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Grumpy SEO Guy

Grumpy SEO Guy

Everything I've learned in 14 years of running an SEO agency. Learn how to get, and keep, websites at the top of the search engines. If you listen to this podcast you will know more about how the SEO industry works than 99% of SEO "professionals."

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  • 20 episodes
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Episodes 20

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  • S1 · E145
    April 15 · 11 min

    Should You Use AI Content in 2026 - Episode 145

    Please help keep this podcast free: https://www.patreon.com/grumpyseoguy Should you use AI content? What people have told me. What I do. Search engine land article: https://searchengineland.com/ai-generated-content-google-search-experiment-472234 ahrefs article: https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-generated-content-does-not-hurt-your-google-rankings/

  • S1 · E144
    March 25 · 9 min

    Can You Rank Without Backlinks? (SHORT VERSION) - Episode 144

    4 cases where people say they can rank without backlinks. Is this correct? Do you actually need backlinks? Penalty episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElGAxpB8q1A Please help keep this podcast free: https://www.patreon.com/grumpyseoguy

  • S1 · E143
    March 20 · 12 min

    Bad Answers to A Popular Question - (SEO Is Not About Your Website) - Episode 143

    Please help keep this podcast free: https://www.patreon.com/grumpyseoguy It's not "what can I do to my website?" It's "how does my SEO compare to my competitors?" There is very little you can do to your new websites to improve your SEO. Because that's not how SEO works. Luckily for you, we explain what that is in this episode.

  • S1 · E141
    February 25 · 14 min

    Negative SEO (High Level - What It Does) - Episode 141

    We might do a part 2. Patreon What is negative SEO? What is the purpose of negative SEO? Referenced Episodes: The Difference Between Good Backlinks And Bad Backlinks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFHg6XwPha4 The Difference Between Good Backlinks And Bad Backlinks Part 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dZSbWKJlJ0 Spammy Marketing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFv70Um0gik SEO Penalties https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElGAxpB8q1A SERP Charts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01am10-OwDY

  • S1 · E140
    February 11 · 29 min

    Answers To Reddit SEO Questions Rapid Fire - Episode 140

    Questions: Do PBN sites need traffic? Topical authority? Local SEO clicks without links? Is YMYL different than regular? Have you seen Google penalize a site for paid links? How do you find good link sellers? How do you know which PBN sites are working better? Parked domains reset authority? New update to impression tracking? How do you deal with competitors who sell AIO and GEO? New local algorithm Do websites only have a limited amount of linkjuice to offer? Adult Do backlinks to a certain page affect the rest of the site? What is anchortext? Do I have to know how to code? What do you do to keep traffic from nonexistent traffic? Best backlink metrics Besides GMB what is the difference between local SEO and regular SEO? How many links do I need? Why can't we see a good example of a good PBN site? Can you give examples of how to make PBN sites? Do 301 reduce DR? Is reusing code a footprint? Should I use GSC on a private blog portfolio? Hacks to find expired domains. Ways to rank without using a PBN? Keyword research? Thoughts on a specific backlink method? How to evaluate SEO providers? Traffic drops vs. SEO problems Favorite Wordpress Plugins? New rules for expired domains? How to build PBNs naturally? Many weaker domains vs less stronger ones? Recovering from content quality updates using new domains? Is a well-known SEO marketplace legit? And one time payments? Avoiding footprints via themes or builders? Backlink decay on expired domains Referenced episodes. 132 SEO Topical Authority, Content Structure, and Cannibalization https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkFLjYto1wY 30 What is the Difference Between Topical Authority (Relevancy) and Authority? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErBbW69GYYs 128 Local SEO vs. Regular SEO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_aTU1a62wo 131 The Dangers of Public Blog Networks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1BNS-OQMNw 35 If Your Not Tracking Your SERPs You're Not Doing SEO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01am10-OwDY 59 Traffic Is Not an SEO Metric (and What You Should Use Instead) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytNeZMCfXGU&pp=0gcJCZEKAYcqIYzv 115 SEO, AI, and LLMS.txt Part 1 Probably https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WflCZyBnj8&pp=0gcJCZEKAYcqIYzv 139 Why Are There No Good Examples Of PBN Sites? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5i8j4DSVRU 3 How to Build a Private Blog Portfolio Part 1: Domain Acquisition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ez24lr3G_Mc Episode list too long, too much text.

