G2 is the world’s largest software marketplace, helping millions of buyers research, compare, and select business software based on real-user reviews and market insights.

Advisor

Semify

Semify is a white-label digital marketing partner trusted by thousands of agencies and platforms over the past 16 years. With a team of 200+ experts, Semify delivers scalable SEO, PPC, and Paid Social Ads solutions that help partners reduce cost, increase revenue, and prevent client churn. Their proprietary software and API integrations allow seamless fulfillment within client ecosystems, eliminating the need for an in-house team while expanding service offerings. Semify enables agencies to grow faster, operate more efficiently, and retain more clients with best-in-class marketing execution.

Product Hunt

Product Hunt is the leading platform for discovering and launching new tech products, connecting makers with early adopters and a passionate community of product enthusiasts. With millions of monthly visitors and a global network of founders, investors, and creators, Product Hunt plays a key role in shaping the future of innovation. From daily product launches to curated discussions and events, it empowers entrepreneurs to validate, grow, and celebrate their ideas.

Glean

Glean is a workplace search and knowledge discovery platform that helps teams find the information they need across all their company tools instantly. Backed by Sequoia and launched by former Google Search engineers, Glean is trusted by high-performing companies like Canva, Duolingo, and Databricks to power internal productivity, reduce duplication, and streamline access to institutional knowledge.

Houzz

Houzz is a leading platform for home remodeling and design, offering a curated marketplace and collaboration tools for homeowners and professionals. With over 65 million users globally and a community of over 3 million active home professionals, Houzz bridges inspiration and execution, transforming how people imagine, plan, and create spaces. The company’s Pro suite empowers designers, architects, and contractors with project management, marketing, and CRM solutions.

Ironclad

​Ironclad is a contract lifecycle management (CLM) platform that enables business and legal teams to manage all aspects of the contracting process. Founded in 2014 by Jason Boehmig and Cai GoGwilt, Ironclad serves companies like L'Oréal, Salesforce, and OpenAI, facilitating collaboration and negotiation on contracts while ensuring compliance.

AirOps

AirOps is an AI workflow platform that helps marketers build scalable, AI-driven strategies. Founded in 2022, it enables companies to combine data, AI models, and human input to execute high-impact growth initiatives. In 2024, AirOps secured $15.5M in Series A funding to enhance its AI-powered content and go-to-market solutions. Trusted by brands like Anne Klein, Harvard Business Publishing, and dbt Labs, AirOps is redefining how marketers leverage AI for scale and efficiency.

hims & hers

Advisor to the Senior direct of Organic Growth

HyperGrowth Partners

Partner

Xero

Xero is a global small business platform that helps companies manage their finances more efficiently. Trusted by over 3.95 million subscribers worldwide, Xero provides cloud-based accounting software that streamlines bookkeeping, invoicing, payroll, and financial reporting.

Growth Advisor to Growth /Marketing executives at fast-growing startups | ex-Shopify, G2, Atlassian

I started my career in agencies helping global market leaders scale organic growth - when SEO was considered a "dark art." Agency life taught me how to work fast and juggle big clients, but I wanted to go deeper, own outcomes, and see strategy through to execution.

So I went inhouse, quickly growing in responsibility at top tech companies like Atlassian, G2, and Shopify. Over that decade, I learned how to build effective teams, define winning strategies, and create operating systems that last. I also refined the hiring, operating, and strategy playbooks I still use today.

But I learned something important about myself: managing large organizations doesn’t energize me. As a result, I leaned into consulting, where I could focus exclusively on what I'm great at.

Today, I advise leaders at Meta, Ramp, hims, Upwork, and others on Organic Growth. I also write Growth Memo, a weekly newsletter read by 22,000+ leaders at Amazon, Google, Meta, and the New York Times. And I've shared insights on stages from Sydney to New York to London.

What really energizes me isn't just chasing metrics - it's asking interesting questions, digging through data, and uncovering the stories hidden inside it.

If you're interested in working with me on advisory or sponsorships, please reach out.

Kevin Indig

I just saw a live test of Google's new Web Guide experience (in Germany!).
Much better mix of AI mode and AI Overviews, imho.

I could see Google rolling this out further before AI Mode. Also, more space for ads.

Don't love that it's harder to find the source for each stat.

