Episode web page: https://bit.ly/4lhHPCW

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In this episode of Insights Unlocked, Rand Fishkin, co-founder of SparkToro and marketing industry icon, joins hosts Mike McDowell and Nathan Isaacs to unpack one of the most disruptive shifts in digital marketing today: the death of attribution.

Rand explains how platforms like Google, Facebook, and Reddit are cutting off referral data and turning into "walled gardens," effectively ending marketers' ability to track where traffic and conversions truly originate. This change calls for a radical new playbook—one that trades attribution modeling for brand lift, and prioritizes native content that meets audiences where they are.

What you'll learn in this episode:

Why attribution modeling no longer works—and what to focus on instead

The rise of zero-click marketing and how to succeed with it

How brands can build influence in a closed-platform world

The role of audience intelligence tools like SparkToro in top-of-funnel strategy

Why empathy and behavior observation are more powerful than ever for product and marketing decisions

How customer insights led to SparkToro’s recent product relaunch—and a major growth rebound

Resources & Links:

SparkToro: https://sparktoro.com/

Rand on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/randfishkin/

Snackbar Studio: https://snackbarstudio.com/

Mike on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmcdowell1/

Mike’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@mikedropvideos

Learn more about Insights Unlocked: https://www.usertesting.com/podcast