Where AI gets its answers about software

What kinds of pages do AI tools quote?

AirOps, a company that makes content software, pulled together studies of which pages AI tools quote in their answers. “Best of” lists came top (AirOps):

For software, the lists matter even more. AirOps found software had the highest share of “best of” list quotes of any industry: 35.37% (AirOps).

Why do “best of” lists matter so much?

Because AI tools quote them more than anything else, and most of them aren’t yours. AirOps found that 80.9% of the “best of” lists AI tools quoted were on other people’s sites. Only 19.1% were written by a company about itself (AirOps).

For a CRM, that’s a page like “Best CRMs for small teams” on a software review blog. In our sample, it’s on SaaS Shortlist, an invented site. If you’re on the list, an AI tool reading it may name you. If you’re not, it will name the products that are.

To find the lists for your category:

• Search Google for what a buyer would type, like “best crm for small teams”, and note the lists on the first page.
• Ask ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity the same question. When an answer shows the pages it used, note those too.
• Look at the rivals who keep getting named. Search for their names and see which lists they’re on.

Then write to the person who keeps each list. Keep it short and specific: what your product does, why it fits their list, and something they can check, like a free trial or your docs. Writers get a lot of lazy requests. One blogger says they delete “bundles of emails offering me free articles” every day (Just Publishing Advice). A real, personal note from a founder stands out.

Do review sites matter?

Yes, twice over. Buyers use them to shortlist, and they trust AI answers that draw on them. In G2’s 2025 survey of B2B decision-makers, AI chatbots were the biggest influence on shortlists (17%), and software review sites came next (15%), ahead of vendors’ own websites (Business Wire). In its 2026 survey, G2 found that buyers trust an AI answer most when it draws on review sites (G2). Capterra found that buyers who were happy with their purchase were at least 50% more likely to have used product comparison sites and expert recommendations to build their shortlist (Capterra).

So keep your profiles on the main review sites for your category complete and current: plans, prices, integrations, who it’s for. And ask happy customers to write a review. Never write one for them.

What about Reddit and communities?

Founders and marketers often say communities matter more now. One reply in a Reddit thread on how AI picks businesses: “what really moves AI recommendations is getting mentioned in community spaces like Reddit” (r/ChatGPT). Another founder wrote: “Communities, examples, and proof seem to matter way more now” (r/Entrepreneur). These are opinions, not studies.

The same thread carries a warning: one person asked whether chasing AI answers would become “the new SaaS spam” (r/Entrepreneur). Communities notice. Answer real questions where your product genuinely fits, say who you are every time, and leave it alone where it doesn’t.

Do comparison and “alternatives to” pages help?

A little, and they’re worth doing well. On their own, comparison and alternatives pages are a small share of what AI tools quote: under 3% in AirOps’ review (AirOps). But a buyer choosing between tools may ask “X vs Y” or “alternatives to X”, and software companies publish these pages widely. Peec AI and AthenaHQ, for example, both publish comparisons with their rivals (Peec AI; AthenaHQ).

If you write one, make it fair: the rival’s strengths as well as yours, prices as each company publishes them, and the date you checked. A page a buyer can trust is a page an AI tool can quote. Our own comparisons follow those rules.

What about your own pricing page and docs?

They count, as long as AI tools can read them. See how to let AI tools read your site. AirOps’ review also found a few things that go with a page being quoted (AirOps):

• Answer early. 44% of quotes come from the first 30% of a page.
• Keep it fresh. Pages updated in the last 90 days were quoted 1.6 times as often.
• Use clear headings in order. Pages that did were 2.8 times as likely to be quoted.

These come from a company that sells content software, so treat them as things worth trying, not rules. For a software company, it adds up to plain pages with the facts buyers ask about: what it does, who it’s for, what it costs, what it works with, and answers to the questions your sales and support teams hear every week.

Do mentions matter more than links?

Possibly. SEO advice often focuses on getting other sites to link to yours. For AI answers, being mentioned may count for more. A summary of an Ahrefs study of 75,000 brands reports that mentions of a brand across the web line up with AI visibility about three times as strongly as links do (Medium).

We couldn’t check the exact figures, and it shows a link between the two, not proof that mentions cause it. But it points the same way as the “best of” list numbers: what other sites say about you matters.

Does every AI tool use the same sources?

No. AirOps found that only 11% of websites were quoted by both ChatGPT and Perplexity (AirOps). Google’s AI Overviews work from Google’s own index: a page must be indexed and allowed to show a snippet in search to be quoted (Google Search Central). Even there, a 2026 Ahrefs study found only 38% of quoted pages ranked in Google’s top 10 for that search (DesignRush).

So it’s worth being in several places: a few good lists, the main review sites, a fair comparison page or two, and a site AI tools can read.

Where should you start this week?

Here’s a plain first week for a CRM like Kettlebook, an invented product we use in examples. Swap in your own category:

1. Ask a “best of” list to add you. In our sample, that’s SaaS Shortlist’s “Best CRMs for small teams”, an invented site.
2. Make your pricing page load without JavaScript, so AI tools can read your plans.
3. Publish a fair comparison page: “Kettlebook and Paperwren compared”.
4. Answer a question your support team hears often, like “Does Kettlebook work with Gmail?”, in your docs.
5. Ask three happy customers for a review on the review site your buyers use.

These are the kinds of jobs outshone picks for you each week, and we do most of each one. Nothing goes out in your name without your OK, and outreach goes from your own address. See how it works.