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Happy Thursday!
In this week’s newsletter, we cover:
- 🎓 How Walden University Built a $500K Organic Moat to Capture Adult Learners
- 📊 Reddit, LinkedIn & YouTube Now Drive Nearly Half of All AI Search Citations
- 👀 The Latest in B2B SaaS This Week
- 🧠 This Week’s Brain Food
- ➕ The Best Content Across the Web
Let’s get into it.
🎓 How Walden University Built a $500K Organic Moat to Capture Adult Learners
The demographic cliff is here. Traditional college-aged students are disappearing, and most universities are still fighting over scraps with glossy brochures and paid ads that drain budgets faster than they fill enrollment funnels.
Walden University took a different path, building an online degree content moat worth over $500,000 in monthly organic traffic.
Instead of competing for shrinking traditional enrollments, Walden targeted the fastest-growing segment in higher education: adult learners seeking graduate and doctoral degrees. And it’s paying off.
Nearly 1,000 program pages systematically capture high-intent searches like “online doctorate in clinical psychology” and “affordable MBA programs” — keywords worth $30-55 per click that competitors are still paying for while Walden ranks organically.
In our latest breakdown, we deconstruct Walden’s strategy and reveal how they built an enrollment engine that compounds over time:
- Non-branded keyword dominance: 70% of their organic traffic comes from searchers who aren’t looking for Walden specifically — they’re looking for solutions Walden provides.
- Strategic content architecture: Doctoral programs get 253 pages and generate $283K in traffic value because research shows adults without credentials view graduate degrees as most valuable.
- Radical cost transparency: Showing total program costs ($104K-$150K) upfront scares away tire-kickers but builds trust with serious candidates who actually enroll.
- Systematic barrier removal: Every page addresses the exact concerns research shows stop adult learners — affordability, flexibility, time to completion, and career outcomes.
- Multiple conversion paths: Five distinct CTAs capture prospects at different decision stages, from “Apply Now” to “Chat with Specialist.”
The moat isn’t built from any single tactic. It’s the feedback loop between them. Better targeting brings in higher-quality traffic, stronger conversions justify more content, and that content captures even more of the market. It’s a flywheel, not a campaign.
Read the full breakdown on Foundation Labs to see the complete playbook for building your institution’s organic enrollment engine.
📊 Reddit, LinkedIn & YouTube Drive Nearly Half of All AI Search Citations
The internet’s new authority isn’t publishers or brands. It’s communities.
A new AirOps analysis of over 5.5M AI-generated answers finds that user-generated content and community platforms are becoming the dominant trust layer shaping brand visibility in AI search.
Interestingly, this influence isn’t evenly distributed across platforms: tools like Perplexity and Google AI Mode rely more heavily on user-generated content than ChatGPT and Gemini.
Reddit is one of the most dominant sources, appearing in ~22% of all AI search citations across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Mode. LinkedIn ranked among the top three most-cited sources across multiple models, while YouTube citations appeared in 75% of non-branded queries.
Together, these community platforms account for 48% of the validation signals that determine which brands appear in AI-generated answers.
So, while owned content still matters for accuracy, off-site community validation now determines visibility. AI systems interpret Reddit discussions as peer credibility, LinkedIn as expert validation, and YouTube as visual proof of expertise.
It’s a good reminder to diversify your presence across community platforms where trust is built. Combining authoritative on-site content with authentic participation in Reddit discussions, LinkedIn thought leadership, and educational YouTube content can help compound credibility that carries across audiences and AI models.
The era of controlling your narrative through owned channels alone is over. Visibility now depends on where communities validate your expertise.
👀 What’s the Latest in B2B SaaS This Week?
🌐 ChatGPT Atlas browser could drain ad budgets by mimicking human clicks | Search Engine Land
💰 Apple nears deal to pay Google $1B annually to power new Siri, report says | Tech Crunch
🤖 ChatGPT’s October Update: Fewer Mentions, Tougher Competition | Profound
🤝 Building Brand Trust in the Age of AI: Reddit Partners with G2 | Reddit for Business
🔓 Pinterest CEO touts open source AI: ‘tremendous performance’ with reduced costs | Tech Crunch
🚨 New Podcast Alert: AI’s Impact on Marketing, SEO, and B2B Growth
In the latest episode of The Ross Simmonds Show, Ross joins Craig Hewitt on the Rogue Startups Podcast to break down how AI is fundamentally reshaping B2B marketing — and why most of what you knew about SEO and distribution is already outdated.
