Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 28/01/2026NEW research: sparktoro.com/blog/new-res... If you give ChatGPT the same request for product recommendations 100X, will you ever get the same list twice? And what does that answer mean for folks who try to track their brand presence in AI tools? Finally, some real answers 🧐 113214
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 17/12/2025I'm going to share a dark secret with all of you. My Kindle reading habits are those of a thirsty, middle-aged white lady who cannot get enough romantasy. And apparently this gentleman is my type? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 2130
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 30/11/2025Best new feature Google's built in years. Yes, including all the AI stuff. 281
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 12/11/2025NEW in SparkToro today: Take Action 16 common marketing tasks (from PR pitches to content ideation to landing page suggestions) made easier by combining real audience data + LLM calls. Anyone can try it free starting now 👇 031
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 11/11/2025DONATE here: www.sleepout.org/participants... Next week, I'm chipping in $6,500 and sleeping outside in the freezing Philly cold w @wilreynolds.bsky.social, not b/c I want to (dear god I am not built for sleeping outside in a cardboard box 😅🥶), but b/c it's important. Would 💗 your support 3101
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 04/11/2025No. Your Twitter traffic did NOT double overnight. What happened? Twitter's been stagnating/declining since 2023 The growth team growth hacked (making links auto-open in webview) They hope marketers will fall for it & pay more attention again. But, it's nothing more than smoke & mirrors. 117050
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 29/10/2025I *know* Google Alerts is aware of these brand mentions for my company. And yet... 😡😤😒😠🤬 they won't send me alerts. It's inexplicable. Google (the search engine) clearly has these URLs indexed, so what gives? Mystifying. Thank goodness for🔔🐭 250
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 28/10/2025I've got a new job today: alertmouse.com Not leaving my other jobs, but alongside my friends Adam & Nathan, we built a "what if Google Alerts was really good?" product. Your first alert is free forever; I suspect that if Google's let you down the way it has me, you'll like it a lot 😎👇 5325
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 24/10/2025This week I made a distinctly American variant of risotto that was, unquestionably, one of the most beautiful things I've ever plated. But... Gotta say it wasn't my favorite. I fell for an Instagram recipe based on looks > flavor. Still good just not *great*. 390
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 21/10/2025AGENCY OWNERS! Help yourself & your fellow agencies out: randfish.typeform.com/to/eFoJ3tXz Paddy Moogan is once again running the Digital Agency Owner Survey for 2025. Last year's results were incredibly compelling; this year's will be, too. 189
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 21/10/2025"You need to use AI to make your marketing tasks more efficient." - everyone's boss right now I've been notably skeptical of AI, but begrudgingly admit... sometimes it's helpful. So, we built a "Take Action" SparkToro feature. If you're up to test, email me. Details 👇 060
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 15/10/2025Seattle! C'mon down to SparkTogether tomorrow. The weather's fine. The venue's lovely. The fits are poppin'. sparktoro.com/sparktogether 180
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 13/10/2025This was one of the most popular blog posts I wrote in SparkToro's early years: sparktoro.com/blog/the-sec... So, I'm sharing it again. It's about Spaghetti all Carbonara, but actually about how to get better at almost anything rather than looking for "that one secret." 130
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 11/10/2025Friend sent us this photo from yesterday's Bump In the Night Market. Might be the greatest Seattle street shot I've ever seen 280
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 06/10/2025Pretty proud of this About/Contact Us page (for an upcoming side project that, hopefully, launches next week) 3120
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 06/10/2025Not sure when this will come crashing down, but it will. Maybe this is what everyone means when they say "AI will take jobs?" - like... the AI isn't replacing jobs, but the AI bubble will be a force of massive economic destruction that ripples through markets for years. 191
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 02/10/2025My friend, @wilreynolds.bsky.social runs an 8-figure agency. Last year, he lost his entire marketing team. Uh-oh. What does he do?... Take it over personally, and somehow manages to 10X their results. Hear him tell the real story, with numbers, NO RECORDING, at SparkTogether Oct 16. 👇 171
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 30/09/2025"You’d like to think that the conversion of TikTok into a far right wing space will cause a mass exodus of ethical people off the platform, but as we’ve seen with Twitter that’s not something you can rely on." www.techdirt.com/2025/09/30/t... 283
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 18/09/2025My buddy @seattlefoodgeek.bsky.social made the world's first ultrasonic chef's knife. It launches today: seattleultrasonics.com but I got one last night 😎🤫👇 260
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 09/09/2025Founders & marketers are way too scared to talk publicly about their values, ethics, or politics. I joined @alainashearer.bsky.social's Citizen Rebel podcast to explain why it's a marketing superpower to piss some people off while appealing to others: www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLtv... 081
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 02/09/202511AM tomorrow: datos.live/event/datos-... These 4 charts? Just a teaser. We've got 30+ more to share with you about the state of traditional search, AI tools, e-commerce sites, and content platforms, and how user behavior is changing. Get the charts. Get the recording. Register, friends! 😉😎 030
