# SEO & AEO for B2B

> Authority on your buyers' problems — in search and in the AI they now consult.

**Industry**

B2B buying is long, considered, and research-heavy — and that research increasingly runs through AI as much as through search. SEO and AEO for B2B build authority on the problems your buyers care about, structure your brand as a trusted entity, and make your content the source AI cites during the evaluation, not just the ranking that shows up for a branded search.

The shift here is no longer emerging, it's dominant: 94% of B2B buyers use AI somewhere in their purchase process (Forrester, up from 89% the prior year), running an average of 17 AI search queries per week during active evaluation (Bain). AI chatbots are now the number one influence on vendor shortlists at 54%, ahead of software review sites (43%) and vendor websites themselves (36%) — and 85% of buyers say they think more highly of a vendor an AI chatbot recommends. Meanwhile 51% of technology brands currently have zero AI citations at all, which means for most categories the bar to differentiate is still genuinely low, not saturated.

It's topical-authority and entity work tied directly to pipeline: cover the buyer's problem space deeply, prove expertise in a form both humans and models can verify, and be present at every research touchpoint — human or AI.

## Why B2B SEO is different
- Long, multi-stakeholder buying cycles that reward sustained authority over one-time visibility
- Problem/solution research dominates over transactional queries
- AI chatbots now shape vendor shortlists more than review sites or your own website
- 94% of buyers use AI during purchase, running an average of 17 AI queries a week while evaluating
- Over half of tech brands have zero AI citations — a genuinely open opportunity in most categories

## Focus areas for B2B
- **Buyer-problem topical map** — Own the topics your buyers actually research before a vendor is even on the table.
- **Entity + trust** — Be the recognised, verifiable authority in your category, not just a ranking result.
- **AEO for evaluation** — Be cited by AI during the exact stage where 54% of shortlists now get built.

## FAQ

**Our sales cycle is long — how does SEO help?**

By being present and trusted at every research stage, human or AI, so you're already shortlisted — sometimes favourably pre-framed — before sales even engages.

**Is AEO relevant for B2B?**

Extremely — AI chatbots are now the single biggest influence on vendor shortlists, ahead of review sites and your own website, and 69% of buyers report an AI chatbot changing which vendor they ultimately chose.

**How do you tie SEO to pipeline?**

By mapping content to buyer problems and evaluation stages, not vanity traffic, and tracking the specific terms and AI prompts that precede a real conversion, not just impressions.


## Services that deliver this
- [Topical Mapping as a Service (Content Strategy)](https://iliassami.com/services/topical-mapping-service)
- [Entity SEO](https://iliassami.com/services/entity-seo)
- [Answer / Ask Engine Optimization (AEO)](https://iliassami.com/services/answer-engine-optimization)


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