550
employees
CASE STUDY
$755K in pipeline and 9x AI citations in less than 2 months
Most content programs start with an edge: existing authority, an established audience, a category the team already owns. This one didn't. With zero content, zero rankings, and zero AI citations in two high-value topics, Siteimprove set out to answer a harder question: can a modern content engine build authority from nothing and build pipeline? The answer, two months later, is yes.
6,000+
customers
$105M
annual revenue
The problem
The challenge was deceptively simple to state, difficult to execute. Section 504 and Title II were two compliance topics where Siteimprove had real expertise but no digital footprint. Competitors had already staked out positions. Siteimprove had little to no content, no rankings, and no AI presence to build on.
The team needed to demonstrate something bigger: that a well-built content program could generate measurable pipeline and that AI citation growth was a leading indicator of durable demand, not a vanity metric.
The stakes were high, the timeline was tight, and the category was contested.
The test was simple: pick two categories where we had little to no authority, ship content fast, and see if it moved pipeline. Two campaigns, 19 pieces, $755K in 60 days — and the AI citation curve tells us this is durable, not a one-time spike. This is what a modern content engine looks like.
Elizabeth Irvine
Sr Director of Growth Marketing
The solve
Rather than hedging with a single pilot, the team ran two simultaneous content campaigns, Section 504 and Title II, on neutral proving grounds. The goal was category dominance through volume, relevance, and precision. Nineteen new pieces of content went live within the campaign window, each mapped to a specific audience, search intent, and AI query pattern.
The approach was systematic: identify content opportunities using the Siteimprove Content Blueprint AI to identify opportunities and generate well-informed Content Briefs, produce content that could rank and be cited by AI engines, and build internal linking structures that accelerated authority. Speed mattered, but so did quality. Every piece was designed to strengthen the ones around it.
AEO Visibility data guided the entire effort. The team tracked which content formats drove AI citations, where competitor coverage was thin, and how citation share shifted week over week. That feedback loop let them adjust in real time rather than wait for quarterly reviews.
The results validate something marketing leaders already suspect but struggle to prove: content isn't a slow play. When it's built on a clear audience signal, optimized for how buyers actually search today, including AI-assisted discovery, and measured against real pipeline outcomes, it competes with any demand channel.
For teams navigating the shift from traditional SEO to AEO visibility, this campaign is a proof point. The authority you build in AI-cited content compounds. The citations you earn in month one are still working in month three. And the pipeline you generate along the way is trackable, defensible, and scalable.
The results
9x
AI citation growth (8 → 72 MoM)
55.6%
Share of voice in Section 504
$755K
in attributed pipeline in under 60 days
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