Case Study: Hostie AI’s Journey From Invisible to Industry Leader in Voice AI
Sep 23, 2025
We looked at Hostie AI, and how they used Relixir to bolster their brand presence on ChatGPT, Perplexity and more. Here's how they did it.
Introduction
Hostie AI is a leader in voice-ai software technology, deploying voice agents to carry out a variety of tasks in restaurants. They came to Relixir in early July, with an effort to build a comprehensive strategy ranking in both traditional SERP and Answer engines.
Problem
When Hostie came to Relixir, their digital footprint was almost invisible. They ranked for only a handful of branded terms and were missing entirely from competitive discovery queries like “best voice AI for restaurants” or “evaluate Maple on voice ordering solution.”
In parallel, Hostie had no meaningful presence in AI search engines such as ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity, which meant they were not being cited when prospects asked natural-language questions. Right now, around 1.5% of web referral traffic is coming from LLMs, which gives massive opportunities for revenue generation.
TL;DR: Without SEO traction and AEO visibility, Hostie risked being left behind by competitors such as SoundHound AI, Loman, and Maple.
What we did
We deployed a two-part strategy centered on automated content farms optimized for AEO. The approach was designed to:
Build instant visibility with AI search by targeting brand, competitor, commercial, and problem queries
Gather competitor and keyword gaps using AI search analytics
Generate GEO optimized blogs to target keyword gaps and build authority within the voice-ai software space
Our rollout began with a steady weekly publishing cadence, targeting clusters of keywords across branded, competitive, and problem or feature-driven themes. As traction built, we scaled volume and expanded to reach key players in U.S. markets.
Keywords and Metrics Tracked
To measure success, we tracked Hostie’s performance across both SEO and AEO environments.
Buckets Monitored
Branded Queries: “hostie ai”, “hostie.ai”, “hosty ai”
Competitor Queries: “soundhound restaurant ordering”, “evaluate maple on voice ordering solution”, “resy restaurant ai technology”
Commercial Intent Queries: “best voice ai for restaurants”, “voice assistant for restaurants”, “ai restaurant reservation system”
Feature and Problem Queries: “pci dss voice ai”, “automated reservation confirmations”, “multi-language restaurant voice ordering”
Metrics: Clicks, Impressions, CTR, Average Position (SEO) and Mention Rate, Citations, Sentiment, and Rank (AEO).
SEO Results
CTR increased from under 1 percent in June to between 2 and 6 percent consistently by late July, with spikes above 9 percent.
Daily clicks grew from single digits in June to 30 to 50 per day in late July, peaking at 53 clicks on July 29 with a 5.69 percent CTR.
Geography expanded: the U.S. led in volume with 1,078 clicks and 49,546 impressions, while Egypt achieved 8.98 percent CTR and Japan 4.78 percent CTR, showing efficiency in niche markets.
Keyword positioning: Hostie ranked number 1 for branded queries and broke into top 3 to 5 positions for competitive and intent-driven queries like “best voice AI for restaurants.”
SEO Performance Snapshot
Segment | Metric | Result | Takeaway |
CTR | CTR % | 2-6% avg | Major uplift in discovery |
Daily Clicks | Clicks/day | 30-50+ | Scaled from near-zero traffic |
Top Geography | US Traffic | 1,078 clicks, 49,546 impressions |
AEO Results
From August 14 to September 1, 2025:
Overall Mention Rate: 9.3 percent, an increase of 33.9 percent compared to the prior period.
Average AI Search Rank: 2.1, an improvement of 19.4 percent, ensuring Hostie consistently appeared in the top three answers.
Total Citations: 1,339, with a peak of 963 citations on August 28, showing explosive bursts of reach.
Sentiment Score: 77.4%, reflecting strong positivity of LLMs when writing about Hostie AI.
Top Citation Keywords in AEO
Hostie content was cited most often in AI-generated answers for:
Keyword or Prompt | Prompts Referencing | Share of Mentions |
AI restaurant reservation system | 10 | 4.4% |
AI solutions for restaurant host/hostess | 8 | 4.4% |
AI for restaurant reservations | 7 | 4.4% |
Voice AI for restaurants | 6 | 3.3% |
Voice Assistant for Restaurants | 5 | 4.4% |
AI restaurant software | 4 | 3.3% |
AEO Performance Snapshot
Segment | Metric | Result | Change vs. Baseline | Takeaway |
Mention Rate | Mention % | 9.3% | 33.9% improvement | Hostie now present in AI search answers |
Avg. AI Rank | Rank | 2.1 | 19.4% improvement | Consistent top-3 placements |
AI Citations | Total Citations | 1,339 | Peaked at 963/day | Exposure bursts during late August, height of campaign |
Recommendations | Recommendation % | 0% | N/A | Room to capture “best pick” mentions |
Competitive Positioning in Perplexity
We define share of voice as the percentage of AI search responses that reference your brand, product, or content when users query related keywords. On Perplexity, Hostie captured the largest share of voice at 18.4 percent, edging out major competitors:
Hostie AI: 18.4%
Loman: 16.4%
Slang: 15.0%
Maple: 11.6%
SoundHound AI: 11.1%
Across all platforms, Hostie captured 14.5% of share of voice, ranking 3rd amongst all competitors, trailing the #1 spot by 1.5%.
Conclusion
Relixir did not just help Hostie rank. We helped them own their category in both SEO and AEO.
From near-zero traction to consistent visibility in organic search.
From no citations to more than 1,300 AI answer mentions in under two months.
From being absent in buying conversations to top-3 placement in AI search engines, where restaurant operators increasingly make purchase decisions.