  • S1 · E139
    February 4 · 8 min

    Why Are There No Good Examples of PBN Sites? - 139

    Please help keep this podcast free: https://www.patreon.com/grumpyseoguy Concepts covered: Why I don't share our sites Why I don't share a generic site How to make your site Why number of words in the excerpt doesn't matter, etc. Referenced episodes: How to Build a PBN Part 1 Domain Acquisition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ez24lr3G_Mc How to Build a PBN Part 2 Hosting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stMe4nMrem4&pp=0gcJCZEKAYcqIYzv How to Build a PBN Part 3 Website Management: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AguAeXhEBwI

  • S1 · E138
    January 28 · 15 min

    The Reason You Aren't Ranking (It's Probably Not a Problem With Your Site) - Episode 138

    Sorry the mic sounds weird. No idea what's transpiring. Please help keep this podcast free: https://www.patreon.com/grumpyseoguy Principles covered: Beginners don't understand that a big part of SEO has nothing to do with YOUR website. SEO is not something YOU do to YOUR website. SEO is not a checklist. The 4 things you need to rank. When two websites have perfect on page, who ranks? The one with greater authority. Website attributes are the MINIMUM to even be considered to rank. There are very few things you can do to your website to make you rank higher. PROBABLY the reason you are not ranking is because you do not have enough authority compared to your competition (assuming everything else on your site is correct). SEO is like a race. Just because you improve doesn't mean you're going to rank higher. Things that won't help you: dwell time, site loading speed, good content. Mentioned episodes: SEO Is a Competition, Not a Checklist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZo8Cdt3PnI 4 Things You Need to Rank: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3L7tAil0Bg Is This Lower Authority Website Actually Outranking This Higher Authority Website?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWgsq9UgYBY&pp=0gcJCXwKAYcqIYzv 4 Reasons Backlinks You Built Didn't Work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_6viPUeUW4 EEAT, Content, Dwell Time - not ranking factors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9EzrCZ94NE

  • S1 · E137
    January 22 · 11 min

    4 Reasons You Built Backlinks and They Didn't Work - Episode 137

    Please help keep this podcast free: https://www.patreon.com/grumpyseoguy The 4 reasons you build backlinks and they do not help: You have too little authority You built bad backlinks You have a problem with your site You are not relevant Mentioned episodes: the 4 Ways to Get Backlinks - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-r_Bi3FBt8 the 4 Things You Need to Rank - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3L7tAil0Bg You MIGHT Get a Penalty. Maybe - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thcGIEPiN6I

  • S1 · E136
    January 9 · 19 min

    Questions To Ask An SEO Agency To Hire Them

    Please help keep this podcast free: https://www.patreon.com/grumpyseoguy You might learn: Does the person understand SEO or do they just sound smart? Three types of SEO agencies Their goal is to impress you, your goal is not to impress them Questions to ask Are their answers logical or are they just using lines? Mentioned episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1BNS-OQMNw

  • S1 · E135
    Dec 31, 2025 · 13 min

    New Topics

    Please help keep this podcast free: https://www.patreon.com/grumpyseoguy How to email me Topics for new episodes

