HubSpot’s SEO Crash: Unpacking the 75% Decline in Organic Search Traffic (Hint: AI)

HubSpot’s SEO decline has recently become a hot topic in the SEO community.

Considered a B2B SEO powerhouse with a whooping 81 Domain Authority score and over 120 million backlinks, Hubspot’s SEO traffic nosedived by a staggering 75% in two years.

According to SEMrush, the company boasted 24.4 million organic traffic in March 2023, solidifying its reputation as a gold standard in blogging for SEO and inbound marketing. However, by January 2025, that number had plummeted to just 6.1 million, leaving many wondering what went wrong.

SEO gurus are divided on the cause of HubSpot’s decline. Some blame a lack of topical authority, while others point to thin content or Google’s recent algorithm updates—December 2024’s core and spam updates, along with the November 2024 core update.

Undoubtedly, Google no longer rewards sites for casting a wide net in search rankings and is prioritizing high-quality, deeply relevant content. HubSpot’s broad content strategy, which included topics like famous quotes and resignation letter templates, likely lacked the topical depth Google now favors. However, the causes of such a steep drop are much deeper than that… and all roads point to AI.

How AI Overviews in Google Contributed to HubSpot’s SEO Decline

One major factor behind HubSpot’s sharp drop in organic traffic is Google’s AI Overviews, a feature that generates AI-driven answers directly in search results. This change significantly impacts websites that rely on informational, top-of-funnel blog content for organic traffic.

AI Overviews Reduced Click-Through Rates from Blogs

AI Overviews provide users instant answers to their queries without requiring them to click on a website. HubSpot’s content strategy heavily relied on ranking for high-traffic, broad-topic queries (e.g., “how to optimize blogging for SEO”). These are precisely the types of searches where AI Overviews can summarize information and satisfy user intent without directing them to a Hubspot webpage that otherwise would have ranked #1 under Google’s search bar.

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Devaluation of Upper-Funnel Blog Topics

Due to the impact of AI, HubSpot’s strategy of targeting low-depth, high-volume topics is now less effective, as AI-generated summaries remove the need for users to visit a general blog post for basic answers.

The SEO Playbook Has Changed: Adapt or Fall Behind

For years, HubSpot successfully played the SEO game by leveraging blogging to optimize for search volume rather than the deep topical authority of more transactional content. AI Overviews are changing the landscape by:

• Eliminating traffic for broad, easily summarizable content
• Favoring in-depth, expert-led content over high-traffic generic topics
• Reducing the effectiveness of high-volume, top-of-funnel keyword targeting

For marketers and SEO professionals, the lesson is clear: optimizing for AI-era search means focusing on high-quality, transactional content—rather than just popular questions or informational blog content with high traffic volume.

Over the last two years, I’ve been preaching to marketers to cut their overreliance on blogging for SEO, whether working with our clients at Alphametic or teaching SEO workshops at the Digital Summits. Tactics that have worked for you in the past are no longer sustainable.

Transactional Keywords > Blog Keywords

A BrightEdge study found that certain types of queries are more likely to trigger AI Overviews, while others are less likely:

• Queries that are more likely to trigger AI Overviews include “Best,” (+50%), “what is,” (+20%), and “how to” (+15%)
• Queries that are less likely to trigger AI Overviews include “Vs” (-20%), brand-specific (-15%), and general product (-14%)

One thing is clear: you are better off spending your time and resources optimizing for the transactional keywords related to your products/services or the industries you serve.

Google is less likely to show AI Overviews on lower-funnel keywords because the searchers’ intent is not to read a long overview; they are ready to transact. When we develop an SEO strategy for our clients at Alphametic, we first try to understand the ratio of blog content to transactional content on their websites. Why? Because optimizing for transactional content is more profitable and sustainable than putting all your efforts into your blogs.

This doesn’t mean that blogging is dead, but “blogging for SEO” is certainly challenged by AI Overviews. Blogging remains an effective piece in your SEO toolbox when used strategically (example: internal linking, building authority, targeting niche keywords, etc), but make sure you put your transactional content first.

Futureproof your SEO Strategy with Transactional Content

While blogs have long been a staple of content marketing, the landscape of SEO has shifted. Optimizing transactional content—such as service pages, product pages, and landing pages—often delivers higher ROI than relying on blog content. Here’s why:

Higher Conversion Potential

Transactional pages are designed to convert visitors into customers. Unlike blog posts, which often attract top-of-funnel traffic with low purchase intent, service and product pages directly align with commercial and transactional search intent, making them more valuable for business growth.

Google’s Focus on Search Intent

Google’s algorithms prioritize matching content to user intent. When someone searches for “best CRM software” or “buy project management tool,” Google favors product pages, review sites, and direct solutions—not blog posts explaining “What is a CRM?” Optimizing transactional pages ensures you’re ranking for high-intent keywords that lead to conversions rather than just informational traffic.

AI Overviews Are Disrupting Blog Traffic

With Google’s AI Overviews and featured snippets providing direct answers, many blog-style queries no longer drive as much organic traffic. However, AI-generated results are less likely to replace product and service pages, as users still need to visit a site to make a purchase, request a quote, or book a consultation.

Long-Term SEO Stability

Transactional pages tend to be more evergreen than blog posts, which often need constant updates to remain relevant. A well-optimized product or service page can consistently rank and generate revenue without the need for frequent content refreshes.

Here is an example of one of Alphametic’s clients that benefited from this strategy:

Has your SEO strategy evolved due to Hubspot’s SEO traffic drop and AI overviews?

I posted this article first on the Alphametic blog here.