My 2026 predictions just went out to +23k subscribers in the latest Memo:
1. AI visibility tools face a reckoning
2. ChatGPT launches first quality update
3. Continued click-drops lead to a “Dark Web” defense
4. AI forces UGC platforms to separate feeds
5. ChatGPT’s ad platform provides “demand data”
6. Perplexity sells to xAI or Salesforce
7. Competition tanks Nvidia’s stock by -20%

Premium subscribers get 3 more :).

Agentic SEO is advancing rapidly and adding significant value to the insights layer.

Congratulations to AirOps for raising a meaty $40m round!

I've had the pleasure of working with the team can attest to their excellence.

Here's to the series B, Matt Hammel, Alex Halliday, Eoin Clancy, Josh Spilker, Steven Male, Oshen Davidson, Nicole Guercia, Nicole Nearhood, Amr Shafik, Mike Kenler🥂!

AI shifts search from generic intent to personal identity.

Personas are critical for AI search

The real shift is how people search, click, and buy.

ChatGPT vs Google at Every Stage of the User Journey

AI search changed everything this year.
- Zero-click grew heavily.
- Classic authority signals shifted.
- Freshness and offsite mentions started determining who wins.

To help teams recalibrate, I’m joining AirOps for a practical breakdown of what worked in 2025 and the bold moves you’ll need to make for 2026.

You’ll learn:
 • The most impactful search stats of the year
 • How to build a visibility-first AEO strategy
 • Why recency bias reshapes content refresh cycles
 • How community + video mentions now rival backlinks
 • What was hype vs. what truly mattered

This session is for SEO and content leaders, growth teams, agencies, and brand managers who need to stay ahead.

If you want to solidify your organic traff for 2026, don’t miss it.

We looked at 80 companies and their collective $1.5 billion in venture funding. A distinct pattern emerged between where capital flowed and where value lives.

LLM Monitoring tools (average age: 1.3 years) raised $227 million. Agentic SEO platforms (average age: 5.5 years) raised just $86 million.

Why fund the newcomers over the veterans?
Because investors often conflate "frictionless" with "scalable." Monitoring tools offer instant onboarding and clean financials. They look like perfect SaaS.

But money optimized for ease of adoption often misses ease of cancellation. 

- Low pain: If a brand turns off a monitoring dashboard, they lose some historical charts.
- High pain: If a brand turns off an Agentic platform, their marketing operation stops.

That "messy" operational friction isn't a bug. It’s the moat.

My Slack community is a private space where I share early findings, data, experiments, and tools on AI Search, SEO, and growth before they make it into Growth Memo.

It’s also where I post breaking updates and real-time notes from the conferences I attend.

This interactive space is for operators, marketers, and founders to discuss what’s working, share new data, and connect directly.

Link in comments if you want to join.

A screenshot of a Slack workspace showing a discussion channel named ‘research.’ The screen displays several messages sharing links to articles, data, and insights about AI search, SEO, and industry trends. The left sidebar shows channels and navigation, while the main feed highlights posts with links, images, and reactions from community members.

Digital marketing budgets are growing 7.25% in 2026.

Most of that growth will be wasted chasing a metric that's on the decline: clicks.

Here's the problem: SEO teams are still budgeting like it's PPC. Spend more, get more traffic. But with AI cutting organic clicks in half (or more), traffic has decoupled from visibility.

Your SEO budget doesn't buy results. It buys capacity.

The ability to earn authority, build brand presence, and surface where people actually discover answers. In 2026, that's inside AI outputs, not just search results.

Stop budgeting for traffic forecasts. Start budgeting for capabilities: digital PR, technical excellence, content strength, foundational research, engagement.

Budgets are set to grow. The question is whether you'll redirect it toward influence or waste it optimizing for a world that's already gone.

More on how to do that in today's Growth Memo.

Although AI answers quickly, users validate slowly.

Trust Still Lives in Blue Links

It’s not a "lack of budget" that is killing your AI strategy. It’s a fear of risk.

We assume executives say "no" to AI initiatives because they don't want to spend the money. But recent data suggests we are solving the wrong problem.

According to a Deloitte survey of over 2,700 leaders, the biggest bottlenecks to deploying Generative AI right now aren't technical skills or funding. They are "difficulty managing risks" and "worries about regulations".

The problem? Most teams are still pitching AI strategies using the old playbook: Rankings → Traffic → Revenue.

But that event chain doesn't exist in AI systems. LLMs are probabilistic, not deterministic. You cannot promise a specific ranking or traffic volume from ChatGPT or Gemini.

