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The Edward Show

Edward Sturm

Daily SEO advice, hacks, and interviews with some of the top voices in search engine optimization, as well as sit-downs with many undiscovered talents.

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  • 109 episodes
  • Avg 43 min
  • English

Episodes 109

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  • S1 · E1203
    October 20 · 1 hr 28 min

    The Local SEO Tricks Google Hasn't Caught Yet (Bodhi Gallo)

    E1203: Bodhi Gallo reveals the local SEO tactics he's using to rank businesses on Google Maps, including strategies he believes Google hasn't caught up with yet. Bodhi grew a dumpster rental business to roughly $750,000 in annual revenue through local SEO before selling it. Today, he runs a 60-person SEO agency serving home service businesses. We break down his most aggressive strategies, including how he got a brand-new business into Google Maps' top 3 in just 24 hours. We cover: - How Bodhi reached Google Maps' top 3 in 24 hours with an exact-match domain, matching Business Profile, and almost no competition. He expects the site to generate roughly $200,000 in extra profit for his dad this year. - Why keyword-rich business names outrank competitors with far more reviews, and whether Google will crack down. - How he creates multiple Google Business Profiles for different services and locations without triggering suspensions. - Why exact-match domains still rank, including domains targeting individual neighborhoods. - How he structures location pages, Google Maps embeds, and internal links across multiple service areas. - How he gets backlinks through vendors, reciprocal links, local publications, and private blog networks. - Why youth sports sponsorships, chambers of commerce, and business partners make strong local link sources. - The private link-exchange network his team is building across roughly 8,000 websites. - Why review velocity matters, plus tactics involving paid reviews and customer incentives - Why Apple Maps, Yelp, Facebook, and business directories affect local SEO and AI recommendations. - How to inspect ChatGPT and Gemini's sources, then earn mentions from websites they cite. - How LinkedIn articles rank for local service keywords and occupy additional Google results, even when the posts contain AI-generated content. - How he optimizes Google Local Services Ads with fast phone answers, at least 10 new photos a week, and a steady flow of reviews. - Why branded searches matter and how Facebook ads and short-form videos generate more of them. - How to uncover valuable keywords like "EV charger installation near me" and "metal roofing." - Why mass-producing AI location pages creates indexing problems, and how he expands sites gradually. - How he handles "Crawled - currently not indexed" pages and decides when to rewrite content. - How he'd spend a local business's first $1,000 monthly SEO budget on links, citations, pages, and review tools. - Why programmatic SEO is overrated while posting real business videos across Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube is underrated. We also discuss Google Maps driving-direction manipulation, Google Business Profile posts, AI content, the future of on-page SEO, and which tactics Google might target next. Bodhi's takeaway: Target services that generate revenue, build focused pages, establish a legitimate local presence, earn reviews and backlinks, and build a brand. ⭐️ Bodhi Gallo on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/bodhigallo/ ⭐️ Bodhi Gallo on 𝕏 - https://x.com/irentdumpsters ⭐️ Bodhi Gallo on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/bodhigallo/ ⭐️ Bodhi Gallo on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@Bodhigallo ⭐️ Bodhi Gallo's agency, Stryker Digital - https://stryker-digital.com/ 💎 Compact Keywords - My SEO Course - Get paying customers through SEO - Clear step-by-step video breakdowns - SEO templates to be copied and adapted for your products and services: https://compactkeywords.com/ 00:00 Meet Bodhi Gallo 00:20 Scaling and Exit Story 00:41 Multiple GBP Playbook 02:23 Backlinks and PBN Tactics 04:17 Service Pages After HCU 04:42 Keyword Stuffed Names 07:22 Exact Match Domains Setup 09:06 Neighborhood EMD Strategy 12:13 Trade Operator Advantage 14:00 Hiring Stallions 16:46 SEO Origin Story 18:45 Roofer Ranking Blueprint 21:32 Apple Maps and Citations 24:17 LSA Optimization Tips 25:54 Creative Link Building 32:47 Social Alpha and Events 38:35 AI Sites and Indexing 41:38 Vanity Traffic vs Revenue 43:31 High Intent SEO Wins 44:22 Finding Keyword Gaps 46:19 Local SEO Keyword Process 46:57 Review Generation Tactics 49:17 Review Velocity Strategy 50:50 Authority Links And Indexing 51:49 Multi Location Page Structure 54:52 Branded Search Growth 58:17 GBP Non Negotiables 01:00:05 Driving Directions Debate 01:03:11 GBP Posts And AI Visibility 01:04:36 Citations And Parasite SEO 01:09:39 Programmatic SEO Reality 01:12:11 Mentors And Paid Access 01:14:42 Future Proof Local SEO 01:16:56 AI Content And Social Posting 01:19:35 Spending 1000 On SEO 01:22:49 Overrated Vs Underrated 01:27:10 Closing And Where To Find The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #localseo #googlebusinessprofileoptimization #searchengineoptimization #seo

