How Zapier became the #1 cited domain for its most competitive prompts in LLMs

The signal that changed everything

In Q2 2025, Zapier's acquisition data started showing a pattern that traditional attribution couldn't explain. Brand traffic was spiking across organic, paid, and direct channels, yet what was actually driving that lift remained a question. When the data team ran a causal impact analysis, they found the answer: roughly one in four signups was being influenced by LLM recommendations. People were researching in ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude before arriving at Zapier ready to convert.

Standing up an AEO program

Zapier assembled a cross-functional team spanning content, SEO, PR, social, and reputation management, and onboarded DigitAI as they defined three strategic priorities:

• Enterprise positioning: Ensuring LLMs accurately represent their enterprise features — security, governance, customization
• Use case visibility: Appearing when users ask how to accomplish specific automation tasks
• Competitor conversations: Owning the narrative in comparison and alternative queries

How Zapier uses DigitAI

Zapier's implementation is notably technical. They connected DigitAI's API to Looker and built internal dashboards so every team touching AEO could self-serve analysis. Citation intelligence from DigitAI showed which publications LLMs actually pull from — that list went directly to their PR agency as a target list. They also used Query Fanout analysis to surface new content opportunities, and identified YouTube as a high-velocity citation source for Gemini and Google.