From AIOs to LLMs: How B2B Teams Must Evolve Search Strategy and Reporting for the AI Era

Directive’s recent webinar brought together a panel of SEO experts to unpack how AI Overviews (AIOs) and large language models (LLMs) are reshaping the B2B search landscape. This post summarizes the biggest insights, the frameworks that are working now, and the reporting updates B2B marketers need to navigate the AI-powered future of search.

Search Strategy Is Being Rewritten

We’re watching search fragment in real time. And so are your B2B buyers.

Google’s AI Overviews and tools like ChatGPT are rewriting what success looks like in search. If your SEO strategy still hinges on MSV, rankings, and clicks alone, you’re already a step behind. Those metrics still matter (and we think they always will), but they’re no longer the whole picture.

Here’s what we’ve found:

• Top-of-funnel AIOs are underperforming. Think of these queries like a highway billboard. You can get a lot of eyes, but very few of them will be relevant — and even fewer will convert. Visibility in these queries often results in high bounce rates and low-intent leads.
• Mid and bottom-of-funnel queries are now more valuable than ever. These terms are more relevant, prompt deeper engagement, and are more likely to lead to conversions.
• AI platforms influence buyer decisions without sending traffic. If you’re not showing up in listicles, reviews, and comparison content, you’re missing from the conversation entirely.
  

The New Metrics That Matter

Directive’s SEO team emphasized that legacy KPIs are no longer sufficient. Instead, B2B teams need to shift toward a visibility and impact model:

• AIO Visibility Tracking. Are you appearing in AIO for high-intent, product-aligned queries?
• LLM Citations. Is your brand mentioned or recommended by ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Gemini?
• Session-to-Conversion Ratios. Are visits from AI referrals turning into pipeline?
• Custom Reporting Dashboards. Directive uses Looker, GA4, GSC, and SEMrush to blend insights across sources.
  

Directive has also layered in tools like Profound and Scrunch to compare brand narratives across AI summaries, moving the focus from traffic to influence.

What’s Working Right Now: Key Plays from the Webinar

These are the plays Directive clients are executing right now, and seeing real results from:

1. BOFU Listicle Domination

We treat third-party listicles as the first domino in AI visibility. 

Rank there, and you’re far more likely to show up in AIOs. Then get featured in AIO, and LLMs tend to follow. It’s the pattern we’ve seen play out again and again. 

Use this sequence: Rank in listicles → earn AIO placements → dominate LLM results. 

Our goal isn’t just more AIO mentions, it’s showing up where buying decisions are made.

Example: Greenhouse ranks in listicles for “Best Applicant Tracking Systems.” That content appears in AIOs, which helps push Greenhouse into LLM results like ChatGPT and Perplexity.

2. Competitor Citation Gap Analysis

If your competitors are showing up in AIOs and LLMs and you’re not, that’s a gap worth closing fast.

Directive uses keyword gap tools, AIO audits, and visibility trackers to find under-leveraged topics where competitors are dominating SERPs. Optimizing for where others are winning has helped increase LLM visibility, and ultimately driven meaningful LLM referral growth for clients.

3. Technical SEO to Support LLM Discoverability

Give AI a blueprint, not a puzzle, when it crawls your site. 

Directive prioritizes schema markup, crawlable structure, and internal linking to help AI models interpret and surface content. We’ve seen FAQs and clean schema make the difference between showing up and getting skipped.

Clean markup and crawlable paths don’t just help Google, they’re prerequisites for LLMs to reference your content. 

Think of it like scaffolding: without structured paths and clean formatting, AI can’t interpret your content, let alone cite it.

Common Questions B2B Marketing Teams Are Asking

Directive collected real questions from marketing leaders. These reflect the uncertainty (and opportunity) present in AI search.

• If MSV doesn’t matter anymore, what does?
  Answer: It does, but so does everything else. We use topic scoring based on the traditional SEO metrics like search volume, keyword difficulty, and cost-per-click — but now we also look at traffic to competing content, AI visibility potential, and bottom-line fit.
• Is ChatGPT replacing Google?
  Answer: No, but it is influencing decisions early and shaping brand perception before a click even happens.
• Will I lose traffic?
  Answer: Yes, possibly. But clients who pivot to AI-first content strategies have seen increased impressions, improved conversion rates, and more stable pipelines despite lower traffic volume.
  

What to Measure Instead

Most dashboards we see are still built for the old SERP. If you’re not tracking AI visibility, LLM mentions, and referrals, you’re not seeing the full picture.

Directive recommends new reporting structures that align with how B2B buyers are researching through AI:

• AI Visibility. Measure your presence across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and more.
• LLM Traffic and Engagement. Look at on-page behavior and referral CVR from LLM mentions.
• Content Opportunity Scoring. Prioritize based on AIO presence, topic alignment, and funnel intent.
• Visibility vs Competitors. Track how you and your top 3 competitors are showing up across the AI layer.

Watch the Full Webinar

To go deeper on these insights and see live examples, dashboards, and frameworks, watch the full replay here:

👉 Watch the Webinar Replay

You’ll see how leading B2B brands are shifting strategy in real time, and how Directive is helping them evolve both content and reporting to meet the moment.