--- title: "How can tech companies get recommended in AI search? · Avouch" description: "A practical plan for software and SaaS companies: start from buyers' own words, not a keyword list, then build the pages, outside evidence and measurement AI search needs." url: https://avouchedfor.com/insights/tech-companies-ai-search markdown_url: https://avouchedfor.com/insights/tech-companies-ai-search.md --- # How can tech companies get recommended in AI search? A practical plan for software and SaaS companies: what buyers ask, the pages AI needs, the other websites that matter, and how to measure it. **Steen Stones** · Reviewed 21 Oct 2026 Photo: [ThisIsEngineering / Pexels](https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-women-talking-beside-whiteboard-3861952/) Make it easy for AI to see which buyers your product suits and why, on your own website and on the other websites AI reads. Good Google SEO is the foundation, but it is not the whole plan. AI tools search more widely than one keyword, cite a mix of websites and change their sources often. Start from your buyers’ own words, not your feature list or a keyword tool: in our research, keyword-led plans missed the questions buyers actually ask. Avouch’s [free scan](https://avouchedfor.com/free-scan) shows which companies AI recommends in your market. This guide is for software and technology products. For service companies, see our guides for [IT support and managed service providers](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/it-support-companies-ai-search) and [cyber security companies](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/cyber-security-companies-ai-search). ## What our research shows for tech buyers - **AI Overviews are on almost every buying question.** In our tracking, an AI Overview appeared on 96% of US and 92% of UK results pages for buyer questions about AI SEO services, and on 90% of US and 76% of UK pages for data protection and cyber security questions. See [Do AI Overviews take your clicks?](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/do-ai-overviews-reduce-clicks). - **Your own website supports a recommendation, but rarely alone.** In our study of AI answers about IT support, cyber security and app development companies, suppliers’ own websites appeared beside most of their recommendations, but almost never as the only source. Directories and comparison pages were among the other websites cited. See [the websites behind repeated AI recommendations](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/the-websites-behind-repeated-ai-recommendations). - **The sources change all the time.** About half of the websites AI cited for a question were new from one day to the next. See [how often AI answers change their sources](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/how-often-ai-answers-change-sources). Google results pages with an AI Overview Technology and security buyer questions, desktop. Share of saved Google results pages that showed an AI Overview. - AI SEO services, US 96% - AI SEO services, UK 92% - Data protection and cyber security, US 90% - Data protection and cyber security, UK 76% ### Source and study details Avouch tracking, 2 September to 21 October 2026. ## Why a keyword list leads to the wrong content A keyword list tells you what people type. It does not tell you what a buyer is trying to decide. In our study of a data protection market, a close neighbour of tech: - **33% of the saved SEO phrases asked for a definition**, such as “what is a dpo”. None asked about cost or contract terms. - **25% of real buyer questions were about cost or terms**, such as “How do solo devs handle a DPIA without breaking the bank?”. - **21% of the searches in the client’s own Search Console were about cost or terms**, including “how much does outsourced dpo cost for a 50-person saas startup?”. - **Buyer questions were longer:** a typical buyer question had eight or nine words, and a typical keyword three or four. - **Fewer than 1% of the searches Gemini made matched the keyword list exactly.** Asked about cost or contract terms Data protection. Share of each set of texts that asked about cost or contract terms. - Saved SEO phrases 0% - Real buyer questions 25% - Searches in the client’s Search Console 21% - Searches Gemini made 17% ### Source and study details Avouch Study 1, 16 October 2026: 46 SEO phrases, 12 buyer questions, 106 Search Console searches and 104 Gemini searches. Small, selected samples. A content plan built from the keyword list alone would have written definitions and left the buyer’s real questions, about cost, terms and fit, unanswered. Definition pages attract people learning the subject, and many of those people are not buying. See [what SEO keyword lists miss about buying decisions](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/what-seo-keyword-lists-miss-about-buying-decisions). ## 1. Collect your buyers’ own words Start with what buyers say, in their own words, before you open a keyword tool. We call this a voice harvest. **Where tech buyers talk.** In our harvest for a data protection and cyber security market, the most useful places were Reddit, Hacker News, Spiceworks (a community for IT professionals), Trustpilot, Capterra, G2, Clutch, Stack Exchange, UK Business Forums and YouTube. Add what you already hold: sales calls, demos, support tickets and lost-deal notes. **Check who is speaking.** Not everyone who talks about a subject is buying it. We checked 1,832 posts from that harvest that had first been marked as buyers. A second check found: - 40% were buyers; - 38% were practitioners, people who do or sell the work; - 15% were other speakers, such as news and career questions; - 6% were people affected by a data breach, not people buying protection. Who was speaking 1,832 posts from our voice harvest that had first been marked as buyers, after a second check of who was speaking. - Buyers 40% - Practitioners, who do or sell the work 38% - Other speakers 15% - People affected by a data breach 6% ### Source and study details Avouch voice harvest, data protection and cyber security, 2026. Each post checked by an AI model against a written rule that counts a post as a buyer whenever it reasonably could be one. If you write from all of them, you answer the practitioner’s questions, not the buyer’s. **What to record for each buyer comment:** What to record for each buyer comment 1. The problem that started the search, and what they need to get done (the [job to be done](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/jobs-to-be-done-ai-search)). 2. Their situation and limits, such as budget, team size and existing systems. 3. What they fear could go wrong. 