Right now, increasingly consumers are beginning their journey with AI search. You too can ask ChatGPT to match merchandise or use an AI-powered platform like Perplexity. Or, simply Google the product and skim the AI overview with out clicking any hyperlinks.
HubSpot has seen that consumers are shifting from search engines like google and yahoo to reply engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity. However there was no dependable option to measure AI visibility and perceive whether or not AEO performs have been working.
So in June 2025, the HubSpot advertising and marketing workforce started working with XFunnel, an AEO software that lets you measure and optimize AI visibility throughout ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and extra. This is what we realized.
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Outcomes of HubSpot’s AEO technique
- HubSpot is the #1 hottest CRM.
- AI elevated certified leads by 1,850%
- Leads from AEO transformed at 3x the speed of different sources
- Citations elevated by 433%
Development of AEO measurement system
Defining purchaser conduct throughout reply engines for fast monitoring
The primary query we would have liked to reply was, “When a possible buyer asks our reply engine a query about the issue our product solves, is HubSpot included within the reply?” To make clear, we outlined the client journey throughout the reply engine as follows:
Product-driven AEO
Arrange an XFunnel container for every product line.
AEO measurement structure contains:
- High-level “HubSpot” model container for holistic model monitoring
- Eight devoted product containers: CRM, Advertising Hub, Gross sales Hub, Service Hub, Content material Hub, Commerce Hub, Information Hub, and Breeze
- Function-specific views inside every product container (e.g. “Electronic mail Automation” inside Advertising Hub)
This construction allowed sub-teams to run experiments, observe enhancements, and optimize AEO efficiency for particular merchandise whereas offering a chicken’s-eye view of the general AEO technique.
AEO KPIs we measure
When you outline your prompts, you’ll be able to assessment your 4 core AEO KPIs and begin bettering them.
- Reply engine visibility (%): How usually HubSpot seems for focused queries.
- Reply engine voice share (%): How usually HubSpot seems for a similar question in comparison with its rivals.
- Reply engine quote: How usually your HubSpot web page is cited as a supply for AI solutions.
- Reply Engine Quotation Share (%): How usually are HubSpot’s pages cited for these queries in comparison with rivals?
How we constructed AEO’s three-pronged technique
After analyzing the info, we decided {that a} profitable AEO technique requires the next parts:
- AEO-friendly content material by yourself web site with all the knowledge Reply Engine wants about your enterprise and its merchandise.
- There’s a robust exterior presence throughout the key sources from which response engines practice and procure data.
We used this basis to construct a three-pronged technique.
- On-site content material optimization.
- Off-site amplification.
- Neighborhood participation and discussion board progress.
Pillar 1: Onsite content material optimization
AI visibility scores have been robust from the soar, however Xfunnel confirmed weak quotation scores. The Reply Engine did not see many pages on HubSpot’s web site. Model consciousness is a precedence, however being cited will increase your probabilities of influencing solutions (and driving direct visitors from AI).
After our progress workforce analyzed our Xfunnel information, we realized we would have liked extra particular content material to match the hyper-personalized solutions our AI generates for our customers.
Reply Engine struggled to floor quote-worthy HubSpot content material when requested questions on purchases or evaluated for business match. We would have liked to create content material tailor-made to our key purchaser personas.
“Is HubSpot appropriate for:?” my work? “Personalization comes all the way down to answering this query.
Trade-specific content material
Many potential prospects wish to perceive if an answer is correct for them. their business. we created Industry solutions page At scale with AI content material methods. We used AI to generate content material from HubSpot’s library of case research and human-reviewed it earlier than publishing.
We all know that AI loves structured information, so we used breadcrumbs and FAQ schemas for these business resolution pages.
In the end, 92% have been cited by the reply engine, growing AI visibility by 49%.
We have now additionally printed software program comparability articles for goal industries (e.g. “5 Finest CRMs for the Development Trade”). The variety of citations for these posts elevated by 642%, and the variety of general mentions elevated by 58%.
FAQ glossary of CRM, advertising and marketing, and gross sales phrases
Our workforce additionally discovered that HubSpot was under-represented within the “downside analysis” stage of the client journey. we, FAQ Glossary Covers top-of-funnel terminology similar to “What’s advertising and marketing automation?” “How does lead scoring work?” Every web page features a concise definition, associated frequent questions, and hyperlinks to HubSpot options. Reply engines usually come from definition content material, and proudly owning these phrases means they’re a part of the primary reply your prospects get.
In consequence, the quotation share of associated prompts elevated by +60%. When the glossary was cited, model consciousness for consciousness stage prompts elevated by +35 share factors.
Optimize your product pages for AEO
We have up to date our product function pages to raised align with how the reply engine really understands and retrieves content material. Added FAQs, rewritten headings to handle frequent purchaser questions, improved desk and record formatting, and extra. We additionally added structured information to assist the reply engine learn and categorize the web page.
In consequence, citations from the AI reply engine elevated by 56% and the typical rating place improved from 1.5 to 1.
Pillar 2: Off-site amplification
AEO benchmarks reveal AI solutions for third-party content material on HubSpot’s merchandise. We would have liked to construct HubSpot’s presence throughout the third-party ecosystem.
Utilizing XFunnel information, our partnerships workforce recognized publishers who have been already getting citations however weren’t but mentioning HubSpot. We offered AEO suggestions and templates to our companions to assist them create content material that is match for Reply Engine and get extra citations.
We quickly expanded our program. By the top of 2025, we have now partnered with lots of of internet sites around the globe, created roughly 1,000 new pages, and purchased lots of of 1000’s of latest AI citations. All of them point out HubSpot.
Pillar 3: Discussion board Progress
Within the XFunnel benchmark, we discovered that one of the vital cited sources for tracked prompts was Reddit.
Utilizing XFunnel, we included Reddit’s fixed quotation monitoring into our reviews to establish gaps in high-impact subreddits and HubSpot mentions on a weekly foundation. We then requested supporters within the HubSpot neighborhood to publish content material that addressed a few of our consumers’ regularly requested questions.
We launched a localized marketing campaign after XFunnel benchmarks revealed a big improve in Reddit citations within the DE and FR markets, however zero mentions in HubSpot. Inside a month, HubSpot’s point out charge elevated from 0% to 33.5% in France and 17.1% in Germany.
Reddit citations elevated from 178 (Could 2025) to 146,000 (December 2025).
This case examine all began with one query. When consumers requested the AI questions, did HubSpot reply them? Earlier than we might optimize something, we would have liked to grasp which prompts have been necessary, the place they appeared, who was being cited, and the place the gaps have been.
Measurement was step one. Technique adopted.
That function is now obtainable in HubSpot. AEO instruments offer you real-time visibility into how your model seems throughout reply engines similar to ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity.
- Observe prompts that consumers could also be utilizing
- Benchmark your visibility towards your rivals
- Analyze which sources are driving Reply Engine citations
All of those insights energy prioritized suggestions constructed on profitable AEO ways that our workforce has experimented with, so you recognize what to enhance and might begin taking motion immediately.
Moreover, when you’re utilizing AEO inside Advertising Hub Professional or Enterprise, you will see CRM-powered immediate solutions so your monitoring is predicated on your enterprise context from day one, reasonably than constructed from scratch.
