Key points
- HubSpot's blog peaked above 20 million monthly organic visits, then lost roughly 80% of that traffic as AI answers spread, yet revenue rose nearly 20% in 2025, per CMO Kipp Bodnar.
- Bodnar says AI-referred visitors convert at about three times the rate of traditional search, and deal cycles run about half as long.
- Roughly 90% of HubSpot's content leads now come from newer channels like newsletters, podcasts, YouTube and creators; the blog supplies about 10%.
- Bodnar calls AI attribution imperfect and correlative; the leads-growth figure of 1,850% over a year likely starts from a small base, the columnist notes.
Why it matters for marketers: Traffic alone is a weak scoreboard once AI answers absorb informational queries; marketers need revenue per visit, AI mentions and citations, and owned audiences before the drop arrives.
HubSpot's blog once drew more than 20 million organic visits a month. After AI answers spread, it lost about 80% of that, according to CMO Kipp Bodnar, who discussed the shift with Search Engine Journal ahead of his new book, Loop. Revenue still grew nearly 20% in 2025.
Bodnar's explanation is that much of the lost traffic would never have become revenue. Some posts chased queries like famous quotes, which attracted people unlikely to buy software. HubSpot had also spent years building channels that do not rely on search, including a newsletter, podcasts, YouTube and a creator program, and it pruned more than 3,000 blog pages. He says about 90% of its content leads now come from those newer channels.
The visitors who still arrive are worth more, he says. Those coming from AI answers convert at about three times the rate of traditional search. HubSpot now watches revenue per visit, AI share of voice and content-influenced pipeline, and tracks both mentions and citations in AI answers. Bodnar concedes attribution is imperfect because many people see a citation without clicking.
The column urges caution on some figures. Bodnar's claim of an 82% conversion gain for AI-written email came without a base rate, and he acknowledged that his "C" versus "A" grades for generic AI versus a Taste Profile were self-assigned. HubSpot also sells AEO tools, so readers should weigh the advice accordingly.
For teams, the practical step is to sort top organic landing pages by whether they ever produced a lead, demo or sale. Pages with high volume and no commercial intent are the most exposed to AI answers, and are candidates for pruning, consolidating or rewriting for buyers.
Sources
This brief is our own summary. Read the full reporting at the source.
