The First Commercial Power Plant had only 59 customers when Thomas Edison built it in 1882.
Eighteen years later, access to electricity had already expanded to 3.8 million U.S. Americans (5% of households). From there, power grid access grew exponentially:
- 8% in 1907.
- 35% in 1920.
- 68% in 1929.
We stand at the doorstep of a comparable technology: AI.
- ChatGPT is the second fastest-growing consumer product.
- Capital expenditures of hyperscalers could exceed $300 billion in 2025.
- AI already makes consultants, writers, and financial experts more efficient.
- A joint report by Semrush and Statista found that 1 in 10 U.S. internet users go to gen AI for search first before exploring search engines.
When is the right time for B2B companies to invest in AI chatbot visibility?
For companies with limited resources, investing in technology too early can be a costly distraction (pets.com). Being too late can cost even more (Kodak).
B2B is a particularly interesting case for three reasons:
- Longer sales cycles.
- High competition.
- AI chatbots answer a lot of information queries directly that used to bring traffic from Google. Ecommerce, for example, is different because searches either start on Amazon directly or shopping is natively integrated (see Perplexity shopping or Google’s new experience).
How Much Traffic Do AI Chatbots Send?
Image Credit: Kevin Indig
Implications
My advice is clear: Don’t bank on steam engines. Bank on the power grid.
AI chatbots show early signs of compound growth that could become significantly faster than we can intuitively grok.
Here is what I tell my (B2B) clients:
- Monitor LLM crawlers, referral traffic, and conversions by landing page to figure out which content gets crawled and performs well in AI chatbots.
- Track your keywords as questions with a house-made, API-based tracking system or proprietary LLM tracking tools. Monitor visibility ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot/Bing, and Gemini because we don’t yet know whether “AI chatbot optimization” will lead to the same results for all chatbots, similar to how SEO is very similar for Google and Bing or whether they will reward different approaches.
- Test net-new content and content adjustments to provide better answers in AI chatbots. Now is the time to write the playbook.
- Keep doing classic SEO since AI chatbots still lean heavily on their results to ground answers.
In conclusion, AI chatbots are growing rapidly, and their impact on B2B companies should not be underestimated. As the compound growth rate of AI chatbot referrals accelerates, it is essential for B2B companies to monitor and optimize their content for AI chatbots to stay ahead of the curve. By doing so, they can reap the benefits of this emerging technology and stay competitive in the market.
FAQs
Q: What is the current growth rate of AI chatbot referrals?
A: The current growth rate of AI chatbot referrals is 25.6% per month.
Q: What is the projected growth rate of AI chatbot referrals in the next three years?
A: The projected growth rate of AI chatbot referrals in the next three years is 52%.
Q: What is the current market share of AI chatbot referrals compared to organic traffic?
A: The current market share of AI chatbot referrals is 0.14%, while organic traffic makes up the majority.
Q: What are some key takeaways for B2B companies regarding AI chatbots?
A: Some key takeaways for B2B companies regarding AI chatbots include monitoring LLM crawlers, tracking referral traffic and conversions, testing new content, and keeping up with classic SEO practices.
