+2,670% increase in B2B AI-traffic across five markets
Bonzer is more than an agency; they are a true strategic partner. They have provided us with a scalable, E-E-A-T-driven framework that has not only delivered exponential growth in organic value across five key markets, but has also positioned us as the definitive authority in the new landscape of AI-driven search. Their team is an extension of our own.
Pleo is one of Europe’s leading business spend solutions, empowering forward-thinking teams to manage their finances with ease and efficiency.
Founded in Copenhagen in 2015, Pleo was recognised as Denmark’s youngest unicorn during its Series C round in 2021. Powering billions of euros in purchases each year, Pleo continues to redefine business spend management.
Backed by a strong product and an existing content universe, Pleo faced a challenge: how to best scale authentic thought leadership content to strengthen SEO, E-E-A-T, and AI Search?
Not only that, but Pleo also had ambitious goals to solve this challenge in five different and highly competitive markets: Denmark (DK), Sweden (SE), the United Kingdom (UK), Germany (DE), and France (FR).
Pleo therefore entered into a partnership with Bonzer to execute a sophisticated, long-term SEO and content strategy across all five markets, with a specific focus on the blog sections.
Based on Pleo's overall goals and internal strategies, Bonzer developed five dedicated content strategies that would not only ensure impressive rankings but also market-leading topical authority.
In addition to developing the strategies, Bonzer was also responsible for executing the content in collaboration with Pleo. This ensured high content velocity combined with professional expertise, which has been the basis for the impressive growth rates we can see today in the performance data.
The numbers
- +2,670%
- Increase in referral traffic from AI Search
- +337%
- Increase in organic keywords in positions 1-3
- +229%
- Increase in organic traffic value
- +182%
- Increase in organic keywords on page 1 of Google
Who is Pleo? The future of spend management
From smart cards and automated expense reports, to subscription management, invoice payments, real-time spend categorisation and cash management tools, Pleo unifies all aspects of company spending into one intuitive digital solution.
Trusted by over 40,000 businesses across 16 markets, Pleo brings streamlined processes, real-time visibility and simplified financial workflows to businesses of all sizes, helping them achieve their financial goals at every stage of their journey.
Pleo's values are built on trust and transparency. This provides crucial context: their website content must reflect this internal value. A low-quality SEO strategy based on “hacks” would create a fundamental branding inconsistency. In other words, growth is not the overriding end goal—it must be on-brand, credible, and in line with Pleo's values.
That's why the partnership between Bonzer and Pleo is a match made in heaven. We don't believe in quick hacks or black-hat solutions. Instead, we believe that responsible efforts create sustainable results, and today we are proud to present the preliminary goals we have achieved together.
How we succeeded: A content strategy for five different markets and languages, all at the same time
A multifaceted content strategy is the essence of how we succeeded. The strategy was built around several pillars and clusters that, on the one hand, reflect Pleo's business areas and, on the other hand, represent unfulfilled SEO potential—which we have since managed to realize and capture top rankings on.
1. The foundation: E-E-A-T-focused content created by people, for people
The strategy was based on a human-driven content philosophy that fully embraces the E-E-A-T and Helpful Content principles. Within the FinTech vertical – where trust is the primary commodity – Google's algorithms scrutinize content for expertise and authority.
This philosophy is the direct cause of success in both traditional and AI search. By refusing to compromise on quality and focusing on genuine user value, content was created that Google wants to rank and that AI models need to cite. This strategy is inherently “future-proof.”
As more companies and marketers adopt AI for content production, among other things, it has become even more important to create content that stands out. Content that LLMs want to cite – so that your brand name remains top-of-mind with your target audience. The latter is the only viable solution in a search market that is increasingly generating zero-click searches.
2. The engine: A dual-track content velocity roadmap
The strategy was built on a dual-track “content velocity” model to ensure a constant flow of value: partly by creating new, targeted content and partly by maintaining and updating the existing content catalog against the unfulfilled potential identified by our analyses.
Track 1: Production of new content (performance & editorial)
In track 1, we ensured a continuous flow of new content, strategically segmented into “performance” (to capture high-intent search needs) and “editorial” (to build thought leadership and topical authority).
Track 2: Continuous content updates
Based on ongoing performance monitoring and intent analysis, we identified areas where content would particularly benefit from SEO-focused updates. This ensures that valuable, evergreen articles never become outdated. This process maintains E-E-A-T, improves rankings, and defends positions against competitors.
3. Framework: Scalable and cross-border execution
The strategy was not five isolated plans, but one unified, scalable framework that was localized to the linguistic and financial nuances of each market.
The “Invoice Management” cluster, for example, was not only built for Denmark, but was methodically rolled out to France (e.g., procédure de contrôle des factures, suivi des factures), Sweden (e.g., Leverantörsfaktura, attestera fakturor), and Germany (e.g., eingangsrechnung, lieferantenrechnung). This cluster-based approach is the linchpin of our effective build-up of topical authority—across five different language markets.
