Ahrefs Podcast

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 — Intro 01:06 — The Current State of AI Search 03:46 — 3 Ways to Influence Your AI Visibility 07:55 — The “Era of Off-Page SEO”: Why Mentions Are the New Backlinks 14:48 — Optimizing the Content Types AI Prefers to Cite 18:33 — How to Write for AI (and Humans) 25:51 — Finding and Fixing “Hallucinated URLs” from AI 27:18 — The Untapped Training Data Sources LLMs Love 28:37 — How to Perform a Content Gap Analysis for the AI Era 32:56 — The #1 Technical Mistake in Answer Engine Optimization 34:40 — Fan-Out Queries: How AI Actually Searches Google 39:50 — The Spam Strategy You Must Avoid 41:00 — A Simple 2-Category Framework for AEO 42:32 — AI Search vs. Google’s AI Overviews 44:50 — Outro Connect with Ryan: LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/thinkingslow/ X — @thinking_slow Connect with Tim: LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/timsoulo/ X — @timsoulo Website — 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-radar Ahrefs Site Explorer — https://ahrefs.com/site-explorer Ahrefs Web Analytics — https://ahrefs.com/webmaster-tools Clearscope — https://www.clearscope.io G2 — https://www.g2.com Reddit — https://www.reddit.com Quora — https://www.quora.com

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) Outro We hope you enjoyed this episode of the Ahrefs Podcast! Be sure to like, subscribe — and tell a friend. Where to find Melissa: LinkedIn: Melissa Laurie Website: oysterlymedia.com Where to find Tim: LinkedIn: Tim Soulo X: @timsoulo Website: timsoulo.com

AI Overviews are changing search — but not in the way Google wants you to think. In this episode of the Ahrefs Podcast, Tim Soulo sits down with Kevin Indig to discuss the real impact of AI on search behavior, website traffic, and SEO strategy. Kevin analyzed over 5 billion search visits and found that while people are searching more often, they’re spending less time per session — and zero-click searches are on the rise. But this isn’t just about traffic. Kevin argues that SEO isn’t dying — it’s just entering a new investment cycle. The smartest companies are already shifting resources toward AI visibility, building tools, and rethinking how they show up in ChatGPT and beyond. In this episode: (00:00) Intro (02:39) How is search changing? (06:20) Revenue vs traffic (10:30) How AI Overviews are changing (13:46) Join Kevin at Ahrefs Evolve (14:23) How to show up in AI Overviews (and is it even useful?) (20:10) AI Overview volatility (26:02) Queries vs prompts (31:11) External validation: the key to ranking on AI Overviews (35:13) Is SEO dead? (42:50) Ranking in AI Overviews vs ChatGPT (49:18) What you should be optimizing with AI (01:05:42) Vibe coding in action (01:07:21) Outro We hope you enjoyed this episode of the Ahrefs Podcast! Be sure to like, subscribe — and tell a friend. Where to find Kevin: LinkedIn: Kevin Indig X: @Kevin_Indig Website: mkt1.co Where to find Tim: LinkedIn: Tim Soulo X: @timsoulo Website: timsoulo.com Referenced in this episode 👤 People Dmitry Gerasimenko Ryan Law Rand Fishkin Eric Siu 🏢 Companies & Brands Ahrefs Google OpenAI Similarweb ChatGPT Ramp 🛠️ Tools / Platforms Claude Humata AI AirOps v0 by Vercel Cursor Relevance AI 📚 Frameworks & Concepts AI Overviews (Google SGE) Vibe Coding Zero-Click Searches First Mover Advantage Information Gain (SEO Strategy) #SEO #GoogleAI #AIOverviews #AhrefsPodcast #KevinIndig #SearchMarketing #DigitalMarketing #AIContent #LLMSearch #ZeroClickSearches #ContentStrategy #AIinMarketing #VibeCoding #MarketingAutomation #aiseo

