#buyer-journey

Buyers are researching independently, comparing options, and forming opinions before engaging with sales, as noted in a recent MarTech article. Google AI Overviews now appear across searches with commercial and transactional intent, meaning the first interaction with a brand might be a synthesized answer from multiple sources rather than direct engagement.

B2B marketing leaders who optimized for search engines using keywords, backlinks, technical SEO, and content production for more than a decade are now seeing that model disrupted by AI-powered answer engines that summarize, interpret, and recommend suppliers before a buyer clicks a link, according to Demand Gen Report.

Today's buyers research independently, compare options, and form opinions before engaging with sales, as Google AI Overviews now appear across many searches, including those with commercial and transactional intent. This means the first interaction with a brand might be a synthesized answer from multiple sources, requiring brands to compete for inclusion in AI-generated responses rather than just attention.