Quick answer: All three platforms matter, but they matter differently depending on your sector and buyer profile. Google AI Overviews has the largest reach, ChatGPT influences high-value research and evaluation, and Perplexity is the platform of choice for detailed B2B procurement research. A serious GEO programme addresses all three, but understanding their differences helps you prioritise.
Three Platforms, Three Different Discovery Mechanisms
The AI search landscape is not monolithic. ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews each work differently, serve different user intents, and create different visibility opportunities for B2B businesses. Treating them as interchangeable is one of the most common mistakes businesses make when approaching GEO.
Understanding how each platform retrieves, evaluates, and presents information is essential for any business that wants to appear in AI-generated responses. The signals that get you cited in Perplexity are not identical to those that drive ChatGPT mentions, and neither maps directly onto Google AI Overviews.
Here is how each platform works and what it means for UK B2B businesses.
Google AI Overviews: The Volume Play
Google AI Overviews (formerly SGE) appears directly in Google search results, providing AI-synthesised answers above the traditional organic listings. Because it sits within Google — the platform that still handles the vast majority of search queries — it has the largest reach of any AI search feature.
How it works. AI Overviews draws primarily from content that already ranks well in Google’s organic results. Google’s AI synthesises information from multiple ranking pages to provide a comprehensive answer, with links to the source pages. This means traditional SEO authority — rankings, backlinks, domain authority — heavily influences whether your content appears in AI Overviews.
What matters for UK B2B. Google AI Overviews is most relevant for informational and navigational queries: “what is GEO,” “best practices for regulatory compliance,” “how to choose a wealth manager.” It is less dominant for deep evaluation and comparison queries where users are actively comparing specific providers. For UK B2B businesses, AI Overviews is the entry point — the place where prospects first encounter your brand during early-stage research.
GEO implications. Optimising for AI Overviews requires strong traditional SEO foundations plus structured content that Google’s AI can easily parse and synthesise. Schema markup, clear heading structures, concise definitions, and direct answers to common questions all increase your likelihood of appearing.
ChatGPT: The Evaluation and Recommendation Engine
ChatGPT is where AI-mediated discovery starts to genuinely influence buying decisions. Users engage ChatGPT in conversational research — asking for recommendations, requesting comparisons, and seeking advice on complex business decisions.
How it works. ChatGPT draws from its training data (a broad corpus of internet content up to its knowledge cutoff) plus real-time web browsing when enabled. Its recommendations are influenced by the frequency, consistency, and authority of mentions across its training data. Businesses that appear frequently in high-quality content — industry publications, expert analysis, authoritative guides — are more likely to be named in ChatGPT responses.
What matters for UK B2B. ChatGPT is increasingly used for mid-funnel research: “recommend a GEO agency for financial services,” “compare wealth management platforms for HNW clients,” “which law firms specialise in construction disputes.” These are the queries that directly influence shortlisting and procurement decisions. For high-value B2B sectors, a single ChatGPT citation can be worth thousands of pounds in pipeline value.
GEO implications. Winning ChatGPT citations requires broad entity authority — your business needs to be mentioned consistently across authoritative sources, industry publications, expert content, and structured knowledge bases. Pure on-site SEO is not sufficient. You need an entity-level authority strategy that establishes your business as a recognised expert across the broader information ecosystem.
Perplexity: The Deep Research Platform
Perplexity is the platform that most closely resembles a genuine AI research assistant. It provides cited, sourced answers with transparent references, making it the preferred tool for detailed B2B procurement research.
How it works. Perplexity conducts real-time web searches for every query, synthesises information from multiple sources, and provides responses with explicit citations and source links. Unlike ChatGPT, which relies heavily on training data, Perplexity’s responses are grounded in current web content. This makes it more responsive to recent content and more transparent about its sources.
What matters for UK B2B. Perplexity is the platform of choice for sophisticated B2B buyers conducting detailed research. Procurement directors, compliance officers, and senior decision-makers increasingly use Perplexity to research providers, validate claims, and build shortlists. Its citation transparency makes it particularly trusted in regulated sectors where buyers need to verify the sources behind recommendations.
GEO implications. Winning Perplexity citations requires content that is current, well-structured, and explicitly authoritative. Perplexity favours content with clear expertise signals, structured data, recent publication dates, and specific rather than generic information. Because it searches the live web, your content’s current state matters more than historical authority — which means consistent, high-quality publishing directly influences your Perplexity visibility.
A Practical Decision Framework for UK B2B
Rather than trying to optimise equally across all three platforms from the start, use this framework to prioritise based on your sector and buyer profile.
If your buyers are in early research mode — searching for information, understanding options, learning about approaches — Google AI Overviews is your highest-volume opportunity. Invest in structured, informative content that ranks well in traditional search and is formatted for AI synthesis.
If your buyers are actively evaluating and shortlisting — comparing providers, seeking recommendations, validating capabilities — ChatGPT and Perplexity are where the high-value citations happen. Invest in entity authority, third-party mentions, and structured knowledge that establishes your business as the recognised expert in your specific niche.
If your buyers are in regulated sectors — financial services, legal, healthcare, construction — Perplexity’s citation transparency makes it the most trusted platform for procurement research. Invest in content that provides specific, verifiable, regulation-aware information that Perplexity can cite with confidence.
A comprehensive GEO programme addresses all three platforms because your buyers use all three at different stages of their journey. But understanding where the highest commercial value sits for your specific business allows you to prioritise investment where it matters most.
See How You Appear Across All Three
MarGen’s free AI Visibility Audit tests your business across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews — revealing exactly where you appear, where you are absent, and where the highest-value citation opportunities exist.
Request your free AI Visibility Audit and understand your AI visibility across every platform that matters.