Podcast Summary: Voices of Search // “Changing One Common B2B GTM Assumption About Discovery”

Host: Jordan Cooney
Guest: Tim Sanders, Chief Innovation Officer at G2
Date: February 11, 2026

Episode Overview

In this episode, host Jordan Cooney sits down with Tim Sanders, Chief Innovation Officer at G2, to discuss the seismic shifts happening in B2B software discovery and buyer behavior. Sanders reveals how the transition from traditional search engines to AI-powered “answer engines” is disrupting familiar SEO strategies. The episode focuses on busting a major Go-To-Market (GTM) assumption: that "keywords" and "prompts" are essentially the same when, in fact, they now represent dramatically different user behaviors and market realities.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Central Assumption: Keywords vs. Prompts

• Tim Sanders immediately reframes a core SEO belief:

  "That keywords are the same thing as prompts." (01:26 - Tim Sanders)

• Keywords have traditionally guided how marketers optimize content and purchase ads, but Sanders warns that the era of direct, typed keywords is giving way to a new era of voice and prompt-driven discovery in AI environments.

2. The “Prompt Problem” in AI Search

• Sanders elaborates on the disconnect:

  "The use of keywords will no longer be a reflection of how people in an answer engine environment prompt AI." (01:31 - Tim Sanders)

• Real-world prompt data—such as what people ask in ChatGPT or other LLMs—is diverging from conventional search behavior.
• Example: People are increasingly using tools like Willow V (a “voice keyboard”) to structure search queries vocally—which yields more nuanced, task-oriented prompts rather than short, keyword-based searches.

3. Case Study: “Voice Keyboard” vs. “AI Voice Dictation”

• Market misalignment revealed through prompt data:
  • A major software competitor insisted on using “AI Voice Dictation” and bought related keywords.
  • Yet, prompt panel data from tools like Scrunch indicated that target users (especially IT professionals) never use “AI Voice Dictation”; instead, they overwhelmingly say “Voice Keyboard.”

  "We go get the prompt data and... all the IT people that would lead to adoption across the enterprise... strictly call it Voice keyboard. So there’s tremendous misalignment." (03:38 - Tim Sanders)

• Early adopters—especially tech-savvy IT professionals—aren’t using Google as their primary discovery tool. They rely instead on conversational prompting in AI tools and new interfaces.

4. The Consequences of Relying on Legacy SEO Tactics

• Companies fixated on “classic” keywords risk:

  • Missing their real audience as language shifts to prompts in answer engines.
  • Creating “false positives”—believing they are capturing the market by ranking on familiar terms, while users have moved on to new vocabularies and platforms.

  "...You're going to think you're doing better than you are on your share because of course you're going to win that which you engineer for." (03:38 - Tim Sanders)

• Sanders warns that over-reliance on outdated keyword frameworks produces a “self-fulfilling” but misleading sense of success.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the paradigm shift in buyer behavior:

  "All the voice IT, all the IT cool kids, they never use Google. So you’re not going to see it in AdWords, in the keyword research, you’re going to miss it." (03:38 - Tim Sanders)

• On operationalizing SEO for the new era:

  "...If you rely too much on keywords and SEO, you're going to miss the mark." (03:38 - Tim Sanders)

• On the importance of 'prompt data':

  "When you go get the prompt data... you’ll see such misalignment between how a person asks for a solution." (01:31 - Tim Sanders)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:44 – Introduction and main theme: G2’s role in buyer behavior data
• 01:26 – Sanders’ big GTM assumption to change: “Keywords are the same thing as prompts”
• 01:31–03:38 – Breakdown of prompt data vs. keyword data, with “Voice Keyboard” case study
• 03:38–04:34 – Consequences for B2B marketers and risk of false positives
• 04:34 – Closing remarks and contact information

Episode Takeaways

• AI-powered “answer engines” are changing how B2B buyers discover solutions—language and approach are fundamentally shifting from keywords to prompts.
• Legacy SEO strategies now risk missing the real signals from data, especially among early adopters who have leapfrogged traditional search engines for new prompt-driven tools.
• To win in the new GTM landscape, marketers must adapt their content strategies, using prompt data and real user language—not just keywords.

For further resources, visit G2’s site or connect with Tim Sanders directly. And remember, as Jordan wraps: "The answers are always in the data."