Ahrefs Podcast

• Clay's $3.1B Marketing Playbook | Bruno Estrella (Clay)

  Clay went from zero revenue to a 3.1 billion dollar valuation in just 2 years. Was it luck, skill, or are they just riding the AI hype bubble?Meet Bruno Estrella, the Head of Marketing at Clay. He joined when the company was just 20 people and helped build one of the most effective partner and community-led marketing engines in SaaS.In this episode, Bruno reveals Clay’s full growth playbook, from the influencer strategy that popularized the “GTM Engineer” role to the strategy behind their 7-figure campaigns.Here’s what you’ll learn:00:00 Intro00:53 The GTM Engineer: How Clay created a new role through influencers07:13 The story behind Clay’s iconic “Play-Doh” branding09:55 How to split marketing for self-serve vs. enterprise16:26 Clay’s programmatic SEO play generating 60 percent of their traffic21:27 Why Clay uses Substack instead of a traditional blog25:33 The playbook for scaling to hundreds of global events31:09 How to get the right people to attend your events38:20 Why adding a service arm accelerates enterprise revenue40:57 How Clay uses its own product to grow45:00 Clay’s social media and executive content strategy51:31 The strategy behind Clay’s 7-figure billboard campaigns55:41 Your brand is your advertising budget01:00:28 The secret to hiring A-players01:05:15 Clay’s single most effective growth tacticWhere to find Bruno:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brunoestrella/Where to find Tim:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timsoulo/X: https://x.com/timsouloWebsite: https://www.timsoulo.com/Referenced:Clay: https://www.clay.com/OpenAI: https://openai.com/HubSpot: https://www.hubspot.com/Anthropic: https://www.anthropic.com/Webflow: https://webflow.com/Substack: https://substack.com/Miro: https://miro.com/Gong: https://www.gong.io/ClickUp: https://clickup.com/Crypto.com: https://crypto.com/

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• Stop Wasting Money On Fake Influencers (Do This Instead) | Jeremy Boissinot (Favikon)

  Influencer marketing might be the most hyped growth channel right now. But here’s the problem: most companies are burning money on it. How do you know which influencers are legit and which ones are just gaming the system before you waste your budget?Meet Jeremy Boissinot, founder of Favicon, an influencer marketing platform that has analyzed over 500,000 LinkedIn creators to understand the data signals behind real expertise vs algorithm hacks. In this episode, Jeremy breaks down the red flags that can save you from losing tens of thousands on a bad campaign.Here’s what you’ll learn:00:00 Intro01:17 The rise of fake influencers in B2B03:18 How LinkedIn influencers fake follower counts07:10 AI-generated comments and the Dead Internet Theory on LinkedIn11:33 The real motivation behind spam commenting17:27 How to measure an influencer’s true authenticity23:58 Are influencer engagement pods still a thing?31:16 Trust is the new currency: separating experts from algorithm hackers36:22 Can you spot AI-generated content?39:27 How to measure content originality44:12 Why 95 percent of influencer campaigns fail (and why it’s usually the advertiser’s fault)50:15 Why Reddit is the next big B2B marketing channelWhere to find Jeremy:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremyboissinot/Website: https://www.favicon.com/Where to find Tim:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timsoulo/X: https://x.com/timsouloWebsite: https://www.timsoulo.com/Referenced:Justin Welsh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinwelsh/Substack: https://substack.com/Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/Skool: https://www.skool.com/

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• World's Top SEO Expert Busts AI Search Myths | Patrick Stox (Ahrefs)

  If you want your brand to show up in ChatGPT, do you follow the same rules as ranking in Google—or is it a completely different game?To settle the debate, we brought in Patrick Stox, one of the most experienced SEO professionals in the industry. Patrick’s been tracking the rise of “Answer Engine Optimization” (AEO) and has strong opinions about the advice new experts are spreading.In this episode, we dive deep into how AI chatbots pull information, how to get your brand mentioned by them, and why AEO might not be as new as it sounds.Here’s what you’ll learn:(00:00) Intro(02:05) Do AI bots render JavaScript? The surprising answer(04:20) To get cited by AI, should your content be the same or different?(10:18) How Large Language Models (LLMs) actually work(15:10) The most important AEO tactic isn’t SEO—it’s this(20:00) Actionable tactics to control what AI says about you(26:20) Why a Korean search query might cite an English page(29:39) AEO is bringing desktop optimization back—here’s why(32:00) How to repurpose content for maximum AEO impact(36:20) Why YouTube is a bigger opportunity than ChatGPT today(41:20) Using communities, PR, and affiliates to shape your AI narrative(44:10) The big secret: Answer Engine Optimization is just good marketingConnect with Patrick:X: @patrickstoxLinkedIn: patrickstoxConnect with Tim:X: @timsouloLinkedIn: timsouloWebsite: timsoulo.com

