Podcast
The Ross Simmonds Show
Hosted by Ross Simmonds · EN
Welcome to The Ross Simmonds Show. A show exploring the different sides of entrepreneurship, how Ross is growing his global marketing agency, building software, raising a family, and attempting to do so much more. On this show, Ross explores what goes into executing with excellence, embracing innovation, marketing at a high level and doing it all with intent of the playing the long game.
This show is a proud member of the HubSpot Podcast Network.
33episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
RSS 55: Reddit, AI & Distribution: The B2B Playbook Most Brands Are Ignoring
6d ago00:55:47Tap to summarizeReddit is influencing more B2B buying decisions than most marketers realize. In this episode, Jon Clark from Page 2 Podcast sits down with Ross to explore how Reddit has become a powerful force in search, why AI is transforming content distribution, and what it takes to build a marketing engine that drives real reach and results. Ross shares practical insights on SEO, content strategy, brand visibility in the age of LLMs, and why the future belongs to teams that invest as heavily in distribution as they do in creation. This conversation is packed with actionable lessons for marketers looking to stay ahead of the next wave of digital growth. Key Takeaways and Insights: 1. Building an AI-Powered Content Engine - Automating idea capture with transcriptions, cloud tools, and AI prompts. - Using spreadsheets + APIs + AI to create a personal “life operating system.” - AI accelerates execution but strategy and human oversight remain critical. - If you’re not 15–20% faster than last year, you’re underutilizing AI. 2. Reddit’s Takeover of Bottom-of-Funnel Search - Reddit now dominates long-tail, high-intent B2B queries. - “Best CRM for real estate small business” style queries are ranking. - Traditional SEO tools showed “zero volume”—but users asked Reddit anyway. - LLMs amplify this effect by generating personalized, long-tail queries. 3. How LLM Memory Changes Search Strategy - AI tools remember context (industry, revenue, location, preferences). - This creates ultra-specific queries behind the scenes. - Reddit wins because it has depth across long-tail discussions. - Strategy shift: Influence conversations where LLMs source answers. 4. The 3 Reddit Accounts Every Brand Needs - ✅ Brand Subreddit (protect your namespace immediately). - ✅ Brand Account (gratitude + reputation management only). - ✅ Personified Account (human engagement + trust building). 5. Organic + Paid Reddit = Scalable Growth - Reddit ads work best when inspired by top-performing organic posts. - Redditors reject polished corporate ads—match the culture. - Use conversational tone and authentic creative. - Lowest CPL often comes from culturally aligned campaigns. 6. Create Once, Distribute Forever (In the AI Era) - Shift from “create, create, create” to “distribute and optimize.” - Search is now multi-platform: Google, YouTube, Reddit, LLMs. - Distribution has moved from “vitamin” to “painkiller.” - Modern SEO = marketing across ecosystems. Resources & Tools: 🔗 Page 2 Podcast 🔗 Create Once. Distribute Forever — 👋🏾 Let's stay connected — ╰ Subscribe to my channel: @RossSimmondsTV ╰ Instagram: @thecoolestcool ╰ Twitter / X: @thecoolestcool ╰ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rosssimmonds
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RSS 54: Build a Distribution System That Actually Drives Growth
2w ago00:25:35Tap to summarizeToo many marketers hit publish and hope for the best. In this episode, Ross breaks down why hope is not a distribution strategy and what to do instead. You’ll learn how to build a deliberate, repeatable content distribution system that amplifies reach, compounds results, and drives measurable business growth in the AI era. Key Takeaways and Insights: 1. Hope Is Not a Distribution Strategy - Publishing and “hoping” for shares, rankings, or virality is not a growth plan. - Great content alone doesn’t guarantee reach or impact. - Distribution is the difference between obscurity and authority. 2. Why Great Content Still Loses - Average content often wins because it’s distributed strategically. - Algorithms reward engagement velocity, reach, and timing not just quality. - Distribution turns good content into great content. 