Learn about the latest industry trends
Artificial intelligence (AI) is rewriting the playbook of so much of our lives — how we interact, how we learn, how we complete daily tasks, and sometimes even what we eat for dinner. So, of course, AI and the future of SEO are no different.
Over the past year, I‘ve had hundreds of conversations with business leaders about AI. The pattern is always the same. They’re not short on tools or ambition. They’re struggling with where to get started and how to get value.
“What’s better: Claude or ChatGPT?” is the mind-boggling question every marketer is asking right now. As AI tools become essential to content workflows, understanding the differences between Claude and ChatGPT for marketing can mean the difference between a streamlined operation and a frustrating bottleneck.
Marketing is set for its most transformative year in decades, according to major AI predictions for 2026. Currently, marketers struggle with fragmented customer journeys, declining attention spans, rising acquisition costs, and failed campaigns. Using AI in marketing will redefine how brands connect with consumers by using real-time data processing and predictive analytics.
Every reliable tactic marketers now love, from video content to email marketing and blogging, was once a new experiment that early adopters tested and developed. Creating new marketing strategies is foundational to marketing, helping brands reach new customers and gather data that helps facilitate smarter business decisions. 
We have some big news: HubSpot Media is acquiring Starter Story, one of the most trusted and beloved media brands in the entrepreneurship space.
As businesses adjust to the new AEO landscape, marketers are seeing increasing convergence with marketing automation—HubSpot’s recent acquisition of Xfunnel signals this shift, bringing AI search optimization directly into the CRM ecosystem where attribution and revenue tracking happen.
Despite what the headlines would have you believe, artificial intelligence (AI) isn’t new. The term and early technology date back to the 1950s, but generative AI (which emerged in the 2010s) is undeniably new terrain.
Sharing content across channels is a top 5 marketing trend in 2026, according to HubSpot’s State of Marketing report. The brands that will do this successfully with the best ROI will focus on amplification, not just copy/paste repurposing.
If you’re managing social media marketing without a social media scheduler, I’ve got one thing to say to you: You’re making your job harder than it needs to be. A social media scheduler eliminates the chaos of logging into multiple platforms, posting in real-time, and hoping you remembered to hit publish at the right moment — freeing you to focus on strategy instead of logistics.
In a past work life, I stole search rank positions #1 and zero and even featured snippets from much larger companies, including HubSpot. That’s why I firmly believe bootstrapped small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMB) can compete with big-budget corporations.
Strategies like SEO, social media, and generative engine optimization for small business make it possible.
I never thought I‘d see the day when “Googling” something and sifting through links would become passé. But, like many marketers over the last year, I’m seeing a massive shift in how people find brands, products, and answers online.
An attribution window is the defined time period when a marketing touchpoint — such as an ad click, email open, or page view — can be credited for a conversion. Window length directly affects how conversions are counted, how channels perform, and how budget decisions are made. Platforms use different defaults, and these differences often create mismatches in data across tools.
Marketing tech stacks often expand fast, leading to sprawl. The result is low tool usage. Gartner estimates that only 49% of marketing technology tools are actively used by teams. A marketing operations tech stack audit brings structure back to teams with bloated software.
An AI engine optimization audit evaluates brand visibility, accuracy, and citations in AI-powered search engines. It highlights how a brand appears across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Bing Copilot, and identifies gaps in the facts, descriptions, and links these systems rely on. In contrast, a traditional SEO audit focuses on website rankings and technical health in classic search engines. 
Understanding answer engine optimization (AEO) vs. traditional SEO has become mission-critical for content managers and marketing leaders as search shifts toward AI-generated responses, voice results, and zero-click experiences. While page ranking on Google is still important (for now), success increasingly depends on whether a brand stays visible when an AI system summarizes an answer.
The best marketing isn’t chiseled in stone. Apative marketing is alive, responding to new tools, shifting consumer preferences, trends, and real-time data. Changing with the trends gives brands a competitive edge, if marketing teams handle it correctly. 
Here’s a (maybe) mildly spicy hot take: Email marketing reporting is the backbone of any performance-focused email strategy. Without it, you’re sending campaigns into a void, unable to see what’s working, what’s falling flat, and most importantly, what’s driving revenue.