What we achieved: Keyword dominance across Europe
1. LLM-friendly content ensures referrals from AI Search (+2,670% in 2025)
Performance data for the Pleo domain shows explosive growth in referrals from AI Search during 2025. Starting in January 2025 with an index of 100, we will end the year with an index of 2,770 – an increase of +2,670% in referrals from the most popular LLMs (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, and Copilot).
| Month | Index (Jan 2025 = 100) | %-increase |
|---|---|---|
| January | 100 | 0% |
| February | 148 | 48% |
| March | 212 | 112% |
| April | 325 | 225% |
| May | 620 | 520% |
| June | 866 | 766% |
| July | 797 | 697% |
| August | 912 | 812% |
| September | 1,065 | 965% |
| October | 1,160 | 1,060% |
| November | 1,845 | 1,745% |
| December | 1,749 | 1,649% |
| January (2026) | 2,770 | 2,670% |
Source: Amplitude Performance Data
Development in referrals from AI Search
ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini and Copilot.
Source: Amplitude
See the numbers
| Måned | %-increase since January 2025 |
|---|---|
| January 2025 | 0 % |
| February 2025 | 48 % |
| March 2025 | 112 % |
| April 2025 | 225 % |
| May 2025 | 520 % |
| June 2025 | 766 % |
| July 2025 | 697 % |
| August 2025 | 812 % |
| September 2025 | 965 % |
| October 2025 | 1,060 % |
| November 2025 | 1,745 % |
| December 2025 | 1,649 % |
| January 2026 | 2,670 % |
This massive growth is the direct result of our strategic work with content, which has been developed in accordance with LLM best practices:
- Clearly structured content with relevant use of bullet points, making it easy for LLMs to parse the content.
- Direct answers to questions frequently asked by the target audience.
- Simple sentence structures without unnecessary fluff and jargon.
- Frequent use of FAQs, tables, definitions, and examples.
- Machine-readable metadata (Schema Markups, Title Tags, URLs, etc.).
2. AI Share of Voice (AI SoV): Pleo dominates almost half of the market
Another way of viewing our successful work with LLM and AI is by looking at what we call AI Share of Voice. The emergence of generative AI (AI Overviews, ChatGPT, etc.) has created a new battleground for visibility: AI Share of Voice (AI SoV). AI SoV measures which brand is most often cited as the authoritative source in AI-generated responses.
Pleo dominates its competitors in AI Share of Voice. Data from December 2025 shows that Pleo has a 43.6% AI SoV across all relevant generative AIs (AI Overviews, ChatGPT, AI Mode, Gemini, Copilot).
AI Share of Voice (December 2025)
| Brand | AI Share of Voice |
|---|---|
| Pleo (Bonzer Strategy) | 43.6% |
| Emburse | 26.6% |
| Spendesk | 21.7% |
| Rydoo | 13.7% |
Source: Brand Radar AI Visibility Data
And if we zoom in on ChatGPT, one of the most popular AI chats, Pleo remains the dominant industry leader.
AI Share of Voice (ChatGPT - December 2025)
| Brand | AI Share of Voice |
|---|---|
| Pleo (Bonzer Strategy) | 44.6% |
| Spendesk | 39.1% |
| Rydoo | 13.9% |
| Emburse | 8.3% |
Source: Brand Radar AI Visibility Data
Pleo's AI dominance is no coincidence. It is the direct, intended, and inevitable result of a multi-year, human-driven, E-E-A-T-focused content strategy.
Generative AI models are explicitly trained to find and prioritize content that demonstrates the highest levels of** Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T)**. The same principles that win on Google's SERP are the principles that win in AI. In other words: Bonzer's “traditional” SEO is the new AI SEO.
This result proves that the strategy not only delivers short-term gains or long-term value—it is actively future-proofing Pleo's brand authority and visibility for the next decade of AI-based search.
3. Overall blog performance: Growth engine at +337% increase in top 3 keywords
An analysis of the Pleo blog's (blog.pleo.io) overall growth across markets and languages shows a significant strategic success. The growth since the strategy's launch in May 2024 to today, December 2025, is visualized below.
Organic performance (May 2024 vs. Dec 2025)
| Performance metric | May 2024 | December 2025 | Growth in % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Organic traffic | 15.242 | 24.556 | +61% |
| Organic traffic value | $5.448 | $17.947 | +229% |
| Organic positions 1-3 | 466 | 2.035 | +337% |
| Organic positions top 10 | 2.770 | 7.816 | +182% |
Source: Ahrefs Performance Data
The most telling conclusion from the data is the massive difference between traffic growth and value growth. Organic traffic value (+229%) grew 3.75 times faster than raw organic traffic (+61%).
This phenomenon is due to a significant increase in the quality of the traffic obtained. It indicates that the strategy has successfully captured rankings for keywords with higher commercial intent and higher CPC (Cost-Per-Click) values. The proof lies in the explosive growth of +337% in the number of keywords in positions 1-3 – the positions that have the highest click-through rate (CTR) and deliver the highest value.