3. AI, LLMs & the New Search Reality - AI-powered search is reducing traditional click-through traffic. - Optimizing for rankings alone is no longer enough. - LLMs pull from platforms like Reddit, LinkedIn, and licensed content sources. - Smart distribution increases your visibility across AI-driven experiences. 4. The Five Biggest Distribution Mistakes - Publishing once and disappearing. - Relying exclusively on one channel. - Assuming organic reach is guaranteed. - Failing to repurpose content across formats. - Not tracking performance or outcomes. 5. Create Once, Distribute Forever - Turn one blog post into carousels, threads, emails, videos, and podcasts. - Break pillar assets into micro-content for every channel. - Reshare and repackage content over time don’t let it die after launch week. - Repurposing multiplies ROI without multiplying effort. 6. Build a Real Distribution Strategy (Step-by-Step) - Conduct content-market fit research: understand pains, desires, and behaviors. - Analyze channel-user fit: where your audience actually spends time. - Study attention leaders (even outside your niche) to reverse-engineer engagement. - Create a pillar asset, repurpose aggressively, distribute across owned, earned, paid, and shared channels. - Rinse, repeat, and optimize using data. Resources & Tools: 🔗 Distribution.ai 🔗 Create Once, Distribute Forever 🔗 HubSpot 🔗 Ahrefs 🔗 Google Analytics 4 🔗 SparkToro — 👋🏾 Let's stay connected — ╰ Subscribe to my channel: @RossSimmondsTV ╰ Instagram: @thecoolestcool ╰ Twitter / X: @thecoolestcool ╰ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rosssimmonds
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RSS 53: The Future CMO: Why You Must Become a Media Operator in the Age of AI
3w ago00:14:49Tap to summarizeIn this episode of The Ross Simmonds Show, Ross makes a bold prediction: the next great CMO will be a media operator with a marketing budget. As AI and LLMs reshape how buyers discover and decide, traditional attribution, funnels, and SEO playbooks are breaking down. If you want to win in an AI-first world, it’s time to shift from campaign thinking to category ownership. Key Takeaways and Insights: 1. The Future CMO = Media Operator - The next generation of CMOs won’t just build campaigns—they’ll own media ecosystems. - Success shifts from “creating great ads” to controlling the narrative across a category. - Media ownership (owned + partnered) becomes a strategic advantage. 2. AI Is Rewriting Buyer Behavior - LLMs like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude are influencing buying decisions directly. - Consumers are getting answers without visiting your website. - The opportunity isn’t to interrupt attention—it’s to shape what AI recommends. 3. The Power of LLM Memory - AI personalizes answers based on stored user context (company size, budget, role). - Each platform (Gemini, ChatGPT, Claude) has different memory advantages. - Tracking only head terms is a mistake—long-tail, bottom-of-funnel queries matter more. 4. From Presence to Scale - Old model: “How much content did we publish?” - New model: “How often are we referenced across the web?” - Visibility in conversations—onsite and offsite—is the new KPI. 5. Category Ownership Through Media Acquisition - Buy and build media assets within your niche. - Create high-value, proprietary, non-commodity content. - Distribute aggressively to influence what LLMs cite and recommend. — 👋🏾 Let's stay connected — ╰ Subscribe to my channel: @RossSimmondsTV ╰ Instagram: @thecoolestcool ╰ Twitter / X: @thecoolestcool ╰ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rosssimmonds
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RSS 52: Why 44.8% of B2B Content Fails to Earn Backlinks And the 3 Formats That Actually Work