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  • S1 · E1202
    October 19 · 10 min

    How to Get AI to Name You the Top Expert in Your Niche

    E1202: AI is turning self-promotion into recommendations. People are calling themselves the top expert in their niche on LinkedIn, in press releases, and on their own websites. Google's AI Overviews then repeat those claims and cite the original posts as evidence. I break down real examples from the competitive SEO industry and show how to use these tactics to get AI to associate your name or business with the searches that matter. Here's what I cover: - How Pedro Dias called himself the world's most renowned AI visibility expert in a LinkedIn post, and Google's AI Overview repeated the claim hours later. - Why starting a LinkedIn post with your target search phrase puts that language in the page title, URL, and meta description. - How a relevant LinkedIn profile, established posting history, followers, and backlinks strengthen a post's chances of ranking. - How Zeeshan Yaseen got Google's AI to call him a leading LLM SEO expert by distributing a press release through GlobeNewswire that appeared on Yahoo Finance. - How that Yahoo Finance release continued appearing in AI answers months later, with backlinks to the release contributing. - The three press release approaches: a strong placement with backlinks, a strong placement without backlinks, and recurring lower-cost releases. - What an $80 AB Newswire release gets you versus a more expensive Yahoo Finance placement, plus the $500-per-year package for 83 releases mentioned in the episode. - How David Quaid published a "Who Is the King of SEO?" article on his own website, then appeared in Google's AI Overview as the person associated with that title. - How matching your target phrase in the page title, H1, URL slug, and beginning of the first sentence makes the page relevant to the query. - How self-promotional "best of" listicles work to put your own business at number one. - How you should publish only a handful of these listicles, disclose your connection, give competitors fair coverage, and avoid exaggeration. - How to combine an on-site listicle, a press release, social posts, and backlinks so several sources reinforce the same claim. The larger point: You don't need to wait for someone else to call you the leading expert. You need relevant pages, strong platforms, and a consistent claim that search engines can find. ⭐️ Source article - How to Get AI to Recommend You as the Expert - https://edwardsturm.com/articles/how-to-get-ai-to-recommend-you/ 💎 Compact Keywords - My SEO Course - Get paying customers through SEO - Clear step-by-step video breakdowns - SEO templates to be copied and adapted for your products and services: https://compactkeywords.com/ 00:00 AI Makes You Famous 01:14 LinkedIn Claim Hack 02:44 Press Releases That Stick 05:10 Your Website Crowns You 06:24 Self Promotional Listicles 07:45 Stack Tactics Together 08:46 Wrap Up The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #generativeengineoptimization #answerengineoptimization #searchengineoptimization #onlinereputationmanagement

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  • S1 · E1201
    October 18 · 12 min