Google SEO is slowing down. Reddit is becoming a discovery engine. And the marketers winning right now aren’t the ones with the best AI prompts — they’re the ones creating content so valuable that AI can’t replicate it.
This episode is essential listening for anyone navigating the chaos of AI-driven marketing. Ross shares what’s actually working in 2025, which platforms deserve your attention, and how to build a distribution strategy that doesn’t collapse when the next algorithm update drops.
Here’s what Ross covers:
- What’s working in B2B right now: Personal brand content from your team and performance-based micro-influencers are driving real leads — not generic corporate posts.
- The SEO reality check: AI has crushed Google traffic for many brands. YouTube, Instagram, Reddit, and LinkedIn are the new search engines.
- Create what AI can’t: “Ridiculously valuable” content with original data and storytelling still wins. AI helps with distribution, not ideas.
- Platform strategy decoded: LinkedIn for B2B buyers. YouTube for long-term discoverability. Instagram as an underutilized opportunity. And Reddit as the most underhyped channel influencing purchase decisions.
- Ross’s Hierarchy of Needs: Stop obsessing over channels. Focus on revenue, then traffic, then pick your platforms strategically.
Listen to the full episode on Apple Podcast or Spotify to future-proof your marketing strategy before your competitors do.
🧠 This Week’s Brain Food
It sounds like something from a fairy tale or Disney movies, but research confirms that we aren’t the only ones sleeping when the sun goes down — trees do it too.
Using laser scanning technology, scientists from Finland, Austria, and Hungary tracked silver birch trees from dusk to sunrise and found a consistent pattern: branches start drooping about an hour after sunset, reaching their lowest point 9-11 hours later — with some branches dropping as much as 10 centimeters. When morning arrives, they slowly return to their normal position over the course of three hours.
The movement is actually caused by a circadian rhythm — the same biological clock that governs sleep patterns in animals.
Dr. Eetu Puttonen from Finland’s National Land Survey explains that these movements are tied to the tree’s water balance. During the day, branches position themselves to maximize sunlight capture for photosynthesis. At night, drooping likely reduces heat loss and conserves energy.
While botanists have known about circadian rhythms in small plants for centuries, this is the first time researchers have monitored full-grown trees in their natural environment using high-resolution digital technology.
Turns out, forests aren’t just resting at night. They’re legitimately asleep — and now we can watch them dream.
Want to sponsor our next issue? Reply to this email, and we’ll share how you can reach more SaaS founders and marketers today.
🏅 Reddit Post of the Week
Has anyone else noticed Google’s latest change to ads? Thoughts on this sneaky move? In r/PPC
🎖️ LinkedIn Post of the Week
Most companies are so obsessed with keyword-driven SEO that they ignore the goldmine from their internal pages. by Eli Schwartz
🤳🏽 Nice Finds You Should Binge
- An Old SEO’s Musings: How I’m Thinking About GEO | Foundation Marketing
- Why a lower CTR can be better for your PPC campaigns | Search Engine Land
- State of Search Q3 2025: Behaviors, Trends, and Clicks Across the US & Europe | Datos (Gated)
- How We’re Driving LLM Visibility at Semrush | Semrush
💻 Job Postings Worth Checking Out
Looking for a new opportunity? Here’s a round-up of some exciting job openings in the B2B SaaS space.
- Foundation Marketing | Senior Account Manager
- Foundation Marketing | B2B Creative Director
- Foundation Marketing | Reddit Specialist
- Foundation Marketing | Content Creator
- Foundation Marketing | Strategic Editor
- Foundation Marketing | Senior Content Strategist
- Foundation Marketing | Executive Marketing & Outreach Assistant
Want us to include your job postings in our next issue? Reply to this email, and we’ll share how you can reach more SaaS professionals today.
🎧 What We’re Wired Into This Week
This SaaS news smattering is brought to you by Ethan Crump!
If you have any feedback, suggestions, or ideas you want to see in this newsletter, feel free to email me at ethan@foundationinc.co. We’re always looking for ways to improve and provide the best B2B SaaS marketing resources.
Have a great weekend!