Organic traffic and traffic value
Development in organic traffic
Source: Ahrefs
See the numbers
| Date | Organic traffic |
|---|---|
| January 2024 | 11,584 |
| February 2024 | 12,079 |
| March 2024 | 12,280 |
| April 2024 | 15,511 |
| May 2024 | 15,242 |
| June 2024 | 12,701 |
| July 2024 | 11,628 |
| August 2024 | 11,645 |
| September 2024 | 19,856 |
| October 2024 | 19,212 |
| November 2024 | 13,564 |
| December 2024 | 11,717 |
| January 2025 | 11,757 |
| February 2025 | 10,490 |
| March 2025 | 10,239 |
| April 2025 | 12,068 |
| May 2025 | 12,189 |
| June 2025 | 12,024 |
| July 2025 | 15,425 |
| August 2025 | 20,653 |
| September 2025 | 24,579 |
| October 2025 | 25,736 |
| November 2025 | 24,877 |
| December 2025 | 24,556 |
Development in organic traffic value
Source: Ahrefs
See the numbers
| Date | Organic traffic value (USD) |
|---|---|
| January 2024 | 3,185 |
| February 2024 | 3,576 |
| March 2024 | 4,052 |
| April 2024 | 5,171 |
| May 2024 | 5,448 |
| June 2024 | 5,134 |
| July 2024 | 4,698 |
| August 2024 | 4,994 |
| September 2024 | 10,772 |
| October 2024 | 7,070 |
| November 2024 | 5,518 |
| December 2024 | 5,004 |
| January 2025 | 5,272 |
| February 2025 | 5,021 |
| March 2025 | 5,366 |
| April 2025 | 5,799 |
| May 2025 | 6,261 |
| June 2025 | 6,403 |
| July 2025 | 8,718 |
| August 2025 | 13,760 |
| September 2025 | 16,080 |
| October 2025 | 18,650 |
| November 2025 | 18,655 |
| December 2025 | 17,947 |
The strategy has successfully shifted the blog's performance from “general traffic” to “high-intent commercial traffic.” This shift is a critical metric for a B2B FinTech company like Pleo, as it realizes true business value, not just vanity volume.
Improvements in organic traffic and traffic value are the natural consequence of better keyword rankings
In just 20 months, there has been a significant increase in top-ranked keywords. This is the direct result of a content-focused SEO strategy that both safeguards E-E-A-T signals, implements best practices for LLM and AI search, and simultaneously positions Pleo as an authority and expert in the industry.
Development in organic keywords in positions 1-3
Source: Ahrefs
See the numbers
| Date | Organic positions: 1–3 |
|---|---|
| January 2024 | 466 |
| February 2024 | 487 |
| March 2024 | 456 |
| April 2024 | 419 |
| May 2024 | 393 |
| June 2024 | 331 |
| July 2024 | 291 |
| August 2024 | 300 |
| September 2024 | 489 |
| October 2024 | 417 |
| November 2024 | 365 |
| December 2024 | 335 |
| January 2025 | 340 |
| February 2025 | 345 |
| March 2025 | 340 |
| April 2025 | 657 |
| May 2025 | 664 |
| June 2025 | 704 |
| July 2025 | 1,026 |
| August 2025 | 1,578 |
| September 2025 | 1,849 |
| October 2025 | 1,818 |
| November 2025 | 1,825 |
| December 2025 | 2,035 |
Development in organic keywords on Google's page 1
Source: Ahrefs
See the numbers
| Date | Organic positions: 1–3 | Organic positions: 4–10 |
|---|---|---|
| January 2024 | 466 | 2,304 |
| February 2024 | 487 | 2,546 |
| March 2024 | 456 | 2,664 |
| April 2024 | 419 | 2,602 |
| May 2024 | 393 | 2,494 |
| June 2024 | 331 | 2,098 |
| July 2024 | 291 | 1,956 |
| August 2024 | 300 | 1,975 |
| September 2024 | 489 | 2,932 |
| October 2024 | 417 | 2,529 |
| November 2024 | 365 | 2,105 |
| December 2024 | 335 | 1,938 |
| January 2025 | 340 | 1,816 |
| February 2025 | 345 | 1,752 |
| March 2025 | 340 | 1,868 |
| April 2025 | 657 | 2,910 |
| May 2025 | 664 | 3,016 |
| June 2025 | 704 | 3,160 |
| July 2025 | 1,026 | 3,695 |
| August 2025 | 1,578 | 4,881 |
| September 2025 | 1,849 | 5,651 |
| October 2025 | 1,818 | 6,105 |
| November 2025 | 1,825 | 5,921 |
| December 2025 | 2,035 | 5,781 |
4. Specific content performance: Proof of E-E-A-T in practice
The significant value gains across metrics are built on a foundation of individual, high-performing “hero” articles that are winning in their respective markets. The keywords that Pleo now ranks on are not trivial; they are complex, often high-risk financial queries (e.g., tax-related, legal accounting) where Google's E-E-A-T algorithms are most stringent.
Pleo's ability to achieve #1 rankings, or make massive positive jumps, for these terms is the ultimate proof that the human-driven and expert-focused strategy works.
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