For B2B SaaS
Software buyers ask an assistant for a shortlist before they book a demo. Mostly, your website does not decide it.
The short answer
For B2B SaaS, AEO is mostly about being described accurately where models already look: review sites, comparison posts, community threads and your own alternatives pages. Models assemble a shortlist from consensus across sources. A product page calling itself the leading platform adds almost nothing.
What ranked on 23 September 2026: Searches for an AEO agency for SaaS return review-site listicles and agency pages. No vendor's own product page appears, which shows which pages models use for category questions.
Last reviewed · 3 sources
Software has a dense third-party layer most industries lack. Models lean on it because it is comparative, recent and plentiful.
Claim and reality
Flip a card for what is actually true.
Claim
We rank well, so we will be cited.
Claim
We will write our own comparison pages and win.
Claim
Our category is too new for this.
In order. Tick as you go, or copy the list.
0 of 5 done
0%
Questions
They are comparative and structured, which a model needs for ranked questions. No engine publishes its weights, so treat them as a likely source, not a lever.
Only for those buyers confuse you with. Write each to be useful when you lose.
Page changes may show in answers once recrawled. Attribution is harder, so add a self-reported source field to your demo form.
Evidence, labelled
Each claim is labelled and sourced. Google rows speak only for Google.
Last reviewed · 3 sources
Models build shortlists from consensus across sources.
Reported
Earned media was 84% of 25M+ citations in a May 2026 vendor study. Reviews, comparisons and press outweigh your own pages.
ChatGPT favours brands and sites it already knows.
Reported
Preprint: ChatGPT searched for known brands and preferred known sites. A new vendor needs third-party presence.
AI referral share is highest in IT.
Reported
Conductor found 2.80% of IT traffic came from AI referrals against 1.08% overall. 2025 data.
A real price on the pricing page wins price questions.
Hypothesis
My view from the SERP scrape. No controlled test found.
No public source
Go deeper
Next step
Send me your site and what you have tried. I will say which step comes first for you and which you can skip.