How Vellum Dominated AI Search in a Matter of Months

Executive Summary

• The Challenge: While Vellum's product and core marketing were strong, their AI search visibility was struggling. With just 1.4% visibility, they weren't showing up in the AI search results where technical buyers were actively researching agentic AI platforms.
• The Solution: Vellum partnered with Gauge to configure hundreds of targeted prompts and map out competitive gaps across the AI agent building space. This data-driven approach, combined with Gauge's AI marketing agent, allowed them to optimize their content strategy and close visibility gaps in real time.
• The Results:  In just seven months, Vellum's visibility surged from 1.4% to 40.3%. Today, they are cited in 36.6% of all AI answers in their industry across six major LLMs, rank first in first-party citations, and hold the third most cited article in the entire space. Vellum now sits 2nd in overall AI visibility, right behind zapier by 0.2% visibility.
• Key Takeaway: Vellum showed that with Gauge, even companies competing against well-established players can rapidly climb to the top of AI search results. They went from nearly invisible to a category leader in a matter of months.

About Vellum

Vellum (YC W23) is an AI agent builder and AI assistant platform that helps people and companies reliably automate their tasks and work. Vellum gives teams a central hub to build AI agents from natural language prompts that connect to all business data and tools. Vellum has recently announced a secure and personal AI assistant that knows you and proactively handles tasks for you.

Vellum AI is a lean team of 20 people pioneering the future of building with AI. For this case study we had the chance to speak with Nicolas Zeeb, Technical Content Lead at Vellum and one of Gauge's power users. Nick chose Gauge to be Vellum’s driving force for SEO/GEO strategy and rapid growth.

Why Vellum Chose Gauge

The Challenge: Standing Out in a Crowded Market

Vellum operates in one of the most competitive corners of the AI space, going up against well-known players like n8n, Zapier, and Gumloop. With so many companies fighting for visibility, Vellum has had to be strategic about leveraging every marketing channel available. As AI search engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini started reshaping how buyers discover and evaluate software, the team recognized an opportunity they couldn't afford to miss. They needed to get all in on AI search early.

Finding the Right Partner

Nick shared his origins of learning and developing AI search strategy at Retell AI in early 2025. He has used Relixir in the past, and for Vellum he evaluated all major tools in the space, including Profound and AirOps. 

He knew that to be successful in his strategy, he needed a true partner with true AEO expertise to see his blind spots and keep him up to date on developments as they happen. His core issue with the platforms he was evaluating was that they were either too difficult to use or lacked the deep expertise he wanted in an AEO partner. 

Through assessing Gauge, where Ethan Finkel (Founding Product @ Gauge), provided a hands-on onboarding experience that stood apart from the rest, he was confident that they would be the best partner to develop and execute a winning strategy.

As Nick put it:

"AI search was and still very much is the wild west, so it was important that we partnered with someone who truly understood the space. From our first conversation, Gauge demonstrated that level of expertise and helped me build a clear picture of what we needed to do to win."

The Challenge

Despite Vellum’s strong market fit, the company faced a critical visibility challenge in the rapidly evolving AI discovery landscape. Vellum's initial 1.4% visibility ranking left them invisible to potential buyers.

The Problem:

• AI Discovery Gap: Technical buyers evaluating AI agent builder platforms are increasingly turning to AI search tools for research, but Vellum wasn't showing up in those results.
• Competitive Pressure: Well-funded competitors like n8n, Zapier, and Gumloop were already gaining mindshare in AI-driven search results.
• Content Direction: Vellum's team was already producing content but lacked visibility into what was resonating with LLMs, where their strategic gaps were, and what prospects were actually searching for.

The Strategic Partnership: Data-Driven Visibility Transformation

Ethan Finkel quickly set Vellum up inside Gauge's AI search optimization platform. This gave the team a "command center" view of the AI landscape, replacing hours of manual testing with clear data on:

• Share of Model: Exactly where Vellum was (and wasn't) appearing across major AI models.
• Citation Tracking: Which specific sources and pages were being cited in AI answers.‍
• Competitor Intel: What topics and prompts were driving rival mentions so they could counter-position effectively.

