Gardner Business Media had spent a decade, involving editors,  consultants, full-time team members, and specialty software in an effort to appease Google Google search algorithms.

Then,  two years ago, after acting as a Beta Tester for Google's AI summaries, they had had enough.

"Google flipped the table on us," said  Kate Hand, Executive Vice President of Customer Success, who oversees web development and customer success departments for the historic B2B magazine group.

Hand refocused her teams on capturing audience opt-ins and data, using technology to fundamentally alter not only its audience strategy, but ultimately the revenue model, too. A new division, Grow, empowered by audience data acts as an engine to drives advertiser ROI. 

Their approach is paving the way for the rest of the industry. Here's how they did it.