In a move that has shaken the very foundations of nerdy LinkedIn posts everywhere, Brian Dean — the man who basically turned “write better content” into a religion — has stepped back from Backlinko and is now whispering SEO sweet-nothings into Semrush’s ear.
Meanwhile, Glen Allsopp, the Batman of uncovering secret affiliate networks, has decided to go full Robin and join Ahrefs, presumably to make sure they still rank #1 when the machines take over.
???? Brian Dean, Part-Time SEO Dad
Dean announced he’ll now be working with Semrush “part-time,” which in SEO years means:
- 1 day per week writing 8,000-word guides on “How To Rank #1 By 2045”
- 6 days meditating on keyword intent under a waterfall
- Occasionally descending from the mountain to remind us that skyscraper content is still a thing
Semrush reportedly doubled its traffic value overnight by buying Backlinko, meaning they can finally flex on Ahrefs at conferences by saying, “Oh, you only have $1.2M in traffic value? Cute.”
????️ Glen Allsopp: SEO Vigilante Joins Ahrefs
On the other side of the internet, Glen Allsopp sold Detailed.com to Ahrefs — giving them:
- A browser extension with 450k weekly users
- An excuse to ship one (1) feature per year faster
- The most polite Brit in SEO now forced to say “Ahrefs” out loud without flinching
Glen claims nothing will change for users. Which is exactly what someone says before launching a $19/mo “Pro” plan that adds the revolutionary ability to see H2s.
???? Keyword Cage Match 2025
This is not just M&A — this is SEO Infinity War.
- Semrush now controls the #2 spot for “link building” (because nothing says victory like pushing Ahrefs to #3).
- Ahrefs gains a man whose life’s work is exposing shady PBN empires, presumably to protect their own shady PBN empire.
- Moz remains in the corner, quietly live-blogging their own obsolescence.
???? Who Wins?
The real winners here are:
- SEO newsletter writers who just got a month of content handed to them
- LinkedIn “thought leaders” who now have a reason to post crying selfies with captions like, “Brian Dean changed my life.”
- Google, who is watching all of us fight for SERP scraps while they roll out 14 new AI features that ignore everything we do