A 14x return on program cost, top-3 rankings up 243% in one month, and dominating AI's recommendation rankings
Results at a Glance
14x
Return on program cost
+243%
Top-3 rankings in one month
#7 → #2
Recommended brand in AI in 3 months
"It has been great working with Adam and Alex at ViewEngine. We have been working with them for about 11 months. In that time we've seen our organic traffic jump by 36%. The numbers speak for themselves!"
Dan Crowley
CEO, Hello Gravel
Company Overview
| Industry |
Bulk gravel, stone, and landscape materials delivery |
| Location |
Nationwide delivery, per-market pricing |
| Services |
AI Search / GEO, programmatic SEO, digital PR |
| Timeframe |
Year one (Nov 2025 – Aug 2026) |
Challenge
Hello Gravel had nationwide delivery and no search footprint to match, and AI barely knew it existed
Hello Gravel could deliver professional-grade materials to almost any US market, but was being beaten in search by competitors. The buying queries in the category ("buy bulk gravel online," "gravel delivery near me") were answered by big-box stores, local suppliers, and marketplaces, and AI assistants followed the same sources.
- 242 keywords in Google's top 3 at the start of the engagement
- Site-wide average position of 15: page 2, where buyers never look
- No guide, glossary, or location coverage at scale for buyers
- AI engines had thin material to cite, so answers defaulted to marketplaces and local suppliers
Solution
ViewEngine built the infrastructure to dominate Google and AI: 3,100+ pages, an AI agent API, and PR
| Strategy |
Pattern |
Details |
| Project Guides |
"How to Build a [Project] with [Material]" |
1,613 guides covering driveways, patios, drainage, fire pits, and erosion control. The long-tail queries AI fans out into |
| Materials Glossary |
"What is [Material / Spec Term]?" |
1,326 entries. Owns the definitional queries in the category |
| Location Pages |
"[Market] Gravel & Materials Delivery" |
Market landing pages with per-market pricing. Convert at 11.2%, the best CVR on the site |
| Product Pages |
"[Material] — Delivered" |
179 pages with live delivered pricing by zip |
| AI Agent API |
/llms.txt + /api/agent/quote |
AI assistants pull real per-market prices and quotes. First in the category |
| AI-Verified Digital PR |
Placements targeting fanout queries |
Every outlet's robots.txt checked for AI-crawler access before purchase (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Digital Journal) |
Results (Year One)
A 14x return, page 2 to page 1 site-wide, and half of AI answers citing hellogravel.com
From Nov 2025 through Aug 2026, vs the year before:
| Metric |
Result |
| Return on program cost |
14x — organic revenue covers a month's fee every ~2 days |
| Top-3 rankings, one month |
242 → 829 (+243%) |
| Organic impressions |
26.4M → 49.7M (+88%) |
| Average position, site-wide |
15 → 9 (page 2 to page 1) |
| Organic sessions |
+36% YoY (July) |
| Organic leads |
8,400+ in 90 days (location pages convert at 11.2%) |
| AI answers citing hellogravel.com |
~1 in 2 across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google AI |
| Google AI Mode citation rate |
40% → 64% in 8 weeks; mention rate doubled |
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