AI Search: The New Frontier for B2B Marketing
I started out in SEO over fifteen years ago, and at the time, there was a lot of interesting and conflicting advice on how businesses should develop their marketing strategies for huge algorithmic shifts. Google updates would roll out and entire industries would scramble to understand what had changed, what still worked, and what needed to be completely overhauled. It was a bit of a wild west, honestly. Everyone claimed to have the secret formula, but nobody really knew for certain what tomorrow would bring.
Fast forward to today, and we’re experiencing something that makes those early SEO shake-ups look positively straightforward. As an agency, we’re seeing many more inbound leads both on our own website and our client websites from AI search results rather than traditional search engines. The traffic is real, it’s growing exponentially, and it’s fundamentally changing how B2B companies need to think about digital visibility.
The Data Mystery We’re All Facing
Here’s what’s fascinating: we can see which AI platforms people are using to find us. ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexy, Google’s AI Overviews – they’re all showing up in our analytics. But unlike with organic search, where you have Google Search Console linked with your GA4 (or Bing Webmaster Tools for Microsoft’s alternative), we can’t see what search terms people are using. With traditional SEO for manufacturing or SEO for tech companies, we know exactly what queries users are finding us under, which means we can track the effectiveness of our strategies. With AI search, we know users are being referred to the site via AI platforms, but we can’t tell what they’re searching for. It’s like driving with a blindfold on one eye.
Optimising for AIO: The New Playbook
So how do companies optimise for this next generation of search? AIO (AI Optimization) is the term that’s gaining traction, and it requires a fundamentally different approach than traditional SEO. AI search experiences like Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) and Bing’s AI Overviews synthesize information from multiple sources to create concise summaries, which means your content needs to be a “source of truth” that these systems can confidently pull from.
For B2B companies, particularly those in heavy industry and highly technical sectors, here’s what’s working:
Lead with Answers: Use the inverted pyramid approach. Put your most important information in the first two paragraphs. If someone’s searching for how a specific manufacturing process reduces emissions, tell them immediately, then provide the supporting detail. AI models are looking for direct answers to extract.
Structure Like You Mean It: Clear, descriptive headings containing relevant keywords act as a roadmap for AI to understand your content. For AI search for manufacturing or AI search for tech companies, this means H2s and H3s that literally say what they’re about. Bullet points and numbered lists are gold—AI platforms frequently pull these directly into generated answers.
Build Topical Authority: Don’t just write one article about industrial automation. Cover every related sub-topic comprehensively. AI models favour sources that demonstrate depth across an entire subject area. For highly technical and scientific subjects, this plays to our strengths as B2B specialists.
Use Semantic Markup: Implement schema markup, particularly FAQPage schema for technical queries. This explicitly tells AI models what type of content they’re looking at and how to categorise it. It’s the difference between being understood and being overlooked.
What the Future Holds
The trajectory is clear. We’re watching AI search traffic grow by over 500% year-over-year in some cases. While it currently represents a small percentage of overall traffic, the velocity of change suggests this will be the dominant search method within the next few years. For B2B companies, particularly those in specialised technical sectors, this shift actually presents an opportunity. AI search tends to favour depth of expertise over marketing fluff, which plays to our strengths.
To future-proof your marketing strategy, focus on building genuine authority in your field. Create content that demonstrates real expertise, ensures your technical documentation is comprehensive and accessible, and maintains consistency across all digital channels. The companies that will thrive in this new landscape are those that have something genuinely valuable to say and say it with clarity.
The wild west is back, and it’s more exciting than ever. The difference this time? We’re ready for it.
Want to discuss how AI search is impacting your industry? Get in touch – we’d love to hear what you’re seeing.