    Google Is Feeding Ahrefs and Semrush Fake Rankings. Here's What to Trust Instead

    E1201: Google is feeding Ahrefs, Semrush, Moz, and other SEO rank trackers incorrect search results. Websites appear to lose rankings overnight, even when Google Search Console shows stable rankings and traffic. Google's crackdown on AI companies scraping its search results is disrupting SEO tools. I explain what's happening, why rank tracking data has become unreliable, and what SEOs need to trust instead. Here's what I cover: Why SEO rank trackers are showing incorrect data: - Ahrefs, Semrush, and Moz are showing major inconsistencies in Google ranking data. - Some tools show websites disappearing from page one for their own brand names. - Google Search Console often shows no corresponding drop in rankings, impressions, or clicks. - Agencies must explain these discrepancies to concerned clients. How Google's anti-scraping measures are disrupting SEO tools: - Google's legal fight against SERP API and efforts to stop AI companies from scraping Search. - IP blocking targeting the proxy networks rank trackers use. - New /goto/ redirects that create additional opportunities for session checks and bot detection. - Increased CAPTCHAs and other anti-bot measures. - Poisoned SERPs that give scrapers incorrect results rather than blocking them outright. What the SEO community is reporting: - Charles Floate's observations about rank trackers showing different results from Google SERPs. - Reports of phantom search results, HTTP 429 errors, and pages full of irrelevant content. - Why misleading data is worse than tools failing to retrieve rankings. Why rank tracking might recover: - Google's existing search syndication agreements, including Ecosia. - Barry Schwartz's comment of Google's private search APIs for select partners. - Google's original Search API, launched in 2002 and shut down in 2009. - The 2025 antitrust ruling and licensing search results to qualified competitors. - Rank Tracker's unverified claim that it restored top-100 keyword tracking. - Improvements I've personally observed in Moz's search results. What SEOs need to do right now: - Use Google Search Console for your own site's rankings, clicks, and impressions. - Cross-check suspicious third-party reports against actual Google Search results. - Use the Search Console API to build reports and preserve data beyond its 16-month limit. - Find keywords where your existing pages rank but don't fully satisfy search intent. - Build dedicated landing pages for high-intent keywords already getting clicks. - Keep building relevant content, authority, and pages that satisfy search intent. - Don't assume a sudden drop in a rank tracker means your website actually lost visibility. I also explain why keyword search volume estimates remain largely unaffected. Ahrefs and Semrush use Google Keyword Planner and third-party clickstream data, not just scraped SERPs. The takeaway: Google's anti-scraping measures have disrupted rank tracking, not the fundamentals of SEO. Check Search Console before changing your strategy. ⭐️ Charles Floate on 𝕏 - https://x.com/Charles_SEO/status/2104504430683197518 ⭐️ Ep 1169 - How SEOs Actually Find Keywords in 2026 (What Reddit Gets Right and Wrong) - https://youtu.be/yIsli0iMQQs ⭐️ Ep 1190 - Barry Schwartz: Google's War on AI Scrapers Is Breaking SEO Tools - https://youtu.be/wu_hOPmuDHE 💎 Compact Keywords - My SEO Course - Get paying customers through SEO - Clear step-by-step video breakdowns - SEO templates to be copied and adapted for your products and services: https://compactkeywords.com/ 00:00 Rank Trackers Going Haywire 02:02 Why Google Changed SERPs 02:36 Anti-Scraping Measures Explained 03:24 Poisoned SERPs Fake Data 03:55 What The SEO Community Sees 05:24 Will Tools Work Again 07:06 What To Do Right Now 08:08 Use Search Console As Truth 09:15 Keep Fundamentals And Keyword Research 11:32 Learn Proper SEO And Wrap Up The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #searchengineoptimization #seo #performancemarketing #digitalmarketing

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  • S1 · E1200
    October 17 · 13 min

    9 SEO Strategies That Actually Work (Real Answers From Reddit)

    E1200: What SEO strategies actually work? I found a Reddit thread asking SEO practitioners which strategies delivered real results. For episode 1,200 of The Edward Show, I break down nine strategies and explain how to use them for Google rankings, backlinks, leads, and AI search visibility. Here's what we cover: - Map the entire buyer journey, not just individual keywords. Someone researching an expensive purchase will check YouTube reviews, Reddit discussions, third-party websites, and AI answers before buying. Get your brand into that research process. - Find buyer-intent keywords your competitors aren't targeting. Look for queries they rank for without dedicated content. Put the target keyword in your page title, URL slug, H1, and opening sentence. Don't stuff long-tail keywords throughout the page. - Build topical clusters that support your money pages. Create pages around related searches, connect them with internal links, and link from pages already ranking to relevant bottom-of-funnel pages. - Find opportunities in Google Search Console before creating new content. Look for pages with impressions but few clicks. Enable Average Position and identify queries close to the top three. Check whether the page targets those queries or needs improvements. - Refresh existing content instead of constantly publishing. Update outdated information, match search intent, strengthen internal links, and cover missing long-tail topics. Three Reddit commenters recommended this. If your existing pages aren't ranking, diagnose the problem before publishing more. - Answer the searcher's question above the fold. Cut introductions and clutter. Use concise explanations and white space. Revisit pages after a few months to spot weak sections that seemed fine when you wrote them. - Earn backlinks through personalized outreach and partnerships. Approach businesses in adjacent industries instead of competitors. A plumber could earn a link from a roofer's website and promote the roofer through social media posts that also rank on Google. - Prioritize search intent over search volume. A low-volume query with clear purchase intent often brings more business than a large informational query. Identify what the searcher wants, answer it immediately, and link to supporting content. - Get mentioned on pages that rank on Google and appear in AI citations. Find recommendation lists repeatedly cited in your industry. Pitch your business to their publishers. These placements put your brand in front of buyers and give AI systems another source mentioning your company, even without a backlink. ⭐️ The Reddit Thread - https://www.reddit.com/r/SEOTips101/comments/1wn8k7n/whats_one_seo_strategy_that_actually_worked_for/ ⭐️ Ep 1100 - The SEO Colony Hack That Ranks Money Pages Without Backlinks - https://youtu.be/FFGNSAjdz6Y ⭐️ Ep 787 - The #1 SEO Hack: Why Content Refreshes Beat New Content - https://youtu.be/UKvGmqzIxg4 ⭐️ Ep 1194 - 6,337 Cold Emails Reveal What Actually Gets Replies (And Backlinks) - https://youtu.be/TRMM8wsCDes 💎 Compact Keywords - My SEO Course - Get paying customers through SEO - Clear step-by-step video breakdowns - SEO templates to be copied and adapted for your products and services: https://compactkeywords.com/ 00:00 SEO Fundamentals Reality Check 00:32 User Journey Over Keywords 01:09 Reviews and Third-Party Proof 03:18 Competitor Gaps and Targeting 04:22 Topical Clusters That Compound 05:32 Refresh Pages Already Ranking 07:07 What Good Content Means 08:40 Personalized Outreach Partnerships 10:38 Intent First Internal Linking 11:09 Page One Mentions for GEO 12:29 1200 Day Podcast Wrap Up The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #searchengineoptimization #seo #seotips #digitalmarketing

