Google AI Mode & AEO Playbooks for B2B SaaS

Google AI Mode is collapsing traditional SEO: 82% queries trigger AI Overviews, CTR drops to 0.61%. DerivateX benchmark shows 44% of B2B SaaS score below 50/100 on AI visibility; only 38% of AI Overview citations from top-10 pages. Tactical AEO playbook provides actionable strategies for AI product acquisition. New insight: AI agents prioritize independent benchmarks over vendor pages for B2B purchasing decisions (98% usage rate when fetched), challenging traditional GEO/AEO and suggesting a new acquisition lever: getting represented in structured comparisons.