Good morning, search marketers, do you have a dream?
SEO toolset provider Ahrefs does and it's ambitious. CEO Dmitry Gerasimenko announced the company's plans to take on Google with a search engine that flips the ad-driven business model on its head. The Ahrefs engine would have the privacy focus of DuckDuckGo and the 90/10 profit sharing model with content creators of, well, no one — it could be the first. (Ahrefs would take the 10 percent cut.)
"If you like this idea and willing to help you should apply to our ML and development positions. We are especially interested in Rust & OCaml developers and Data Science people with practical experience in handling text or search," Gerasimenko tweeted.
Regardless of whether it ever actually gets off the ground, it's an interesting proposition for those of us in search to consider how different our industry would be if Google had taken a different tack than AdWords.
Speaking of Google and ads… Google Marketing Live, the company's annual showcase for new ads and analytics features is happening on May 14. Usually just the main keynotes are available via livestream, however, this year, more than 8 hours of it will be viewable from your desk.
Apple's app discovery ads are now available in 46 more countries. Advertisers running Apple Search Ads campaigns can also now target multiple regions in a single campaign.
Lots more below, including a tip on why knowing some Python could be a big help.
Ginny Marvin
Editor-In-Chief
Quick links to stories mentioned above:
+ Ahrefs, SEO toolset provider, to build their own search engine to compete with Google
+ Apple extends Search Ads support to 46 more countries