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  • S1 · E1198
    October 15 · 10 min

    Nofollow Backlinks Do Boost Rankings (The Tests Google Doesn't Talk About)

    E1198: Do nofollow backlinks boost Google rankings? I walk through findings from Rand Fishkin, Kyle Roof, and Joy Hawkins, plus an AI search study that challenges the idea that nofollow links have no SEO value. The practical takeaway: look beyond the link attribute. Pay attention to whether the linking page ranks on Google and attracts organic traffic. In this episode: - Google's 2019 change: Google shifted from ignoring nofollow links as ranking signals to treating nofollow, sponsored, and UGC attributes as hints about which links to consider or exclude. - Rand Fishkin's experiments: Two tests pointed nofollow links from 55 and 42 websites at target pages. I cover the ranking gains and the unexpected result after participants removed the links: rankings kept improving. - Kyle Roof's two criteria: The linking page ranks well on Google AND gets organic clicks. I explain how these criteria shaped Joy Hawkins' follow-up tests. - Joy Hawkins' results: Joy added a nofollow link from a Local Search Forum page that already ranked and attracted traffic. The next day, her target page ranked AND a YouTube video that she had embedded on the target page ALSO ranked. She then reported positive ranking effects in additional tests. - Nofollow links from major websites: I discuss Link Rush's reports of ranking improvements, faster indexing, and greater brand visibility after receiving nofollow links from the BBC and GOV.UK, plus the additional links and client trust those mentions attracted. - Backlinks and AI search: A Semrush study with Kevin Indig examined 1,000 domains across five AI platforms. Nofollow backlinks showed a slightly stronger correlation with AI mentions than follow backlinks. - A possible explanation for the AI findings: Platforms such as Reddit, Wikipedia, and Quora use nofollow links and frequently appear in AI answers. - What this means for link building: Evaluate the source page, its rankings, its traffic, and its audience before dismissing a backlink because it carries a nofollow attribute. These experiments and reports challenge the blanket claim that nofollow backlinks are worthless. They also give you specific criteria for evaluating the next link you earn. ⭐️ Google's 2019 announcement on nofollow links - https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2019/09/evolving-nofollow-new-ways-to-identify ⭐️ Rand Fishkin's nofollow experiments (#10) - https://seosherpa.com/seo-experiments/ ⭐️ Joy Hawkins nofollow backlink tests - https://www.sterlingsky.ca/nofollow-links-impact-seo/ ⭐️ Link Rush nofollow study - https://www.linkrush.co.uk/blog/do-nofollow-backlinks-help-seo-in-2026 ⭐️ Semrush nofollow AI search study - https://www.semrush.com/blog/backlinks-ai-search-study/ ⭐️ Ep 1163 - The $50,000 Internal Linking Experiment: Links That Get Clicked Carry More Weight - https://youtu.be/biy8ILxTzqc ⭐️ Ep 948 - Why Low-Authority Backlinks Can Outperform High-Authority Ones - https://youtu.be/1gCsGVu3Izg 💎 Compact Keywords - My SEO Course - Get paying customers through SEO - Clear step-by-step video breakdowns - SEO templates to be copied and adapted for your products and services: https://compactkeywords.com/ 00:00 Do Nofollow Links Rank 00:16 Google Nofollow Update 01:35 Early Nofollow Experiments 02:31 Joy Hawkins 2024 Test 05:14 API Leak Engagement Signals 06:01 Big Brand Nofollow Wins 06:58 Nofollow Links For AI 07:32 Natural Link Profile Tips 08:16 Final Verdict And Advice 09:26 Podcast Milestone Outro The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #searchengineoptimization #linkbuilding #seo #backlinks

