If you've ever searched for software reviews before making a buying decision, chances are you've landed on G2. It's one of the most trusted peer review platforms in the tech space, and it's become a go-to resource for businesses evaluating tools, platforms, and services. But beyond the star ratings and written reviews, G2 offers something that a lot of people overlook: a built-in analytics feature called AEO Insights.
In this article, we're going to talk about what G2 is, how G2 reviews work, and what AEO Insights on G2 actually means for vendors who want to understand how their profile is performing. Whether you're new to the platform or already have a presence there and want to get more out of it, this breakdown will walk you through everything you need to know about G2 AEO Insights and why it matters.
How to Use G2 AEO Insights for AI Visibility | Peekaboo Blog
What is G2?
G2 is a peer-to-peer software review platform that helps businesses discover, evaluate, and compare technology solutions based on real user feedback. Founded in 2012, it has grown into one of the largest and most referenced software marketplaces in the world, hosting millions of verified reviews across thousands of product categories.
At its core, G2 serves two audiences:
Buyers looking for honest, unbiased opinions on software before committing to a purchase
Vendors who want to build credibility, increase visibility, and attract the right customers
What Makes G2 Different From Other Review Sites
Unlike analyst reports or brand-produced case studies, G2 collects feedback directly from verified users, which means the insights come from people who are actually using the products day to day. This peer-driven model is what separates G2 from traditional marketing channels and makes it a trusted reference point in the B2B buying process.
What You'll Find on G2
Each software listing on G2 comes with a structured profile that includes:
Product descriptions and feature breakdowns
Verified user reviews and ratings
Comparison tools that let buyers stack products side by side
Category rankings and seasonal reports like the G2 Grid
G2 by the Numbers
G2 currently hosts over 2 million verified reviews covering more than 2,000 software categories, making it one of the most comprehensive software discovery platforms available to B2B buyers today.
Why do G2 Reviews Matter?
A big problem is that a lot of vendors either ignore their G2 presence entirely or treat it as an afterthought. They set up a profile, collect a handful of reviews early on, and then leave it sitting there with no real strategy behind it. The result? A stale profile with outdated feedback that doesn't reflect the current product, a low review volume that makes buyers hesitant, and missed opportunities to rank higher in G2's category reports.
The quick fix is to treat your G2 profile as an active marketing asset, not a set-it-and-forget-it listing. That means consistently collecting fresh reviews, responding to feedback, and actually paying attention to what your profile data is telling you. Which is exactly where G2 AEO Insights comes in, and we'll get into that shortly.
Why Reviews Influence the Buying Decision
Here's why G2 reviews carry so much weight in the decision-making process:
Buyers trust peer reviews significantly more than vendor-produced content
A higher volume of recent reviews signals that a product is actively used and supported
Negative reviews, when responded to professionally, can actually build credibility rather than damage it
G2 category rankings are heavily influenced by review volume and recency, meaning more reviews directly impacts your visibility
What is AEO Insights on G2?
By now, you have a solid understanding of what G2 is and why the reviews on your profile carry real weight. But there's a layer to G2 that goes deeper than star ratings and review counts, and that's where AEO Insights comes in.
AEO Insights is an analytics feature within G2 that gives vendors visibility into how their product is performing in AI-powered buying conversations. AEO stands for Answer Engine Optimization, and it reflects a shift that's been happening in the way buyers research software. Instead of clicking through pages of search results, more buyers are turning to AI tools and answer engines to get direct recommendations. G2 AEO Insights tracks how often your product is being surfaced, mentioned, or recommended within those AI-driven interactions.
What AEO Insights Actually Shows You
Inside the AEO Insights dashboard, vendors can see:
How frequently their product appears in AI-generated responses related to their category
Which competitor products are being recommended alongside or instead of theirs
The types of buyer questions that are triggering AI responses in their space
Visibility trends over time that show whether their presence in AI conversations is growing or shrinking
G2 and Profound Partnership
G2's AEO Insights feature is supported by a partnership that is worth mentioning. G2 partnered with Profound, an AI visibility platform, to equip B2B software companies with the data they need to shape their AEO and AI search marketing strategies. Through that partnership, Profound's AI visibility data was integrated directly into the G2 dashboard, giving vendors visibility into when and how their product categories are being mentioned by large language models with G2 as the source.
