What percentage of B2B CMOs use LLMs as their primary discovery method versus Google Search as a verification layer?
Answered at 2:18 in AI Reveals Competitor Content Strategies in Minutes with Chris Long · This New Way
What percentage of B2B CMOs use LLMs as their primary discovery method versus Google Search as a verification layer?
A CMO report found that most B2B CMOs are now starting their search on an LLM, with 73% of them using Google Search as a verification layer, not a discovery layer. CMOs are looking for companies and then using Google to find red flags, so Google serves almost as a reputation management source.
Full answer and detailsRead the whole answer, key facts and every other question from this episode
In short
A CMO report found that most B2B CMOs are now starting their search on an LLM, with 73% of them using Google Search as a verification layer, not a discovery layer.
Chris Long, Founder & CEO at Nective · AI Reveals Competitor Content Strategies in Minutes with Chris Long · This New Way · answer at 2:18
Key takeaways
- A CMO report found that most B2B CMOs are now starting their search on an LLM, with 73% of them using Google Search as a verification layer, not a discovery layer.
Quote to remember
“Treating agents as a VIP customer, because agents are going to be a significant user of your site and for many people, probably the primary user of their experience with the web will be done through an agent, not necessarily them browsing the web themselves.”
— Chris Long
The full answer · about 1 min
A CMO report found that most B2B CMOs are now starting their search on an LLM, with 73% of them using Google Search as a verification layer, not a discovery layer. CMOs are looking for companies and then using Google to find red flags, so Google serves almost as a reputation management source.
Key facts
- 73% of B2B CMOs use Google Search as a verification layer, not a discovery layer
- LLMs have 12% market share of Google but send only 1% of the clicks
- 0% investment in AEO/GEO in 2025 to 36% of CMOs investing in 2026
- AEO/GEO was the second biggest investment channel right under AI and automation tooling
- GoFish Digital SEO division had roughly 80 to 100 people when Chris Long worked there