# How does a B2B tech company get recommended when buyers ask ChatGPT?

Canonical: https://fortitudemedia.ai/insights/ai-optimisation-technology-companies
Author: Ashley Kenerson
Published: 2026-04-22
Last reviewed: 2026-09-24
Reviewed by: Ashley Kenerson
Pillar: Sector guides
Summary: How B2B software and SaaS firms get named when buyers ask ChatGPT for shortlists: clear use cases, open docs, public pricing, G2 reviews and fair comparisons.
Keywords: how to get my saas recommended by chatgpt, chatgpt software recommendations, alternatives to competitor page, g2 vs capterra for ai search, saas pricing page ai, b2b software ai search
Short answer: ChatGPT recommends software it can match to a buyer's situation and check elsewhere: a clear use case and customer, public documentation, integrations, security details and pricing, fair comparison pages and independent reviews on sites such as G2. Most SaaS websites say too little in plain text and hide the rest behind forms or scripts. State who the product is for, open up your documentation and pricing model, publish fair 'alternatives to' pages and get reviewed where your buyers read.
What changed: Refocused on SaaS: added the ID-Pal result, a pricing table, a fair alternatives page outline, a review site comparison, rebrand fixes, G-Cloud 15 and 2026 buyer data.
Publisher: Fortitude Media Limited

When quoting, attribute to Fortitude Media and link to the canonical URL above.

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Buyers of business software now ask an AI assistant before they ask a salesperson. In [G2's April 2026 survey of 1,076 software buyers](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-g2-research-half-of-b2b-software-buyers-now-start-their-research-with-ai-chatbots-302742807.html), 51% said they start their research in an AI chatbot rather than Google, up from 29% a year earlier, and 69% had chosen a different vendor from the one they first planned because of what a chatbot told them. G2 runs a review site, so treat the figures as directional.

For example, the operations director of a housing association has to replace the repairs scheduling system before the contract renews. Before anyone books a demo, she asks ChatGPT for the best repairs scheduling systems for UK housing associations and how they compare. She gets five names and a comparison table. Your product was built for housing associations and several of them use it. It is not in the table.

Tech companies often assume they are ahead here because they are technical. In our experience the opposite is common: a JavaScript site most AI crawlers cannot fully read, documentation behind a login, pricing that says "contact us" and a homepage about "the intelligent platform for modern teams". This guide is for the founder of a UK B2B software or SaaS company with £1m to £20m+ in revenue.

## Key takeaways

- Half of software buyers now start their research in an AI chatbot, so the first shortlist is often drawn up before anyone visits your website.
- AI assistants name products they can match to a buyer's situation: an industry, a company size, the systems already in use and a problem.
- Documentation, integrations, security details and pricing hidden behind a login, a form or a script do not exist for the assistant.
- Reviews on G2 and similar sites, marketplace listings and forum threads carry more weight than anything you say about yourself.
- A fair, dated "alternatives to" page that admits where a rival fits better gets quoted; a table you win on every row reads as an advert.
- After a rebrand or an acquisition, tell search engines and assistants plainly that the old and new names are one company, or they will treat them as rivals.

## What do buyers ask ChatGPT when they are choosing software?

They ask for shortlists, alternatives, comparisons and reassurance, in the language of their own industry, and the person asking is often not technical.

- "What is the best practice management software for a 30-person accountancy firm in the UK?"
- "What are the alternatives to our current field service scheduling system?"
- "Does this CRM integrate with Xero and Microsoft 365?"
- "Is this software ISO 27001 certified, and is our data stored in the UK?"
- "How much does field service software cost per user for a team of 40 engineers?"
- "Which document management systems are on G-Cloud and hold Cyber Essentials Plus?"

The questions name an industry, a size and often a place, so a product described in abstract terms cannot be matched to them. Many ask for alternatives, which assistants answer from review sites and forums as much as from vendor websites. The rest are hygiene questions about integrations, security and price, and if your answer is not public, you may be crossed off by default. Some buyers now let an AI agent build the shortlist, which we cover in [what happens when buyers let an AI agent build the shortlist](/insights/ai-agents-change-b2b-buying).

