- 2,434%rise in referrals from AI tools over Black Friday and Cyber Monday
- 200xhigher engagement on four search-tuned YouTube Shorts than JBL's 30-day average
What JBL changed
JBL worked with Code and Theory to audit its search practices, rethink its website and build an editorial plan that works for human readers and automated crawlers alike. The stories aim to be fun to read but also clear on features, and they tackle everyday doubts such as whether a soundbar is actually worth buying.
For Black Friday, JBL published a gift guide showing which of its products suit different kinds of gift recipients. The team also studied how people search on YouTube and TikTok, and made short videos to match, such as a YouTube Short comparing two speakers.
“We wanted to identify what was the best strategy for JBL, and not just a generic strategy for SEO.”
The results
Across Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2025, referrals from AI tools were up 2,434%. Four optimised YouTube Shorts reached a 2.61% engagement rate by view, which the agency says is 200x JBL's 30-day average of 0.013%.
The agency described the work as slow and steady rather than an overnight win, and JBL is still working out how to roll it out across regions.
“The way that we see it, search is everywhere now. But that doesn't mean that people search the same way on every platform.”
What other stores can take from this
- Answer the doubts buyers have. JBL writes around everyday questions, like whether a soundbar is worth buying.
- Let your gift guide do the matching. JBL's Black Friday guide said which products suit which kind of recipient.
- Treat it as a long game. JBL's agency calls this slow and steady work, not overnight growth.
Worth knowing: The press article confirms the jump in referrals only. JBL's award entry also claims "10x more revenue than the next highest period" but does not say what that revenue covers, so we don't count it as a sales result.
Source
“'Search is everywhere': How JBL is retooling its search efforts for AI”
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JBL is not a GEO customer. This page is our summary of Marketing Brew's reporting. The figures and quotes are theirs.
