Earlier this year, HubSpot went viral — and not exactly in a good way. A few companies posted data suggesting that we had lost 80% of our blog traffic. Overnight, the news was all over X and LinkedIn.
As marketers ourselves, we know better than anyone that hot takes drive clicks. But, what actually happened to our traffic? Have we really reached the end of SEO as we know it? And is this really the downfall of HubSpot’s core strategy?
As one of the people who built HubSpot’s SEO strategy from the ground up, I’d like to think I can offer a bit more of a nuanced perspective. And while I’d never begrudge our fellow content creators jumping aboard the latest hot take bandwagon, in this case, I’d argue that the reality is a bit more complex than social media might have you think.
That’s why I wrote this post: Not just to set the record straight (spoilers: no, the end of HubSpot is not nigh) but also to help marketers understand the very real challenges that today’s AI-powered search ecosystem poses. I’ll also share the steps marketers can take to meet those challenges and come out ahead.
What Actually Happened to HubSpot’s Traffic
Let’s start with what actually happened. There are three important pieces to the traffic puzzle that the clickbait headlines and apocalyptic posts have (by and large) ignored.
1. Shifting from Information to Influence
None of us could have predicted the incredible impact that AI tools like ChatGPT have had over the last few years. However, we have been taking steps to keep HubSpot’s strategy relevant since long before the recent hype cycle.
Specifically, as far back as early 2020, we began to see that Google was demanding a new approach. While our original SEO strategy focused on providing concrete, informational content, over the last five years search engines have increasingly rewarded influence rather than just information — and we adapted our strategy accordingly.
We invested in channels like…