a VP of Operations asks Perplexity "what's the best project management tool for remote teams," your competitor gets mentioned. You don't. That buyer adds three tools to their shortlist and schedules demos. You never knew the opportunity existed.

This is happening thousands of times a day. B2B buyers are adopting AI search at three times the rate of consumers, and 87% say AI chatbots have already changed how they research solutions. Half now start their buying journey in AI tools instead of Google.

If your B2B company isn't being cited in AI responses, you're invisible during the most critical research phase of the buying journey.

Why B2B is Moving to AI Faster Than B2C

The shift makes sense when you understand B2B buying.

B2C purchases are often impulse or emotional decisions with shorter research cycles and a single decision maker. B2B purchases are the opposite: complex, multi-stakeholder decisions with longer research cycles and higher stakes. AI excels at exactly what B2B buyers need: synthesizing vendor materials, comparing options, and preparing briefings in minutes instead of hours.

The numbers tell the story:

• 87% of B2B buyers say AI chatbots have changed how they research solutions
• 50% now start in AI tools, not Google
• 90% of organizations use generative AI in some aspect of their purchasing process
• 55% of final decision makers trust AI tools to help with the buying journey
• 95% plan to use GenAI for purchasing decisions soon

B2B buyers are time-pressed and understaffed. AI saves research time. That's why adoption is 3x faster than consumer use.

How B2B Buyers Actually Use AI

Understanding the use cases helps you optimize appropriately.

Discovery Phase

Buyers ask questions like:

• "What are the best project management tools for remote teams?"
• "Which CRM systems integrate with Salesforce?"
• "What's the difference between [Product A] and [Product B]?"

Evaluation Phase

Deeper research queries:

• "What are the pros and cons of [Your Product]?"
• "What do customers say about [Your Company]?"
• "How does [Your Product] handle [specific use case]?"

Shortlisting Phase

This is where it gets critical. AI is now the top source buyers use to build software shortlists, ahead of vendor websites and salespeople. If you're not mentioned, you may never make the cut.

Decision Support

Buyers use AI for drafting RFPs, summarizing vendor materials, and preparing internal presentations. Your content needs to be structured so AI can accurately represent your solution in these contexts.

The Compressed Buying Journey

AI is fundamentally compressing how B2B purchases happen.

The implications are significant:

Shorter research time. What took hours of Google searching and website browsing now takes minutes with AI. This means fewer touchpoints before decisions are made.

Smaller shortlists. AI-synthesized recommendations lead to shorter shortlists. If you're not mentioned, you may never make the cut.

Earlier commitment. 6sense research shows that by the time buyers contact sellers, 95% already have a winning vendor on their Day One shortlist. AI influences that list before you ever get to pitch.

B2B GEO vs. B2C GEO

B2B GEO has unique characteristics that differentiate it from consumer-focused optimization.

What This Means for Your Content

Longer content performs better. B2B buyers want depth. Comprehensive guides, detailed comparisons, and thorough explanations get cited more than surface-level content.

Technical accuracy matters more. B2B buyers are often experts. Content needs to be technically accurate and demonstrate genuine expertise.

Third-party validation is critical. Review sites (G2, Capterra, TrustRadius), analyst reports, and case studies carry significant weight in B2B AI responses.

Category and use-case focus. B2B queries often include specific use cases: "best [solution] for [industry]" or "how to [solve specific problem]." Content needs to address these specifics.

How GEO Fits Your Existing B2B Marketing

GEO doesn't replace your existing B2B marketing. It amplifies it.

Content Marketing: Your existing content assets can be optimized for GEO. Add answer capsules, include statistics, cite sources, and structure for AI parsing.

SEO: Traditional SEO remains foundational. Strong SEO performance feeds into AI visibility, especially for Google AI Overviews and Perplexity.

Review Sites: G2, Capterra, and similar platforms influence AI responses. Your review site presence becomes even more valuable for AI citations.

Analyst Relations: Analyst reports and mentions carry authority with AI systems. Industry analyst coverage can significantly boost citation rates.

Case Studies: Detailed case studies with specific metrics provide the kind of evidence AI systems love to cite. Include hard numbers and outcomes.

Thought Leadership: Original research, unique insights, and expert perspectives help establish the authority AI systems look for when making citations.

Implementation Priorities

Priority 1: Own Your Category Positioning

• Create comprehensive content defining your category
• Explain key problems your category solves
• Provide frameworks for evaluating solutions
• Position your brand as the authoritative voice

Priority 2: Optimize Comparison Content

• Create fair comparisons with alternatives
• Address specific use cases for each option
• Include honest pros and cons
• Provide decision frameworks buyers can use

Priority 3: Build Third-Party Presence

• Encourage reviews on G2, Capterra, TrustRadius
• Seek coverage in industry publications
• Build relationships with analysts
• Participate authentically in industry conversations

Priority 4: Target Specific Use Cases

• Create "[Your category] for [industry]" pages
• Develop "How [role] uses [your category]" content
• Build "[Your category] for [company size]" resources
• Address vertical-specific requirements

Measuring B2B GEO Impact

Brand Awareness Metrics

Pipeline Metrics

Revenue Attribution

• Track deals where AI was part of the discovery journey
• Survey new customers on how they discovered you
• Analyze win rates when AI visibility is established

Quick Wins for B2B Companies

This Week

• Test your brand and category queries in ChatGPT and Perplexity
• Document current visibility and competitor positioning
• Identify the biggest gaps in your content

This Month

• Add answer capsules to key product/service pages
• Update statistics and case study metrics
• Implement FAQ schema on relevant pages

This Quarter

• Create or optimize category definition content
• Build comparison content for key competitors
• Develop industry-specific landing pages
• Increase review solicitation on G2/Capterra

The Competitive Window

47% of brands still lack a GEO strategy. In B2B, where purchase cycles are long and switching costs are high, establishing AI visibility early creates durable advantages that compound over time.

The brands that become AI-recommended in their categories will:

• Capture mindshare before competitors wake up
• Build citation authority that compounds
• Become the default option buyers discover

The window to establish this advantage is open now. As more companies recognize the opportunity, competition will intensify and early movers will be harder to displace.

The Bottom Line

B2B buyers are already researching in AI. They're using ChatGPT, Perplexity, and other tools to discover, evaluate, and shortlist vendors. If you're not appearing in those responses, you're losing opportunities before you even know they existed.

GEO isn't a future consideration for B2B companies. It's a current necessity.

Related Resources

• The Complete Guide to GEO
• How to Get Cited by ChatGPT
• GEO vs SEO: Key Differences
• AI Citation Tracking Guide
• Perplexity SEO Strategies