B2B SEO Strategy: How to Get Found on Google and ChatGPT (2026)

A purchase manager in Pune needs a packaging supplier. A D2C founder needs a warehouse partner. A few years ago they'd search Google and call three companies. Now many of them ask ChatGPT first, and read a short answer that names about three firms.

Most B2B SEO advice is written for software companies, and we cover that in our guide to SaaS SEO. This page is for everyone else: the B2B firms that sell services, products or expertise, using what we saw across nine of them.

What is B2B SEO?

B2B SEO is search engine optimization for companies whose customers are other companies. B2B stands for business-to-business. Think of a 3PL storing and shipping goods for brands, a factory making parts for carmakers, or a law firm advising startups. All B2B.

B2B buyers don’t search the way shoppers do. They search less often, but each search carries more money. They ask specific questions, like "3PL with cold storage in Bengaluru" or "CA firm for startup compliance in Delhi". And the decision usually involves more than one person.

Now they ask AI too. The same buyer types that question into ChatGPT, and gets a shortlist instead of ten links. Plenty of companies notice this only when the leads change. One post on r/seogrowth put it like this:

Where ChatGPT Finds the B2B Companies It Recommends: Our Study of 767 Answers

AI is already shaping these decisions. SEO writer Alex Groberman summarised one study on X:

He was citing a Semrush survey of U.S. professionals who use AI at work. So we looked at what those answers are built from, for B2B companies that don't sell software.

DoableClaw stores every AI answer it collects, with the pages each one read. Between 26 August and 6 October 2026, we asked 50 buyer questions for nine such companies, across logistics, manufacturing and export, marketing agencies and advisory firms. We collected 767 answers from ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI Overview.

Read the table as a B2B owner would:

• The shortlist is shorter. A typical answer named three companies, half as many as for software. Being one of the three matters more.
• LinkedIn and directories carry weight. They were the sources the AI leaned on most, ahead of Reddit. Answers about software tools looked very different.
• Your own site counts for more. About 1 in 6 answers cited the website of the company being asked about, double the software rate. A clear page answering the buyer's question gets used.

How AI Tools Search Before They Recommend B2B Companies

Before ChatGPT or Gemini answers, it often runs its own web searches, and we store those too. Across the same study, the AI ran 688 of them. Here are real ones:

• "3pl for d2c brands coimbatore"
• "reverse logistics companies india d2c brands mumbai"
• "top local seo agencies in india pricing packages"

Notice what the AI adds: a city, the type of customer, the service, and words like "top", "cost" or "pricing". A page titled "Reverse logistics for D2C brands in Mumbai", with prices or ranges near the top, matches that search almost word for word. A page titled "Our Services" doesn't.

B2B SEO Strategy: SEO for B2B Companies That Don't Sell Software

Here's a strategy in five steps, plus a habit. It works for Google, and it covers the places AI reads.

1. Write down the questions buyers ask before they call. Take them from sales calls, RFQs and emails, in the buyer's own words, with their city and their situation.
2. Build one page per service and city you actually serve. "Cold storage 3PL in Bengaluru" beats a general "Our Services" page. Put the answer, prices or ranges, and capacity facts near the top.
3. Fill in your directory profiles properly. Clutch, IndiaMART, Justdial and your industry's own directories showed up in 14% of answers. Add services, cities, photos and real reviews.
4. Post on LinkedIn with specifics. The company page and the founder's profile both count. Share real numbers, client types and how you work, not just announcements.
5. Get onto the lists in your category. "Top 3PLs in India" or "best packaging suppliers in Pune" pages feed AI answers. Reach out to the people who write them, with facts they can check.

Then check the same questions every few weeks. Don’t change the list. That way any movement you see is real.

B2B SEO by Industry: What to Build First

The same strategy plays out differently by industry. Here's where to start, based on the kinds of questions buyers ask:

In every row, the first page answers one question for one kind of buyer. That's what both Google and AI tools reward.

B2B Content Strategy That Works on Google and ChatGPT

The confusion between the two is common. One SEO consultant wrote on LinkedIn:

For a B2B company, the content that works on both is the same kind of page:

• It answers one buyer question. The title is the question, or close to it. The first lines give the answer.
• It says specific things. A city, a capacity, a turnaround time, a certification. AI tools repeat facts and skip praise like "world-class service".
• It shows proof. Named client types, project numbers, before-and-after figures, where you're allowed to share them.
• It's easy to read. Short paragraphs, a table where there's a comparison, and the important facts in text, not only inside images.

If you want the background on how AI picks the companies it names, our explainer on what AEO is covers it. Our guide on whether SEO still works for AI search covers what carries over from classic SEO.

B2B SEO Tools You Actually Need

You need fewer tools than most lists suggest:

• Google Search Console shows which searches bring you to Google and which pages rank. It's free.
• Google Analytics shows what visitors do once they arrive. Also free.
• A keyword tool like Semrush or Ahrefs will show how many people search each phrase.
• An AI visibility tool shows whether ChatGPT and other AI tools name you. Our comparison of the best AEO tools for B2B teams covers nine.

B2B SEO Agency or In-house?

In-house works when someone can write clear service pages and keep the directory and LinkedIn profiles current. That's a few hours a week.

An agency helps when you need steady work outside your own site: getting onto lists, earning coverage in trade press, and building pages faster than your team can. Before you sign, know which questions your buyers ask and which ones you're missing from. Our guide on whether AEO is worth paying for sets out three questions that decide it.

Why You Can't See This on Your Own

Most B2B companies find out about AI search by accident, when a prospect says "ChatGPT suggested someone else". The usual tools don't show it.

Google Analytics and Search Console only count clicks and searches on Google. When an AI names a rival and nobody clicks anything, no tool records it.

Asking ChatGPT yourself gives you one answer on one day. Tomorrow the list may be different. One answer doesn't prove much.

Rank trackers follow keywords you picked. Buyers don't type keywords into AI. They ask full questions.

How DoableClaw Works

DoableClaw runs the same check behind the study on this page, for your company.

1. You enter your website. DoableClaw reads it, works out what you sell and who buys it, and finds the questions your buyers ask AI. It starts with about a thousand possible questions and keeps the five that matter most.
2. It asks those five on four AI tools, three times each. That's ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI Overview. You get about 60 answers, in around 15 minutes.
3. It shows who the AI named instead of you. Your rivals come from the answers themselves, including companies you didn't know about.
4. It shows the pages behind every answer. You see which directories, LinkedIn posts and lists the AI relied on, and whether your site is one of them.
5. It suggests what to publish next. Each gap becomes a page idea: which question to answer, and what that page needs to say.

Why DoableClaw

• It starts from real buyer questions, not keywords. The questions come from what people ask in forums, in searches and inside AI tools.
• It asks every question several times. A result is only worth acting on if it holds up across repeats.
• It shows the proof. Every number links back to the real AI answers and the pages they used.
• It works for Indian companies. Questions and rivals are checked for the market you sell in, so an Indian 3PL is compared with Indian 3PLs.
• What you get at the end is a to-do list, not just a score. Every gap comes with the page to write and the question it answers.

Conclusion

A B2B SEO strategy in 2026 has to work on Google and inside AI answers. For B2B companies that don't sell software, the shortlist AI builds is short, about three names, and it leans on LinkedIn, business directories and the company's own pages more than on Reddit or review sites. Write one clear page per buyer question, keep your directory and LinkedIn profiles specific and current, get onto the lists in your category, and check the same questions every few weeks.