4w ago00:21:16Tap to summarizeIn this episode of The Ross Simmonds Show, Ross breaks down findings from the B2B Backlink Intelligence Report, an analysis of 12,154 pages across 24 B2B brands and 11 verticals, to reveal why 44.8 percent of thought leadership content fails to earn meaningful backlinks. He exposes the 9.5-point performance gap hiding inside most B2B content strategies and shares the three underutilized formats that consistently generate authority, links, and compounding growth. Key Takeaways and Insights: 1. The 44.8% Failure Rate of Thought Leadership - Thought leadership accounts for 37 percent of B2B content but earns only 27 percent of backlinks. A 9.5-point performance gap signals massive resource misallocation across the industry. - Most teams never audit whether their executive POV content actually earns links. The data exposes a problem most marketing leaders are actively ignoring. 2. Inside the B2B Backlink Intelligence Report - The study analyzed 12,154 pages across 24 B2B brands and 11 verticals using two core questions: what format is it and how many referring domains does it earn? - The most published format turned out to be the worst performer on a per-page basis. Data replaces opinion. The receipts are in. 3. Why Thought Leadership Underperforms - Thought leadership sounds strategic but internal applause, Slack praise, and LinkedIn likes create a false sense of traction. Teams rarely check backlinks, citations, or amplification metrics. - Most brands overestimate how much the market cares about executive opinions. Journalists and analysts want citable data, clear definitions, and practical insights. Not hot takes. 4. When Thought Leadership Actually Works - It performs best when the brand is already famous. Authority compounds authority and mid-market brands rarely break through on opinion alone. - Unique data paired with a strong perspective outperforms pure POV every time. The question is not whether thought leadership works. It is whether it will work for you. 5. The Link Magnet Trifecta - Three formats consistently outperform thought leadership with higher efficiency rates, lower fail rates, and compounding backlink growth over time. - Most B2B teams are dramatically under-allocating to these formats while continuing to invest in the one with the worst returns. 6. Stats and Data Roundups: 4.25x Efficiency - Stats pages carry a fail rate of just 5.3 percent and a breakout rate of 42 percent to 1,000-plus referring domains. Journalists constantly search for consolidated, up-to-date statistics. - One well-maintained stats page can outperform a year of blog posts. Keep it fresh. Rankings and relevance drive long-term link velocity. 7. Glossary and Definition Pages - Writers link to the clearest definition available. Definitions age better than predictions or trend pieces, making these pages durable link assets. - Own the terminology in your category and you own the citations. This format remains powerful for links even as organic traffic patterns shift. 8. How-To Content Independent of Your Product - The highest-performing how-to content solves tasks even if your product did not exist. Avoid product documentation disguised as SEO content. - Utility-driven tutorials earn links because they help the broader ecosystem. Top performers covered tools and topics like Google Drive, HTML, Fiverr, and Alibaba. 9. Backlinks Still Matter in the AI Era - Google still runs on links even in AI mode. Authority signals matter more now, not less. Backlinks are infrastructure for search visibility across both traditional and generative engines. - The compounding effect rewards long-term operators. Every link earned today is a signal that shapes AI visibility tomorrow. 10. Think Like an Investor, Not an Artist - Backlinks compound after publication. Audit your content strategy before publishing another thought leadership piece and reallocate toward formats with asymmetric upside. - Invest more. Guess less. The brands that treat content like a portfolio will outperform the ones treating it like a creative outlet. Resources & Tools: 🔗 B2B Backlink Intelligence Report — 👋🏾 Let's stay connected — ╰ Subscribe to my channel: @RossSimmondsTV ╰ Instagram: @thecoolestcool ╰ Twitter / X: @thecoolestcool ╰ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rosssimmonds
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RSS 51: LLM Visibility Playbook. 5 Proven Moves to Win in the AI Search Era