When you walk into a boardroom promising "certainty" in a random environment, executives see a massive risk. They say no - not because the idea is bad, but because the pitch asks them to fund an outcome nobody can guarantee.

To get buy-in for 2025, you have to stop selling performance and start selling risk mitigation.

Don't try to convince leadership that "it will work." Convince them that "the cost of not knowing is higher than the cost of finding out".

The winning argument sounds like this: "Competitors are already locking in advantages in AI search. If we wait for certainty, we lose the ability to shape our brand's entity authority. We aren't asking for a blind bet; we are asking for a controlled experiment to mitigate the risk of being left out of the next discovery channel".

Takeaway: Executives don’t need certainty about the impact yet. They need certainty that you are running a disciplined process to find the truth before the market decides for you.

Here’s how to make search personas drive revenue.

Making SEO Personas Actionable Across Teams

iPullRank

iPullRank is a digital marketing agency focused on SEO and Content Strategy that has generated over $4 billion dollars in incremental revenue for enterprise companies. We are at the forefront of AI Search.

Founder & Chief Executive Officer

iPullRank is a better performance marketing agency offering leading-edge Digital Marketing Consulting, Market Segmentation, Competitive Analysis, Content Marketing & Strategy, Social Media Management, Measurement, Conversion Rate Optimization, User Experience, Solutions Architecture, SEO and Paid Media (PPC, Paid Social, Display Advertising). Our strategy-first approach is what delivers outstanding results to our clients ranging from global corporations to rising start-ups. Based in NYC, iPullRank isn’t just about short-term results, our solutions will impact your online traffic, conversions & revenue long after our engagement. Excited yet? Let’s talk.

Oh yeah, I founded this place. Ask me anything =)

Founder & Managing Director

I started a digital marketing shop. Ask me how we can help you.

Founder & Digital Marketing Consultant

Bain & Company

Provide strategic insight and subject-matter expertise to Bain teams on projects involving Artificial Intelligence and Search.

Bain External Advisor

Undergroundhiphop.Com

UndergroundHipHop.com is 20 year old e-commerce site focused on independent hip-hop music. I'm hoping to use iPullRank to grow it into more of a platform.

Owner & Managing Director

AIPRM

Helped grow the Artificial Intelligence Prompt Marketplace to 2 million users.

Fractional CMO

Moz (formerly SEOmoz)

I write blogs, answer Q&A, do webinars and speak for Moz. I'm also a member of the Customer Advisory Board.

Global Associate

Acronym

Led Owned Media (SEO, Content Strategy/Marketing and Social Media) for SAP, HSBC, SanDisk, Swissotels, Duke Energy and several other enterprise brands.

Executive Director of Owned Media

iAcquire

As Marketing and Strategy lead I am responsible for developing and overseeing the company’s Marketing department which develops inbound marketing content for the SEO and Social Media space with the goal of garnering inbound leads. Additionally, I’m responsible for developing and overseeing the company’s Digital Strategy team which is comprised of Market Research, Social Strategy, On-Page SEO and Analytics servicing nearly $2MM in Revenue. iAcquire was banned in Google shortly after I signed on and I developed the innovative new offering that would then be operationalized across the entire company. I also developed and executed the content strategy that would aid in reputation management of the brand and ultimately move us past the bad publicity and back to profitability. In this role, I consistently aid in business development and pitching strategy to enterprise brands. With 10 direct reports and numerous indirect reports across our Phoenix, New York and satelite offices, I am an experienced team builder and key contributor to the iAcquire executive team.

•	Sustained over 172% growth YoY in traffic
•	1300% growth in traffic from Organic Search 
•	64% increase in Lead Capture. 
•	Lead branding initiatives, a site redesign and launch as well successful co-marketing initiatives with companies such as Experian and SurveyMonkey
•	Delivered the brand through a Google publicity crisis
•	Featured Speaker at dozens of internet marketing events
•	Developed Persona-Driven Keyword Modeling
•	Developed Audience-Focused SEO Methodology
•	Developed Search-driven Social Media Methodology
•	2013 US Search Awards: Best Blog (Nominee)
•	2013 Digital PR Awards: Redesign-Relaunch of Site (Honorable Mention)
•	2013 Best In Biz Awards: Marketing Agency of the Year (Gold Winner)
•	2014 AZIMA TIM Awards: Best Blog of the Year

Director of Inbound Marketing

Publicis Modem

I am responsible for building the company's SEO offering, developing and overseeing advanced SEO strategies and processes as well as assuring the integration and synergy of such with our Creative, Strategy, and Search Marketing departments. As part of these duties,  I'm responsible for site audits, competitive analysis, content and link building strategy as well as client engagement, team training and business development. I'm also tasked with building a comprehensive toolset of SaaS and native applications for reporting, data extraction, and analysis. My clients include LG, General Mills, Sanofi Pasteur and Citi.

