In B2B, the first cut is no longer made by the buyer: it is made by an assistant asked for "the three best X tools for a Y company". If you are not in that trio, you are not competing.
The pages that decide your place on the shortlist
- Comparisons against named competitors, with criteria and with cases where you are not the best fit.
- An explained pricing page: ranges, what each plan includes, real limits. Assistants avoid recommending what they cannot explain.
- Use-case and industry pages, not one generic home.
- Integrations, one per page, with exactly what each one does.
- Security and compliance in plain text: where data lives, which certifications you hold, how deletion works.
- Public documentation: among the most cited material for technical questions.
What matters most off-site
Assistants lean on software directories, comparison sites and trade articles. Work your listing on those already cited in your category, keep reviews fresh and chase mentions in specialist roundups. Slow work, but it compounds.
A detail that costs contracts: your category
If your site describes itself with an invented category ("intelligent growth platform"), AI will not connect you to the buyer's real query. Write the category in the words the market uses and add your differentiator after.
Prompts every B2B SaaS should watch
- "Best [category] tools for [size/sector]"
- "Alternatives to [leader]"
- "[You] vs [competitor]"
- "How much does [category] cost"
- "[Category] with [key integration]"
- "Is [category] safe with customer data?"
How to justify it to leadership
Do not present AEO as a trend. Present it with three numbers: in how many of your category's buying questions you are named, your share of voice against the leader, and how it moves month over month. That is the same language as pipeline and it defends just as well.