HubSpot increased leads by 1850%, and we asked them how: The AEO playbook

Date:
Mon, 06 Jul 2026 14:15:05 +0000

Description:
I caught up with Aja Frost to get her thoughts on how other businesses can benefit by optimizing their websites for AEO

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter For over a decade, driving profit from your website was relatively simple. Find the right keywords, optimize your site to rank for them, then convert as many visitors as you
can.

But as AI overviews and conversational answer engines continue to replace search engines, traditional clicks from SERPs are rapidly dropping. Fortunately, this shift isn't a death sentence for websites; in fact, it
could be a big opportunity. I caught up with Aja Frost, Senior Director of Global Growth and Paid at HubSpot, to get some insight into how HubSpot has reshaped its marketing strategy, helping it achieve a massive 1,850% increase in qualified leads from AI and a 3x higher conversion rate compared to traditional search. Interview with: Interview with: Aja Frost Social Links Navigation Senior Director of Global Growth and Paid at HubSpot Interview by: Interview by: Owain Williams Social Links Navigation B2B Editor With organic sessions and clicks sharply dropping for many websites, how can marketers continue to prove ROI? What are the new baseline metrics businesses should be measuring? Traffic volume is no longer the right North Star metric. When AI answers a question that includes your brand, you might not see any clicks
but youve successfully generated awareness that could convert later that day, week, or month. The metrics that matter most now are AI search visibility and branded search (awareness), as well as conversion rate, pipeline quality, and revenue. LLM-referred traffic converts around 3x better than traditional search for HubSpot. With long-form ultimate guides now struggling to compete with AI answers, how should teams be pivoting their content strategies to remain competitive? Start writing for AI search. If an LLM answers the question What is a CRM and cites your CRM in the response because youve structured your content in an AI-friendly way, included original data, etc. you will still ultimately reach the buyer. You may like 'AI-crawled sites generate 320% more human traffic': An interview with Duda's Oded Ouaknine on the future of AEO AEO vs SEO: What's the difference & do you need both? Agentic Search Optimization reshapes brand visibility in AI search

Additionally, HubSpot diversified where we showed up, including YouTube , newsletters, and podcasts. Not only do humans still spend a lot of time here, but LLMs train and cite from these sources. Today, 90% of HubSpots leads come from non-blog sources, with YouTube leads up 100% and newsletter leads up
90%. What other things should brands be doing to optimize their websites for conversational AI questions?

Your content needs to answer conversational queries directly and authoritatively. Think about how your buyers will ask questions to an answer engine, not how theyd type keywords into Google . Your content needs to
answer conversational queries directly and authoritatively. Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get
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Using unique data, structuring your content so its easy to understand, and being cited in the places LLMs pull from will increase your visibility. You should also track your AI visibility systematically you need to know how
your products are described, which businesses are showing up instead of you, and whether your share of voice is improving over time. Can brands leverage legacy content for AEO? If so, how?

Legacy content written to rank on Google usually doesnt explicitly connect
the topic to your product or service. Yes, but it needs to be updated with intent. Legacy content written to rank on Google usually doesnt explicitly connect the topic to your product or service. Update content with these connections so AI will make them for the user.

For example, if you have a blog post on running good sales calls, youd add contextual lines like, HubSpots Smart CRM includes real-time call insights,
so you can course-correct while youre still on the phone with a prospect.
What to read next How to track your brand's visibility in AI search results WordPress VIP CTO spells out the future of SEO, GEO and more Is your business not showing up in AI overviews? This could be why Is SEO still important? If so, what are some good strategies small businesses can use to balance search engine and AI optimization? SEO is still important for a few reasons.

Googles AI search (AI Mode, AI Overviews, Gemini) pull information from
Google results. In addition, once buyers have discovered you in AI search, theyll often use Google to navigate to your website. HubSpot claims that its AEO playbook helped achieve an 1850% increase in qualified leads and a 3x higher conversion rate. What were the three main driving factors behind these wins? How can entrepreneurs and marketers apply them to their own businesses?

You should start by measuring where you show up in AI answers, then systematically close the gaps. Our strategy had three pillars.

First, on-site content built for AI. We created industry-specific pages with structured data, unique insights, and FAQ schema. 92% of those pages ended up cited by answer engines, generating a 49% lift in AI visibility. We also launched a glossary covering top-of-funnel terms (with explicit links to relevant products), which increased citation share for related prompts by
60%.

Second, off-site amplification. We identified publishers already winning citations but not yet mentioning HubSpot, gave them AEO recommendations and templates, and scaled to hundreds of new pages, earning hundreds of thousands of new AI citations.

Third, Reddit. We invested heavily in our Reddit strategy, as it was one of the most cited sources for questions our buyers are asking.

Any business can apply these tactics. You should start by measuring where you show up in AI answers, then systematically close the gaps.



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/hubspot-increased-leads-by-1850-percent-and-we-a sked-them-how-the-aeo-playbook


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