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• How to Win in AI Search (Real Data, No Hype) | Ryan Law (Ahrefs)

  AI search is exploding — and everyone wants to teach you how to show up in ChatGPT.But in this new “Wild West,” who can you actually trust?Meet Ryan Law, Ahrefs’ Director of Content Marketing.Ryan and his team have carried out some of the largest studies on AI search, backed by millions of data points, to understand what actually works when it comes to Answer Engine Optimization (AEO).If you’ve been waiting for a credible, data-backed guide to getting your brand and content visible in AI search — this is it.What you’ll learn in this episode:00:00 — Intro01:06 — The Current State of AI Search03:46 — 3 Ways to Influence Your AI Visibility07:55 — The “Era of Off-Page SEO”: Why Mentions Are the New Backlinks14:48 — Optimizing the Content Types AI Prefers to Cite18:33 — How to Write for AI (and Humans)25:51 — Finding and Fixing “Hallucinated URLs” from AI27:18 — The Untapped Training Data Sources LLMs Love28:37 — How to Perform a Content Gap Analysis for the AI Era32:56 — The #1 Technical Mistake in Answer Engine Optimization34:40 — Fan-Out Queries: How AI Actually Searches Google39:50 — The Spam Strategy You Must Avoid41:00 — A Simple 2-Category Framework for AEO42:32 — AI Search vs. Google’s AI Overviews44:50 — OutroConnect with Ryan:LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/thinkingslow/X — @thinking_slowConnect with Tim:LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/timsoulo/X — @timsouloWebsite — https://www.timsoulo.com/If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to follow the Ahrefs Podcast and share it with a friend.Referenced:Ahrefs Brand Radar — https://ahrefs.com/brand-radarAhrefs Site Explorer — https://ahrefs.com/site-explorerAhrefs Web Analytics — https://ahrefs.com/webmaster-toolsClearscope — https://www.clearscope.ioG2 — https://www.g2.comReddit — https://www.reddit.comQuora — https://www.quora.com

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• The 3 Types of EGC Every Brand Should Be Using | Melissa Laurie (Oysterly Media)

  Employee-generated content isn’t just a trend — it’s the future of marketing.In this episode of the Ahrefs Podcast, we dive deep into the world of Employee Generated Content (EGC) and short-form social video with Melissa Laurie, founder and CEO of Oysterly Media.Discover why authentic, employee-created video content published on brand channels is quickly becoming essential for companies that want to stand out. Melissa explains how to do EGC right — and why audiences are craving genuine interactions over polished ads.She breaks down the powerful “Triple A Effect” of EGC:Attracting top talent,Retaining engaged staff,And accelerating sales with real product showcases.You’ll hear why Gen Z doesn’t magically know how to make great social content, how to structure a video that hooks attention in seconds, and why even the Singapore Police Force is jumping on the trend.Melissa shares real-world frameworks, production tips, and success stories from companies like Hilton and Microsoft.In this episode:(00:00) Intro(01:57) What is Employee-Generated Content (EGC)?(03:32) Posting from employee accounts vs company accounts(09:27) Using EGC to help with employee disengagement and recruiting(15:35) Examples of successful Day in the Life videos(21:00) Frameworks for EGC videos(31:59) Does trend-jumping work for companies?(35:36) Misconceptions about EGC(41:26) Hacks for making solid short-form videos(48:00) Consulting vs outsourcing for social media content(50:13) The ROI of short-form video for businesses(55:42) Making the shift from sales to social media(58:15) OutroWe hope you enjoyed this episode of the Ahrefs Podcast!Be sure to like, subscribe — and tell a friend.Where to find Melissa:LinkedIn: Melissa LaurieWebsite: oysterlymedia.comWhere to find Tim:LinkedIn: Tim SouloX: @timsouloWebsite: timsoulo.com

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