In episode 130, Christian Ward joins Garrett for a deep dive into the application and impact of AI in both personal and professional spheres. Christian is bullish on AI in daily operations, highlighting its power to enhance learning, decision-making, and efficiency through real-world applications. He discusses leveraging AI for everything from understanding data partnerships to automating tasks and analyses, underscoring the importance of practical usage over theoretical knowledge to unlock AI's potential.

Christian and Garrett explore the evolving nature of digital ecosystems, predicting a future where conversational AI breaks down the barriers of traditional user interfaces, making technology more accessible and intuitive.

Christian foresees a significant shift in how marketers and businesses approach customer engagement, moving from a reliance on monologues to embracing dialogues facilitated by AI. This change, he argues, will revolutionize personalization, making interactions more meaningful and customer-centric, thereby enhancing the consumer experience in unprecedented ways.

The conversation touches on the broader implications of AI on privacy, content creation, and the digital landscape, suggesting a future where AI not only simplifies but also democratizes access to technology. Christian believes personal AI assistants will manage our interactions with brands and services before long, ensuring privacy and efficiency.

Both agree that the integration of AI into daily life and business is inevitable, urging everyone to embrace this transformation proactively. 

• [0:00] Intro
• [1:07] How do you use AI in your day-to-day?
• [3:30] Will AI change user behavior?
• [7:30] The exponential advancement of AI and the frictionless abstraction layer
• [11:15] Will brands and digital ecosystems be siloed in the future?
• [14:50] Implications of AI on marketers - monologues vs. dialogues
• [18:15] Data privacy in the age of AI
• [21:40] Thoughts on IP copyrights - the NYTimes lawsuit against OpenAI
• [24:31] Rapid Fire Rankings

Top 5 Changes to Marketing

• Cookie Deprivation
• Two Choices - Tracking or ZPD
• SEO Content Generation & Tools
• From Monologue to Dialogues
• CMO Metrics Overhaul

Top 5 AI Expectations

• AI Efficiency at Work
• Prompt Inversion
• AI Model Convergence
• Conversational UI’s Explode
• Personal AI Usage

Top 5 Tools to Try to Learn

• ChatGPT: Best best-around tool to learn what’s possible
• Opus: Brilliant for cutting videos and creating AI posts
• Swell: Video or Audio AI tool for posts
• Reflect: Note-taking application and Personal Knowledge Graph
• Anthropic: Excellent alternative to GPT
• (Shameless Plug): Yext

Top 5 People to Follow for AI

• Ethan Mollick (Academic & Theory)
• Rowan Cheung (General AI)
• Paul Roetzer (Marketing AI)
• Allie Miller (AI Applied)
• Cassie Kozyrkov (Decision Science and AI)

In episode 129, Erika Varangouli shares the time, effort, and marketing discussions that went into Semrush's 2023 Ranking Factors study. Too often, uninformed SEOs will use statistics from these correlation studies and use them to serve their own agendas despite them not proving causation. Erika argues that the data still has value to inform and guide us. We can apply the insights to hypotheses and experiments to our own websites without using it purely as a prescriptive playbook.

She explains why the team landed on a study called 'Ranking Factors' and used their own metrics quantified as 'Content Quality.'

Resources: Semrush 2023 Ranking Factors Study - https://www.semrush.com/blog/ranking-factors-semrush-study/

[0:00] Intro

[1:30] The Semrush Ranking Factors Study - What is it?

[3:20] The methodology to address the correlation implications.

[6:20] How should SEOs remain skeptical yet find value in these SEO correlation studies?

[10:15] Highlighting limitations and the nature of correlation.

[12:20] How did you decide on the controversial title and the marketing of the study? The metrics created behind 'content quality.'

[19:45] Big insights and takeaways from the Ranking Factors Study

[22:00] What's your take on SGE and GenAI based on the study's findings?

[26:30] Do you think Brand recognition should trump content quality in search rankings?

[30:05] Rapid Fire Rankings

In episode 127, Chris Butterworth stops by to shed light on the critical yet often overlooked topic of digital sustainability.

Chris discusses the importance of education around digital sustainability and strategies to impact change and the carbon footprint of your company.

He also addresses how to engage people in caring about their digital footprint and the environmental impact of LLMs and Generative AI. He shared his thoughts on the responsibility of large companies in reducing their digital footprint.

(0:00) Intro

(1:53) Defining Digital Sustainability

(3:43) Education in Digital Sustainability

(5:15) Regulations Around Digital Carbon Footprint

(6:50) How to Fight for Change in the Digital Landscape

(10:46) What Responsibility Do Large Companies Have in Improving Our Digital Footprint?

(13:35) Who are the People at Organizations Launching Reduction Initiatives?

(15:30) How to Implement Sustainability Changes at an Organization

(17:47) How to Get People to Care About Their Digital Footprint

(20:25) The Environmental Impact of LLMs and Generative AI

(23:30) Don’t Feel Guilty

(25:54) Reducing Your Digital Footprint

(27:11) Rapid Fire Rankings

Top 3 of anything:

Music

Family

The Planet

Rank your best SEO marketing win:

Redesigned a website to make it incredibly lightweight which while migrating domain and URLs boosted rankings.

Rank your top 3 SEO tools:

Screaming Frog

Webmaster Tools

Hemingway

Rank your best SEO or trick or tactic:

Focus on conversion over winning traffic.

Rank what you love most about the SEO industry:

It can be used to shorten user journeys.

Rank your top 1-3 marketers:

Tim Frick

Mark Butcher

Tom Greenwood

Rank your best SEO learning resource:

Your own experience.

Rank your top cause or charity:

Big Orange Heart