Phase 1: Strategic Assessment & Configuration (Week 1)

The partnership began with a deep dive into Vellum's AI search visibility. Gauge and Nick worked hand-in-hand to configure hundreds of targeted prompts within the platform. These covered everything from broad AI development queries to the hyper-specific technical questions prospects ask AI tools when evaluating workflow orchestration and agent-building platforms.

Key Focus Areas:

• AI Agent Building: Tracking prompts around agent creation and automation to ensure Vellum surfaces when prospects search for no-code and low-code agent builders.
• LLM Workflow Orchestration: Analyzing visibility for queries around chaining LLM calls, connecting models to business data, and building production-ready AI pipelines.
• AI Evaluation and Testing: Capturing the growing market of teams searching for ways to test, monitor, and improve AI outputs before and after deployment.
• Competitive Positioning: Mapping the landscape against players like n8n, Zapier, and Gumloop to identify where Vellum could gain ground in AI search results.

Phase 2: Content Optimization & Rapid Deployment (Weeks 2-3)

Armed with data from the platform, Vellum moved from exploratory mode to a focused content engine. Nick used the insights from Gauge to identify where Vellum was falling short in AI search results and began closing those gaps in real time.

Strategic Execution:

• AI SEO Pivot: Transitioning from a traditional SEO approach to one built around AI search optimization, guided by the roadmap Gauge's platform laid out.
• Targeted Content Production: Scaling from sporadic content efforts to a consistent cadence of optimized pieces designed to improve Vellum's presence in AI citations.
• Competitive Gap Closing: Prioritizing content around the specific queries where competitors were outranking Vellum in AI search results.

Scaling with Ask Gauge

The real game-changer was Ask Gauge, the platform's built-in AI agent. Rather than manually sifting through data to figure out what to write next, Nick could lean on Ask Gauge to do the heavy lifting. The agent analyzed everything in the platform, identified the largest visibility gaps, and then wrote out the content to be reviewed by Nick.

Instead of guessing what would move the needle, Ask Gauge pinpointed the most important piece of content to produce right now to drive results. It turned what used to be a time-consuming strategy and writing process into something Nick could execute on quickly and confidently. When asked about his thoughts on the agent Nick said:

"The agent made my job a lot easier. With a simple prompt I was able to identify our gaps, target certain keywords, and have it write me an article to publish."

Phase 3: Performance Amplification (Week 4+)

The final phase focused on turning early wins into sustained visibility. Nick used Gauge's continuous insights to stay ahead of AI model changes, expand into long-tail queries, and strengthen Vellum's presence in the core topic areas where competitors had previously dominated.

The Results

Primary Performance Metrics

• Explosive Growth: After one month, visibility immediately increased from 1.4% to 11.4%. 7 months later, the growth did not stop. taking Vellum’s visibility up to 40.3%
• Market Authority: Today, Vellum is the most cited domain, being cited in 36.6% of AI answers in their industry, across the six major LLMs.
• Crushing the Competition: They’re now 2nd in AI visibility, trailing only to Zapier.

Content Performance Excellence

• Top Content Achievement: Vellum also holds the third most cited article in the space, with it being cited in more than 8.3% of answers.
• Authority Establishment: Vellum now generates the majority of authoritative citations in their space.

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The Bottom Line

In just 7 months, Vellum transformed from nearly invisible in AI search to a category leader, growing visibility from 1.4% to 40.3%. They are now cited in 36.6% of all AI answers in their industry across six major LLMs, ranking as the most cited domain, ahead of every direct competitor.

For B2B SaaS and AI companies competing for attention in an increasingly AI-driven discovery environment, Vellum's success proves that a strategic, data-driven approach to AI SEO can deliver category-defining results in a matter of months.

Ready to achieve similar results for your platform? Gauge's proven methodology has helped companies like Vellum dominate their categories in AI discovery. Schedule a demo to learn how we can transform your visibility.

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