SaaS founders: How are you getting visibility in AI search? Our competitors appear but we never do

Alex, I’ve been obsessing over this for our company. Here’s what I’ve learned:

The SaaS AI visibility stack:

AI systems pull from these sources (roughly in order of weight):

1. G2/Capterra reviews - This is #1. AI cites G2 data constantly.
2. Wikipedia/knowledge bases - If you have a Wikipedia entry, huge advantage
3. Comparison sites - Sites like GetApp, SoftwareAdvice
4. Tech publications - TechCrunch, VentureBeat, industry blogs
5. Product Hunt - Especially for newer tools
6. Reddit/community discussions - Real user recommendations
7. Your own documentation - Surprisingly important

Why you might be invisible despite G2 presence:

1. Category positioning - Are you in the right G2 category? AI uses category data.
2. Review recency - 200 reviews is good, but when were they from?
3. Competitor mentions - Are you frequently compared to the leaders?
4. Feature coverage - Does your G2 profile cover all features people search for?

What moved our visibility (from 0% to 40% mentions):

1. Complete overhaul of G2 profile - every feature, every category, every use case
2. Aggressive G2 review campaign - 50 new reviews/quarter
3. Comparison content we publish ourselves
4. Active participation in relevant subreddits
5. Integration with larger ecosystem players (when we integrated with Slack, AI started mentioning us with Slack)

Product Hunt perspective on AI visibility:

PH launches matter for AI because:

• PH pages rank well in Google (which feeds AI)
• AI systems recognize PH as an authority for software discovery
• Active PH discussions get indexed and cited

What makes a PH launch help AI visibility:

1. Detailed product description - Not just features, but use cases and differentiators
2. Founder engagement - Answering every comment builds content AI can cite
3. Launch collection - Getting into relevant collections
4. Awards/badges - “Product of the Day” etc. are authority signals

Ongoing presence matters: Even after launch, stay active. Comment on related products, share insights in discussions. PH presence compounds.

I’ve seen products that launched on PH 2 years ago still get cited by AI because of their comprehensive PH page and discussion thread.

I study G2’s impact on AI recommendations. Here’s what I’ve found:

G2 is the #1 cited source for SaaS recommendations in AI.

When ChatGPT or Perplexity recommends B2B software, they’re often pulling from G2 data directly. I’ve verified this by tracing citations.

What maximizes G2’s AI impact:

1. Complete profile - Every section filled, every feature listed
2. Category leadership - Being in the “Leaders” quadrant matters
3. Review volume AND recency - 200 old reviews < 100 recent reviews
4. Review content quality - Detailed reviews mentioning features by name
5. Comparison presence - Appearing in G2 Compare pages
6. Integration mentions - Reviews that mention integrations help

The G2 Compare factor:

G2 Compare pages (X vs Y) are HEAVILY cited by AI. If you’re not appearing on compare pages against your competitors, you’re missing a huge opportunity.

Actively encourage customers to mention competitors they evaluated in their reviews. “We chose [you] over [competitor] because…” is gold for AI visibility.

Content strategy angle for SaaS AI visibility:

The content that gets SaaS products cited:

1. Comparison content - “[Your Product] vs [Competitor] vs [Competitor]”
2. Use case content - “How to [solve problem] with [Your Product]”
3. Integration content - “[Your Product] + [Popular Tool] Integration Guide”
4. Category education - “What is [Category]? Complete Guide”
5. Feature deep dives - Comprehensive docs on specific capabilities

What doesn’t work:

• Generic “why choose us” pages
• Press releases
• Sales-focused landing pages
• Gated content (AI can’t see it)

Our content approach:

We publish comprehensive “alternatives” and “comparison” content. Yes, we mention competitors by name. Yes, we’re balanced.

This content ranks well AND gets cited by AI because it directly answers the questions people ask AI.

“What’s the best alternative to [Big Competitor]?” is a query AI gets constantly. If you have the best content answering it, you get cited.

Developer tool perspective - slightly different dynamics:

For dev tools, documentation is everything:

AI systems cite documentation heavily for dev tools. Our docs get cited more than our marketing pages.