  • S1 · E134
    Dec 17, 2025 · 15 min

    SEO Backlinks For Beginners - Episode 134

    Please help keep this podcast free: https://www.patreon.com/grumpyseoguy 2:00 what is a backlink? 2:03 What is a link? 2:25 What is a backlink? 2:38 What is an internal link? 3:00 Why are backlinks important? 3:16 Authority comes from backlinks 3:30 Why do you need authority? 3:46 What are the 4 things you need to rank? 4:15 Episode on penalties: 5:26 How does authority work? 5:58 How is authority shared? 7:03 How do you get authority? 7:30 How authority makes you rank 7:52 Amount of backlinks vs quality 8:52 Two take aways from this episode You need backlinks to get authority and you need authority to rank There is a difference between good and bad backlinks 9:07 Two episodes that explain good backlinks and bad backlinks: 9:37 How to get backlinks 9:30 Getting good backlinks is the hardest part of SEO 9:57 The 4 ways to get backlinks 11:19 Episode about why most publicly available link services will not help you 12:26 Three episodes about how to build your own links 13:23 Review: what are backlinks why you need them good backlinks and bad backlinks how you get them Referenced episodes: Episode on penalties: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElGAxpB8q1A Two episodes that explain good backlinks and bad backlinks: Part 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFHg6XwPha4&t=1s Part 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dZSbWKJlJ0 Episode about why most publicly available link services will not help you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1BNS-OQMNw&pp=0gcJCTwKAYcqIYzv Three episodes about how to build your own links: Part 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ez24lr3G_Mc&t=3s Part 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stMe4nMrem4 Part 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AguAeXhEBwI

  • S1 · E133
    Dec 10, 2025 · 31 min

    SEO FOR COMPLETE BEGINNERS (and a Grumpy SEO Guy Interview) - Episode 133

    Please help keep this podcast free: https://www.patreon.com/grumpyseoguy 2:32 What is SEO? 2:41 What are keywords? 3:17 Why do SEO? 4:00 What is the goal of SEO? 6:50 PPC (pay per click) is different than SEO 7:20 How ads (pay per click) work 9:08 The 4 variables you must manipulate to rank high in SEO 9:40 The difference between local SEO and normal SEO Local SEO vs normal SEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_aTU1a62wo 11:02 SEO penalties: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElGAxpB8q1A Content is not a ranking factor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9EzrCZ94NE 20:05 episodes that explain the 4 ways to get backlinks: First version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYPARAuCXao Next version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-r_Bi3FBt8 21:03 Review (defining SEO, why you do it, the 4 variables to manipulate, backlinks, anchortext, pay per click). 22:10 Things that do not change your position Dwell time does not affect SEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9EzrCZ94NE 27:51 How do you check your progress? 30:12 Interview on the Content Manager Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3K0VlSzXlT9whNp34hdD09?si=AUzRHygYTKmqfaLWY94ZRQ&nd=1&dlsi=6ae73236ce544860

  • S1 · E132
    Nov 28, 2025 · 14 min

    SEO Topical Authority, Content Structure, and Cannibalization - Episode 132

    Please help keep this podcast free: patreon.com/grumpyseoguy 1:54 What is topical authority? Episodes that talk about relevancy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErBbW69GYYs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kS-Fh3QXB8A 2:03 What is relevancy? 2:29 How do you get relevancy? 3:21 Why does this matter? 3:32 The 4 things you need to rank. Episodes that talk about the 4 things you need to rank: Complex version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3L7tAil0Bg Fast version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_5kChCMQHQ&pp=0gcJCRUKAYcqIYzv Episode that talks about penalties: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElGAxpB8q1A 5:14 How authority is passed 5:56 Most of your time will be used getting backlinks 6:35 Why do you need to care? 7:07 How relevancy works in ranking 7:30 Why search engines want to give good results 8:23 How authority works in ranking 9:06 Relevancy answers the question "will my website appear in the search results?" 9:37 Authority answers the question "what position will my website be in the search results?" 10:23 How should you structure the content on your site? 10:50 How to create posts 11:16 What is not ok. 11:34 Definition of cannibalization