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  • S1 · E1199
    October 15 · 37 min

    Why Rihanna's Fenty Beats Dior in AI Search (And What You Can Copy)

    E1199: Rihanna's Fenty Beauty is beating Dior in the AI Search. Harpreet Singh joins me to break down the customer reviews, third-party coverage, and product pages behind Fenty's outstanding visibility. His explanation starts with one idea: "AI is a parrot." When publications, customers, and retailers consistently recommend a product, AI repeats those recommendations. We examine what Fenty gets right and how to apply those lessons to ecommerce, B2B, and local businesses. In this episode: - Nearly 53,000 customer reviews. We look at Fenty's Google Shopping presence and discuss why a good product and strong customer feedback belong at the center of your AI search strategy. - Recommendations from trusted publications. The New York Times, InStyle, beauty bloggers, and creators all reinforce Fenty's reputation. We discuss how to find the equivalent publications and reviewers in your industry. - Product descriptions that answer buying questions. Fenty clearly lists ingredients, benefits, awards, and attributes like "vegan" and "cruelty-free." Those details match the preferences shoppers share with ChatGPT and other AI tools. - A specific statistic that AI repeats. Fenty says it sells one lip gloss every 10 seconds. We examine how the brand reinforces that claim through its product page and media coverage. - Third-party retailer pages. Sephora adds its own product descriptions and thousands of reviews, creating another source of information about Fenty beyond the brand's website. - Sales copy on bottom-of-funnel pages. Explain your product, establish trust, and show buyers what makes your offer worth choosing. We discuss why generic informational content misses the purpose of these pages. - Local mentions for smaller businesses. Relevant directories, industry websites, and chambers of commerce offer practical places to establish your business's credentials. We also investigate Sephora's holiday SEO pages: - Searches like "affordable gifts for teachers," "gifts for men who have everything," and "gifts for your boyfriend's mother." - The trade-off between publishing more keyword-targeted pages and maintaining content quality. - Why a major retailer's results don't automatically translate to a smaller website. - How existing authority, traffic, and site history affect decisions about scaling content. - Ways to improve or repurpose seasonal pages after the holiday shopping period. Finally, we examine Toyota's consistent use of "reliable" across its brand messaging and press releases. Harpreet explains how repeated language spreads through third-party coverage and strengthens the association between a brand and the qualities buyers want. We also discuss: - Why Harpreet expects AI discovery to drive more branded searches. - How shoppers move from AI recommendations to Google and YouTube research before buying. - How strong customer support encourages positive reviews and protects your reputation. - How to incorporate valuable search terms into your company descriptions across relevant websites. Build a product people recommend. Give them excellent support. Earn relevant coverage. Make your product pages clear, specific, and persuasive. ⭐️ Harpreet Singh's Personal Site - https://harpsdigital.com ⭐️ Harpreet on X - https://x.com/harpreetchatha_ ⭐️ Harpreet's Newsletter - https://seoespresso.com ⭐️ Harpreet on LinkedIn - https://linkedin.com/in/harpreetsingh8/ ⭐️ Harpreet on TikTok - https://tiktok.com/@seoharp ⭐️ Harpreet on YouTube - https://youtube.com/@seoharp 💎 Compact Keywords - My SEO Course - Get paying customers through SEO - Clear step-by-step video breakdowns - SEO templates to be copied and adapted for your products and services: https://compactkeywords.com/ 00:00 Challenger Wins AI Search 00:18 Why Fenty Shows Up 01:13 Reviews Drive Visibility 02:23 Press Mentions Matter 04:26 AI Is a Parrot 06:09 On Page Product Signals 07:53 Sales Copy Over Blogs 09:43 Stats and PR Amplify 12:03 Resellers and Unique Copy 13:31 Playbook for Any Industry 15:45 Sephora Gift Pages Test 17:31 Fenty Traffic Collapse Clue 18:30 Sephora Gift Pages 19:00 Fenty Long Tail TikTok 20:15 Core Update Traffic Drop 20:53 SEO Nuance Warnings 21:59 Sephora Rank And Tank 24:45 Safer Scaling Tactics 27:06 Win In AI Search 29:14 Branded Click Future 33:17 Toyota Reliable Narrative 36:45 Final Wrap Up The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #generativeengineoptimization #answerengineoptimization #searchengineoptimization #seo

