HubSpot’s Senior Director of Global Growth on AI adoption, diversifying beyond search, and reviving ‘dead’ marketing channels

“Just GPT it” is all the rage right now.

(Okay, okay. It hasn’t caught on yet. But my Uber driver said so, and I hope it sticks.)

But our marketing manager this week doesn’t care. She doesn’t think SEO is going anywhere.

“I remember when people were saying that up to 50% of queries were going to be handled by voice assistants. The SEO industry was up in arms about it,” she told me in laughing.

“And the only thing I ask my Alexa is the weather. So I wouldn’t write [Google] disabled.”

She’s also HubSpot’s senior director of global growth, so I’ll take her word for it rather than my Uber driver’s.

Lesson 1: Become non-monogamous with Google.

The HubSpot blog team has been running on Google steam for years and we’ve racked up millions of views in organic traffic based on high-intent searches. This is also how we attracted many of our current customers.

Aja Frost, who started on the blog team in 2017 (back when “SEO strategy” was based on our personal whims that day), knows the value of Google better than anyone.

But she tells me it’s time for a new playbook.

“The encroachment of AI research has forced us to look to other channels like YouTube, micro-apps, and areas we view as more defensible against AI.. And that pushed us to find new ways to be extremely helpful to our readers,” she says.

Frost’s advice for any marketer? Spread the love. Test Substack, team up with creators, or invest in your own microapps.

Google remains a viable channel. It’s just not the only one.

Lesson 2: The days of reverse engineering algorithms are over – and that’s a good thing.

I asked Frost — in the same tone of voice you’d use to avoid scaring the neighborhood cat — if she’s worried about the future of SEO amid AI search. (I asked shyly because, you know… SEO is still his job.)

But she shook her head adamantly. “I think this is one of the most exciting developments of the last couple of years. For so long, we’ve all gravitated toward Google, and reverse engineering Google’s algorithm has in many ways stifled innovation in content marketing and SEO.“.

She adds: “If there were a more competitive landscape, then the relationship between the SEO or content strategist and the search engine could change quite dramatically. It could be a much more collaborative and mutually beneficial relationship.

Frost sees the future of SEO as a shift from obsessing over algorithms to building true partnerships with search engines.

Is there a world in which Google takes into account the opinion of little old me, a content creator? We’ll see.

Lesson 3: Stop treating marketing channels as “dead.”

One of Frost’s pet peeves is knee-jerk reactions to industry hype.

“What bothers me is when people say a channel is dead, and that applies to search as well,” she says.

“I absolutely don’t think search is dead. I don’t think podcasts are dead. I don’t think any channel is dead. I think you can make any channel work really well for you.”

I seriously hope MySpace is “no longer with us”, but I concede his point.

She adds: “This doesn’t mean we should all invest in channels that don’t work for us, but it does mean not discounting something if your intuition tells you it might work.”

Lesson 4: Focus on expertise.

Questions like “How do I do XYZ?” » be redirected directly to ChatGPT these days. So if your SEO strategy revolves around basic definitions or informational keywords, prepare for a drop in traffic.

But when it comes to complex or opinion-based topics, readers still want a human touch.

Case in point: my recent obsession with LED red light therapy.

These at-home LED masks cost about a billion dollars, so I wanted to know: will I look like a newborn if I buy the mask, or will I shine bright red light on my face for 10 minutes while the CEO of the company laughs all the way to the bank?

I didn’t turn to GPT for my aging skin problems; I turned to Google and asked, “What are dermatologists saying about LED red light therapy?”

This isn’t meant to be an infomercial about red light therapy (although any brands wanting to offer one, contact me ✋), but the point is valid: people still turn to websites to get answers to more complex and nuanced questions. Not the AI.

Frost strives to add expertise (the extra “E” in Google’s new EEAT ranking) to your posts.

As she says: “You’re talking to me because I have a ton of SEO experience. This content wouldn’t have the same impact if you were talking to someone who just joined the SEO team. In general, the more expertise you have, the better.

She also has some additional tips: “Be sure to describe that expertise in the post itself with relevant information and examples. Make it clear to Google – and, more importantly, to the reader – that you know what you speak.”