Getting your software
named by AI.

Software questions suit AI tools perfectly, which is why buyers use them. 'What's the best job management app for a plumbing business in Sydney?' 'What are the alternatives to the CRM we use, and what do they cost?' 'Does it work with Xero?' Each one is a comparison that used to take an afternoon of tabs.

Australian buyers are doing it. Capterra found successful Australian software buyers named generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and Google's AI Overviews among their top five sources. And it changes outcomes: in G2's global survey, 69% of software buyers ended up choosing a different vendor than they'd planned because of a chatbot's recommendation.

Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode may issue multiple related searches across subtopics and data sources to build one answer. Google calls that query fan-out. One software question becomes several searches: pricing, reviews, integrations, alternatives. A page has to be indexed and eligible for a snippet to be used, and there are no additional requirements beyond normal Search.

ChatGPT works differently. OpenAI says sites that block its search crawler, OAI-SearchBot, won't be shown in ChatGPT's search answers. A small study by Seer Interactive found more than 87% of ChatGPT's citations matched Bing's top results, so your Bing visibility matters more than most SaaS teams assume. Check that your security settings or CDN aren't blocking these crawlers by accident; app-style sites often do.

SaaS companies change prices, rename plans and drop free tiers far more often than most businesses. Every change leaves a trail: a 2023 blog post announcing the old plan, a comparison page on someone else's site, a review profile still showing the price from two years ago. An AI tool searching for 'how much does it cost' can find any of those and present it as fact.

The fix is boring and it works. Keep one pricing page with real numbers and a visible 'last updated' date. When a plan is retired, 301 redirect the old plan page to the current pricing page rather than leaving it live. Update your G2 and Capterra listings the same day as the website. And add a dated changelog, so anything citing an old price can at least be checked against the new one.

Price wording matters legally too. The ACCC's case against Microsoft was about how a plan change was communicated, with the regulator alleging the cheaper option was left out of the price rise emails. If AI tools are quoting a plan you no longer offer, your customers will hold you to it, not the chatbot.

Run the same five prompts in ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot and Google AI Mode, logged out, and record whether each fact came back right, wrong or missing. Answers vary between runs, so ask two or three times and note the usual answer. Do it monthly, and straight after any price change.

'Alternatives to' prompts are the ones that move buyers between vendors, because the person asking is already unhappy with what they've got. To be named, there has to be something for the AI tool to find that connects you to that competitor: an honest alternatives page on your site, reviews that mention switching, and listings on comparison sites in the right category.

Write it fairly. Say who the competitor suits better. It reads as more credible to buyers, and it keeps you on the right side of the ACCC, which says a comparison misleads if it is inaccurate or doesn't compare fairly.

When your website calls you 'job management for trades', G2 lists you as 'field service software' and LinkedIn says 'workflow automation', you've given AI tools three different products to describe. Pick one plain description, with who you suit and what you replace, and use it word for word on every profile.

Australian details help too. Where data is stored, Australian support hours, GST-inclusive pricing and integrations with local tools like Xero and MYOB are exactly what an Australian buyer's follow-up questions will ask about. If the answer is on your site in plain text, the AI tool can use it.

Google includes traffic from AI features in the overall Web search figures in Search Console, and offers a generative AI performance report. ChatGPT adds utm_source=chatgpt.com to the links it sends, so those visits show up in GA4. Bing Webmaster Tools shows citations from Copilot and Bing's AI summaries. None of it is complete. Combine it with the monthly prompt check and you'll know whether you're being named, and whether you're being named correctly.