How SupportLogic AI-Proofed and 5X Its Organic Traffic in 12 Months

October 26, 2023 by Ajdin Perco

The first half of 2022 was an exciting period for SupportLogic, a support experience (SX) management platform. A new website, domain, and positioning set the stage for a strong, content-driven marketing push. 

Then ChatGPT happened, followed by Google announcing the Search Generative Experience (SGE) initiative — AI-generated summaries integrated into Google’s search results. Now, in addition to driving organic growth, SupportLogic faced a new challenge: protecting against 'click-stealing' AI that diverts traffic away from their site to these AI-generated summaries instead.

Together, SupportLogic and Animalz built a diversified content engine that stands the test of time — and AI — with helpful, product-led content.

The results were impressive. SupportLogic experienced 500% qualified organic traffic growth in the past 12 months and grew its keyword footprint by 450%. These efforts led to further business opportunities and signed deals.

The Challenge: Future-Proofing Content in the Age of AI 

SupportLogic provides a support experience (SX) management platform that helps companies like Salesforce, Databricks, and Snowflake respond to customer feedback in nearly real-time. Through predictive and generative AI, the platform analyzes customer sentiment signals, provides actionable recommendations, and streamlines workflows. This approach strengthens client relationships and increases customer lifetime value.

But while generative AI is instrumental for SupportLogic’s own product, the technology also led to many questions and few answers for its content team.

How much site traffic will AI take away? Which keywords and SERP features are particularly susceptible to being eaten up by AI? Which sort of topics and content will people still prefer to consume on blogs and other traditional channels?

Answers to these and other questions range from doomsday predictions to “it’s business as usual.” In other words, nobody really knows. 

This uncertainty is a risk in itself. And this risk can play out in some rather catastrophic ways.

Imagine a content program focused solely on a narrow set of keyword types or topics. Things may seem to be going great for a while. Traffic is rolling in and writers work fast because they have little context switching.

But Google remains a black box. A single SGE update can shift the SERP landscape for those keyword types, wiping out hard-won traffic instantaneously. 

All of this brings us to the age-old risk-mitigation strategy: diversification. 

Content Diversification Tactics to the Rescue

SupportLogic decided to diversify its content across two major channels: SEO and events. And then it went further to diversify each channel as well. 

Animalz helped SupportLogic identify search opportunities, devise a content strategy, and scale a content engine that brings thousands of qualified organic visits every month. And that, most importantly, helps readers with every piece of content. 

SEO-wise, SupportLogic covered topics across the funnel, ranging from top-of-the-funnel (TOFU) content on customer service checklists to middle-of-the-funnel (MOFU) tools comparison pieces and beyond. Many articles were product-led but some focused on adjacent tools as well. This resulted in a broad keyword footprint that can survive AI potentially “eating up” certain types of queries. 

To diversify further, SupportLogic launched online webinars and in-person SX Live events. Both created opportunities for face-to-face time and relationship-building with the target audience. The team used events as an opportunity to record interviews with experts, which they repurposed into other content formats.

Let’s dive into some of the diversified content formats SupportLogic deployed. 

1. THREE TYPES OF PRODUCT-LED CONTENT

Product-led SEO content helps readers solve their problems with SupportLogic’s product. 

The success of this content lane required product marketers from SupportLogic and content marketers from Animalz to work together. Product marketers identify the most relevant product features to highlight, while content marketers create assets that resonate with the audience and drive qualified traffic.

SupportLogic had three types of product-led SEO content:

1️⃣ 101 content: conceptual content that explains basic industry terms, like the article “Customer Service Quality Assurance: What It Is & Why It’s Important.”

2️⃣ 201 content: strategic content that tackles higher-level topics, such as the piece “The Complete Guide to Building a Support Operations Team.” 

3️⃣ 301 content: tactical content that walks readers through using SupportLogic for specific processes, like the piece “How to Use Salesforce and SupportLogic for Proactive Customer Support.” 

Each of these content types mentions SupportLogic’s products and key features to varying degrees. Ryan Radcliff, Product Marketing Manager at SupportLogic, explains this approach: “This is a smart way to introduce a prospect to a problem or a solution they don’t realize they have and lead them down the path of discovering how to get started solving it. Link these pieces together and build a web of content that gives your audience multiple entry points.”

2. ADJACENT TOOLS AND INTEGRATIONS CONTENT

Adjacent tools content harnesses the popularity of solutions SupportLogic integrates with. This content also highlights use cases that directly tie back to the company’s value proposition.

For instance, SupportLogic integrates with customer success platforms like Gainsight and Freshdesk. Two facts are important here:

• Potential users of these platforms google about integrations offered

• These same users could benefit from using SupportLogic’s products

It made sense to produce articles that help readers learn about the integrations Gainsight and Freshdesk offer. And to introduce the SupportLogic integration as well. This led to the following pieces:

• 6 Gainsight Integrations to Improve Your Customer Success

• 7 Freshdesk Integrations to Simplify Customer Support in 2023

3. EVENTS: WEBINARS AND SX LIVE 

SupportLogic uses both online and in-person events to connect with its audience. The webinars help customers and prospects get more value from SupportLogic’s products. SX Live, a branded conference with online and in-person events, is focused more on discussing broader industry topics. The SX Live team also organizes city tours, like to San Jose and Boston. 

These events have a significant content marketing role. They are recorded and made available in the SX Live Library, helping SupportLogic to own the industry conversation and be a helpful resource for their target audience.

SupportLogic also used the recordings for thought leadership articles, like “The Ripple Effect: Employee Satisfaction’s Impact on Customer Experience.” They direct search visitors to these insightful pieces, ensuring its SEO and thought leadership content assets support each other. 

A Strong Content Foundation Makes Experiments Possible 

Faced with the prospect of losing some traffic to AI, SupportLogic has opted for a time-tested approach: diversification. 

The company has built a diverse SEO engine focused on several types of organic content. Its online and in-person events have provided a treasure trove of insights that inform thought leadership content creation. And the diversified approach creates business opportunities while defending against risks related to AI and SGE.

Animalz has helped SupportLogic put a strong content foundation in place. The company is now well-positioned to explore new content opportunities thanks to the lessons learned over the past 12 months.

This article was originally published in 2023 on Animalz’s blog.