## How does ChatGPT decide which software to name?

It names products it can match to the buyer's situation and confirm from several sources. Four kinds of evidence matter most:

- **A clear use case and customer**, in words the buyer would use.
- **Readable product detail**: documentation, integrations, security and pricing on public pages.
- **Independent opinion**: reviews, marketplace listings, trade press and forum discussion.
- **Consistency**: the same description on your website, LinkedIn, review sites, marketplaces and Companies House.

Ranking on Google helps but does not guarantee a mention. Google's AI features, ChatGPT search and Microsoft Copilot all start from a search index, yet [Ahrefs found in March 2026](https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-overview-citations-top-10) that only 38% of AI Overview citations came from pages in Google's top ten, down from 76% in July 2025, because Google now runs several related searches for one question. So rank for your category, and also answer what the buyer asks next: integrations, security, migration and price.

Positioning matters for the same reason. "An intelligent operations platform for modern teams" could describe hundreds of products; "repairs scheduling software for UK housing associations" is the sentence a buyer's question will match. Each situation you want to win needs its own page in the buyer's words.

## What has to be public on your website?

Everything a buyer checks before a demo, in plain text on public pages:

- **Documentation.** Public feature guides and setup articles are some of the most trusted material an assistant can find, because they describe what the product actually does.
- **Trial documentation.** What a trial or pilot includes, how long it runs, what data a customer brings and how setup works.
- **Integrations.** One page per integration, with a sentence on what it does: "invoices sync with Xero both ways, several times an hour".
- **Security.** Certifications such as ISO 27001, SOC 2 or Cyber Essentials Plus, where data is hosted, your sub-processors and how you handle UK GDPR.

Then check the site can be read at all. The main AI crawlers, GPTBot, ClaudeBot and PerplexityBot, fetch JavaScript files but do not run them ([Vercel and MERJ, December 2024](https://vercel.com/blog/the-rise-of-the-ai-crawler)), so text that only appears after scripts run is invisible to ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity. Googlebot does render JavaScript, which helps Gemini and Google's AI features. Our guide to [how AI crawlers read your website](/insights/ai-crawlers-vs-google-spiders) shows how to check this and whether your hosting blocks AI crawlers.

## Should a SaaS company publish its pricing?

Yes, at least the model and a starting point. "Contact us" does not stop an assistant answering a cost question. It only means the answer comes from somewhere else: a review site's pricing section, a reseller or an old forum thread.

Assistants repeat the unit and number they find, so make both unambiguous:

- **Per seat.** Price per user, billing period, minimum seats and whether annual billing changes the rate.
- **Usage-based.** Name the unit (per transaction, per 1,000 messages) and give one worked total, so the assistant has a figure to quote rather than a formula.
- **"From" pricing.** Say what the "from" price buys and who usually pays more. An assistant will quote the lowest figure it sees as the price.

Example: a fictional scheduling product could set out its plans like this, as an HTML table rather than an image.

| Plan | Who it suits | How it is charged | Price (excluding VAT) | Term |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | Up to 10 users | Per user, per month | £10 per user a month | Monthly |
| Growth | 10 to 100 users | Per user, billed annually | £20 per user a month | 12 months |
| Enterprise | Over 100 users or several sites | Annual licence | From £20,000 a year | 12 months or longer |
| Text reminders | Any plan | Per 1,000 messages | £10 per 1,000 messages | Monthly in arrears |

Date the page and keep the same figures on your marketplace listings and review profiles.

## How do you get named when buyers ask for alternatives to a competitor?

Publish a fair, dated page for each competitor you meet most often, one that compares options without reading like an advert.

Example: an outline for "Alternatives to RivalCo for UK housing associations", where RivalCo stands for your most frequent competitor.

1. **Title and date**: the competitor, the buyer type and "reviewed September 2026".
2. **A two-sentence answer at the top**: who RivalCo suits, who it suits less well, and three to five alternatives, including yours.
3. **A comparison table**: one row per option, including at least one that is not you, covering who it suits, pricing model, main integrations and data hosting.
4. **When RivalCo is the better choice**, said plainly. This is what makes the page believable.
5. **When yours is the better choice**, backed by a customer story, a review or a documented integration.
6. **What switching involves**: data export, timescale, notice periods.
7. **How the facts were gathered**, with the date each was checked and an address for corrections, under a named author.

Stick to facts you can evidence. An unsupported claim about a competitor's performance damages your credibility and can create legal risk.

