Tell Your Execs: AI Rankings Are BS (with Rand Fishkin)

Our reading notes on Rand Fishkin

• Rand Fishkin: “How Did You Hear About Us?” Is Lying to You

  Fishkin recounts a survey in which customers gave a well-known food personality credit for a brand the person had never mentioned. An answer to a discovery question can reflect a plausible association the customer already has in mind. Hudgens and Fishkin discuss how a test of incremental impact asks a different question from a survey about memory.

• Rand Fishkin of SparkToro

  In this conversation Fishkin explains the audience-research problem behind SparkToro and describes choices about building and funding the business. Interviewer Jeroen Corthout asks about an actual company, which makes it possible to separate the product’s origin story from a general claim that everyone needs the same tool.

• 20 Zero Click Marketing Questions Everyone’s Asking

  Fishkin answers questions that arose around his and Amanda Natividad’s book on marketing that can reach people without a website click. The Q&A distinguishes the purpose of a channel from the metric a dashboard can conveniently count. The appropriate measurement depends on what the reader is trying to accomplish.