How B2B Companies Can Rank in AI-Driven Search Engines and Capture Qualified Leads

No longer do users type in a question on Google and spend time scanning through the various websites that pop up from their search. Now, AI-powered search engines drive the show by synthesizing answers tailored to the user’s question, behavior, preferences, and intent. 

Thanks to this entirely new search-related frontier, B2B businesses can no longer procrastinate AI-search optimization. If you want high quality leads, you have to rank on AI-driven search engines. Here’s how you do it to stay ahead of your competition.

What Is an AI-Driven Search Engine?

AI-driven search engines define the new era of how users surf the web. These complex systems leverage advanced algorithms, machine learning (ML), and natural language processing (NLP) to craft personalized, accurate, and relevant results to a query.

Whereas traditional search engines primarily rely on keywords, AI-powered search engines analyze the user’s intent, past behavior, and personal preferences to answer their question. ChatGPT is likely the first tool that comes to mind for most, but other AI-driven search tools, like Perplexity, are quickly gaining traction.

Why Your Strategy Needs to Adapt to AI-Search Engines 

Traditional SEO strategy isn’t dead, but it’s not the only strategy that needs to be employed on your website if you want to gain leads. With traditional search, users would type in a question and peruse the search engine results page (SERP) for a website that could answer it. Now that AI introduces a summarized answer to every search query, there’s a lot more competition for businesses.

Further, users are becoming accustomed to immediate answers despite the complexity of their query. This means your content needs to start matching that expectation. If you don’t adapt, your content, and your business, might get lost in the shuffle.

7 Strategies for Ranking in AI-Driven Search Engines 

A few major changes need to happen if you want your B2B website to rank on AI-driven search engines. This adoption starts with quality content, but also introduces a more conversational approach to engaging with your audience.

1. Know Your Audience’s Intent

Unlike traditional search engines, AI-driven search tools don’t rely on individual keywords to generate search results. Instead, the AI tool focuses on user intent by analyzing human behavior, past searches, preferences, and intent to drive results. Once you know who your audience is, the way they speak, industry-specific terms, pain points, goals, and more, you’re more likely to build content targeted to their needs.

2. Focus on Natural Language

AI-powered search tools are built on natural language processing (NLP), which is a machine learning technology with the goal of processing, understanding, and reproducing human language. If you want to rank on AI-driven search engines, you have to prioritize writing in the natural language that these tools attempt to mimic. This means writing in a conversational tone and targeting long-tail keywords. 

For example, instead of writing a blog with the sole purpose to target the keyword, “AI-driven search engine,” you might target the long-tail phrase, “How is AI used in search engines?” The phrase is more conversational in nature, and is more aligned with how people talk in a natural conversation.

3. Produce High-Quality Content

High-quality content should go without saying, but it’s a foundational piece to ranking on AI-powered tools (or any search tool, for that matter). Authentic, accurate, and helpful content should naturally have all the keywords necessary to rank, and is much more likely to rank well. So, focus on generating content that is truly useful for your audience, answers common questions, and positions you as the authority in your space. 

4. Build Authority

Thought leadership may be a buzzword, but it does matter when it comes to ranking well in any search, AI-powered or not. AI-powered models trust and prioritize content that shows clear authority, meaning E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) should be at the center of your strategy.

5. Use Schema Markups for B2B Websites

A well-organized schema is like a neon light that tells AI-search tools what your business does. By having the right components on your website, you’ll be more likely to get high-intent leads and better visibility from your audience. 

A few key components that should always be included to make sure your business is represented correctly include:

• Business name, phone number, operating hours, and address
• Social media links
• Product and service descriptions
• Event information
• Employee headshots, titles, and names (if relevant)

6. Focus on Continuous Updates

If you’re trying to rank with a page that’s outdated, your odds of success are slim. AI search tools take the age of your content into account, so keep your content fresh to remain relevant. Every page should be revisited at least once per year to keep it up-to-date, but your main traffic-drivers should see updates more frequently. As you update content, always see what you can improve, add, or expand upon.

7. Let Data Drive Decisions

Data is your best friend, and should be treated as so with regular check-ins. Website analytics can tell you everything you need to know about how your content is doing, including which AI-search tools your leads are coming from. 

Your data could:

• Break down sources of lead generation
• Show you which pages are performing the best
• Tell you which pages to optimize
• Track user behavior

 If you don’t have a dedicated team to track your analytics or aren’t able to do a weekly review, you should at least check your stats monthly.

Conclusion 

AI-driven search engines have — and will continue to — reshape how B2B companies connect with potential leads. To stay ahead of the curve and engage with your audience, make user intent a key component of your strategy, optimize for natural language queries, and build authority with high-quality content. By embracing these strategies, your business will boost its visibility and get higher quality leads via AI-search tools.