May 100:19:25Tap to summarizeIn this episode of The Ross Simmonds Show, Ross breaks down why showing up in LLMs like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity is the biggest marketing shift of our time and why treating it like SEO 2.0 is a losing strategy. He walks through five practical plays to build citation authority, dominate AI visibility, and engineer the kind of distribution leverage that compounds long after you press publish. Key Takeaways and Insights: 1. The Shift from SEO to GEO - In 2018, Reddit was dismissed. In 2026, it powers over 60 percent of bottom-funnel LLM citations. Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic are actively licensing and training on Reddit data. - Most teams are still optimizing for keywords and backlinks. GEO rewards authority, citations, and entity strength. The game has changed and the old playbook will not save you. 2. Play 1: Build a Citation Stack with Original Research - LLMs prioritize strong signals. Non-commodity content, original data, research, and clear POV outperforms generic blog posts every time. - Make every stat screenshot-friendly and quotable. Pitch your research to publications already cited in LLMs to compound authority and become the source models reference. 3. Play 2: Plant Flags in Communities - Reddit is one of the most cited sources in major LLMs. Identify three communities where your audience actually spends time and show up there consistently. - Use the Sherlock Homeboy Method: revive proven topics with a modern angle. Contribute value without pitching. Build reps. Create a moat competitors cannot climb. 4. Play 3: Engineer Your Entity Graph - LLMs see entities, not webpages. Companies, people, and products are all connected. Guest posts, podcast appearances, and transcripts strengthen your entity signal. - Consistent handles, bios, and positioning across platforms increase recognition. Say the same thing clearly thousands of times. Strategic repetition builds authority. 5. Play 4: Structure Content for Extraction - LLMs extract facts and quote passages. They ignore fluff. Use inverted pyramid writing: answer first, explain second. - Clear H1, H2, and H3 hierarchies improve both human and machine comprehension. Schema, lists, tables, and internal linking help models understand and cite your content. 6. Play 5: Distribution Is the Final Moat - One asset. Fifty distributions. Multiple citation paths. Most brands post once and disappear. Winners distribute relentlessly. - Every surface, LinkedIn, Reddit, YouTube, Substack, and podcasts, becomes training data. Distribution compounds trust with both humans and machines. 7. The Future: AI Agents Will Change Buying Forever - By 2038, AI assistants will mediate most purchasing decisions. Buyers will not browse. They will delegate. - The content LLMs train on today will shape tomorrow's recommendations. If you are not building your moat now, you will be rebuilding from scratch later. 8. The Long-Term Advantage Goes to Those Who Invest in Themselves - The skills that worked in 2018 will not carry you to 2038. Read. Study. Experiment. Adapt. - Earned momentum compounds through disciplined execution. Play the long game. Resources & Tools: 🔗 ChatGPT 🔗 Claude 🔗 Perplexity 🔗 Reddit 🔗 Google 🔗 OpenAI 🔗 Anthropic 🔗 LinkedIn 🔗 YouTube 🔗 Substack — 👋🏾 Let's stay connected — ╰ Subscribe to my channel: @RossSimmondsTV ╰ Instagram: @thecoolestcool ╰ Twitter / X: @thecoolestcool ╰ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rosssimmonds
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RSS 50: The Bold Thesis "Distribution Is the Last Moat Standing"
Apr 2400:19:43Tap to summarizeIn this episode of The Ross Simmonds Show, Ross breaks down why OpenAI and HubSpot's media acquisitions this quarter aren't about content quality. They're about owning distribution. He connects the dots on what this land grab means for every B2B marketer and how to apply the same strategy without a billion-dollar balance sheet. Key Takeaways and Insights: 1. Media Acquisition Is the New Moat - OpenAI and HubSpot made bold media acquisitions in the same quarter. This isn't about content quality. It's about owning the rooms where buying decisions happen. - Distribution is leverage. And leverage compounds. The brands that win will own the audience, not just the message. 2. The Land Grab Has Already Started - Penn bought Barstool. HubSpot acquired The Hustle and Starter Story. Robinhood built a media empire. Plaid acquired fintech media to own operator attention. - The cadence of these deals is accelerating. This is not a trend. It's a land grab and most B2B teams haven't noticed. 3. Super Bowl Ads vs. Owned Attention - $27M buys six Super Bowl ads that disappear in 30 seconds. The same capital can buy a media asset with daily access to your exact ICP. - Most teams rent attention. The best operators own it. Predictable pipeline starts with predictable distribution. 