How do you start AI SEO for a B2B SaaS company?

To start AI SEO for a B2B SaaS company, find the prompts your buyers ask ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews. See who gets named instead of you. Then publish one answer page per missed prompt and check the answers daily. Amaware, an AI visibility tool, runs those prompts every day and writes the pages.

AI SEO for a B2B SaaS company, in short

AI SEO, also called GEO (generative engine optimization) or AEO (answer engine optimization), means getting ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode and Perplexity to name and cite your business. The three names describe the same work. We explain how they differ in AEO vs GEO vs SEO.

GEO comes from a 2023 research paper by Aggarwal and others, GEO: Generative Engine Optimization. AEO is the older marketing name. It grew out of featured snippets and voice assistants.

A prompt is a question a buyer asks an AI engine. Your goal is to show up in the answers to the prompts that lead to a sale. For a young software company, the plan is short: find the prompts, publish the answers, watch what changes.

What's the best way to do AI SEO for a B2B SaaS company starting out?

Follow three steps, in order. Each step feeds the next one.

1. List the 25 to 50 prompts your buyers ask

Write each prompt the way a buyer would type it. Include "best tool for" questions, comparison questions and "alternatives to" questions. Then ask each one in ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews, and note who gets named.

The prompts where a competitor gets named and you do not are your list. That list is the work.

2. Publish one answer page per missed prompt

Start with comparison pages and alternatives pages. Buyers ask those prompts close to a decision, so a mention there counts most.

Put the answer in the first paragraph. Name the products, the prices and the dates. Give the reasons after.

3. Check the answers daily

A single answer is a sample, and engines change weekly. Daily checks show which pages start to get named and which prompts still miss you. Then you pick the next page to write.

These steps work for any business. A law firm, a dental practice and an online store follow the same plan and only the prompts change.

Keep your SEO tool. AI SEO adds to classic SEO. Amaware is not a full SEO suite and it has no backlink index, no site audit crawler and no classic Google rank tracker. So keep your SEO tool for backlinks and site audits.

What are answer engine optimization tools and which ones actually work for SaaS?

An answer engine optimization tool asks AI engines your buyers' questions on a schedule. It records who gets named and which websites get cited. Some also suggest what to publish next, and a few write it for you.

Amaware's 7-day trial needs a card on file. Ahrefs Brand Radar's $50 index uses Ahrefs' own question sets; custom prompts start at $199 a month (read 2026-09-30).

Which one works depends on where you start:

• Amaware fits when you want the tracking and best fit actions to show up in AI searches in one place. Starter runs 50 prompts daily on three engines of your pick and writes 4 articles a month.
• Otterly.AI has the lowest entry price. Lite is $29 a month for 15 prompts on 4 engines, with Gemini and Google AI Mode as paid add-ons (read 2026-09-30).
• HubSpot AEO has a free version that tracks 25 prompts with no credit card. The paid plan is $50 a month and tracks ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity (read 2026-09-30).
• Semrush suits a business already on Semrush. Its AI Visibility Toolkit is $99 a month for 1 domain and 25 prompts, with no free trial (read 2026-09-30).
• Profound suits a large team that needs many engines. Enterprise is priced after a demo and tracks up to 9 engines (read 2026-09-30).
• Peec AI Starter covers 50 prompts on 3 models and 1 project, and its pricing page shows the price in your currency (read 2026-09-30).
• Ahrefs Brand Radar works best for established brands with meaningful search demand, per Ahrefs (read 2026-09-30).

For a longer look at each one, read The 9 best AI visibility tools in 2026.

What does Google say about AI features and your website?

Google says you need no special setup. Its AI features guide states that "there are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, nor other special optimizations necessary".

The guide sets one condition. To show as a supporting link in AI Overviews or AI Mode, a page must be indexed and eligible to show in Google Search with a snippet. A snippet is the short text Google shows under a result.

So the work is the page itself. Write people-first pages that answer the buyer's question in the first paragraph. Name the product, the price and the date in that paragraph. Then explain the reasons in short sections below it, each under a heading that matches a question buyers ask.