Key Wins:
* Led Google Panda Algorithm Recovery for LG
* Led LG to a 70% increase in Organic Traffic  in Q4 2012 resulting in LG outperforming Sony and Samsung in Sales.
* Developed Keyword-Level Demographics methodology

SEO Manager

Razorfish

I prepared strategic SEO recommendations, audited website coding and content issues, and performed competitive analysis with regards to content, technical, and linking issues for Fortune 500 companies. My clients included Ralph Lauren, Citi, ADT, ABC, State Farm, a host of pharmaceutical brands, and many more. I also develop internal tools to facilitate backlink analysis, content development, and data extraction as well as consulted third-party enterprise-level providers to improve their APIs.

Associate SEO Analyst

Fake Four Inc

Recorded, released, executive produced an album and embarked in a promotional tour with indie rap stalwarts Sole and Awol One for the Connecticut-based and Redeye distributed label that is home to legends such as Myka Nyne, Awol One, and the Shapeshifters.

Recording Artist

Founder of iPullRank | USA Today Top 10 SEO | Search Marketer of the Year | Author of "The Science of SEO” Book Coming Soon | Toured 4 Continents as a Speaker and Rapper | Bain Advisor

👨🏾‍💻 I'm an international award-winning marketing thought leader and technologist with specific expertise in SEO and generative AI. I'm in LOVE with helping organizations and executives master their growth marketing initiatives through strategic planning, well-optimized search solutions, and modern digital marketing approaches.

🕴🏾 As founder and CEO of iPullRank, a digital marketing agency trusted by the Fortune 500, we implement my unique blend of market segmentation, content strategy, SEO, generative AI, and engineering skills to create powerful marketing campaigns to grow businesses.


🤑 iPullRank has driven over $4B in incremental revenue from improvements to organic search for global brands like MGM Resorts, American Express, Etsy, Nordstrom, and Adidas. Any SEO agency that you speak to has learned something from our pioneering approaches to technical SEO and content marketing. For the impact and influence of our approaches at iPullRank, I was awarded the honor of Search Marketer of the Year by SearchEngineLand in 2020.

🤸🏾‍♂️Prior to founding iPullRank, I successfully led marketing and strategy teams in various agencies. I've also led or contributed to SEO efforts in multiple roles for companies like HSBC, SAP, SanDisk, Humana, LG, Sanofi Pasteur, Ralph Lauren, ABC, Hawaiian Airlines, Citi, General Mills, ADT, and State Farm.

📢I've been recognized as an expert in the marketing field by Forbes, LinkedIn, Business Insider and numerous industry publications. As a top-rated speaker at conferences, I was invited to speak at many global events as an expert. Some of the events include SXSW, MozCon, SMX, Digital Summit, and Inbound. In 2021, I was named a top marketing influencer to follow by LinkedIn and top 10 most influential SEOs by USA Today in 2022.

📚I was a contributing author for Moz's “Inbound Marketing and SEO” written back in 2013. Now, I'm writing my own book for Wiley Publishing entitled "The Science of SEO.” The volume focuses on documenting and demystifying the computer science aspects that inform SEO. It combines my 15+ years of expertise in SEO with my 25+ years of computer science experience.

📟When you're ready to win, reach out to mike@ipullrank.com.
 
📃If you are intrigued by how iPullRank has helped hundreds of global brands and would like to learn more about our approaches and how iPullRank can help you at https://ipullrank.com

Michael King

The refreshed SEO Week site is live. 

Big shout out to AirOps, our presenting sponsor for jumping in on a big way.

Use some of that end of year budget and get your tickets now so we can do even more amazing things for you in 2026!

Don't wait until the last minute. Oh and prices will go up soon too.

Open article: SEO Week | Where AI Search Becomes Strategy by seoweek.org

SEO Week | Where AI Search Becomes Strategy

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