4. Google's AI Shift Changes the Game - AI Overviews are reducing clicks to traditional search results while Google embeds YouTube directly into the SERP. - Media value is no longer just blog rankings. It's multimedia presence. Visibility now requires platform-native authority. 5. You Cannot Game LLM Visibility - Traditional SEO could be manipulated with backlinks and paid boosts. AI visibility requires real brand equity and positive sentiment. - LLMs train on authority signals across media properties. If you want to show up in AI answers, you must be worth citing. 6. Brand Equity Beats Editorial Independence - Acquired media serves stakeholders. Narrative shapes culture and buying media shapes narrative. - Read content with context. Ownership matters. Content influence increasingly flows through owned channels. 7. The 4 Distribution Questions Every Marketer Should Ask - Which newsletter has the audience you wish you had? Which creator has your buyers' trust? What shows does your ICP consume weekly? What niche media opportunity is still wide open? - Use LLMs and audience intelligence tools to find answers faster. The operators asking these questions now are building moats everyone else will pay to access later. 8. How to Build a Media Engine Without Buying One - Start one channel and let patience compound. Sponsor niche newsletters instead of chasing giants. Partner with trusted creators via revenue share, salary, or equity. - In the AI era, content is cheap. Reputation and distribution are scarce. Build accordingly. 9. Three Predictions for the Next Decade - By 2035, every unicorn B2B company will own a media property. Newsletter and YouTube network valuations will triple as LLM visibility becomes priced in. - Agencies will survive by brokering, building, or optimizing media ecosystems, not just producing content. 10. Distribution Is the Last Moat Standing - AI commoditized content creation. The advantage shifts to those who control reach. A true content moat goes beyond your domain. - Visibility is engineered, not hoped for. The window to build that moat cheaply is closing fast. Resources & Tools: 🔗 OpenAI 🔗 HubSpot 🔗 The Hustle 🔗 Starter Story 🔗 Robinhood 🔗 Plaid 🔗 Barstool Sports 🔗 Google 🔗 YouTube — 👋🏾 Let's stay connected — ╰ Subscribe to my channel: @RossSimmondsTV ╰ Instagram: @thecoolestcool ╰ Twitter / X: @thecoolestcool ╰ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rosssimmonds
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RSS 49: Reddit Is Beating You in B2B Search And the Data Proves It
Apr 1700:19:29Tap to summarizeIn this episode of The Ross Simmonds Show, Ross drops new research across 8,566 high-priority B2B SaaS keywords that reveals how Reddit is quietly dominating bottom-of-funnel search, including the most expensive CPC terms in your Google Ads account. He breaks down what the data actually means for your pipeline and the exact playbook operators need to respond before the gap widens further. Key Takeaways and Insights: 1. How Reddit Changed the SEO Game -Google elevated user-generated content after seeing demand for people-first answers, and Reddit threads now outrank product and category pages across B2B SaaS. -Traditional SEO playbooks built on volume and backlinks are losing ground. The shift is not theoretical. It is happening in your highest-value queries right now. 2. The Scoreboard: Reddit's Share of the Top 3 -Reddit commands 40 to 45 percent of top-three rankings across most B2B SaaS verticals. In three of four industries analyzed, Reddit consistently beat all competitors. -Even established review sites are losing ground to subreddit threads. The brands still ignoring this are handing over pipeline. 3. Myth: Reddit Only Wins on Review Terms -Reddit wins 94 percent of the time for "best software" queries, but 77 percent of Reddit's wins come from non-review, demand-gen keywords. -Reddit is not just stealing review traffic. It is influencing pipeline at every stage of the buyer journey. 4. The CPC Paradox -At $15 to $20 CPC, Reddit wins 45 percent of the time. At $50-plus CPC, that number hits 67 percent. -You are paying $50 per click while a two-year-old Reddit thread captures the organic click above you. 5. Authority Alone Does Not Win Anymore -High domain authority no longer guarantees rankings. Brands that win build long-tail infrastructure aligned to real customer queries. -Long-tail blog content consistently outperforms thin category pages. The edge goes to operators who build depth, not just links. 