Expert Q&A · No. 02 / 25
Which experts should we approach—and why?
Last updated
The suggested panel combines measurement sceptics, technical practitioners, commercial operators and a platform perspective. The question assignments are editorial judgements, not endorsements.
| Suggested expert | Verified public basis for inclusion | Best questions to put to them |
|---|---|---|
| Rand Fishkin | SparkToro co-founder; published research with Gumshoe examining variation in AI brand recommendations. | Shortlist exclusion, repeat sampling, interpretation and stopping rules. (sparktoro.com) |
| Aleyda Solís | SEO and AI-search consultant; publishes prompt-library and SaaS citation research and hosts Crawling Mondays. | Buying prompts, source analysis and implementation priorities. (aleydasolis.com) |
| Mike King | Founder and chief relevance engineer at iPullRank; publishes AI-search strategy and measurement work. | Technical diagnosis, measurement definitions and intervention evidence. (ipullrank.com) |
| Lily Ray | Vice President, SEO and AI Search at Amsive. | Content quality, factual representation and risky optimisation tactics. (amsive.com) |
| Wil Reynolds | Founder and CEO of Seer Interactive; author of its 2026 GEO procurement questions. | Commercial measurement, agency evaluation and delivery ownership. (seerinteractive.com) |
| Patrick Stox | Ahrefs technical SEO and research author. | Tool definitions, technical access and reproducible reporting. (ahrefs.com) |
| James Crawford | PR Agency One managing director and AMEC Agency Group co-chair, identified in AMEC’s GEO guidance. | Earned-media evidence, reputation and communications measurement. (amecorg.com) |
| Krishna Madhavan | Microsoft Bing co-author of the 13 October 2026 Topics Portfolio announcement. | What first-party citation reporting measures—and what it does not. (blogs.bing.com) |
Complete the panel before publication: recruit an in-house US B2B software buyer, an independent statistician and qualified US advertising/privacy counsel. Do not ask a search practitioner to substitute for legal or statistical review.
Ask every participant to disclose relevant client relationships, software interests, sponsorships and referral arrangements. A supplier can provide valuable evidence without being an independent evaluator.
Sources cited on this page
- sparktoro.com sparktoro.com/blog/new-research-ais-are-highly-inconsistent-when-recommending-br
- aleydasolis.com www.aleydasolis.com/en/
- ipullrank.com ipullrank.com/ai-search-strategy-program?utm_source=openai
- amsive.com www.amsive.com/insights/author/lily-ray/
- seerinteractive.com www.seerinteractive.com/wil-reynolds
- ahrefs.com ahrefs.com/blog/author/patrick-stox/
- amecorg.com amecorg.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/26-05-15-AMEC-GEO-Principles.pdf
- blogs.bing.com blogs.bing.com/webmaster/2026/10/introducing-topics-portfolio-beta-in-ai-perform