ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity now compete with Google for buyer attention. Here's what software companies need to do to show up in those results.
A software buyer opens ChatGPT and asks, 'What's the best project management tool for a team under 50 people?' The AI generates a response, recommending three or four brands by name. Your software is not on that list. The prospect never learns you exist.
This is the new sales problem for software brands. AI search engines like ChatGPT, Google's Gemini, and Perplexity are now standalone discovery channels, separate from the Google search your marketing team has been optimizing for years. And they work differently.
When a buyer uses Google, they see a list of results and click on whichever looks relevant. When they ask an AI, the AI picks winners and mentions them by name in its response. Being invisible to Google is one problem. Being unmentioned by an AI is invisible to the buyer entirely.
SoftwareSuggest's announcement of AI and search engine optimization visibility services reflects how real this gap has become for software companies. The service audits which AI platforms are actually used by software buyers in your space, maps the buyer prompts that trigger recommendations, identifies which competitors get cited, and finds the authority and content gaps keeping your brand out of those answers.
AI search engines don't rank pages the way Google does. They generate answers by pulling from training data and citing sources that have established credibility in their category. For a software brand to be cited, it needs to exist in enough reputable places, in enough buyer conversations, that the AI recognizes it as a legitimate option.
This means your brand needs to show up in industry publications, comparison articles, buyer guides, and review platforms that AI systems draw from. It means having a clear, repeatable story about what you solve and for whom. It means authority, not just a good landing page.
Software buyers are already using AI search to shortlist vendors. They're asking Gemini and ChatGPT for recommendations before they ever land on a Google search result. Brands that wait to optimize until they lose deals are already behind. The work to build authority and get cited by AI systems takes time, and the sooner you start, the sooner your brand becomes an option buyers actually consider.
The software market is shifting. Visibility isn't just about Google anymore.
How WebKing runs this
We identify the exact buyer questions AI systems are answering about your category, audit where competitors appear in ChatGPT and Gemini responses, spot citation and content gaps, then build authority and optimize messaging so your software gets recommended when prospects search AI, not just Google.
AI search platforms are now separate discovery channels; when a prospect asks ChatGPT or Gemini what software to buy in your category, they get AI-generated recommendations that cite specific brands. If you're not cited, you lose that prospect entirely, even if you rank high on Google.
You need to audit the actual prompts buyers use in your category (like 'best project management tools for startups'), then check which brands appear in the AI's response and where competitors get cited. Most software companies don't do this and have no idea they're invisible.
Google rewards keywords and backlinks; AI search engines reward brand citations, authority, and being mentioned in industry conversations. You need content that establishes your brand as a credible option in your category, not just content stuffed with keywords.
There's no fixed timeline because AI systems update differently than Google and pull from various sources; the key is auditing where you stand today, then building authority and citation opportunities so you're discoverable when AI systems next crawl and refresh their training data.
Sources
The Lab is original analysis by WebKing. We summarize and interpret developments from the sources above for industrial, commercial, and small business owners. Figures are reported as published by their sources.
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