6. Subreddits Are the Real Competitors -It is not Reddit as a monolith. It is specific communities. The CRM subreddit showed a 49 percent win rate. r/EmailMarketing hit 68 percent. r/SmallBusiness drove nearly 141K monthly searches across tracked queries. -One subreddit can dominate an entire B2B category. These are your real competitors. 7. Long-Tail Is Where Reddit Dominates -For keywords with six or more words, Reddit's win rate hits 87 percent. Years of user questions created a library of hyper-specific content that is nearly impossible to replicate overnight. -That long-tail depth fuels both Google rankings and LLM citations. If you are not building long-tail assets, you are invisible in AI search. 8. Reddit Now Shapes LLM Visibility -B2B buyers use peers, communities, and LLMs to validate decisions, and LLMs are citing Reddit more than ever. -If you are absent from key subreddits, you likely do not exist in AI-generated answers either. Reddit presence influences both the SERP and the model. 9. The Operator Playbook for Winning on Reddit -Run a keyword gap analysis against reddit.com. Identify three to five subreddits consistently outranking you. Engage with value, not pitches. Earn credibility first. -Invest in high-quality educational content and measure sentiment and LLM visibility as part of your growth system. This is how you build presence that compounds. Resources & Tools: 🔗 Reddit 🔗 Google — 👋🏾 Let's stay connected — ╰ Subscribe to my channel: @RossSimmondsTV ╰ Instagram: @thecoolestcool ╰ Twitter / X: https://x.com/TheCoolestCool ╰ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rosssimmonds
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RSS 48: The Fractional CMO Playbook: From Underdog to $270K
Apr 1000:24:18Tap to summarizeIn this episode of The Ross Simmonds Show, Ross breaks down how he built a quarter-million-dollar solo consulting business before 30 and how he would engineer that same growth today as a fractional CMO in the AI era. From personal brand foundations to referral flywheels to public speaking as a client acquisition engine, this is a tactical, no-excuses blueprint for building authority and pipeline as a one-person growth operation. Key Takeaways and Insights: 1.From Basement to $270K: The Origin Story -Ross built a quarter-million-dollar solo business before 30 with no elite network and no big-city advantage. Just reps, value creation, and commitment to the long game. -Underdogs win when they stop waiting for permission and start stacking consistent execution. 2.What a Fractional CMO Actually Does -A fractional CMO provides strategic marketing leadership across brand, messaging, content, search, and growth without the full-time cost. Multiple companies. Real equity upside. -It is one of the highest-leverage positions in the market right now for marketers who own outcomes, not just tasks. 3.Personal Brand Is the Foundation -If someone Googles you today, what shows up? Buy your domain. Control your narrative. Publish content aligned to your niche and your ideal client profile. -Your name is an asset. Treat it like one or someone else will define it for you. 4.Consistency Beats Excuses in the AI Era -AI removes friction. It does not replace strategy. If you have no clients and you are not posting daily, that is the problem. -Visibility is engineered through repurposing content across LinkedIn, X, Threads, YouTube, and podcasts. Not hoped for. 5.Build Leverage with Talent and AI -Combine AI systems with high-level human talent. Use tools like Claude, ChatGPT, Fathom, and Superhuman to increase capacity without adding headcount. -Hire globally. Skill beats geography. Layer systems and people and you get agency-level output from a solo operation. 6.Diversify Revenue Without Destroying Focus -Courses, speaking, e-commerce, consulting — multiple income streams are real. But side quests can build skills or kill focus depending on how you sequence them. -Depth compounds faster than scattered effort. Focus accelerates revenue growth. 