534. Reverse Engineering Google Algorithms with Ryan Jones

🔬 What happens when you analyze leaked search engine source code and build an SEO tool from it? You discover the entire industry has been optimizing wrong for years. Ryan Jones (Head of SEO at Razorfish) joined me on Marketing Speak to share what he learned from the Yandex and Google leaks. The truth is uncomfortable: while SEOs count keywords and stack H2 tags, search engines are plotting documents in vector space using machine learning. Here's what actually matters in 2025:  📊 Complete topic relevance (not single keyword optimization)  🎯 Semantic similarity scores using cosine distance  🤖 BERT-extracted keywords from current top-rankers  📱 Intent matching using ML models (not keyword pattern matching)  🔗 Third-party consensus for knowledge panels  📄 Research papers that still accurately describe how AI search works Ryan built SERPrecon to measure content the way search engines actually measure it. The tool uses Yandex's exact-title-tag scoring logic. It applies Passage BERT to predict AI Overview citations. It extracts entities and keywords using the same open-source algorithms Google uses. Ryan reverse-engineers which phrases AI Overviews will cite based on Google's patent, then writes content incorporating those exact phrases. Result? He consistently "steals" citations from competitors. This isn't theoretical. This is production-level SEO based on actual source code. The show notes, including the transcript and checklist to this episode, are at marketingspeak.com/534.

What does a Rabbi know about selling jewelry online? Turns out, everything. Pinny Gniwisch made one of the most unusual career transitions: from leading a congregation to building ice.com into a $75M e-commerce success story. In our latest Marketing Speak episode, Pinny shares: Why influencer culture burns out (from someone who interviewed a 600K-follower influencer) How to use AI without losing your competitive edge (hint: your gut still matters more) The difference between traditional advertising and digital marketing (and why it matters) How Kabbalah principles apply to everyday business decisions This episode is packed with wisdom that bridges ancient spiritual principles with modern marketing metrics. Listen now! The show notes, including the transcript and checklist to this episode, are at marketingspeak.com/533.

From family gig work to a national acquisition in 30 years. 🚀 Keith McMaster started helping his police officer dad serve legal papers as a side hustle. Three decades later, his company, Firefly Legal, was acquired as part of a major industry consolidation involving 6+ companies. When Keith volunteered to hot-seat his "old and dated" website during one of Jay Abraham's courses, he got brutally honest feedback. Instead of being defensive, he leaned in and completely transformed his digital presence. The results:  ✅ Website became a 24/7 automated marketing funnel  ✅ Went from invisible to top of search rankings in key markets  ✅ Scaled operations without proportional staff increases  ✅ Built a business so efficient and scalable that acquirers came knocking In this Marketing Speak case study episode, Keith and I break down the exact SEO strategy, content approach, and technical optimizations that transformed a family business into an acquisition target. Listen now to learn how to build your website into an automatic sales tool that works while you sleep! 🎧  The show notes, including the transcript and checklist to this episode, are at marketingspeak.com/532.

Your company brand can be sold. Your personal brand can't. That's why I've been investing in StephanSpencer.com alongside my agency for decades—and it's paying dividends in the age of AI. In this week's Marketing Speak episode, my longtime collaborator Greg Merrilees of Studio1 Design walks through the complete evolution of my personal brand website—from a simple WordPress blog in 2004 to a comprehensive authority platform that attracts 9-figure clients. Greg reveals why your About page needs storytelling instead of just credentials, how to structure case studies that convert rather than just collect testimonials, the bridging page strategy for managing multiple brand properties, why every page needs one clear and relevant call-to-action, and how to customize social proof for maximum impact on each specific page. If you're being found online but not getting the caliber of clients you deserve, your personal brand website is likely the bottleneck. This episode is a masterclass in fixing that. The show notes, including the transcript and checklist to this episode, are at marketingspeak.com/531.

🚨 The AI hype cycle is colliding with reality—and most companies are quietly taking their "revolutionary" AI workflows offline. Mark Williams-Cook, founder of AlsoAsked and Director at Candour, just revealed what's really happening behind closed doors. In our latest Marketing Speak episode, Mark shares why:  ✅ Multi-site brand presence beats keyword rankings  ✅ Understanding base models matters more than tracking 2000 prompts  ✅ Technical SEO is more critical than ever (not less)  ✅ Browser wars are back—and they're about AI agents After 22 years in SEO—from agency director to affiliate marketer to SaaS founder—Mark has an unusually clear view of where we're actually heading. What's your experience with AI workflows? Working as promised or quietly shelved? The show notes, including the transcript and checklist to this episode, are at marketingspeak.com/530.