Emily Kramer (Founder of MKT1 and the Dear Marketers podcast) has led marketing teams at Asana, Carta, and Astro (acquired by Slack). After working in-house, she became an advisor, consulting with B2B startup founders on marketing approaches across growth stages, audiences, and GTM motions. She’s seen it all. We chatted about positioning fundamentals, product vs. content marketing, the growing founder-influencer trend, and her personally coined Fuel and Engine Framework that identifies which part of a broken marketing machine needs fixing. In this episode: (00:00) Intro (01:38) How Will AI Change Startup Marketing and Advising? (07:53) The First Steps to Startup Marketing (14:56) Join Emily at Ahrefs Evolve (15:35) The 12 Marketing Advantages Framework (16:43) Getting Your Messaging and Positioning Right (22:40) The Fuel and Engine Framework (28:59) The 30% Juice Rule for Startups (DEBUNKED) (34:57) The Difference Between Product Marketing and Content Marketing (40:11) Examples of Ultra-Successful Campaigns & Measuring the ROI (49:13) Category Creation vs Roles (51:28) The Rise of Ecosystem Marketing (59:34) Is SEO Dying? (01:01:21) Founders as Influencers (01:07:57) The Shortcut to Building Brand Influence (01:14:10) Outro We hope you enjoyed this episode of the Ahrefs Podcast! As always, be sure to like, subscribe, and tell a friend. — Where to find Emily: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilykramer/ Website: https://www.mkt1.co/ Where to find Tim: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timsoulo/ X: https://x.com/timsoulo Website: https://www.timsoulo.com/ — Referenced in this episode: 👤 People: Dave Fallarme – https://www.linkedin.com/in/dfallarme/ April Dunford – https://aprildunford.com/ Dustin Moskovitz – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dustin_Moskovitz Ryan Law – https://www.linkedin.com/in/thinkingslow/ Dmitry Gerasimenko – https://www.linkedin.com/in/dmytrogerasymenko/ 🏢 Companies & Brands: Owner – https://owner.com/ Carta – https://carta.com/ Airbnb – https://www.airbnb.com/ Clay – https://www.clay.com/ Asana – https://asana.com/ Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/ Twitter – https://twitter.com/ Substack – https://substack.com/ 🛠️ Tools / Platforms: ChatGPT – https://chat.openai.com/ LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/ Reddit – https://www.reddit.com/ TikTok – https://www.tiktok.com/ Google – https://www.google.com/ 📚 Frameworks & Concepts: Fuel & Engine Framework – https://mkt1.substack.com/p/fuel-engine Marketing Advantages – https://newsletter.mkt1.co/p/find-and-accelerate-your-marketing Percent Juice Rule – https://newsletter.mkt1.co/p/high-impact-content Category Creation vs Design – https://www.aprildunford.com/post/dont-let-customers-decide-what-your-product-is Ecosystem Marketing – https://newsletter.mkt1.co/p/ecosystem-marketing Business Potential – https://blog.timsoulo.com/business-potential-the-most-important-metric-in-content-marketing/ 🌐 Other: Hashtag Angels – https://www.hashtagangels.com/ — #StartupMarketing #MarketingStrategy #EmilyKramer #Ahrefs #B2BMarketing #ContentMarketing #FuelAndEngine #EcosystemMarketing #PersonalBrand #MKT1

Tim Soulo posted on LinkedIn asking if anyone wanted the full breakdown of the publishing process behind Ahrefs’ AI-written articles that actually ranked. Over 400 people commented “do it.” This episode is the result. Ryan Law, Director of Content Marketing at Ahrefs, walks Tim through the entire AI content workflow he built — from crafting detailed briefs to editing hallucinated links. It’s not a “push-button” prompt. It’s a repeatable system that combines ChatGPT with real editorial oversight. And the results are nearly indistinguishable from human-written content. You’ll hear how Ryan builds outlines, adds expert-level insight, handles internal linking, and avoids the usual AI traps. If you’re serious about using AI in your content strategy — and not just experimenting — this is the episode to watch. LinkedIn post: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/timsoulo_we-built-a-10-step-process-to-create-ai-generated-activity-7348327597769953283-mpQW In this episode: (00:00) Why We Made This Episode (01:03) How We Know This Workflow Works (02:05) The Basic Setup in ChatGPT (Foundational Instruction Files) (05:45) Setting up the Content Brief (14:19) Join Ryan at Ahrefs Evolve (16:03) Generating a Solid Outline (19:36) Improving AI Output (27:05) The Importance of Human Review (29:33) Polishing the Formatting (30:43) A Closer Look at the 7 Foundational Documents (44:01) Outro ––– Where to find Ryan: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thinkingslow/ X: @thinking_slow Website: https://ryanlaw.me/ Where to find Tim: LinkedIn: (https://www.linkedin.com/in/timsoulo/) X: @timsoulo Website: https://www.timsoulo.com/ ––– Referenced in this episode 👤 People Ryan Law https://www.linkedin.com/in/thinkingslow/ Andrej Karpathy https://karpathy.ai/ Barbara Minto https://barbaraminto.com/ Gary Provost https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Provost Patrick Stox https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickstox/ ⸻ 🏢 Companies & Brands Ahrefs https://ahrefs.com/ Google https://www.google.com/ Tesla https://www.tesla.com/ McKinsey & Company https://www.mckinsey.com/ ⸻ 🛠️ Tools / Platforms ChatGPT https://chat.openai.com/ WordPress https://wordpress.org/ Claude https://www.anthropic.com/product/claude Replit https://replit.com/ Google Docs https://docs.google.com/ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/ GitHub https://github.com/ ⸻ 📚 Frameworks & Concepts PAS Formula (Problem–Agitate–Solution) https://beomniscient.com/blog/pas-copywriting/ MECE Principle (Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MECE_principle Pyramid Principle https://www.amazon.fr/Pyramid-Principle-Logic-Writing-Thinking/dp/0273710516 Information Gain (SEO & Content Strategy) https://www.clearscope.io/blog/information-gain-seo ––– #AIContent #ContentMarketing #SEOStrategy #ChatGPT #Ahrefs #AIWorkflow #ContentCreation #DigitalMarketing #AIforSEO #AhrefsPodcast