A purchasing manager types a question into ChatGPT: who makes precision machined parts for medical devices in North Carolina? A few names come back. She opens those websites and never sees anyone else.
That shortlist used to come from a search results page, a trade show and a colleague. More and more, it comes from an AI tool, and you do not get a second chance to make it.
What buyers are doing now
In a 2025 study of UK decision makers with B2B buying power by Magenta Associates, 66 percent said they use AI tools such as ChatGPT, Copilot and Perplexity to research suppliers, and 90 percent said they trust what those tools recommend.
The same research found that five brands captured 80 percent of the top AI responses in a given B2B category. And 83 percent said they visit the websites of suppliers the AI names, so the website still matters. It is just reached through a different door.
It is a UK study, and buying in your industry may be different. We see the same habit on our own site. Search Console shows people arriving from long questions typed the way you would talk to an AI tool, like “who are the top construction managers for life sciences in the us?”
What Google says it takes
Google's own guidance, updated in December 2025, is plain: “There are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, nor other special optimizations necessary.” A page has to be indexed and eligible to show in Search with a snippet. There is no special structured data to add.
The practices Google does list are the basics: make pages findable through internal links, keep important content in text, support that text with quality images and videos, and keep your Business Profile current.
So be careful with anyone selling a secret formula for AI rankings. Nobody controls what these tools say. What you control is whether the answer to a buyer's question exists on your site, in words, with proof attached.
An AI tool cannot recommend what your website never says.
What gets a manufacturer named
Say it plainly, in text. Processes, materials, tolerances, industries served, certifications, where you are and how far you ship. When we first sat down with Russell at Ethos Digital Lounge, it took us a while to understand what he offered. Not because it was complicated, but because it was not stated clearly anywhere, including the site. If a person in the room struggles, a model reading the page has no chance.
Use the words your buyer uses. When we filmed Naturally Nectar, the founder's own description led with lower sugar. That works on a shopper comparing bottles. It is not the sentence that reaches a caregiver. More on why your buyer can't follow what you do.
Answer the questions buyers ask. One clear page per real question, written so the answer is in the first few lines. That is what a good manufacturing website is built from, and it is the same thing AI tools pull from.
Let other people vouch for you. A claim you make about yourself is weak evidence. Reviews, customer stories and trade press carry more weight than anything on your own About page. A short customer testimonial video, with a customer explaining why they chose you, does the same work on your own site.
Be the same everywhere. Your name, address, phone and services should match on your site, your Google Business Profile and every directory listing. Conflicting details make you harder to trust, for people and for software.
Where video fits
Google lists quality video as support for good text, not a replacement for it. A tool can read a transcript. It cannot watch your floor the way a buyer does.
So pair them. Put the case study video on the page with a written summary underneath: who the customer was, what changed and the numbers. Our KPI Solutions film had no jargon in it, and the case study page says the same thing in plain words.
Then add the questions people ask on camera, answered in text below the video. A capabilities video that shows the setups also needs the list of what is in them.
Where video does not help
Video will not get a page indexed, fix a slow site or make up for a page that never names what you make. Start with the words. Then use video to prove them. If the site is not producing leads at all, start here. And before you fill the gaps with generated footage, read whether manufacturers should use AI video.
The short version
Buyers are asking AI tools to build their shortlists, and a few names tend to take most of the answers.
Google says there are no special tricks for AI Overviews. Pages have to be indexed and useful.
Say what you make in plain text, in your buyer's words, one clear answer per question.
Let customers and testers vouch for you. Their words carry more weight than yours.
Pair every video with a written summary so both people and software can use it.