Ahrefs Podcast

If you've ever wanted a side project but didn't know where to start, this episode is the build order. The builder is Ryan Law, Ahrefs' Director of Content Marketing; the site is Conference Spotter (https://conferencespotter.com), a feed of upcoming UK marketing conferences; the tool is Letaido, Ahrefs' AI agent workspace; the bill was less than a day and about $500 in tokens. He takes Tim Soulo through it one feature at a time: the first prompt (a list of events scraped from search queries), the brand-demand charts from Ahrefs keyword data, and the domain the agent bought. You'll come away knowing which parts an agent now does for you, which parts still need your judgment, and why both people and Google reward a site that shows effort. What took a team months, one marketer can now do in a weekend. He shares: Why Google doesn't like commodity content, and the brand-demand metric Ryan built from Ahrefs keyword data instead Why the mascot exists: "big, bold, stupid colors" are a refreshing look against AI-generated websites What the whole site cost in tokens, and why he agrees with Tim that a quality website shouldn't cost $10 Which of your ideas is still waiting on a developer? Connect with us: Ryan Law: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thinkingslow/ Conference Spotter: https://conferencespotter.com Tim Soulo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timsoulo/ Ahrefs: https://ahrefs.com/ Chapters 00:00 Intro 01:04 Vibe-coding a Side Hustle with Letaido 05:25 The First Build, Brainstorming with AI 15:04 Unique Data: Ahrefs Brand Demand + LinkedIn Momentum 23:02 Bold design Against AI-generated Tropes 29:15 Deploying: Time and Tokens Spent

If you work in marketing, part of what you make is what people believe before they try the product. Nir Eyal, author of Hooked and Indistractable and a former lecturer at Stanford's Graduate School of Business, joins Tim Soulo to talk about his new book, Beyond Belief, written with Julie Li. He brings the research behind that idea: a wine that tasted better with a higher price tag, IBS patients who felt relief from pills they knew were placebos, and two identical cars rated at opposite ends of the chart. When marketing makes people expect a better product, they don't just say it's better, they experience it, which is why Nir says marketing "is the product.” He shares: - Why Liquid Death fans say the water tastes better, and what that says about marketing - The fMRI wine study and two identical cars from the NUMMI plant: the same product, experienced differently - A study IBS patients felt relief from pills they knew were placebos - Why venting about a family member or a coworker only reinforces the beliefs you already have about them - Why telling everyone about a big, long-term goal can make things worse What does your customer believe about your product before they've even tried it? **Where to find Nir:** LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nireyal/ Website: https://www.nirandfar.com/ **Where to find Tim:** LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timsoulo/ X: @timsoulo Website: https://www.timsoulo.com/ Chapters: 00:00 Intro 00:56 Marketing and the Experience Loop 07:23 Beliefs vs. Fact 13:30 Planting Beliefs 27:50 The Four Questions 45:16 The Two Most Dangerous Words in English 53:02 Why Vision Boards Backfire 58:03 Announcing Your Goals

Searches for "AI search" are already running at nearly two-fifths the volume of "SEO" itself, and the industry is scrambling to keep up. Tim Soulo sits down with Ahrefs content marketer Louise Linehan, who mined LinkedIn and Reddit discussion, and validated it against 18 months of Keywords Explorer data to surface the five AI search trends marketers are actually talking about: - the race to prove AI's ROI - optimizing for readers that are bots - zero-click survival strategies - the never-ending GEO-versus-SEO debate - programmatic SEO's risky resurgence When the clicks are vanishing and the industry can't agree on what replaces them, what's still worth optimizing for? --- Timestamps (00:00) Intro (01:00) The Method (05:56) Trend 1: Proving the ROI of AI (and the New Reporting Wave) (17:00) Trend 2: Agent Optimization: llms.txt, Markdown, Accessibility Trees (23:30) Trend 3: Zero-Click Search and the Crocodile Mouth (30:52) Trend 4: GEO vs SEO (36:00) Trend 5: The Programmatic SEO Resurgence (39:15) Rapid-Fire Predictions: Watermarks, Agentic Commerce, Negative GEO --- Where to find Louise: Louise Linehan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louise-linehan/ Where to find Tim: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timsoulo/ X: @timsoulo Website: https://www.timsoulo.com/

