AEO ScannerOptimizing your brand for Claude's web search
Claude's retrieval behavior differs from ChatGPT in subtle but important ways. Here's how to optimize for Anthropic's models specifically.
If you only optimize for ChatGPT, you're missing roughly 25% of the high-intent B2B query volume. Claude's user base skews toward developers, researchers, and enterprise buyers — exactly the audience most SaaS brands undervalue.
How Claude's retrieval differs
- More citations per answer. Claude tends to surface 6–10 distinct sources in a single response; ChatGPT often picks 3–5.
- Stronger weighting toward authoritative reviews. Claude favors editorial content over user-generated content (e.g. Reddit) more than ChatGPT does.
- Longer, more cautious answers. Claude rarely makes a definitive top-1 recommendation; it usually presents 3–5 options. That's an opening — if you appear at all, you appear with peers.
What Claude rewards
- Long-form, well-researched content. 1,500+ word in-depth articles on category topics show up more often in Claude's responses than 500-word listicles.
- Clear opinion + supporting evidence. Claude pulls verbatim from content that takes a stance and supports it. Neutral both-sides-ism doesn't get cited.
- Authoritative third-party validation. Citations from Harvard Business Review, MIT Technology Review, peer-reviewed papers, and major industry publications carry more weight than they do in ChatGPT.
The practical playbook
If you've already done the ChatGPT playbook (comparison pages, directory listings, listicle outreach), the Claude-specific additions are:
- Write one definitive long-form piece per quarter on a category topic. 2,000–3,000 words. Cite primary sources. Take a stance.
- Pursue inclusion in editorial coverage, not just listicles. A mention in a Harvard Business Review piece is worth more to Claude than a G2 listing.
- Publish original data. Claude is biased toward citing the original source of a stat or finding. If you're the only place that publishes "the average B2B SaaS churn rate is X," Claude will cite you whenever someone asks.
Don't ignore the per-provider breakdown
Many brands have wildly different visibility on ChatGPT vs Claude. AEO Scanner reports both. If you're at 30% on ChatGPT and 5% on Claude, you have a Claude-specific gap, and it's usually fixable with 1–2 long-form pieces and a few editorial mentions.