A study, conducted by Rock The Rankings, has analysed the social media profiles of the leading people in the SEO and digital marketing industry. This finds that Dharmesh Shah from Hubspot is the most influential figure overall, with the highest number of followers and engagement rate on average.
As a sign of a more progressive development, four influential females make the list including Pam Moore, Aleyda Solis, and Julie Joyce.
The digital marketing industry continues to evolve and the global market is estimated to be worth $786.2 billion by 2026. In addition, the SEO industry is worth, at current rates, around $80 billion. This is also an industry undergoing growth.
As these industries grow, so does the interest in careers. This is borne out by Google Trends data, which shows a 76 percent increase in global searches for ‘SEO jobs’ in the last 12 months.
As to who the industry’s most influential figures are, based on the number of Twitter and LinkedIn followers, number of tweets, engagement rate, and mentions, a weighted rank provides some clues.
The output is shown in the table below.
| Rank | SEO Influencer | Twitter followers | LinkedIn followers | No. of tweets | Mentions (7 days) | Engagement rate (%) * |
| 1 | Dharmesh Shah | 296,500 | 1,036,649 | 20,803 | 178 | 0.16 |
| 2 | John Rampton | 1,257,792 | 45,454 | 38,277 | 141 | 0 |
| 3 | Pam Moore | 285,548 | 348,243 | 134,776 | 11 | 0.72 |
| 4 | Danny Sullivan | 533,000 | 261,623 | 78,888 | 442 | 0.02 |
| 5 | Rand Fishkin | 466,241 | 128,000 | 68,857 | 732 | 0.3 |
| 6 | Neil Patel | 437,410 | 453,000 | 25,517 | 348 | 0.14 |
| 7 | Barry Schwartz | 184,452 | 23,067 | 128,483 | 1809 | 0.01 |
| 8 | Shama Hyder | 45,121 | 615,959 | 25,377 | 45 | 0.01 |
| 9 | Aleyda Solis | 125,110 | 36,465 | 122,052 | 717 | 0.57 |
| 10 | John Mueller | 139,233 | 6,175 | 40,019 | 2110 | 0.01 |
| 11 | Matt Cutts | 508,454 | 5,757 | 32,352 | 20 | 0.02 |
| 12 | Dr. Pete Meyers | 73,918 | 3,734 | 123,872 | 675 | 0.1 |
| 13 | Julie Joyce | 23,151 | 2,850 | 52,520 | 1 | 3.43 |
| 14 | Ann Smarty | 66,016 | 13,472 | 81,794 | 301 | 0 |
| 15 | Glenn Gabe | 52,610 | 3,163 | 76,663 | 418 | 0.02 |
| 16 | Brian Dean | 125,445 | 68,385 | 7,167 | 25 | 0.87 |
| 17 | Shane Barker | 29,956 | 23,995 | 82,147 | 46 | 0.01 |
| 18 | Mike Volpe | 74,428 | 1,496 | 26,295 | 10 | 1.26 |
| 19 | Wil Reynolds | 55,641 | 20,661 | 41,697 | 64 | 0.35 |
| 20 | Cyrus Shepard | 95,977 | 13,610 | 26,249 | 248 | 0.06 |
Coming out in top spot with 1,036,649 Linkedin followers, and over 296,000 Twitter followers, is Dharmesh Shah, co-founder of Hubspot. Shah was formerly the founder and chief executive officer of Pyramid Digital Solutions, a software company. He also published a number of books including Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google.
In second place comes John Rampton, who is an entrepreneur, investor, and online marketing guru He is also founder of the online payments company Due and productivity company Calendar. He was recently named #2 on Top 50 Online Influencers in the World by Entrepreneur Magazine and blogging Expert by Time.
With the highest number of Tweets in the study, third place goes to Pam Moore, founder of digital marketing agency, Marketing Nutz. Moore has composed 134,776 tweets, giving advice and industry views to her 285,548 followers.
Two more influential females in SEO appear in the top 10, including founder of Zen Media Shama Hyder who comes in ninth place, and International SEO Consultant and founder of Orainti, Aleya Solis. Shama Hyder is most popular on Linkedin with 615,959 followers, while Aleyda Solis has a higher number of Twitter followers (125,110).
Google’s very own Public Liason Officer, Danny Sullivan, is also in the top five, due to his impressive number of tweets (78,888) and Twitter followers (533,000).
A spokesperson from Rock The Rankings tells Digital Journal: “Within the SEO industry, there is a lot of conversation on social media, and for those who are new to the industry, it’s vital to connect with the right people. This study aims to help those who want to stay up to date with the latest trends by taking a close look the industry’s most knowledgeable figures who are sharing content on social media.”
