HubSpot’s organic traffic has experienced a pretty scary decline, losing 75% of its traffic in 2024. For a company that built an SEO empire from 5 million to 10 million visits in just two years, this kind of plunge—from 10 million to 2.5 million—deserves attention.
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Two potential culprits here: a Google algorithm update or the rise of AI-generated search. While Google may have penalized HubSpot’s SEO strategy for prioritizing volume over relevance, the deeper concern is how AI is reshaping search behavior altogether. For hoteliers, this represents a challenge.
The traditional search landscape—images, reviews, and rankings—has been the bedrock for boutique hotels to showcase their unique appeal. But what happens when search evolves into AI-driven answers? Imagine queries that yield text-only results with basic details like price, location, and star ratings. How do you communicate your hotel’s distinctive charm when the customer never sees it?
This shift could fundamentally alter metrics. Click-through rates might plummet, replaced by hyper-relevant results that narrow down customer choices before a single image is seen. It’s the emotional hook—what drives bookings—that risks being sidelined. Emotion drives action, and the absence of visuals could stifle that spark.
Hoteliers must explore new strategies: investing in social platforms that emphasize visuals, finding innovative ways to distribute imagery, or leaning into storytelling that compels even in text. Social media, despite its challenges, might become the last frontier for showcasing style and ambiance.
The road ahead isn’t clear, but one thing is certain: adapting to this search evolution will require creativity and resilience. It’s time to rethink how we guide guests from discovery to decision, ensuring that emotion, not just analytics, continues to drive the industry forward.
“The essential difference between emotion and reason is that emotion leads to action while reason leads to conclusions.” – K. Roberts
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About me: I’m a fractional CMO for large travel technology companies helping turn them into industry leaders. I’m also the co-founder of 10minutes.news a hotel news media that is unsensational, factual and keeps hoteliers updated on the industry.