How does ChatGPT search find and send traffic to your site?

Allow OAI-SearchBot in your robots.txt first. OAI-SearchBot is the crawler ChatGPT search uses to read the web. Robots.txt is the file at the root of your site that tells crawlers which pages they may read. If it blocks OAI-SearchBot, your pages cannot show up as sources in ChatGPT answers.

Then watch visits from chatgpt.com in Google Analytics. Those visits tell you which pages AI sends people to. Check them each week against the pages you published.

In Amaware, connect Google Analytics in Settings. You then see visitors from AI answers by day, by assistant and by page, next to the articles you published.

Which pages get B2B buyers named in AI answers?

Publish these pages first, in this order:

1. Comparison pages against named competitors. Buyers ask "X vs Y" right before they choose.
2. Alternatives pages. Buyers who already know a competitor ask for options.
3. Answer-first guides. One question, answered in the first paragraph.
4. Original research with a dated number. Engines lift a specific figure with a date.

Your blog is one place the engines read. They also read best-of lists, Reddit threads and YouTube videos. So the one thing to publish is sometimes a reply or a video, or a pitch to get onto a list.

Three mixed examples:

• A software company publishes a comparison page against its main rival. Then it answers a Reddit thread where buyers compare tools.
• A dental practice writes an answer page on how to pick a dentist in its town. Then it pitches a local best-of list.
• An online store compares its product with the best-known brand in its category. Then it posts a short YouTube video that shows the difference.

How Amaware does this

Amaware asks your buyers' prompts every day on three of five engines, your pick of ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode and Perplexity. It shows who gets named and which sites get cited. You can track up to 25 competitors.

Every prompt that leaves you out becomes one thing to publish: a page, a video or a reply. The list is ranked by what gets you seen fastest, each item with a brief. Amaware writes the article in your voice, then tracks when AI cites it.

• Starter is $97 a month for 50 prompts and 4 articles a month that you publish yourself.
• Pro is $249 a month for 150 prompts and 12 articles a month, published to your WordPress, Webflow, HubSpot or Next.js site.

You can connect Claude or ChatGPT over MCP, and your AI does the steps for you. Every plan starts with 7 days free with a card on file. Cancel before day 8 and you pay nothing.

See what AI says about you, free, against your own buyers' questions.

FAQ

What are answer engine optimization tools?

An answer engine optimization tool asks AI engines the questions your buyers ask, on a schedule. It records who gets named and which websites get cited. Some also suggest what to publish next. Amaware, an AI visibility tool, runs your prompts daily on three of five engines and writes the articles that answer the prompts you miss.

Does Google need special markup for AI Overviews?

No. Google's AI features guide says "there are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, nor other special optimizations necessary" (read 2026-09-30). A page must be indexed and eligible to show in Google Search with a snippet. So the work is the page: a clear answer to your buyer's question, near the top.

How does ChatGPT search find my website?

ChatGPT search reads the web with OpenAI's crawler, OAI-SearchBot. Allow OAI-SearchBot in your robots.txt so your pages can show up as sources in ChatGPT answers. Then watch visits from chatgpt.com in Google Analytics to see which pages AI sends people to.

How much does an AI visibility tool cost in 2026?

Amaware Starter is $97 a month for 50 prompts and 4 articles. Entry prices read on 2026-09-30: Otterly.AI Lite $29 for 15 prompts, HubSpot AEO $50 for 25 prompts, Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit $99 for 25 prompts, Scrunch Core $250 and AthenaHQ Starter $295. Profound prices Enterprise after a demo.

Is there a free way to start AI SEO?

Yes. The Amaware free check asks ChatGPT, Gemini and Google your buyers' questions and shows who they name instead of you. The Ahrefs AI Visibility Checker needs no signup, and the Semrush checker runs three times a day without an account (both read 2026-09-30). See what AI says about you.

Do I need an AI visibility tool on day one?

You can start by hand. Ask ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews your buyers' top ten questions and note who gets named. A single answer is a sample, and engines change weekly. Once you track more than a handful of prompts, a daily tool shows the pattern, where a single check shows one moment.