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Traffic Think Tank
Semrush / Search Engine Land · Independent practitioner
Our verdict
A real and durable community, but it is being included here with a clear flag. It has no AI SEO curriculum, only an active Slack channel, and it does not publish a price or a refund policy on its own site. The founders who built its reputation are gone. If a reader wants peer access to working SEOs it remains one of the better networks. If they want to learn AI search, this is the wrong purchase and a review site should say so directly.
Some details could not be verified directly from the provider. Check before you buy.
- Price
- Not published
- Pricing model
- Subscription
- Level
- Intermediate, Advanced
- Delivery
- Self-paced
- Access
- For the life of the subscription, no minimum commitment, cancel anytime
- Community
- Slack
- Languages
- English
- We checked
- 2026-09-20
No price is displayed on trafficthinktank.com as of 2026-09-20. The site confirms monthly and annual options with annual at roughly 20 percent off the monthly rate and a lock in price for life claim. The only concrete figures available are from a G2 pricing listing last updated October 2024 showing 119 per member per month and 1,190 per member per year. Those 2024 figures are unverified for 2026 and should be treated as indicative only.
Open course website →What this course actually is
Traffic Think Tank began as an independent private SEO community founded by Matthew Howells-Barby, Ian Howells and Nick Eubanks. Semrush acquired it in February 2023 for a reported 1.8 million dollars, and it now operates as a Search Engine Land community with the founders no longer in operating roles. The product today is primarily a Slack community of roughly 1,200 members across about 21 topic channels, one of which is dedicated to AI and shows a few hundred participants, plus an on demand academy library inherited from the original business. Public pages no longer display a price, and the most recent figures available come from a third party listing dated 2024. For a buyer specifically seeking AI search training this is a peer network rather than a curriculum. There is no published AI SEO course path and no stated refund policy on the current site.
What you learn
Slack community channels
- SEO (stated 312 members)
- AI (stated 287 members)
- Paid search (stated 198)
- Ecommerce (stated 142)
- Local SEO (stated 124)
On demand academy library
- Inherited library described at acquisition as 300+ hours of educational video and on demand courses
Subjects covered
- SEO fundamentals
- Ecommerce & local SEO
- Agency, clients & careers
Who it suits
Worth your money if
Working search marketers who want a durable peer network and are buying access to conversation rather than curriculum
Look elsewhere if
Anyone who wants structured AI search training, or anyone who will not buy without seeing a price first
Aimed at: In-house SEOs, Agencies & consultants. Prerequisites: Positioned for working search marketers rather than beginners
Strengths and weaknesses
What it does well
- A genuinely large and long established peer network with roughly 1,200 members across about 21 channels
- The AI channel is real and active, with the site citing 287 participants
- Backed by Semrush and Search Engine Land, so it is unlikely to disappear overnight
- No minimum commitment and cancel anytime, with an annual discount
- Includes discounts on SMX training and events, which has standalone value for practitioners
Where it falls short
- No price is displayed anywhere on the public site, which is a transparency problem for a subscription product
- No published refund policy
- No AI SEO curriculum or course path. The AI content is a Slack channel, not training
- The founders who gave it its reputation are no longer operating it, so the current editorial quality is unverified
- No independent rating could be found on G2, Trustpilot or similar despite its size
- The academy library dates largely from the pre acquisition era and no refresh cadence is published
How it scores, and why
Support and community is the only strong score and deservedly so, given roughly 1,200 members and an active AI channel. Curriculum depth is low because there is no AI search course path and the academy library predates the current AI era. Instructor authority drops to 5 because the reputational founders are advisors only and no current instructor is named. Value for money is penalised hard for showing no price and no refund policy on the public site, which prevents any real assessment.
Who teaches it
Community operated, originally founded by Matthew Howells-Barby, Ian Howells and Nick Eubanks. Founded as an independent private SEO community. Acquired by Semrush in February 2023. The original founders stayed on as advisors rather than in active operational roles, and the community is now run under the Search Engine Land brand.
The acquisition and its terms are independently reported by They Got Acquired, including the price structure and member and revenue figures at the time. What cannot be verified is who teaches or curates today, since the founders are advisors rather than operators and no named instructor is published on the current site.
- Founders previously held senior search roles and ran their own consultancies
- Now operated by Semrush, owner of Search Engine Land and SMX
If this one is not right
What we checked
- https://trafficthinktank.com/: Slack community of 1,200+ members across 21 channels with stated per channel counts including AI at 287, monthly and annual options with 20 percent annual discount, cancel anytime, Semrush trademark and Search Engine Land branding
- https://trafficthinktank.com/register/: Confirms monthly and yearly tiers exist but displays no prices
- https://theygotacquired.com/community/traffic-think-tank-acquired-by-semrush/: February 2023 Semrush acquisition for 1.8 million dollars, founder names, 750 active members and roughly 1 million ARR at acquisition, 300+ hours of video, founders moved to advisory roles
- https://www.g2.com/products/traffic-think-tank/pricing: Third party pricing listing of 119 per member per month and 1,190 per member per year, last updated October 2024
What we could not verify
- Current 2026 price, which is not published on the site
- Refund policy
- Whether the academy library has been updated since the Semrush acquisition
- Who currently curates content and runs the community
- Whether any live sessions still run
- Whether any AI search specific training exists inside the academy portal
Reviewed by the bestaiseo.courses editorial desk on 2026-09-20. Confidence in this record: low. We hold no affiliate relationship with this provider.