AI Search Campaign for DHL Increases AI Overview Citations by 287% and ChatGPT Referrals by 121%

Challenge

The challenge was to build sustained organic visibility for UK-to-international shipping searches, while adapting to a changing search landscape where AI Overviews and LLMs increasingly influence discovery.

Solution

Our approach focused on making DHL content easy to surface, understand, and reference across both traditional search and AI-powered results. This included expanding and optimising international destination pages, strengthening technical foundations for crawlers, and enriching content with clear, factual information such as country details and shipping guidance. While AI visibility was a key consideration, optimisation remained rooted in SEO fundamentals, recognising that AI engines largely surface content that performs strongly in top organic results.

Result

The campaign saw excellent results. ChatGPT referral traffic grew a huge 121% quarter on quarter (QoQ)! AI Overview mentions increased by +108% QoQ, showing that DHL content is being surfaced more frequently within AI-generated search results for relevant shipping queries, and AI Overview citations rose by +287% QoQ, indicating a growing tendency for AI Overviews to directly reference DHL content as a source, reinforcing its relevance and authority within AI-led search experiences.

Since this campaign went live, we are pleased to announce that it was recognised at the UK Search Awards, where this campaign won the category of Use of Search – B2C (SEO) (LARGE)!