It’s tricky to pin down exactly how much AI usage is affecting B2B buying decisions.  

A recent report by Forrester, however, found that 89% of B2B buyers now consider AIs – namely, LLMs such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini etc – as among their “top sources” for guiding decision-making. 

ChatGPT’s own estimates put B2B query volumes at something like 1.5% of the AI’s daily total. That would mean nearly 5.5 billion B2B purchasing queries are being made annually through ChatGPT alone. 

While there’s still some way to go if that figure is to topple Google’s grip on B2B, it’s still a significant volume – particularly as we’re really only in the foothills of AI adoption. Marketers canny enough to work out how to get their brands featuring more prominently in LLM query results will reap some serious rewards as those query volumes continue to grow. 

So it’s no surprise that Generative Engine Optimisation – or GEO – is receiving a surge of interest in marketing circles. Just as SEO forges links between your brand and search engines, GEO raises your brand’s profile to LLMs. 

The challenge, then, is to make sure your brand is more frequently cited in LLM outputs than your rivals are. 

Here are our top six considerations:

Content remains crucial – especially thought leadership 

LLMs reward content that demonstrates a high perceived level of expertise and authority on a subject, and will typically rank this higher than other content that might have just as strong a semantic link to the query, but lack the same level of gravitas. 

LLMs are looking for factual density. This is a mark of technical documentation, too, so you’ll need to think about how your thought leadership relates to content that’s typically used further down your sales funnel. It’s all part of the bigger picture LLMs will assess.

Increase mentions from reputable third parties 

As with SEO, GEO isn’t just about the content you stick on your site. LLMs will prioritise brands that have multiple reputable citations, and that provide information corroborated by external experts. 

This is about creating clusters of reputable information that reinforces itself and provides stronger semantic context.

Make sure your content is LLM-friendly 

It’s important to get the technical, ‘behind the scenes’ aspects of GEO right. Structuring your website data correctly gives you a sound foundation. This includes using semantic HTML and schema markup to help make information as easily accessed by LLMs as possible. 

Easily scannable formats such as FAQs and how-tos are also worth prioritising.

Trial and error is key

Looking at how your brand currently ranks for key queries in the major LLMs is a smart first step. You can then keep checking back to see how and where GEO work is having an impact. 

Bear in mind that GEO is only going to yield short-term results for real-time LLMs connected to the live web; it’s likely to be months – if not a year or more – before static, pretrained models have updated to reflect any changes you’ve made.

Ditch the gating 

Gating might help with lead capture, but it’s a dead end for LLMs. If your most valuable content is locked behind a form or a paywall, it’s unlikely to be surfaced in any AI-generated response.

You don’t have to un-gate everything – but any content you want LLMs to reference should be out in the open. That includes key thought leadership, stats and any explainer content. Want to be cited? You have to be crawlable.

Monitor and measure

GEO success can feel a bit nebulous. There’s no single leaderboard or traffic report to lean on. But that doesn’t mean it’s untrackable.

You can keep tabs on your ‘share of model’ by regularly prompting tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Claude with queries your buyers might use. Look at which brands are being cited, how often and in what context. You can also use attribution tools and AI analytics platforms (like GPTZero’s Origin or Writer’s LLM Analytics) to get more forensic.

Treat it like brand tracking, but for LLM algorithms.

Final thought

GEO isn’t about gaming the system. It’s about understanding how LLMs evaluate authority, and making sure your brand shows up when and where it matters.

It’s a long game, but for B2B marketers, getting to grips with how AI engines source their answers is fast becoming a fundamental part of a future-fit strategy. And the brands that move early will be the ones that stand out first.

Got questions or challenges relating to LLMs and B2B content? Get in touch and let’s talk them through.