"Link building is dead," they said. They were dead wrong. Dan Petrovic just explained why on Marketing Speak—and it's not what you think. Traditional link building? Evolving. Content seeding with brand associations? Essential. Digital PR for AI visibility? Critical. Here's why: Models need to be TRAINED on your brand associations. Even without backlinks, content seeding influences: Model training data Grounding citations Brand mention frequency Selection rate when models choose what to recommend Dan's been in SEO since before Google existed. His 2013 prediction that we'd "chat to Google by 2023"? Spot on. Now he's building tools (AI Rank, Tree Walker, semantic compression) that reveal:  ✓ Where models lack confidence in your brand  ✓ What competing brands do they associate with your entities  ✓ Which geographic/contextual biases are blocking visibility If you're a CMO, brand manager, or SEO professional and you're not thinking about how AI models perceive your brand, you're about to get disrupted. The show notes, including the transcript and checklist to this episode, are at marketingspeak.com/529.

When your brand sounds like, "Yeah, we do that too," you disappear into the noise. In this episode of Marketing Speak, I talk with Dr. Gary Sanchez, creator of the WHY.os Discovery, a framework built from hundreds of thousands of assessments and millions of data points to decode why people do what they do. We unpack how to: Turn your WHY into a clear, compelling brand message Hire and promote based on natural motivation, not just résumés Build teams who love their roles instead of burning out in them If you want more than clever copy—if you want a brand and culture that actually fit who you are—this conversation is for you. The show notes, including the transcript and checklist to this episode, are at marketingspeak.com/528.

Most entrepreneurs ask: "How do I get my first client?" My answer: Stop asking. Start delivering value—uninvited, uncompensated, and unapologetically. When I dropped out of my PhD program in 1995 (drowning in student loan debt), I had no portfolio, no speaking experience, and no business asking Fortune 500 companies for their money. But I understood something most don't: Your playing small does not serve the world. In this Marketing Speak episode, I reveal: The "willing suspension of disbelief" that opens miraculous opportunities  Why I transform every interaction with the intention to "reveal light" How trusting your gut is actually receiving divine guidance (not just random intuition)  The NetConcepts pivot from web agency to SEO powerhouse after the Target audit Whether you believe in spiritual business practices or not, I offer a compelling invitation: Try it as an experiment. Get into a high vibration and ask for guidance on which prospect to contact. What's the worst that could happen? You might just double your sales. Repeatedly. 📈 The show notes, including the transcript and checklist to this episode, are at marketingspeak.com/527.

Most CEOs and entrepreneurs are neglecting their most important asset: their personal brand. Kara Goldin (founder of Hint Water) asked me a great question on her show: "How does SEO vary for a brand versus an individual?" My answer surprised her—and it might surprise you too. In this special crossover episode on Marketing Speak, I explain why most business leaders focus exclusively on their company's brand while ignoring their own. The problem? Your personal brand is the only one you take with you throughout your career. Companies come and go, but your name is forever. What we covered:  → Why content publishers often outrank established industry brands (and what to learn from them)  → How to identify indirect competitors with superior SEO knowledge  → The SparkToro tool that reveals exactly which hashtags your audience is using  → Why your personal website matters more than just having an "About the Founder" page Based on my work with major brands over three decades, I share proven strategies to ensure everything on page one—for both your personal name AND your company—either supports your narrative or gets pushed off entirely. This isn't about gaming the system. It's about strategic positioning that builds lasting digital authority.  Tune in! The show notes, including the transcript and checklist to this episode, are at marketingspeak.com/526.

Most businesses expect AI to cut content costs in half and triple output. That fantasy rarely survives contact with reality. In this episode of Marketing Speak, I sat down with Eric Enge—founder of Pilot Holding, my co-author on all four editions of The Art of SEO, and author of Using Generative AI for SEO—to discuss what actually works with AI in marketing. Eric has built and sold four companies, including the award-winning Stone Temple Consulting. His latest insights cut through the AI hype to reveal sustainable strategies: ✅ Why 25-30% efficiency gains (not 4x productivity) is the realistic target  ✅ What large language models do exceptionally well vs. where they consistently fall short  ✅ Why link building isn't dead and multi-channel presence matters more than ever  ✅ How covering low search volume topics demonstrates true expertise  ✅ The real truth about Google's "just create great content" advice If you're tired of empty AI promises and want strategies that deliver real results, this conversation will recalibrate your approach. The show notes, including the transcript and checklist to this episode, are at marketingspeak.com/525.