Duane Forrester

Founder/CEO

at UnboundAnswers.com

Duane Forrester is a seasoned growth strategist with over 25 years of experience at the forefront of search, content, and AI-driven marketing. As a former executive at Microsoft, he helped build and launch Bing Webmaster Tools, setting industry standards still in use today. He later led enterprise SEO and content strategy at Yext, and served as VP of Industry Insights at Bruce Clay Inc., advising Fortune 500 brands and scaling teams through major digital transformations. Today, as founder of UnboundAnswers, he works directly with early-stage companies to future-proof their marketing, product, and positioning strategies in an increasingly AI-mediated world. Duane brings a unique mix of deep technical expertise and executive-level foresight. He has served on advisory boards for major platforms, contributed to standards-setting initiatives, and authored several books on search and digital strategy. He specializes in helping startups define go-to-market plans, craft machine-facing content strategies, and build sustainable competitive advantages by aligning marketing with modern search infrastructure — from GenAI retrieval systems to structured data and authority signals. Startups working with Duane benefit not just from his strategic clarity, but from his hands-on approach to building repeatable, scalable systems. Whether refining product-market fit, advising on roadmap prioritization, or coaching teams through early traction milestones, he brings actionable insight with an operator’s mindset — and a deep understanding of what actually drives visibility and trust in today’s discovery landscape.

California

AI & Data Science, Consumer FinTech, CyberSecurity, DTC (Direct-to-Consumer), FinTech Enterprise, HealthTech & BioTech, HR Tech, Media & Entertainment, SaaS & B2B Marketplace, Social Media & Community Platforms

AI Content DetectionAI Content StrategyAI GovernanceAI IntermediariesAI Search OptimizationAI StrategyAuthoritativeness SignalsB2B MarketingBrand PositioningBusiness StrategyConsumer BehaviorContent DevelopmentContent StrategyCross-functional Team LeadershipCustomer AcquisitionData-driven MarketingDeveloper RelationsDeveloper-Facing DocumentationDigital MarketingDigital PRDigital TransformationEnterprise SearchEntity Optimizationexecutive communicationFractional CMOGenerative AIGlobal SEOGo-to-Market StrategyGrowth StrategyIndustry AnalystKnowledge GraphsleadershipLocal SEOMarket IntelligenceMartech StrategyMedia IntelligencePlatform StrategyProduct Marketingproduct strategyPublic SpeakingRetrieval-Augmented GenerationSaaS MarketingScalable Marketing SystemsSearch Engine EcosystemSearch Engine MarketingSearch InfrastructureSearch Trend AnalysisSearch UXSemantic SearchSEO StrategyStartup AdvisorStructured DataTechnical SEOThought LeadershipTrust SignalsUser Experience OptimizationVoice SearchWeb AnalyticsWebmaster ToolsZero-Click Search

Articles by Duane Forrester

How to Keep Your Emails Landing in the Inbox with Google’s Updated Spam Policies with Daniel-wise Ojaide

In this Mucker Growth session, Daniel-wise Ojaide from Warmbox.ai delves into the changes to Google and Yahoo’s updated spam policies and how to ensure your emails and outbound campaigns are...

Best Customers, Best Results: Unlocking Retention-Driven B2C Growth with Julius Lai

In this Mucker Growth session, Julius Lai from ArtShare discusses customer retention, which is often overlooked but essential for startups facing growth challenges. The following content will provide practical recaps...

Leveraging a Financial Model for Fundraising Success with Steven Plappert

In this Mucker Growth Session, Steven Plappert, CEO and co-founder of Forecastr, tackles how to use your financial model to the best capacity when fundraising. Your financial model can be...

How to Nail Your Pitch Deck (and Avoid Mistakes Founders Make) with Matt Gore

Have you ever thought of the average attention span per slide when an investor is going through your pitch deck? What kind of pitch deck are investors expecting? Our recent...

How Startups Can Develop a Positioning Strategy To Create a Lasting Brand with Rosabel Tao

In this Mucker Growth session, Rosabel Tao from Fire & Bridge delves into the critical field of startup positioning strategy and its crucial role in shaping enduring brands. Rosabel also...

SaaS Startup Pricing Mistakes (and How to Fix Them) with Kyle Poyar

In this Mucker Growth session, Kyle Poyar from OpenView delves into the critical topic of pricing for SaaS startups, aiming to rectify prevailing mistakes in your pricing strategies. Optimizing SaaS...