Something has shifted in the way people find information online. You have probably noticed it yourself. You type a question into Google, and before you even reach the blue links, there is a full paragraph at the top of the page answering your query. That is an AI Overview. And it is pulling content from specific websites to build that answer.
The brands that appear in those AI-generated summaries are not there by accident. They have structured their content in a way that makes it easy for AI systems to understand, trust, and cite. One of the most effective ways to do that is a model that has existed in content marketing for years but is now finding a completely new purpose: the hub-and-spoke.
What Is Hub and Spoke, and Why Does It Matter Now?
At its simplest, hub and spoke is a way of organising your website content around topics rather than individual keywords. You build a central page (the hub) that covers a broad subject in depth. Then you create supporting articles (the spokes) that each tackle a specific subtopic, linking back to the hub and to each other.
If you are a PPC agency in Manchester, your hub might be “PPC Management Services Manchester.” Your spokes would cover individual areas: Google Ads management, Shopping campaigns, remarketing strategy, landing page optimisation, PPC audits, B2B lead generation, and so on. Each spoke goes deeper than the hub ever could on its specific subject, while the hub ties everything together.
This is not a new idea. Content marketers have used it for years to build topical authority and improve internal linking. But something has changed about why it works.
The shift
Google AI Overviews now appear on an estimated 47% of search queries. They reduce clicks on the top organic result by an average of 34.5%. Traditional featured snippets lost 64% of their visibility between January and June 2025 as AI Overviews expanded. The question is no longer just “can people find my page?” It is “does AI cite my brand in the answer?”
How AI Decides Which Sources to Cite
AI Overviews do not just grab the top ranking page and summarise it. They synthesise information from multiple sources. Google’s systems evaluate whether a website demonstrates genuine depth on a subject, not just whether a single page matches a query.
This is where hub and spoke becomes powerful for a different reason than it was five years ago.
When your site has a hub page on “PPC Agency Manchester” connected to eight spoke articles covering Google Ads management, Shopping campaign setup, remarketing best practices, PPC audit processes, B2B paid search strategy, lead generation funnels, budget optimisation, and performance reporting frameworks, you are not just targeting eight keywords. You are building a topical footprint that tells AI systems: this source covers this subject comprehensively. It can be trusted to provide accurate, complete information.
An isolated blog post on “PPC tips for small businesses” will never compete with that kind of structure, regardless of how well it is written.
What AI systems actually evaluate
•Topical completeness. Does this site cover the full scope of the subject, or just one narrow angle? •Internal coherence Are pages connected to each other in a way that reflects how the topic actually works?
• Answer availability. Can the AI find a direct, concise answer within the first 40 words under a relevant heading?
•Structured data. Does the site use schema markup (FAQPage, Article, LocalBusiness) that helps AI parse content accurately?
•External validation. Is this brand mentioned on other trusted websites, YouTube, forums, and review platforms?
Hub and spoke addresses the first three directly. It creates the architecture that makes your content legible to AI in a way that scattered, disconnected blog posts never will.
Hub and Spoke for Traditional SEO vs. Hub and Spoke for AIO
The structure looks similar, but the intent behind it is different. Here is where the models diverge:
| Element | Traditional SEO | AIO Optimised |
|---|---|---|
| Hub page goal | Rank for a competitive keyword | Become the cited authority on a topic |
| Spoke page goal | Rank for long tail variations | Answer specific questions AI tools surface |
| Content format | Long form, keyword optimised | Answer first: direct response in opening 40 words, then supporting detail |
| Internal linking | Pass PageRank to the hub | Create a navigable topic map AI can crawl |
| Schema markup | Nice to have | Essential. FAQPage, Article, BreadcrumbList on every page |
| Success metric | Keyword rankings, organic traffic | AI citation frequency, brand mention in AI answers |
| Content updates | Periodic refresh | Continuous. AI penalises stale data quickly |
The point is not that one replaces the other. You still want rankings. But if your hub and spoke is built only for traditional SEO, it will underperform in the AI layer of search. And that layer is growing fast.
Building an AIO Optimised Hub and Spoke: The Process
Here is how we approach this at ActiveWin when building content clusters designed to earn AI citations.
1. Start with questions, not keywords
Traditional keyword research gives you search volume and difficulty scores. That is useful, but it tells you what people type, not what they ask. AI Overviews are triggered by question intent. So instead of building a spoke around “PPC agency Manchester pricing,” you build it around “How much does PPC management cost in Manchester?” The content answers the question directly, then expands with data and context.
Use tools like AlsoAsked, AnswerThePublic, or simply look at the “People Also Ask” boxes on Google. Those PAA questions are exactly the queries that trigger AI Overviews.
2. Structure every spoke as an answer
Each spoke article should follow this pattern:
•H2 heading phrased as a question (matches the query AI is answering)
•Direct answer in the first 40 words (this is the snippet AI extracts)
•Supporting detail in short paragraphs (2 to 4 lines, not walls of text)
•Bulleted lists for any step by step or comparison content (AI loves structured lists)
•Internal links to the hub and related spokes (reinforces the topic cluster)
The 40-word rule
Research from multiple AI visibility studies shows that AI Overviews most frequently extract the text that appears immediately after a heading. If your first paragraph under each H2 directly answers the heading question in roughly 40 words, you maximise your chance of being the cited source.
