Sean Markey

Sean Markey

Sean Markey is a domain-obsessed SEO that cannot stop building sites, testing stupid ideas, and occasionally stumbling across brilliance. He has built and sold over over 7 figures worth of websites, and is the author of the Rank Theory newsletter.

15 posts
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Spain
Signaling Theory: a lesson in branding from Q.ai
domains

Signaling Theory: a lesson in branding from Q.ai

Why a premium domain is a critical asset for a stealth startup

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3 Min
By: Sean Markey
What The Hell Happened to Cointelegraph.com?
case study

What The Hell Happened to Cointelegraph.com?

One of crypto's early, big news sites, Cointelegraph.com saw its traffic drop from 5m down to basically zero... but why? I've got the answers:

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3 Min
By: Sean Markey
Get The .Com Or Die Trying (Literally)
domains

Get The .Com Or Die Trying (Literally)

A terrifying example of a brand's story being overwritten and how the founder's second startup increased organic traffic after upgrading to a .com.

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2 Min
By: Sean Markey
five big takeaways from the December 2025 Google core algorithm update
search

five big takeaways from the December 2025 Google core algorithm update

If you're a busy founder I rounded up the need-to-know points of the 2025 core algo update so you can make sure your brand can mark itself safe.

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4 Min
By: Sean Markey
stop obsessing over SEO metrics that don't matter
editors desk

stop obsessing over SEO metrics that don't matter

Hello, it's me: human version of old man yells at cloud here to talk about SEO metrics. I've been seeing more and more people on social media/in my private SEO group talking about how their DR (domain rating) is increasing or can someone please tell

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4 Min
By: Sean Markey
Case Study: How We're Making Our Newsletter Rank Everywhere
case study

Case Study: How We're Making Our Newsletter Rank Everywhere

The Goal: To have our Rank Theory newsletter pop up when people search some version of "what are the best SEO newsletters" in LLMs like ChatGPT/Perplexity, as well as appear in Google's AI Overview + organic search for versions of "best SEO newsletter." The

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5 Min
By: Sean Markey
what to do when the domain you acquired won't even rank for branded queries
case study

what to do when the domain you acquired won't even rank for branded queries

Last week I saw a write up on Search Engine Roundtable linking to a Reddit post about, well, I'll just do a block quote: I launched a brand-new website on a new domain, everything looks solid: Here’s the strange part: the site refuses to appear in SERPs

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8 Min
By: Sean Markey
Ahrefs Acquires Detailed.com, Acquihires Glen Allsopp
editors desk

Ahrefs Acquires Detailed.com, Acquihires Glen Allsopp

Ahrefs is a late entry to SEO's Game of Acquisitions, but their deal with longtime industry favorite Glen Allsopp (aka Viperchill) shows that they are not playing around. Glen announced the acquisition at the end of last week via X: I've been friendly with Glen ever

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3 Min
By: Sean Markey
hot take

should we be calling “SEO” for LLMs “GEO” even though it sucks and saps our will to live

There's a discussion running through SEO circles, burning like a wildfire over a desert of pine needles started by someone trying to light their farts on fire. I'm not even talking about whether "GEO" is different from traditional "SEO" (a reverse Interstellar

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5 Min
By: Sean Markey
the future of aged domains in a post-LLM world
domains

the future of aged domains in a post-LLM world

What's Next For Aged Domains In Our Recursive AI Hellscape? I want to talk about something I'm just getting into, how I got there, and what I'm doing... I think you're gonna find it interesting. The quick summary of this is: can

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7 Min
By: Sean Markey
guide

The Top 15 Best SEO Newsletters to Subscribe to in 2026

Updated May 2026 This list, in addition to my own newsletter, contains all the newsletters I, myself, personally read in addition to all the newsletters that Google's stupid algo expects to see on my list that I may not read, but this is my sacrifice to the algo

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9 Min
By: Sean Markey
case study

canva's content ranks for EVERYTHING

I've been wanting to write about this topic for a while. Canva is a DR 92 site that crrrrrrushes it on content. One of the best I've seen. This post is going to be about looking at their success and trying to pick it apart, to

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5 Min
By: Sean Markey

Showing 12 of 15 total posts

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"Sean's Rank Theory is a must read. Sean's personality shines with his rants that make you think he's your beer drinking buddy… and then he switches over and delivers some of the best resources and advice in the SEO industry. Stop reading this and just subscribe."

— Nick LeRoy, SeoForLunch.net

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