## G2 or Capterra: which review sites matter most?

G2 is the review site named most often in the citation studies we can verify, so for most B2B SaaS firms it is the first profile to get right. After that, where your own buyers read reviews matters more than any study.

| Review site | What the evidence says |
|---|---|
| G2 | 1.1% of all ChatGPT citations in [Profound's 2025 study](https://www.tryprofound.com/blog/ai-platform-citation-patterns) of 680 million citations, listed with Wikipedia, Reddit and Forbes among its top sources; prominent for B2B queries in Perplexity in [Peec AI's March 2026 study](https://searchengineland.com/ai-search-engines-cite-reddit-youtube-and-linkedin-most-study-473138) |
| Gartner Peer Insights | gartner.com as a whole made up 7.0% of Perplexity's top ten sources in Profound's study |
| Capterra, GetApp, Software Advice | Not named in the citation studies we could verify; worth completing if your buyers are smaller firms comparing tools |
| TrustRadius | Not named in those studies; its July 2026 survey found 74% of tech buyers use reviews |

Buyers look for these sources inside AI answers: in G2's survey, 45% said citations of review sites were the most confidence-inspiring signal in an AI answer.

To see which sites Perplexity cites in your category, run three prompts such as "best field service management software UK", "best contract management software for UK law firms" and "alternatives to RivalCo for small teams", and open the sources under each answer. Note which review sites appear, and repeat the check monthly because answers vary.

## Which other outside sources confirm what you say?

- **Marketplaces.** Microsoft AppSource, AWS Marketplace, Salesforce AppExchange and the Xero App Store each confirm what you integrate with.
- **Public sector frameworks.** G-Cloud 15 went live on 6 August 2026, run by the [Government Commercial Agency](https://www.gca.gov.uk/agreements/RM1557.15), formerly the Crown Commercial Service, and buyers shortlist on its Digital Platform. Name the framework and lot on your site, for example "G-Cloud 15, Lot 2b: Other Software as a Service".
- **Security credentials.** Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus are the [NCSC's certification schemes](https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/cyberessentials/overview), and current certificates can be looked up on the website of IASME, its delivery partner. Add ISO 27001 and, for security testing firms, CREST accreditation.
- **Communities.** Reddit, GitHub and specialist forums. A useful answer from one of your engineers in the right thread beats a sponsored post.
- **Trade press.** Computer Weekly, Computing and UKTN and, just as important, the trade press of the industries you sell into.

## Worked example: how ID-Pal went from described to recommended

[ID-Pal](/work/id-pal) sells identity verification (KYC and KYB) to fund administrators, wealth managers, law firms and accountants, and had bought NorthRow, a UK business verification platform. "AI could describe ID-Pal. It never recommended it."

| Stage | What we recorded |
|---|---|
| Where it started | "Across 36 recorded AI answers to the questions ID-Pal's buyers actually ask, ID-Pal was named three times, and only for its brand or its Salesforce integration. AI knew who it was, and had no reason to recommend it." |
| The cause | "The redirect from northrow.com was technically correct, but nothing on either site told Google or the AI engines that NorthRow and ID-Pal were the same company." |
| The first fix | "About four hours of structured data work declaring NorthRow part of ID-Pal on both domains. Live in week one, with no copy changes and no risk to the redirect." |
| The pages | "Five industry pages rebuilt: fund administration, wealth management, legal, accountancy and estate agency. Each opens with the question a compliance lead types, names the regulator, and answers inside the first ninety words." |
| The result | "UK buyer questions where AI names ID-Pal: none in May, two in August, four in September 2026." |

The lesson for any SaaS firm: "Where a page has been rebuilt, ID-Pal appears. Where it has not yet, it does not, which tells us exactly what to build next."

## How do you stop ChatGPT using an old product name after a rebrand?

Tell every source, in the same words, that the old name and the new one are the same company. If nothing connects them, assistants treat them as two firms, sometimes as rivals. At ID-Pal: "AI answers still recommending NorthRow as a rival: six in May, one in September 2026."

1. **Redirect page by page**, each old address to its closest new page.
2. **Declare the relationship in structured data** on both domains.
3. **Publish a plain page** saying the old product is now part of the new one, when and what changed.
4. **Update every profile you control**: review sites, marketplaces, LinkedIn, partner directories and Companies House.