3. Make the hub a navigation layer, not just a long article
The hub page in an AIO model serves a dual purpose. It needs to be comprehensive enough to rank on its own, but structured enough to guide both users and AI crawlers to the spokes.
Each section of the hub should:
•Summarise the subtopic in 2 to 3 sentences
•Link to the full spoke article
•Include FAQ schema for the most common question about that subtopic
Think of the hub as a table of contents that also happens to be a standalone resource. AI systems will crawl the hub, discover the spokes, and build a model of your site’s authority on the entire subject.
4. Layer in structured data across every page
Schema markup is not optional for AIO. It is how you translate your content into a format AI systems can parse reliably.
At a minimum, every hub and spoke cluster should include:
•Article or BlogPosting schema on every spoke
•FAQPage schema on the hub and on spokes that include FAQ sections
•BreadcrumbList schema showing the hub-to-spoke hierarchy
•Organisation schema on the hub confirming brand identity
•Industry-specific schema where applicable (LocalBusiness, Product, Service, etc.)
5. Build external signals that validate the cluster
Hub and spoke gives you the on site architecture. But AI tools also evaluate off site signals when deciding whether to cite a brand. The strongest predictor of AI citation across all platforms, according to an Ahrefs study of 75,000 brands, is YouTube mentions (0.737 correlation), followed by branded web mentions (0.66 to 0.71) and branded anchor text (0.628).
So when you publish a hub and spoke cluster, the amplification strategy matters as much as the content itself:
•Create YouTube videos that reference the hub topic (campaign walkthroughs, Google Ads tutorials, client case studies)
•Pursue PR coverage and brand mentions in marketing industry publications (Search Engine Land, PPC Hero, Marketing Week)
•Optimise third party profiles (Google Business, Clutch, The Manifest, agency directories)
•Encourage client reviews and testimonials that mention your brand and services by name
Why This Matters More in 2026 Than It Did Last Year
The rate of change in search is accelerating. Three forces are converging that make hub and spoke for AIO a priority rather than a nice to have.
AI Overviews are expanding. Google is rolling AI Overviews into more query types, more countries, and more verticals. What was an experiment in 2024 is now a default feature for nearly half of all searches.
Decision makers search differently now. Marketing directors and business owners increasingly ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google Gemini for agency recommendations before they open a traditional browser tab. If your agency is not in the AI answer, you do not exist for a growing segment of your prospect base.
Most businesses have not adapted. The majority of content strategies are still built for traditional organic rankings. Very few brands have restructured their content architecture for AI citation. That gap represents an opportunity. The first movers in your sector who build AIO optimised hub and spoke clusters will establish citation patterns that compound over time, because AI systems develop “habits” based on which sources consistently provide structured, authoritative answers.
The window
Being early matters more than being biggest. An Ahrefs study found that content volume (number of pages) has almost no correlation with AI visibility (0.194). What matters is structure, depth, and external brand signals. A smaller brand with a well built hub and spoke cluster can outperform a larger competitor with hundreds of unstructured pages.
Getting Started: A Practical Checklist
If you want to build your first AIO optimised content cluster, here is where to begin:
Pick one core topic that aligns with your highest value service or product
Map the questions your audience asks about that topic (PAA, forums, sales team feedback)
Plan 8 to 15 spoke articles, each answering one distinct question
Write the hub page first. Cover the full topic with summaries and links to planned spokes
Write each spoke in answer first format. Direct answer under the H2, supporting detail below
Add schema markup to every page (Article, FAQPage, BreadcrumbList)
Interlink everything. Spokes link to hub, hub links to spokes, related spokes link to each other
Amplify externally. YouTube content, PR mentions, review generation, directory profiles
Monitor AI responses monthly. Test your target queries in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AIO, and Gemini. Track which brands appear and whether yours is cited
Update quarterly. AI penalises stale content faster than traditional search. Keep data points, pricing, and facts current
Ready to Get Your Brand Cited in AI Search?
We build content architectures that earn AI citations across Google Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity. Whether you are targeting “PPC agency Manchester” or any competitive search term, we will structure your site to win in the AI layer of search.
FAQ’s
A hub and spoke content strategy organises your website around central pillar pages (hubs) that cover broad topics, supported by detailed subtopic articles (spokes) that link back to the hub. This creates topical clusters that signal deep expertise to both search engines and AI systems.
AI Overviews pull from sources that demonstrate comprehensive topical coverage. A hub and spoke structure gives AI systems multiple connected data points on a single subject, making your site more likely to be cited as an authoritative source in AI generated summaries.
Traditional SEO focuses on ranking individual pages in organic search results. AIO (AI Overview Optimisation) focuses on getting your brand cited within AI generated answers at the top of search results. AIO requires topical depth, structured data, and answer first content formatting rather than keyword density.
Most effective content clusters have between 8 and 15 spoke articles per hub. The exact number depends on the breadth of the topic. Each spoke should target a distinct subtopic or question that your audience actually asks, rather than padding the cluster with thin content.
Yes. Agencies can build hub pages around their core service and location, such as “PPC Agency Manchester,” with spokes targeting service specific queries, industry verticals, pricing questions, and comparison content. This is particularly effective for AI Overviews because AI tools heavily weight local intent signals when generating location based answers.
AI Overviews favour content with clear H2 and H3 headings phrased as questions, short paragraphs of 2 to 4 lines, bulleted lists for step by step information, direct answers within the first 40 words under each heading, and FAQ sections with structured data markup.