How do you triple revenue while cutting marketing spend by 90%? Ariel Rubin, VP of Content at Air, did exactly that — and won two Webbys along the way — without ever having a budget bigger than $100K per campaign. Ariel breaks down the playbook behind Air's viral marketing: working with 86-year-old TV legend Maury Povich for "almost nothing," shooting a Webby-nominated video with a two-person crew for $2,500, and growing Air's Instagram from 6,000 to nearly 70,000 followers in seven months — all organic. You'll learn why distribution — not the idea — is the real challenge, how Ariel runs a three-person content team that punches far above its weight, and why he refuses to offload creative thinking to AI. Tim and Ari also brainstorm a viral book trailer live on air, debate whether SaaS is becoming a commodity like water, and get into the real talk on backlash and controversy in brand marketing. Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (00:48) Ariel's favorite Air campaign: the Maury Povich story (02:57) Showing up bigger than you are (04:35) Is a celebrity campaign actually cost-effective? (06:10) Why distribution — not the idea — is the real challenge (08:43) Short-form Instagram and events as distribution (10:45) A tour of Air's wildest campaigns (13:47) What's done in-house vs. with contractors (16:30) Real campaign budgets: $2,500 to $67,000 (21:39) Why AI can't replace taste and creative ideation (23:15) Live brainstorm: making a viral book ad (28:50) Why real effort beats AI-generated video (30:49) How Air integrates brand into top-of-funnel content (39:56) Inside Air's three-person content team (46:23) Liquid Death, SaaS as a commodity, and brand differentiation (49:55) Backlash, controversy, and pulling the Bonnie Blue campaign (56:15) Turning Air's office into a creative events hub (58:25) Rapid fire: overrated trends, book recs, and brands to watch Ariel Rubin: LinkedIn | X | Air Tim Soulo: LinkedIn | X | Website Referenced: Air Liquid Death ClickUp Uncanny Valley by Anna Wiener The Middle Passage by James Hollis Kareem Rahma / Subway Takes Ahrefs If you enjoyed this episode, follow the Ahrefs Podcast and leave a rating — it helps others find the show.

Can a business book actually make you a million dollars? The surprising answer is yes — but almost none of that money comes from book sales. Tim's book DISCOVERABLE is now available for pre-order → ahrefs.com/discoverable Best-selling author Jeff Goins breaks down the real economics of publishing: why books are "a bad business model," how the back-end (courses, consulting, software, higher-converting leads) is where the money lives, and why one enterprise company saw higher contract values simply by mailing their CEO's book to every lead in their CRM. Jeff is the author of The Art of Work and Real Artists Don't Starve, and runs a consulting firm that helps thought leaders turn big ideas into bestselling books. He was also Tim's personal mentor throughout the writing of DISCOVERABLE — Tim's first book, where he distills the marketing fundamentals behind Ahrefs' growth into a framework any brand can use to get found. You'll learn how much a first-time author can realistically sell, what it costs to buy your way onto the NYT or WSJ bestseller lists, why most business books suck, and whether you should self-publish, go hybrid, or go traditional. In this episode: (00:00) Intro (00:39) How much money can a first-time author actually make? (02:51) How many copies do Jeff's clients really sell? (06:52) The real reasons people write books (that aren't money) (10:40) Why writing a book humbles you — and the pay-to-play tricks in publishing (13:03) Proving a book's value: the CRM story and building real authority (24:43) Client anecdotes: General McChrystal and the payoff of a book (27:26) Where to start: the book proposal vs. the book plan (36:43) Why the central idea of a book almost always changes mid-writing (45:31) Jeff's best writing advice: brain dump, front-load, don't restart (54:35) Why do most business books suck? (1:00:04) Publishing options: traditional vs. hybrid vs. self-publishing Pre-order DISCOVERABLE → ahrefs.com/discoverable Where to find Jeff Goins: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jeffgoins Website: goinswriter.com Where to find Tim: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/timsoulo X: @timsoulo Website: timsoulo.com Referenced: DISCOVERABLE — Tim Soulo (ahrefs.com/discoverable) The Art of Work — Jeff Goins Real Artists Don't Starve — Jeff Goins On Character — General Stanley McChrystal Atomic Habits — James Clear The One Thing — Gary Keller & Jay Papasan The 4-Hour Workweek — Tim Ferriss Ryan Holiday — ryanholiday.net Ahrefs — ahrefs.com