Rankable
by iPullRank
Welcome to iPullRank's Rankable Podcast, where we discuss various hot topics regarding SEO and digital marketing with esteemed members of the marketing community.
Podcast episodes
Season 7
AI Integrated Into Your Professional Life ft Christian Ward
In episode 130, Christian Ward joins Garrett for a deep dive into the application and impact of AI in both personal and professional spheres. Christian is bullish on AI in daily operations, highlighting its power to enhance learning, decision-making, and efficiency through real-world applications. He discusses leveraging AI for everything from understanding data partnerships to automating tasks and analyses, underscoring the importance of practical usage over theoretical knowledge to unlock AI's potential. Christian and Garrett explore the evolving nature of digital ecosystems, predicting a future where conversational AI breaks down the barriers of traditional user interfaces, making technology more accessible and intuitive. Christian foresees a significant shift in how marketers and businesses approach customer engagement, moving from a reliance on monologues to embracing dialogues facilitated by AI. This change, he argues, will revolutionize personalization, making interactions more meaningful and customer-centric, thereby enhancing the consumer experience in unprecedented ways. The conversation touches on the broader implications of AI on privacy, content creation, and the digital landscape, suggesting a future where AI not only simplifies but also democratizes access to technology. Christian believes personal AI assistants will manage our interactions with brands and services before long, ensuring privacy and efficiency. Both agree that the integration of AI into daily life and business is inevitable, urging everyone to embrace this transformation proactively. [0:00] Intro [1:07] How do you use AI in your day-to-day? [3:30] Will AI change user behavior? [7:30] The exponential advancement of AI and the frictionless abstraction layer [11:15] Will brands and digital ecosystems be siloed in the future? [14:50] Implications of AI on marketers - monologues vs. dialogues [18:15] Data privacy in the age of AI [21:40] Thoughts on IP copyrights - the NYTimes lawsuit against OpenAI [24:31] Rapid Fire Rankings Top 5 Changes to Marketing Cookie Deprivation Two Choices - Tracking or ZPD SEO Content Generation & Tools From Monologue to Dialogues CMO Metrics Overhaul Top 5 AI Expectations AI Efficiency at Work Prompt Inversion AI Model Convergence Conversational UI’s Explode Personal AI Usage Top 5 Tools to Try to Learn ChatGPT: Best best-around tool to learn what’s possible Opus: Brilliant for cutting videos and creating AI posts Swell: Video or Audio AI tool for posts Reflect: Note-taking application and Personal Knowledge Graph Anthropic: Excellent alternative to GPT (Shameless Plug): Yext Top 5 People to Follow for AI Ethan Mollick (Academic & Theory) Rowan Cheung (General AI) Paul Roetzer (Marketing AI) Allie Miller (AI Applied) Cassie Kozyrkov (Decision Science and AI)
How To Interpret SEO Correlation Studies ft. Erika Varangouli
In episode 129, Erika Varangouli shares the time, effort, and marketing discussions that went into Semrush's 2023 Ranking Factors study. Too often, uninformed SEOs will use statistics from these correlation studies and use them to serve their own agendas despite them not proving causation. Erika argues that the data still has value to inform and guide us. We can apply the insights to hypotheses and experiments to our own websites without using it purely as a prescriptive playbook. She explains why the team landed on a study called 'Ranking Factors' and used their own metrics quantified as 'Content Quality.' Resources: Semrush 2023 Ranking Factors Study - https://www.semrush.com/blog/ranking-factors-semrush-study/ [0:00] Intro [1:30] The Semrush Ranking Factors Study - What is it? [3:20] The methodology to address the correlation implications. [6:20] How should SEOs remain skeptical yet find value in these SEO correlation studies? [10:15] Highlighting limitations and the nature of correlation. [12:20] How did you decide on the controversial title and the marketing of the study? The metrics created behind 'content quality.' [19:45] Big insights and takeaways from the Ranking Factors Study [22:00] What's your take on SGE and GenAI based on the study's findings? [26:30] Do you think Brand recognition should trump content quality in search rankings? [30:05] Rapid Fire Rankings
Season 6
Don't Burn the Environment With Your Digital Footprint ft Chris Butterworth