7.Referral Flywheels as Passive Leverage -Do great work, earn inbound referrals, and build a referral program that earns without direct delivery. Partner with agencies and specialists to expand capability without expanding overhead. -Compounding trust beats cold outreach every time. 8.Public Speaking as a Client Acquisition Engine -Speaking landed Ross publicly traded clients. Reps build confidence. Confidence builds pipeline. Add value on stage and the rest follows. -Most people fear judgment. The reality: few remember you after two hours. Get on stage anyway. 9.Ignore Hype Cycles. Play the Long Game. -"SEO is dead" is a recurring headline. It has been wrong every time. Trends rotate. Fundamentals compound. -Decades of focused reps create unfair advantage. AI matters. Shiny objects do not. 10.Focus Is a Competitive Advantage -Stop doom-scrolling. Start building. Do not argue with trolls. Create instead. -Protect your mindset like you protect revenue. The long game rewards discipline above everything else. Resources & Tools: 🔗 Claude 🔗 ChatGPT 🔗 Fathom 🔗 Superhuman — 👋🏾 Let's stay connected — ╰ Subscribe to my channel: @RossSimmondsTV ╰ Instagram: @thecoolestcool ╰ Twitter / X: @thecoolestcool ╰ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rosssimmonds
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RSS 47: The 10-Year Shift: Why Distribution Is Your Best AI Strategy
Apr 100:28:01Tap to summarizeIn this episode of The Ross Simmonds Show, Ross makes the case that AI visibility isn't a new game — it's the result of a decade of distribution compounding in plain sight. He breaks down why CREAM is dead, why D.R.E.A.M. wins, and exactly which channels, from Reddit to YouTube to review sites, are shaping what Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity actually cite. Key Takeaways and Insights: The 10-Year Head Start Most Brands Missed AI visibility didn't start with ChatGPT. It started with consistent content distribution years before LLMs entered the conversation. The brands winning in AI-powered search today built authority everywhere, early. Momentum favors those who showed up first and often. CREAM Is Dead. DREAM Wins. "Content Rules Everything Around Me" is outdated. Distribution Rules Everything Around Me is the new mandate. Creation is easier than ever. Attention is not. Visibility in AI systems is engineered through amplification, not hope. Google Is Still the Dominant AI Platform The most-used AI discovery engine isn't ChatGPT or Perplexity. It's Google, and millions use it daily without realizing they're inside an AI-powered experience. AI Overviews shape answers before users ever see the 10 blue links. The goal is to influence the answer, not just the ranking. SEO Isn't Dead. It's a Distribution Channel. SEO remains critical for bottom-of-funnel and transactional queries. Double E-E-A-T, Experience, Expertise, Authority, Trust, matters more than ever. Most teams optimize pages. The best teams optimize ecosystems. Reddit's B2B Takeover Reddit now dominates high-CPC, long-tail, and commercial-intent SERPs and is generating millions of citations inside Google AI Overviews and LLM responses. The strategy: organic participation through authentic, useful answers in the right subreddits, and paid capture of high-intent users already validating buying decisions. YouTube as a Search Weapon Google prioritizes YouTube in AI results because it's inside their ecosystem, and AI Overviews are increasingly embedding video responses. If you'd write a blog post about it, you should consider filming it. Influencer collaborations can shift SERP narratives faster than most teams realize. Review Sites and Third-Party Validation G2, Capterra, TrustRadius, Yelp, and TripAdvisor are high-trust sources that LLMs actively pull from. Reviews and awards influence AI credibility signals directly. Fill out every field. Encourage every review. Do the unsexy work, because LLMs do. Offsite Mentions and Digital PR as AI Fuel Inside LLMs, brand mentions matter, not just backlinks. Guest posts, podcasts, newsletters, and press build the narrative association that shapes AI understanding. Repeated brand and category pairing across the web is how you train AI to associate you with your space. Marketing is distributed storytelling at scale. The Modern Distribution Stack SEO foundation. Reddit, organic and paid. YouTube strategy. Review site optimization. Offsite mentions and digital PR. Your website is one node in the system, not the whole system. Resources & Tools: 🔗 Reddit 🔗 YouTube 🔗 G2 🔗 Capterra 🔗 TrustRadius 🔗 TripAdvisor 🔗 ChatGPT 🔗 Perplexity — 👋🏾 Let's stay connected — ╰ Subscribe to my channel: @RossSimmondsTV ╰ Instagram: @thecoolestcool ╰ Twitter / X: @thecoolestcool ╰ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rosssimmonds