Assistants that search the web live, such as ChatGPT search, Perplexity, Copilot and Google's AI features, can reflect the change within weeks. Answers drawn from a model's own memory change only when it is retrained, which takes months.

## How do you tell whether it is working?

Track a fixed list of 20 to 50 buyer questions: category shortlists, "alternatives to" your main competitors, and a few on security, integrations and price. Ask each several times a month in ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Copilot and Perplexity, in a clean session, because answers vary from run to run. Record whether you are named, who is named instead and whether the details are right, and count a win only when it repeats. Add a free-text "how did you hear about us" field to your demo form and read it weekly.

## What to do this month

1. **Check the assistants can read you**: robots.txt, hosting settings and key pages that show their text without scripts.
2. **Write one "who it is for" page per core customer type**, in their words.
3. **Publish your pricing model, a security page and an integrations page** in plain text.
4. **Write one fair "alternatives to" page** for the competitor you meet most.
5. **Ask ten recent customers for reviews** on G2 or wherever your buyers research, straight after a go-live or renewal.
6. **Set up your question list** and run it in clean sessions several times a month.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is gating our whitepapers and case studies hurting our visibility in AI search?

Yes, for anything behind the form. An assistant cannot fill in a form, so a gated PDF does not exist for it. Publish case studies as open web pages, and for a whitepaper publish a page with the main findings in plain text. Keep the form for the full download if you must.

### Should we make our documentation public?

Most of it. Feature guides, setup articles and integration notes help buyers and give assistants accurate material. Keep anything security-sensitive or customer-specific behind a login. Competitors can usually sign up for a trial anyway.

### How many reviews do we need on G2 or Capterra?

There is no magic number; recency and detail matter more than volume. Reviews that mention the reviewer's industry, company size and what the product solved give an assistant something to match. Ask after a successful go-live or renewal.

### Do analyst reports still matter if buyers use ChatGPT?

Less than reviews for most firms with £1m to £20m+ in revenue. [TrustRadius's July 2026 survey](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/trustradius-2026-b2b-buying-disconnect-report-reveals-ai-has-changed-how-buyers-research-but-not-what-they-trust-302825792.html) of 1,862 tech buyers found 74% use reviews and only 13% consulted analyst reports. Of those buyers, 63% had used AI in their purchase, and 94% of them fact-checked it at least sometimes. Put reviews, marketplace listings and customer stories first.

### We run an IT services firm or MSP. Does this apply to us?

The principles do, but your buyers ask local questions about service, such as which IT support firms in a city work with law firms. State your region and sectors, publish service levels in plain words, show Cyber Essentials and partner designations, and ask clients for Google reviews that mention their sector. Our [guide for management consultancies](/insights/ai-optimisation-management-consultancies) covers the similar challenge of describing a service.

The software companies that get named are the ones whose product can be read, checked and matched to a buyer's situation. [Website That Sells](/website-that-sells) rebuilds a site so buyers and assistants can both see what you do and who it is for, and a free [Growth Review](/growth-review) shows you what ChatGPT says about you today.

## Sources

- [G2, New G2 research: half of B2B software buyers now start their research with AI chatbots (April 2026)](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-g2-research-half-of-b2b-software-buyers-now-start-their-research-with-ai-chatbots-302742807.html)
- [TrustRadius, 2026 B2B Buying Disconnect Report (July 2026)](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/trustradius-2026-b2b-buying-disconnect-report-reveals-ai-has-changed-how-buyers-research-but-not-what-they-trust-302825792.html)
- [Profound, AI platform citation patterns (June 2025)](https://www.tryprofound.com/blog/ai-platform-citation-patterns)
- [Search Engine Land, AI search engines cite Reddit, YouTube and LinkedIn most: study (March 2026)](https://searchengineland.com/ai-search-engines-cite-reddit-youtube-and-linkedin-most-study-473138)
- [Ahrefs, How many AI Overview citations come from the top 10 (March 2026)](https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-overview-citations-top-10)
- [Vercel, The rise of the AI crawler (December 2024)](https://vercel.com/blog/the-rise-of-the-ai-crawler)
- [Government Commercial Agency, G-Cloud 15 (September 2026)](https://www.gca.gov.uk/agreements/RM1557.15)
- [NCSC, Cyber Essentials overview (September 2026)](https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/cyberessentials/overview)