What makes docs AI-friendly:

1. Clear structure - Logical hierarchy, good headings
2. Code examples - Actual working code AI can reference
3. Problem-solution format - “How to do X” clearly answered
4. Search optimization - Docs should be SEO’d like marketing content
5. API reference - Complete, accurate, updated

Community signals for dev tools:

• Stack Overflow presence (answers mentioning your tool)
• GitHub stars and activity
• Dev blog posts mentioning you
• Podcast appearances on dev podcasts

For dev tools, AI visibility is strongly correlated with developer community recognition. If developers are discussing and recommending your tool in authentic contexts, AI picks that up.

I moderate several SaaS-related subreddits. Here’s what I notice about AI:

Reddit content gets cited a lot for SaaS recommendations.

When AI recommends software, it often references Reddit discussions where real users shared experiences.

What makes Reddit content AI-friendly:

1. Genuine recommendations - “I’ve used X for 2 years and it solved Y”
2. Comparison discussions - “Evaluated A, B, C - here’s what I picked and why”
3. Problem/solution threads - “How do you handle X?” → “We use Y tool”
4. AMA content - Founders doing AMAs build credibility

For SaaS companies:

1. Have someone (founder or team member) active in relevant subreddits
2. Share genuinely helpful content, not spam
3. When someone asks about your category, respond thoughtfully
4. Never shill - Redditors hate it AND it gets removed

The companies I see cited most by AI are the ones whose founders or users naturally participate in discussions.

I help SaaS companies with AI visibility. Here’s the framework:

The SaaS AI Visibility Audit:

What I track for clients:

Using Am I Cited, I monitor:

• Which queries mention them vs competitors
• Which sources get cited when they’re mentioned
• How positioning changes over time

Most SaaS companies are surprised that a single missing element (like incomplete G2 profile or no comparison content) is blocking them.

Common pattern: Strong product, happy customers, good reviews - but no comparative content or community presence. AI doesn’t know how to position them relative to alternatives.

We went from 0% to 55% AI visibility in our category over 12 months. Here’s exactly what we did:

Month 1-3: Foundation

• Complete G2/Capterra profile overhaul
• Launch review collection program (goal: 20/month)
• Create 10 comparison articles on our blog
• Claim all relevant G2 categories

Month 4-6: Expansion

• Product Hunt re-launch with full campaign
• Reddit engagement program (founder active in 3 subreddits)
• Guest posts on 5 industry publications
• Integration co-marketing with 3 ecosystem partners

Month 7-9: Authority Building

• Original research report (cited by multiple publications)
• Podcast appearances (10+ relevant podcasts)
• Wikipedia article created (we were finally notable enough)
• Public documentation overhaul

Month 10-12: Optimization

• Track AI visibility weekly, iterate on what works
• Double down on comparison content
• Expand G2 review program to 30/month
• Create video content (YouTube shows up in AI)

Investment: About $150k total in content, PR, and team time. Worth every penny - AI is now our second-largest discovery channel after organic search.

Data perspective on SaaS AI visibility:

Correlations I’ve measured across 50+ SaaS companies:

Key insights:

1. G2 recency beats G2 volume - fresh reviews matter more
2. Wikipedia existence is a major threshold - if you don’t have one, you’re fighting uphill
3. Organic Reddit mentions correlate more than paid placements
4. Comparison content you create yourself helps significantly

The companies at 0% AI visibility usually have:

• Stale G2 profile
• No Wikipedia
• No comparison content
• No community presence

Fix those four things and visibility improves dramatically.

This thread is a goldmine. My entire perspective on AI visibility has shifted.

Root causes of our invisibility:

1. G2 profile is dated and incomplete
2. Reviews are spread over 4 years, not recent
3. No comparison content on our blog
4. Inactive in relevant Reddit communities
5. No Wikipedia presence (we might be notable enough now)

Action plan:

Q1:

• Complete G2 profile overhaul (all features, all categories)
• Launch review collection program (target: 20/month)
• Create 5 comparison articles
• Start founder participation in 2-3 relevant subreddits

Q2:

• Product Hunt refresh
• Integration co-marketing with major partners
• Original research report for PR
• Explore Wikipedia article

Tracking:

• Set up Am I Cited or similar for weekly monitoring
• Track G2 ranking changes monthly
• Measure review velocity

The data about G2 recency (0.72 correlation) vs. total reviews (0.68) is particularly actionable. We have the reviews, we just need new ones consistently.

Thanks everyone - this is now a top-3 marketing priority for us.