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RSS 46: AI Is Not Search. Here's What It Actually Is with Britney Muller
Mar 2700:59:53Tap to summarizeIn this episode of The Ross Simmonds Show, Ross sits down with Britney Muller, AI educator and founder of Orange Labs, to unpack what marketers are getting wrong about large language models, why reverse engineering ChatGPT is a dead end, and how to build real leverage in a probabilistic world. From practical AI workflows to the ethical risks shaping the future of the industry, this is a first-principles breakdown of what actually matters next. Key Takeaways and Insights: 1. AI is not search, it is a different machine entirely - LLMs are probabilistic word prediction systems, not ranking engines. There are no ranking factors inside ChatGPT and no URLs in its training data. - Most marketers are forcing AI into an outdated SEO mental model, and new technology requires a new framework. 2. Understanding RAG and how visibility actually works - LLMs are often paired with real-time search to stay current, but the core model and the retrieval layer are two separate systems. - Visibility in AI requires influence across both training data and search ecosystems, and SEO still matters even as the mechanics are shifting. 3. Brand mentions over backlinks - LLMs magnify what appears most frequently in training data, which means contextual brand mentions are becoming leverage. - One startup paid for brand mentions on commonly retrieved URLs rather than links and it worked. Distribution across relevant conversations increases the probability of surfacing. 4. Why you cannot reverse engineer LLMs - There is no deterministic ranking system to hack. Outputs vary across identical prompts because of probabilistic modeling. - Most AI tracking tools rely on synthetic prompts and crude metrics. Guarantees in GEO are dangerous and honesty builds trust. 5. Build your own AI tracking stack - Internal tools are now cheaper and more powerful than off-the-shelf platforms. Running prompts multiple times per day allows teams to measure probability ranges. - APIs allow thousands of queries at minimal cost. Control your data and do not outsource your intelligence. 6. Real AI workflows built by marketers - Competitive engagement scraping combined with AI-personalized outreach is producing 80 percent response rates. HARO filtering systems can now auto-draft responses inside Slack in real time. - The common thread across every workflow that works is the same: start with a clear problem, then layer in AI. 7. AI as personal leverage - Brittany used ChatGPT to win a home bidding war with a personalized letter and reframed a payment dispute email as a lawyer, which resulted in payment within 30 minutes. - AI is not just marketing leverage. It is life leverage. Literacy creates power. 8. Is SEO dead? Not quite. - Google patents suggest AI-first interfaces may replace traditional SERPs, and organic traffic levels will likely not return to pre-AI highs. - The pie may shrink but search will not disappear. Off-site distribution and social proof will matter more than ever. 9. The ethical risks of AI power - A small group of decision-makers controls foundational AI systems, and the incentives in place favor hype cycles and growth over accountability. - Reinforcement learning optimizes for pleasing users, not truth. AI literacy must include understanding bias and power structures. 10. The rise of AI agents - Early agents were mostly hype, but new iterations like Claude Chrome integrations can now visually interpret and act inside browsers using screenshot-based reasoning. -The future of marketing may involve AI transacting on behalf of users entirely, and execution changes workflows. Resources & Tools: 🔗 Orange Labs 🔗 ChatGPT 🔗 Claude — 👋🏾 Let's stay connected — ╰ Subscribe to my channel: @RossSimmondsTV ╰ Instagram: @thecoolestcool ╰ Twitter / X: @thecoolestcool ╰ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rosssimmonds — 🎙️ Let's stay connected with Brittany — ╰ Twitter / X: @BritneyMuller ╰ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/britneymuller
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