Sunday Rundown #98 – Who ruined the internet?

by | November 5, 2023 | Sunday Rundown

Sunday Rundown #98

With Halloween behind us and the Christmas season on the horizon, the news from the digital marketing world just keeps on coming. Tune in to Sunday Rundown #98 🙂

The people who ruined the internet

As the public begins to believe Google is not as useful anymore, what happens to the cottage industry of search engine optimisation experts who struck content oil and smeared it all over the web? Well, they find a new way to get rich and keep the party going.

The alligator got my attention. Which, of course, was the point. When you hear that a 10-foot alligator is going to be released at a rooftop bar in South Florida, at a party for the people being accused of ruining the internet, you cannot quite stop yourself from being curious. If it was a link — “WATCH: 10-foot Gator Prepares to Maul Digital Marketers” — I would have clicked. But it was an IRL opportunity to meet the professionals who specialise in this kind of gimmick, the people turning online life into what one tech writer recently called a “search-optimized hellhole.” So I booked a plane ticket to the Sunshine State. 

A lot of folks are unhappy, in 2023, with their ability to find information on the internet, which, for almost everyone, means the quality of Google Search results. The links that pop up when they go looking for answers online, they say, are “absolutely unusable”; “garbage”; and “a nightmare” because “a lot of the content doesn’t feel authentic.” Some blame Google itself, asserting that an all-powerful, all-seeing, trillion-dollar corporation with a 90 per cent market share for online search is corrupting our access to the truth. But others blame the people I wanted to see in Florida, the ones who engage in the mysterious art of search engine optimisation, or SEO. 

HubSpot picks up B2B data provider Clearbit to enhance its AI platform

HubSpot, the Boston-based marketing software maker and CRM platform announced it is acquiring the B2B data provider Clearbit to enhance its platform with third-party company data spanning millions of businesses. The deal also brings Clearbit’s over 400,0000 users and 1,500+ business customers to HubSpot and will eventually see the two platforms combine to provide HubSpot’s customer base with expanded data plus actionable insights.

Founded in 2015, Clearbit began as a tool that would help users hunt down email addresses associated with a company, as well as employee information like their name, job title and other details, like social media accounts. The idea was that this information would help companies better understand their leads and vet their sales. SV Angel and First Round Capital were among the startup’s first backers.

Bonus links

Thank you for taking the time to read our Sunday Rundown #98. If you have a story that you want to see in this series, reply to us below or contact us.