  • S1 · E131
    Nov 19, 2025 · 17 min

    The Dangers of Public Blog Networks - Episode 131

    Please help keep this podcast free: https://www.patreon.com/grumpyseoguy 2:01 Private blog network vs. public blog network 3:54 Things that can happen to a public blog network deindexed penalized link farm Episode that talks about link farms: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Wg3kxzfUaw 4:50 If links are public, everyone knows about them, and they lose their effectiveness 5:00 Search engines are looking for public blog networks 5:16 Where are the real backlinks? 5:40 The reason there are no forums with only good backlinks sellers 6:15 the reason I think 99% of people in the SEO industry are scammers 6:52 What you should do before buying backlinks from a forum 7:17 When something is advertised to the public, that is a public network 7:42 Episodes showing how to build a private blog portfolio. 1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ez24lr3G_Mc 2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stMe4nMrem4 3) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AguAeXhEBwI&pp=0gcJCQgKAYcqIYzv 8:12 The hardest part of SEO is finding good backlinks 8:51 Episodes about the difference between good and bad backlinks Part 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFHg6XwPha4 Part 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dZSbWKJlJ0 8:59 The 4 ways to get backlinks 9:17 Episodes that explain the 4 ways to get backlinks Old version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYPARAuCXao&pp=0gcJCQgKAYcqIYzv New version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-r_Bi3FBt8 10:30 Know how it works before ordering backlinks 10:50 A story about a public link network that was discovered by the search engines 11:51: Public networks get discovered 11:59 The 2 ways to use a private blog network 14:02 The reason (good) publicly available backlinks wouldn't work, anyway 16:05 When link networks are public, they eventually stop working

  • S1 · E130
    Nov 5, 2025 · 11 min

    Are SEO Link Directories Useful? - Version = 1 - Episode 130

    Please help keep this podcast free: https://www.patreon.com/grumpyseoguy 2:51 he purpose of link directories 3:45 A main problem: they're copies of each other 5:07 Suspicious names 6:12 Same IP address Episode that explains IP addresses: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stMe4nMrem4&pp=0gcJCR0AztywvtLA 6:54 Link farms 7:25 Description of a link directory 8:32 Can link directories help you? 9:16 Why do they have directories linking to them?

  • Nov 5, 2025 · 10 min

    Are SEO Link Directories Useful? - Version = 2 - Bonus Episode

    We recorded another version of this episode. This episode was recorded on my phone so the voice quality appears bad. Let me know which version you prefer! Please help keep this podcast free: https://www.patreon.com/grumpyseoguy/ 1:55 Why are we mentioning link directories? 2:45 The reason people build directories 3:44 Problems with directories They are all duplicates of each other On the same IP Linkfarms 5:00 Defining link farms 6:33 The exception to link directories with local SEO Details of decent link directories 7:35 Why so many sites have directory links

  • S1 · E129
    Oct 14, 2025 · 6 min

    Bonus Episode - Episode 129

    0:35 The problem with Episode 128 and why it didn't come out at the planned time 1:12 How to email me 3:30 The reasons your rank is declining and how to tell and how to fix it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPtGQ8xQyhA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivSogvXY6FA 4:30 The 4 things you need to rank: (long episode) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_5kChCMQHQ (short episode) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3L7tAil0Bg&pp=0gcJCfwJAYcqIYzv 5:10 The 4 ways to get backlinks: (long episode) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYPARAuCXao (short episode) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-r_Bi3FBt8 6:15 LLMS.txt does nothing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WflCZyBnj8

  • S1 · E128
    Oct 7, 2025 · 10 min

    Local SEO vs. Regular SEO - Episode 128

    Please help keep this podcast free: https://www.patreon.com/grumpyseoguy 2:08 Local SEO vs. Regular SEO 2:07 Map The episode about penalties: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElGAxpB8q1A The episodes about the 4 things you need to rank: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_5kChCMQHQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3L7tAil0Bg Documents about local SEO: https://ahrefs.com/blog/local-seo/ https://www.semrush.com/blog/what-is-local-seo/

  • S1 · E127
    Sep 24, 2025 · 24 min

    SEO Ranking Factors - Episode 127

    Please help keep this podcast free: https://www.patreon.com/grumpyseoguy 2:09 What is a ranking factor 2:34 Why do you do SEO? 3:55 Many of the things people do are not SEO 4:16 Why did your impressions fall? 4:45 Definition of impressions 6:51 Why did your traffic fall? Episodes that answer this question: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPtGQ8xQyhA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivSogvXY6FA 9:38 If you're not tracking your SERPs you're going to have no idea if you're successful 10:30 EEAT has no effect on your rank Google's own documentation says this: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/seo-starter-guide 12:23 EEAT audit = scam 12:28 People do EEAT on your website = scam 13:12 Other things that are not ranking factors 17:24 Things that are ranking factors The episode that talks about relevancy and authority and algorithms https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjoV09CHyGA

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