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 30/08/2025www.irishtimes.com/ireland/dubl... I want to know everything about this person. 3132
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 27/08/2025Now let's compare growth rates of AI tool visits to the volume of searches on traditional engines. AI tools - growing, but a declining rate of growth. May and June's growth rates were 1.03X prior months. Traditional search - grew ~1.1X in 2024, flat in 2025 Side by side 👇 100
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 27/08/2025And here's the % of Americans using traditional search engines... No search activity: 5% 1-3 visits/month: 3% 4-9 visits/month: 6% 10+ visits/month: 86% How that's changed since 2023 👇 110
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 27/08/2025% of Americans who... Don't use AI tools at all: 62% Use AI tools 1-3X/month: 9% Use AI tools 4-9X/month: 8% Use AI tools 10X+/month: 21% How that's changed since 2023 👇 172
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 26/08/2025NEW research: sparktoro.com/blog/new-res... Thanks to @LiveDatos, we've got remarkable charts showing: - The changing growth rate of AI tool use - Distribution of AI usage - How traditional search engines have fared Trust me, you don't want to miss it 😉👇 191
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 25/08/2025NEW LAUNCH on @sparktorohq today: describe your audience with natural language (in as much or little detail as you'd like) and (using LLMs) we'll produce a report on that audience's behaviors and demographics. Easy peasy lemon squeezy 👇👇👇 130
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 21/08/2025Here's the full report: www.semrush.com/blog/google-... 020
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 21/08/2025The are lots of erroneous assumptions people make about what AI adoption has changed. But NONE ARE MORE WRONG THAN: "AI searches replace Google searches!" Nope. In fact, the exact opposite is true. 👇 392
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 20/08/2025NEW: sparktoro.com/blog/how-to-... One of the most powerful new features in SparkToro is the ability to research an audience using a natural language description. See it in action in this week's #5MinuteWhiteboard 020
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 19/08/2025sparktoro.com/blog/how-to-... Feel like @amandanat.bsky.social chose the still shot most likely to create curiousity about whether I'd say the f word... Wonder if it'll be effective at driving CTR? 😂 140
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 19/08/2025My friend Mariana has been a doctor for 18 years. She's seen just how broken healthcare systems can be. And now she's doing something to help: www.marianacalleja.com I'm sad that we need services like this, but I'm deeply grateful to people like Mariana who offer it ❤️ 3101
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 15/08/2025The AI Bubble is gonna pop. Just a Q of when and how much. www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/the-ai-bub... 3141
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 12/08/2025NEW: www.wix.com/studio/ai-se... If I had to list the 3 Qs execs are most obsessed with in 2025, it'd be: 1) Is our target market using AI? 2) How much vs. traditional search/social platforms? 3) Which AI tools? Good news--answers are in this piece 😎 050
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 12/08/2025I can't really tell where his hands end and his uhhhh middle? begins 110
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 11/08/2025👋 I'm hiring a part-time Chief of Staff in Seattle to help with all three of my companies: docs.google.com/document/d/1... If you know someone who's a potentially good match, referrals are greatly appreciated. Details are in the doc 🤗 1510
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 07/08/2025To be known is to be loved. My buddy @andrewbohrer.bsky.social brought these back from Paris for me and I feel very, very loved. 050
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 07/08/2025Little wonder the marketing world is in such turmoil: www.theguardian.com/business/202... 140
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 06/08/2025colton.dev/blog/curing-... - I prefer data > anecdotes, but this piece is compelling, and matches my perception, so I'm sharing for those who find individual stories resonate more. 2100
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 03/08/2025Two posts explain how AI *is* taking jobs: 1) layoffnation.substack.com/p/the-ai-mir... - "AI isn’t replacing jobs, it’s masking offshoring." 2) paulkedrosky.com/honey-ai-cap... - "Capital is being reallocated at the expense of other sectors.... Entire categories are starved of investment" 083
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 31/07/2025Balsamiq puts this CTA at the bottom of their posts, and I gotta say, it's really compelling. 150
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 31/07/2025This is a great post, and it uses simple, compelling visuals to get its point across wonderfully: elroy.bot/blog/2025/07... What it highlights for me is how professional, high quality graphics are often LESS valuable than amateur-ish, but viscerally obvious ones. 1255
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 31/07/2025Also loved what Omnidian's head of People, Leah Kyle, had to say about how giving hard feedback IS HOW you treat people with dignity and respect. 000
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 31/07/2025Spoke at Seattle Tech Week's Culture panel on Tuesday, and shared a bad experience from my first startup. After I stepped down as CEO, we made some hires, including one manager in particular, who destroyed many people's belief in our adherence to our core values. Broke my heart 👇 220
Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 30/07/2025Google Alerts is ridiculous. Just shut the product down. Today's an excellent example. Right: all our many brand mentions in LOTS of media, big and small. Left: what Google Alerts sent me 🙄🙄🙄 7250