G2 is the most cited B2B software source across LLMs, ranking fourth among the top ten cited sources on ChatGPT and ninth on Perplexity. That reach is exactly what makes the AEO Insights feature so valuable for vendors who want to understand how AI models are talking about them and their competitors.
How to Use G2 Insights to Improve Your AEO
Knowing what the data shows is one thing. Knowing what to do with it is another. Here are the most practical ways to turn your G2 AEO Insights into action:
Build your review presence deliberately. Don't wait for reviews to trickle in organically. Run structured outreach to customers you know will leave positive reviews, targeting verified buyers in the use cases where AI visibility matters most to you. Review volume is one of the strongest signals AI models use when deciding which products to recommend.
Close comparison page gaps. G2 comparison pages, such as "Tool A vs Tool B," are among the most cited pages in AI answers about software categories. If a head-to-head page doesn't include your product, you're invisible in that conversation. Requesting comparison pages against your top competitors is one of the fastest ways to show up where buyers are looking.
Pay attention to the reviewer language. Reviewers describe problems in the same language they'd use in a ChatGPT prompt. If the phrases showing up in competitor reviews aren't reflected in your own G2 profile or website content, AI models will associate those use cases with your competitor, not you. Audit the language in your category and align your profile accordingly.
Monitor your category badge standing. G2 Leader badges create structured signals that AI models weight when assessing category authority. If competitors hold Leader, High Performer, or Momentum Leader badges that you don't, that gap shows up in AI recommendations too, not just on G2 itself.
Run comparison prompts regularly. A simple but effective habit is to ask ChatGPT "what are the pros and cons of my product vs competitor X" and track how the answers change over time. The language AI uses in those comparisons closely tracks G2 review themes, so it gives you a real-time read on how your profile changes are landing.
See Exactly Which G2 Sources AI Is Citing About You
The gap most teams miss: knowing that G2 influences AI answers isn't enough. You need to know which G2 pages are being cited in answers about your specific category. That requires purpose-built AEO tooling, not just reading G2 manually.
AI Peekaboo tracks the exact sources that AI models are pulling from when answering prompts in your category. If a G2 comparison page is driving competitor recommendations, AI Peekaboo surfaces it. If a G2 review page is shaping how ChatGPT or Gemini frames your brand in buying conversations, you'll see that too.
The platform gives you a clear view of every source influencing AI answers for your tracked prompts, including G2 pages most vendors never think to look at or optimize. Instead of guessing why a competitor keeps showing up in AI recommendations, you get a direct line of sight into exactly what's feeding those answers across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Overview, and Google AI Mode.
Plans start at $50/mo with the Starter plan, which covers 40 prompts tracked every two days across four AI models. The Peek plan at $100/mo moves to daily tracking with 6,000 data points per month, and the Grow plan at $200/mo expands to 100 prompts and 15,000 monthly data points for teams that need more comprehensive coverage. All plans come with a 14-day free trial and no credit card required.
Conclusion
G2 has always been more than a review site, and AEO Insights makes that clearer than ever. From understanding how buyers discover software to tracking exactly how your product is performing in AI-generated recommendations, the platform gives vendors a level of visibility that most are still leaving on the table.
The brands winning AI recommendations right now aren't necessarily the ones with the best product. They're the ones with the most structured, high-volume evidence that AI models can draw on, and they're paying close attention to the signals their G2 data is sending.
If there's one takeaway from everything covered in this article, it's this: your G2 presence and your AI visibility are no longer separate conversations. The reviews you collect, the language in your profile, the comparison pages you request, and the badge standing you hold in your category all feed directly into how AI models talk about you to potential buyers.
Start with what G2 AEO Insights is already telling you, close the gaps your data reveals, and if you want a clearer picture of which sources are actually driving AI recommendations in your space, AI Peekaboo gives you exactly that.
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Mustafa Farrag
I'm Mustafa Farrag, a SEO Specialist at Peekaboo. I help websites grow their visibility, attract the right audience, and drive sustainable traffic through smart SEO strategies
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