AEO Strategy Case Study: How Forthea Drove AI Search Growth for GMN Bearing

Program Overview

At Forthea, we see SEO as a catalyst for industry leadership. It’s an opportunity to set new standards, drive measurable growth, and shape the future for our clients and their industries. We’ve made a commitment to innovation and empowering our clients to thrive in a fast-changing digital landscape.

This spirit of progress defines our collaboration with GMN Bearing USA, a Houston-based leader in high-precision bearings and mechanical components. In partnership, we aimed to elevate GMN’s online presence by implementing innovative Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) strategies and preparing for the future of AI-powered search. We continue to adapt to trends such as AI-driven search and large language models and have built an SEO framework that positions GMN as an authoritative voice in the manufacturing industry, ready to be found by both traditional users and the latest AI platforms.

We’re proud to walk you through the SEO program we developed, including the strategy, insights, and results from our hands-on partnership. We hope it inspires new ideas for your own digital journey.

The Client Forthea’s AI-Driven SEO Delivers for GMN Bearing

IndustryB2B - Manufacturing
Location Houston, TX

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Our Digital Marketing Strategy

Refreshing High-Performing Content

The team updated and enriched GMN’s foundational website content (guides, product pages, etc.) to keep it relevant to current user queries and search algorithms. By refreshing keyword targeting, adding timely insights, and tuning on-page SEO, we ensured high-ranking pages stayed relevant and continued to earn top visibility from users. This proactive content renovation helped GMN maintain authority and prevent performance drops on its most valuable pages.

Consistent Schema Application

We implemented structured data across the site to help search engines and AI platforms fully understand GMN’s on-page content. By applying schema to videos, guides, and local pages, we made GMN’s information easier for AI to surface as a trusted source, ultimately boosting visibility across both traditional and AI-powered search results.

Technical SEO & Internal Linking

We strengthened GMN’s site architecture, ensuring every valuable page was easily discoverable by both users and search engines. By resolving technical issues, boosting speed, and building a smart internal linking network, we increased authority across key pages. Specialists ensured visitors always landed where they’d find the most value in their search journeys.

Leveraging Video & YouTube

We partnered with GMN to fully optimize engaging videos featuring maintenance tips, tutorials, and engineering explainers for both YouTube and the website. By implementing innovative video SEO strategies and embedding transcripts, we expanded GMN’s audience, boosted engagement, and gave their content a dynamic new edge beyond traditional text.

Data-Driven Monitoring

From the start, we tracked every move with Google Analytics 4 and custom marketing intelligence dashboards, monitoring organic traffic and AI-driven sessions. By tying engagement and search queries directly to conversions, we created a constant feedback loop that shaped our strategy and delivered measurable growth for GMN.

Our Team

Every step we took was guided by an AI-first mindset. Instead of waiting for industry shifts, we anticipated how generative AI and new search technologies would change what customers would look for most. We followed up with optimizations for GMN’s content before the curve. SEO specialists kept a close eye on evolving industry updates and how AI platforms select answers, quickly applying new insights to our strategy. That way, as soon as AI-driven search rolled out, GMN was already prepared to stand out and lead.

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“We recognized early that AI and LLMs were reshaping how people search for technical products,” says a Forthea SEO Specialist. “Our strategy for GMN Bearing was to stay one step ahead. By integrating structured data everywhere and continually refreshing content for emerging queries, we positioned GMN’s site to lead in LLM visibility. The goal wasn’t just to protect their rankings, but to make sure GMN would be the answer that AI-powered search tools recommend.”

Sydney Martin Specialist, SEO

AIO RankingsLLM Traffic TrendsTraffic Acquisition

Results

AIO Rankings

Our AEO strategy delivered big results for GMN Bearing by dramatically boosting their rankings and visibility across both traditional search and AI-driven results. Throughout the year, we saw a sharp increase in keywords and pages surfacing in Google’s AI Overview, including strong gains after our spring content refresh. GMN’s Guides and Resources pages took off during the summer, and by year’s end, they were ranking for hundreds of new keywords and showing up in AI answer engines more than ever. These wins show the real, compounding impact of smart content updates and schema optimization, even as the SEO landscape gets tougher.

LLM Traffic Trends

ChatGPT quickly became GMN’s top new traffic source, with referrals soaring in Q3 and surpassing those from other AI platforms. We deliberately focused on optimizing for LLMs and conversational AI, making GMN’s content the obvious choice for these engines. It’s a shift we’re seeing across the industry: AI chat tools are quickly becoming essential traffic drivers for brands with the right strategies. For GMN, this surge in AI-driven sessions attracted more qualified visitors and highlighted the value of staying ahead in these evolving channels.

Traffic Acquisition

Over the year, GMN saw 23 conversions directly from AI-driven referral traffic. Most of these came through ChatGPT, with the rest from Bing Copilot and Google’s generative search. These weren’t just casual visitors; they were qualified prospects looking specifically for GMN’s products. Industry data shows that users clicking through from ChatGPT tend to have high intent, and GMN’s results proved it. By getting ahead of the curve, GMN landed 23 new business opportunities that might never have come through traditional search channels. This shows that optimizing for AI-powered search isn’t just about staying current; it’s about driving real growth.

Why It Matters

Overall, Forthea’s partnership with GMN Bearing highlights how a confident, data-driven AEO strategy can drive measurable performance improvements. We successfully aligned SEO with AI from content through conversion. Forthea helped GMN take over emerging search channels by translating innovation into increased visibility, traffic, and revenue. The success of this case study shows the value of structured data optimization and continuous improvement in an AI-disrupted era of search. GMN Bearing will continue seeing the benefits of AI-driven SEO, with a strong foundation to remain the go-to answer wherever customers search.

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