Over the past two years, I’ve had hundreds of conversations with business leaders about AI. The pattern is always the same: initial excitement about what AI can do, followed by frustration about what it actually delivers.
The way consumers search for answers online has changed over the years. Instead of typing a keyword or query into search engines like Google, people are typing their questions directly into engines like ChatGPT to get direct, no-frills answers.
At 23, I walked into BlackRock‘s New York office fresh out of Wesleyan University, ready to conquer Wall Street. By 28, I had traded my corporate badge for a ring light and a mission to empower women through content creation. Along the way, I learned that the biggest impact doesn’t always come from the biggest institutions. 
If you‘ve ever wondered why B2B email marketing still dominates as a revenue-driving channel in 2025, you’re not alone. Despite the rise of new marketing platforms and AI-powered tools, B2B email marketing remains one of the most reliable ways to nurture leads, accelerate pipeline, and actually close deals.
Selecting an email marketing automation platform goes far beyond choosing where marketers will send emails. The right tool becomes the backbone of lifecycle marketing — powering personalized workflows and driving revenue. Email marketing automation platforms help businesses send targeted, personalized emails at scale by automating workflows, segmenting audiences, and integrating with CRM and ecommerce tools. 
HubSpot’s 2026 State of Marketing report uncovered some good news: 65% of marketers are meeting or exceeding their performance benchmarks. But that success doesn’t happen by accident. Behind those results are clear priorities, rigorous testing, and a sharp focus on the right metrics.![Download Now: Free State of Marketing Report [Updated for 2025]](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/53/db725f24-564c-483b-a28c-2d6ff9986516.png)
“SMASH that like button,” the host says, and your eyes roll back so far you can see your own medulla. “And don’t forget to subscribe!”
HubSpot’s latest State of Marketing data shows that 65% of companies exceeded their goals last year, and 93.7% improved lead quality. Should the industry celebrate and prepare for a relaxed 2026? Barely.
Marketing funnels aren‘t cutting it anymore, and you’ve probably felt it in the form of declining traffic, scattered buyer journeys, and tactics that worked last year falling flat today. That’s why HubSpot introduced loop marketing tactics, a four-stage framework designed to help you adapt and grow in the AI era.
If you‘re familiar with the world of SEO, I probably don’t have to tell you there’s been a serious shift in its landscape. Marketers are no longer just optimizing content for Google‘s traditional blue links; we’re now optimizing for AI.
At its core, an SEO audit is a step-by-step review of your website’s technical health, content quality, and search visibility. An SEO audit identifies technical, on-page, content, and link issues on a website. It helps SEO teams identify, prioritize, and fix the issues that block traffic, rankings, and, importantly, conversions. Businesses and SEO teams should create audits to identify opportunities that advance business goals and growth.
If you‘ve noticed your brand appearing less frequently in ChatGPT answers, you’re not alone. Savvy marketers are using generative engine optimization tools to address this issue. These tools help your content get cited by AI platforms, rather than being buried under competitors.
Like your weird uncle, nobody knows exactly how AI engines choose the sources they cite. But experiments are starting to point to ways you can get on their radar.
I’ll say the hard thing nobody wants to admit: Creating “great content” isn’t enough; it’s time for a change. And that change starts with multi-channel content distribution.
AI search visibility refers to how a brand appears in AI-generated results from tools like ChatGPT and AI-augmented search engines such as Gemini or Perplexity. Unlike traditional SEO, which tracks ranking positions and blue links, AI visibility measures how often your brand is mentioned, how your owned content is cited, and how those mentions are framed in model responses.
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Here’s a tough pill to swallow: The way buyers discover brands has undergone a fundamental change. Thus, answer engine optimization tools have emerged as essential technology for marketers navigating the new era of search, where AI platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews deliver direct answers instead of links.
Emerging trends in answer engine optimization are reshaping how brands earn visibility, trust, and demand in AI-powered search. Answer engines like ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, and Gemini now deliver fully synthesized answers directly to users, compressing the traditional customer journey. According to HubSpot’s Consumer Trends Report, 72% of consumers plan to use AI-powered search for shopping more frequently.
Search has changed faster than most teams have adapted. For years, visibility meant ranking — climbing search pages through backlinks, keywords, and authority signals. Now, customers open ChatGPT or Gemini, type a question, and receive a synthesized answer drawn from multiple sources.