Uber Boat by Thames Clippers

Uber Boat by Thames Clippers operates London’s leading river bus service, offering both commuter and leisure journeys along the river Thames. With strong brand awareness among existing passengers, the business wanted to reach new audiences searching for unique London experiences.

The challenge

Search behaviour is changing fast. As people turn to Large Language Models (LLMs) and Google’s AI Overviews (AIO) to find information, brands are now competing for visibility within AI-generated answers. For marketing teams already managing limited resources, staying ahead of every update, new tool, and search trend takes time they don’t have.

Uber Boat by Thames Clippers already had a strong SEO presence, with steady website traffic from branded and direct channels, but limited visibility among people unfamiliar with its name.

Building on that foundation, the team wanted to reach new audiences searching for unique London experiences and explore how AI could open up new discovery opportunities.

The focus was on reaching first-time customers searching for non-branded travel queries, such as “Thames river cruise” or “boat trips to Greenwich”, and exploring how Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) and LLMs could drive growth in organic visibility.

The solution

We helped Uber Boat by Thames Clippers optimise key landing pages for non-branded, intent-led searches, aligning copy, meta data, and structure with the way people actually search for river experiences.

Insight-led optimisation

Through detailed competitor analysis, the team identified new areas for growth and expanded keyword targeting to reach untapped audiences. Ongoing optimisations ensured we were maximising visibility and maintaining a strong search performance in the target market.

Strategic on-page optimisation

Pages were optimised around non-branded keywords such as “Thames river cruise,” “river cruise London,” and “boat trips to Greenwich.” This ensured content matched audience intent, helping the site capture users exploring general experiences rather than brand-specific results.

Leveraging AI-powered discovery

As conversational AI platforms like ChatGPT and Perplexity.ai began influencing travel discovery, we refined content to ensure visibility within AI-generated responses. By structuring and clarifying page information, the site began appearing in AI tools’ recommendations, introducing the brand to a new, high-intent audience.

The results

The updated pages delivered a strong uplift in organic performance from January to September 2025:

• 1,730,050 sessions (32.2% increase YoY)
• 786,336 new users (7.1% increase YoY)
• 4,577,300 page views (58.3% increase YoY)
• 26,838 purchases (42.1% increase YoY)
• 46.6% increase in revenue YoY

In the same timeframe, the website saw a significant increase in visibility across LLMs, resulting in:

• 14,143 sessions (7,152% increase YoY)
• 7,053 new users (6,430% increase YoY)
• 37,993 page views (8,324% increase YoY)
• 354 purchases (6,980% increase YoY)
• 5,311% increase in revenue YoY

AI-powered discovery through Google’s AIO also drove significant visibility:

• 104 active AIO keywords (940% increase)
• 397,073 impressions (10,006% increase)
• 12,512 clicks (27,100% increase)
• 788.45% average click-through rate (2,202% increase)

Top-performing search terms included:

• “Thames river cruise” – 147,501 impressions, 2,810 clicks
• “River cruise London” – 40,838 impressions, 488 clicks
• “Boat to Greenwich” – 6,872 impressions, 1,274 clicks
• “Thames boat trips” – 22,731 impressions, 1,513 clicks

Following our updates, Uber Boat by Thames Clippers gained visibility in Google’s traditional results and across emerging AI-powered platforms. The result was a new source of qualified referral traffic, with users asking AI for recommendations and booking directly through the site.

This case demonstrates how optimising for non-branded intent and AI discovery can generate measurable growth. By aligning with how people now search through AI tools, the brand unlocked a steady stream of high-converting traffic and meaningful revenue.

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