4. Their exact words, the source, the date and who is speaking. Keep private conversations private. Remove identifying details from your notes, and ask permission before you publish a customer’s words. Worked example: turn a buying problem into a page. A made-up planning example, not customer research. | What you learn | What to write down | | -------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | The job | Move project work out of spreadsheets without losing records | | The questions | What can we import? Which integrations work? Who helps us move? | | The page | Explain the data import, the checks, the support and what the customer does | | The evidence | The process and features your team can demonstrate | **Then use keyword data to size and prioritise the questions**, not to choose them. ## 2. Turn the questions into pages Turn the questions into pages 1. **Give each distinct question a clear answer.** Use a separate page when the answer is different. Keep related questions together when separate pages would be thin. 2. **Say who the product suits, what it does, its limits and the evidence.** Put this in plain text near the top, not only in a slogan or a video. 3. **Check search demand, but do not stop there.** Many of the searches AI tools make have no measured volume in keyword tools, so a real buying question is worth answering even when the numbers are small. 4. **Link the pages together.** Connect the detailed answers, an overview page and your product and pricing pages. ## 3. Find out what else AI searches for When it builds an answer, an AI tool runs extra searches on related topics. This is called [query fan-out](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/what-is-query-fan-out). For “which project management tool works with our systems?”, the extra searches might cover integrations, data imports, permissions and price. Our guides show how to see these searches in [Google](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/find-google-query-fan-out) and [ChatGPT](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/find-chatgpt-query-fan-out). Add the gaps you find to your list of questions. ## 4. Check the other websites AI relies on [Choose the buyer questions to track](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/choose-prompts-ai-visibility-tracking), ask them in each AI tool, and open the pages each answer cites. For software, these are often: - **Review sites** such as G2 and Capterra. See [G2 and Capterra reviews in ChatGPT](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/g2-capterra-reviews-chatgpt-recommendations). - **Best-of lists and comparison sites.** See [best-of lists](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/saas-best-of-lists-ai-quotes) and [comparison sites](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/comparison-sites-ai-recommendations). - **Comparison pages**, including your competitors’ and your own. See [comparison pages on your own website](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/comparison-pages-on-your-website). Record which companies each answer names and recommends, and which pages it cites. Then decide whether the next job is on your website or on one of these. Our guide to [why AI recommends your competitors](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/why-ai-recommends-competitors) shows how. ## 5. Make sure AI can read your pages Ask whoever runs your website to check that: Make sure AI can read your pages 1. The important pages are indexed by Google and Bing. 2. robots.txt and your firewall let search and AI crawlers in. See [AI crawlers](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/block-ai-crawlers-robots-txt). 3. The important facts are written in the page’s text, not only in images, PDFs or behind a sign-in. Add a short, factual [AI information page](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/create-ai-information-page), like [ours](https://avouchedfor.com/ai-instructions): who you are, what you sell, who it is for and how to contact you. An [llms.txt file](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/does-llms-txt-help-ai-search-citations) is optional and comes after these. ## 6. Measure what changes Track the same questions every week: how often AI names you, recommends you and cites your pages. Ask new customers how they found you. Our guides to [AI visibility metrics](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/ai-visibility-metrics-explained) and [measuring the return](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/measure-ai-search-roi) explain how. ## How Avouch can help We start from your buyers’ questions and the websites AI relies on, then agree the work that fits: clear [website and product pages](https://avouchedfor.com/services/technical-seo), [content that answers buying questions](https://avouchedfor.com/services/content-engine), [reviews and industry profiles](https://avouchedfor.com/services/reviews-profiles), [PR and industry coverage](https://avouchedfor.com/services/citations) and [LinkedIn](https://avouchedfor.com/services/linkedin). Where it is part of an agreed engagement, we track your Recommendation Rate™ each week, with scope and price agreed before we start. ## Want to know where you stand? Start with the [free scan](https://avouchedfor.com/free-scan). For a fuller review and a written plan, choose the paid [Recommendation Index™ assessment](https://avouchedfor.com/assessment). ## Common questions ### Does AI search replace SEO? No. Google says its SEO foundations apply to its AI features. Add buyer-question research, a review of the websites AI cites, and regular checks of AI answers. ### Should every question have its own page? Only when it needs a different answer. Combine questions that belong together, and link the detail from an overview page. ### Do review sites matter for software companies? Often. AI answers about software regularly cite review sites, best-of lists and comparison pages. Make sure your profiles there are complete, current and match your own website. ### What should we bring to Avouch? The product you want to grow, examples of buyer questions, sales and support notes, and the pages you are unsure about. Share private material through an agreed route. ## Sources 1. [Google Search Central: AI features and your website (opens in a new tab)](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features), checked 21 October 2026 2. [AirOps: retrieval, fan-out and Google results in ChatGPT citations (opens in a new tab)](https://www.airops.com/report/influence-of-retrieval-fanout-and-google-serps-in-chatgpt), checked 13 October 2026 3. [Avouch: what SEO keyword lists miss about buying decisions (opens in a new tab)](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/what-seo-keyword-lists-miss-about-buying-decisions), checked 21 October 2026 4. [Avouch: the websites behind repeated AI recommendations (opens in a new tab)](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/the-websites-behind-repeated-ai-recommendations), checked 21 October 2026 AI can't recommend what it doesn't know. [Check if AI recommends you](https://avouchedfor.com/free-scan) Start free. No commitment.