Managing B2B website content shouldn't consume your entire work week. Yet for marketing teams, that's exactly what happens – endless hours spent updating the same information across multiple pages, rebuilding sections when team members change, or creating duplicate pages for similar content.
HubDB changes all that.
HubDB eliminates tedious content management tasks while making dynamic, interactive website experiences possible. If you're struggling with resource libraries that never stay current or team pages that require constant rebuilding, HubDB offers a smarter approach to content management. So, what is HubDB and how does it fit into your HubSpot website strategy? Let’s break it down.
What Is HubDB?
HubDB is a relational database in HubSpot that allows marketers and developers to store, manage, and display structured content on their websites. Think of it like a spreadsheet that powers dynamic content blocks across your site.
Each HubSpot HubDB table acts like a mini database, allowing you to create rows of data (like team member bios, pricing plans, or location details) and call up that data dynamically on your web pages. You manage the data in one place, and updates appear everywhere automatically.
Why Use HubDB on Your HubSpot Website?
Here’s what HubDB offers:
- Centralized updates: Edit data in one place, and see it reflected everywhere it appears on your site.
- Dynamic content: Display different versions of a page using the same template, which is great for locations, products, or services.
- Fewer errors: Eliminate risks like inconsistent updates or broken links.
- Marketer-friendly: With a little guidance on setup, your team can manage content without touching code.
- SEO support: Build templated, indexable pages with custom URLs and metadata to help your site rank and scale at the same time.
The end result is a cleaner site structure that saves time, reduces errors, and helps your team scale content marketing efforts – all without having to rely heavily on developers.
How To Set Up HubDB in HubSpot
Getting started with HubDB doesn’t require a computer science degree, but there are a few steps to follow to make the most of its features. Let’s walk through the setup process:
Step 1: Create a HubDB Table
In your HubSpot portal, navigate to Content > HubDB. Click “Create table,” then provide a table label (user-friendly name for internal purposes) and table name (unique identifier that can’t be changed). Once your table is created, you’ll define your columns – these will serve as your data fields. Common column types include:
- Text
- Rich text
- Images
- URLs
- Select or multi-select dropdowns
You can also set filters and define which columns should be searchable or used for SEO-friendly URLs.
Step 2: Populate Your Hub Data
Once your structure is in place, it’s time to populate the table. You can manually enter data row by row or import from a CSV if you already have the info saved elsewhere.
Tip: Keep your formatting clean and consistent – it’ll make filtering and templating easier down the line.
Step 3: Use HubDB HubSpot Integration
Here’s where things get exciting.
With HubDB, you can create a single HubSpot template and use it to generate dozens (or even hundreds) of unique, SEO-optimized pages. Each page pulls data from a different row in your HubSpot database, so there’s no need to copy and paste content or build separate page templates.
Let’s say your company runs monthly webinars. Instead of creating a new page to promote each event, you can use a dynamic template that auto-generates pages based on your table’s data, such as event name, date, speaker, and registration link.
Step 4: Add Filtering and Search
HubDB also supports dynamic filtering and search, which are helpful features for pages with a lot of content – think partner directories, resource libraries, or product catalogs where users want to narrow results by category, price, location, or other criteria.
By using query parameters or filters within your code, visitors can sort or search your data without you needing to create separate pages for every option.
HubDB SEO Benefits for HubSpot Websites
Dynamic content often gets a bad rap in the SEO world, but HubDB HubSpot pages are different. When configured correctly, they’re fully indexable and built with clean, optimized code.
Here’s how HubDB helps your SEO:
- Unique page metadata: HubDB generates indexable pages with unique titles and meta descriptions, so there’s no duplicative content bringing down your SEO rankings.
- Keyword-friendly URLs: HubSpot HubDB structures your URLs with keywords that match each row’s content to improve visibility in search results.
- Consistent site architecture: Search engines can easily navigate HubDB sites thanks to their logical, crawlable structure.
- Schema-ready content: HubDB supports structured data markup, which helps your content stand out in search results with rich snippets.
You can maximize the SEO impact of your HubSpot HubDB setup by making sure each dynamic page has a unique H1 header, keyword-optimized metadata, and relevant internal links that connect related content logically. Finally, your URL structure should make sense to both visitors and search engines (e.g. /resources/your-resource-title).
Real-World HubDB Use Cases for B2B Websites
If you’re still not sure where HubDB fits into your marketing stack, here are some of the most popular use cases for B2B websites:
Team Pages
HubDB lets you add, remove, or update team members with a few clicks – no dev needed. This makes onboarding and role changes much easier to reflect on your site.
Product or Service Catalogs
When service descriptions, features, or pricing changes in your product or service catalogs, you only need to update once in HubDB rather than hunting down every mention across your site.
Partner Directories
HubSpot HubDB can display logos, descriptions, and links by partner type or region to create an ecosystem visualization that updates automatically as you add new partnerships.
Resource Libraries
With HubDB, you can organize blogs, guides, and videos with filters and categories that help prospects find relevant content faster. Your marketing team can add new resources without rebuilding page layouts.
Case Studies
HubDB makes it easy to highlight success stories with filtering by industry or solution. Potential customers can quickly find examples relevant to their specific challenges, which improves engagement and conversion potential.
Event Listings
Keep your events calendar current without constant manual adjustments to your website with features that let you update and archive past and upcoming events.
HubSpot Database Limitations and Considerations
While HubDB changes the game for many HubSpot users, it’s not a full-scale CMS or database replacement. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
- You’ll need some coding knowledge (or help from a developer) to set up dynamic templates.
- HubDB can’t store secure or sensitive information, so stick to public-facing content.
- You can’t currently create nested relationships between multiple tables without custom development.
Still, for most B2B marketing needs, HubSpot HubDB offers more than enough flexibility and functionality to streamline your operations and scale content creation.
Optimize Your HubSpot HubDB With Mojenta
HubDB can help you simplify updates, scale your content, and create a more personalized experience for your website visitors – but setting it up the right way takes strategy, technical know-how, and a little muscle.
As a HubSpot Platinum Partner, Mojenta helps B2B tech companies take full advantage of everything HubSpot has to offer, including building smarter, faster websites using tools like HubDB. Whether you need help creating dynamic templates, improving your SEO structure, or designing a site that truly supports your business growth, our team has the marketing muscle to get it done.
Learn more about our HubSpot services, or get in touch to talk about how we can help you use HubSpot to create a better website experience.
