Background 

A private jet rental service partnered with The HOTH in 2025 to capture high-intent traffic and bridge the authority gap with its larger competitors. 

The brand operates in a zero-click dominated market where mid-tier private jet charters struggle for visibility against juggernauts like NetJets and VistaJet. 

Despite the challenges, we delivered the kind of authority and traffic that’s typically reserved for DR80+ market leaders. 

How did we do it?

We leveraged the power of editorial storytelling to acquire 400+ high-quality media placements. 

As a result, the client saw a 238% increase in premium backlinks, 142% more traffic to lead gen pages, and over 1,500 AI citations. 

This case is proof that editorial quality and digital PR deliver outstanding results in answer-first search. 

Continue reading to learn about the data-driven articles and celebrity narratives that broke the zero-click wall. 

The Challenge

Travel companies face steep search marketing challenges, especially heading into 2026. 

First, a large majority of high-intent queries related to private jet charters generate AI Overviews, meaning approximately 68% of sessions end in zero clicks. 

If our client wanted to continue to capture their audience’s attention, they needed to appear in AI-generated results. 

Second, Google tends to prioritize trusted local directories over a brand’s service pages, especially for keywords with local intent. 

That means it’s challenging for private jet charter services to rank organically and in AI search. 

Lastly, there’s a rigorous amount of competition in the industry. DR80+ giants like VistaJet tend to dominate search results and AI Overview citations, making it exceptionally difficult for mid-tier players to earn visibility. 

What the client needed was a way to stand out from the competition. 

The Strategy 

Essentially, the client needed to punch above their weight class and generate authority comparable to industry leaders. 

At the same time, they had to break through the zero-click barrier by generating most of their traffic through:

• AI citations 

• Direct site visits 

• Referral traffic from backlinks, media placements, and social media amplification 

Also, building online authority is no longer just about raw link metrics. 

Instead, AI search models and algorithms focus on editorial quality (what do the links say about your brand?) and contextual relevance (do your links provide value to users?). 

Bearing this in mind, we developed a massive earned media strategy that combined a mix of:

1. Informative, data-driven listicles about private jet travel with localized keywords 
2. Fun celebrity narratives about renting out their private jets (and the stigma that goes along with it)

We blended data-driven authority with celebrity-driven velocity for a powerful one-two punch. 

While the data-driven pieces helped the client establish topical authority, the celebrity stories drove viral syndication. 

Ultimately, the goal for both types of content was to attract backlinks, get syndicated, and drive high-intent traffic to the client’s website; they just served different roles. 

Topical authority led to increased AI citations and organic rankings, while the viral syndication drove referral traffic and brand awareness. 

The Results 

Our earned media approach proved highly successful, as the client’s organic and AI search performance dramatically improved. 

The celebrity stories went extremely viral and appeared on more than 400 reputable media outlets, causing a 238% spike in premium link placements. 

They also scored a 142% traffic lift in traffic to service pages from boosted authority and referral channels. 

This proves that it’s possible for mid-tier private jet charters to compete with industry leaders; it just takes a certain level of creativity and optimization prowess. 

Both types of content contributed to the strong uptick in AI visibility, earning more than 1,000 citations across Google’s AI Overviews, Perplexity, and ChatGPT. 

As predicted, data established authority while celebrities drove scale. 

The result?

The kind of returns market leaders pay millions for: more traffic from high-intent prospects, top-tier authority, and a serious boost in notoriety with the client’s target audience. 

The catch is that our client didn’t have to pay millions for these wins; they earned them organically with our help. 

Want to Improve Your Visibility on Google and AI Search Tools?

If you want to achieve similar results to our client, book a free call with our team to develop a winning search strategy that’s perfectly tailored to your needs.  

Also, don’t wait to try out our AI Discovery service to boost your brand’s visibility on AI search tools in particular.   

Book a Call Now  

The Proof 

During the course of the campaign, the client saw massive growth in terms of backlinks and referring domains:

Their organic traffic also spiked significantly:

In terms of organic keywords, many finally made the jump into the top 3:

There were also massive improvements to crucial keyword rankings, such as this keyword that jumped a whopping 131 positions to position #1:

Lastly, they were able to generate significantly more AI citations than before: