Vote for the 2026 Most Influential PPC Experts

2026 Ranking Methodology

In the table below, you'll find our updated ranking methodology for the upcoming Top 50 final ranking. The idea is that if you would use the same methodology, you should get the same ranking. Of course, you may disagree with our ranking factors or weights, but we believe it's the most balanced approach to generate a list of influential PPC experts.

Ranking factor
Max score (weight)
Raw data methodology
Scoring methodology
Valid votes
20%
Counting all the votes from the valid survey entries (up to 5 votes per person).

Duplicate entries or obvious “friends & family” voting behavior will be discarded.
We will use log transformation to normalize this data.
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Experts need at least 10 votes to be eligible for the Top 50.
Speaking engagements
15%
We'll count the number of speaking engagements in English of each expert (if any) during 2025, both in-person as virtual. Not all events are eligible, we don't count company webinars or small local events. We do count well-known events like all SMX events, Hero Conf, Friends of Search, ADworld experience, Pubcon, MozCon, etc.
Each 2025 speaking engagement generates 25%. So experts with four or more engagements will score 100%.
Hosting a podcast
10%
If the expert (co)hosts a podcast that released new episodes during Q4 2025, we'll sum the number of ratings on Apple and Spotify.
If the podcast contains (mostly) the same content as the expert's YouTube channel, we only count one platform (the one where they scored the highest).
We will use log transformation to normalize this data.
Hosting a YouTube channel
10%
If the expert (co)hosts a YouTube channel, we'll make a snapshot of the number of subscribers in December 2025.

If two experts with at least two votes share the same YouTube channel, we assign 50% of the channel subscribers to each of them.
We will use log transformation to normalize this data.
LinkedIn engagement
10%
We'll use PhantomBuster’s LinkedIn activity extractor to fetch all the 2025 likes, comments, and reposts on original posts from experts with at least 10 votes.
We will use log transformation to normalize this data.
Guest posts on SEL, SEJ, PPC Hero and other relevant publications
7%
We'll count all the experts’ guest posts on relevant publications during 2025. Posts on your company website don't count.
We'll use a similar linear approach as with speaking engagements, with scores between 25% and 100% depending on the number of posts on these websites.
Published a book
7%
We'll check if the expert published a relevant book in English. Only real books for sale on Amazon with an ISBN count (no company ebooks).
If the book is a recent one (published in 2023 or later) and the expert was the only author, they'll get a 100% score.
If the book is older or the expert is a co-author, they get a 50% score.
LinkedIn followers
7%
We'll make a snapshot of the follower count in December 2025.
We will use log transformation to normalize this data.
Newsletter
4%
We'll check if the expert has an active newsletter, on LinkedIn or through a newsletter sign-up form on their website.
Having a newsletter generates the full 4% score unless the newsletter is shared by two experts, in which case the score is 2% for each.
Course
4%
We'll check if the expert created an on-demand course in English about PPC.
Courses on CXL and LinkedIn Learning generate the full 4% score while selling your own course generates 3%.
Guest appearances on podcasts
6%
We'll count all the experts’ guest appearances on relevant podcasts in 2025.
We'll use a similar linear approach as with speaking engagements, with scores between 25% and 100% depending on the number of appearances.
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