In episode 127, Chris Butterworth stops by to shed light on the critical yet often overlooked topic of digital sustainability. Chris discusses the importance of education around digital sustainability and strategies to impact change and the carbon footprint of your company. He also addresses how to engage people in caring about their digital footprint and the environmental impact of LLMs and Generative AI. He shared his thoughts on the responsibility of large companies in reducing their digital footprint. (0:00) Intro (1:53) Defining Digital Sustainability (3:43) Education in Digital Sustainability (5:15) Regulations Around Digital Carbon Footprint (6:50) How to Fight for Change in the Digital Landscape (10:46) What Responsibility Do Large Companies Have in Improving Our Digital Footprint? (13:35) Who are the People at Organizations Launching Reduction Initiatives? (15:30) How to Implement Sustainability Changes at an Organization (17:47) How to Get People to Care About Their Digital Footprint (20:25) The Environmental Impact of LLMs and Generative AI (23:30) Don’t Feel Guilty (25:54) Reducing Your Digital Footprint (27:11) Rapid Fire Rankings Top 3 of anything: Music Family The Planet Rank your best SEO marketing win: Redesigned a website to make it incredibly lightweight which while migrating domain and URLs boosted rankings. Rank your top 3 SEO tools: Screaming Frog Webmaster Tools Hemingway Rank your best SEO or trick or tactic: Focus on conversion over winning traffic. Rank what you love most about the SEO industry: It can be used to shorten user journeys. Rank your top 1-3 marketers: Tim Frick Mark Butcher Tom Greenwood Rank your best SEO learning resource: Your own experience. Rank your top cause or charity: Big Orange Heart
An Optimist's View on Generative AI, Content, and SEO ft Ryan Law
In episode 126, Ryan Law of Ahrefs stops by to discuss the complexities and potential of Generative AI in content creation and SEO. Ryan shares insights on how SEO will be impacted by generative AI content and whether it will devalue SEO as a channel in the future. We also discuss what this means for the importance of E-E-A-T (Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) in content going forward, the ideal direction for Google in search results, & what the next five years might look like in SEO. (0:00) Intro (3:11) Generative AI Content (4:07) The Fear Around Artificial Intelligence (5:36) The Right Way to Use GenAI (6:36) Transparency Around the Use of Gen AI (8:52) How Will SEO be Impacted by Generative AI Content (10:45) Does GenAI Devalue SEO as a Channel? (11:47) Will We Always Need Humans for Content Creation? (12:35) How AI Can Challenge Humans in Thought Leadership? (13:50) The Importance of EEAT Going Forward (15:47) How Will Google Adjust? (16:40) The Ideal Direction for Google to Go in Search Results (18:52) How GenAI Can Solve the Personalization Problem in Search? (21:27) What Will the Next 5 Years Look Like? (22:19) The Hardest Content to Make Right Now (23:46) How GenAI Will Change Keyword Research (25:17) The Next Generation of Search (25:55) Rapid Fire Rankings Top 3 of anything: The Lord of the Rings The Malazan Book of the Fallen A Song of Ice and Fire Rank your best SEO marketing win: I Googled 50 of the best-looking digital marketing agencies in the UK. I wrote a bunch of flattering stuff about their blogging strategies. I hit publish and emailed every agency. One agency asked if I had availability for a test project. another asked about a retainer. It snowballed from there. I used my "agency experience" as social proof for more outreach soon, one agency offered me a full-time role to stop me from working with their competitors, setting me on the path to a role as agency VP - nearly a decade later. Rank your top 3 SEO tools: Ahrefs Clearscope Screaming Frog Rank your best SEO or trick or tactic: Routinely running experiments to collect original, first-hand data that no other company possesses. Rank what you love most about the SEO industry: The problem-solving! Working out what people are looking for, how you can deliver it, how you can bring new value to the SERP. It's a big, fun game. Rank your top 1-3 marketers: Tim Soulo Amanda Natividad Bryan Casey Rank your best SEO learning resource: Ahrefs aside, I really enjoyed the BlueArray Technical SEO course. Rank your top cause or charity: Support Devin Through Cancer
Your Brand, Search Intent, and the Content Arms Race ft Victor Pan
In episode 125, Victor Pan of HubSpot joins the show for a deep exploration into the world of search intent and its broader implications. Victor shares some insight into the Department of Justice's lawsuit against Google, examining its relationship with search intent. He provides some valuable thoughts on the complexities of understanding search intent and how it shapes user experiences online. We also discuss the concept of the data void in search, information gain, and the impact on information accessibility and quality. (0:00) Intro (1:55) Search Intent and the DOJ Lawsuit Against Google (8:11) Understanding Search Intent (15:31) The Data Void in Search (24:40) The Value of Information Gain (40:43) Rapid Fire Rankings Top 3 of anything: Uncomfortable Silences Conspiracy Theories Weird things on the internet Rank your best SEO marketing win: HubSpot Ecosystem Rank your top 3 SEO tools: HubSpot Ahrefs SEMrush Rank your best SEO or trick or tactic: Keep your old URLs over creating new ones. Rank what you love most about the SEO industry: It’s not new. It’s always "dying" There’s no one way to be successful in an SEO career. Rank your top 1-3 marketers: Mike King Garrett Sussman Whoever I can run into at a conference that is producing great work online Rank your best SEO learning resource: Reach out to people who really know their stuff. HubSpot Academy. Rank your top cause or charity: Wire money directly to the causes you believe in. Mine is the Ukranian armed forces.