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  • S1 · E1197
    October 14 · 12 min

    Elon Musk's Grokipedia Just Lost 97% of Its Google Traffic. Here's Why

    E1197: Elon Musk's Grokipedia went from 6.5 million monthly Google clicks in July to just 200,000. That's a 97% collapse in organic search traffic for xAI's entirely AI-written alternative to Wikipedia. And despite Grokipedia earning backlinks from The New York Times, The Guardian, NPR, NBC News, The Verge, and other major publications, its rankings have fallen off a cliff. I break down what happened to Grokipedia, the Google policies its AI content runs into, and the lessons every SEO needs to understand before scaling AI-generated content. Here's what I cover: 1. Grokipedia's 97% SEO traffic collapse - How Grokipedia reached 5.8 million monthly Google clicks by January 2026. - Why traffic fell to 1.5 million in May, recovered to 6.5 million in July, and then collapsed to 200,000. - Why major media coverage, powerful backlinks, and Elon Musk's influence haven't protected its Google rankings. - Why early traffic growth doesn't guarantee long-term SEO success. 2. The Google policies Grokipedia runs into - Google's scaled content abuse policy and its rules against mass-producing unoriginal content. - Google's scraping policy and its restrictions on republishing existing information without substantial added value. - Why Grokipedia's fully automated approach raises concerns under both policies. - Google's October 1 AI content guideline changes and its explicit instructions to manually fact-check and review AI-generated content before publishing. - Why using AI to fact-check AI doesn't satisfy the human-review standard Google describes. 3. Other explanations for Grokipedia's collapse - Why users might trust human-edited Wikipedia more than an entirely AI-generated encyclopedia. - How poor user signals and declining trust might contribute to falling rankings. - How Google's AI Overviews compete directly with informational websites. - Why Wikipedia itself has suffered a major decline in organic search traffic. - Why we can't conclude that Google issued Grokipedia a penalty. 4. What Grokipedia's backlinks reveal - Why most of Grokipedia's major press backlinks point to its homepage. - How Wikipedia benefits from links pointing directly to its individual articles. - Why building links to subpages, category pages, and content hubs matters. - How site structure and internal linking distribute authority throughout a website. 5. Lessons for SEOs using AI content - Why you need to manually review AI-generated articles, landing pages, and metadata before publishing. - Why one-shot AI content often misses important aspects of search intent. - How to use noindex until your AI content passes human review. - Why you shouldn't mistake the initial traffic surge from scaled AI content for lasting success. - Why I recommend keeping aggressive AI experiments separate from valuable, established websites. - What Google says about recovery times after fixing serious SEO problems. I also discuss three possible futures for Grokipedia: continued decline, Elon Musk publicly challenging Google, or xAI finding another purpose for its AI-generated encyclopedia. The bigger lesson: If you're building a website for long-term organic traffic, don't sacrifice content quality and human oversight just to publish more pages. ⭐️ Grokipedia - https://grokipedia.com/ ⭐️ Ep 1187 - Google Just Changed Its AI Content Guidelines (Unreviewed AI Is Now a Liability) - https://youtu.be/wxqf9J2Huu0 ⭐️ Ep 1192 - How Long Does SEO Take? Google Finally Shares the Real Numbers - https://youtu.be/sRZizu5mi_c 💎 Compact Keywords - My SEO Course - Get paying customers through SEO - Clear step-by-step video breakdowns - SEO templates to be copied and adapted for your products and services: https://compactkeywords.com/ 00:00 Grokipedia Crashes 00:48 Why It Looked Promising 01:54 Traffic Spike Then Collapse 02:34 Scaled Content Abuse 04:20 Scraping Policy Violations 05:11 AI Content Review Warning 06:15 Other Causes and Rebound 08:07 SEO Lessons for Marketers 08:39 Link Authority and AI Surges 09:33 Risk Management and Recovery 10:42 Wrap Up The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #searchengineoptimization #seo #generativeengineoptimization #aiseo

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  • S1 · E1196
    October 13 · 1 hr 7 min

    GEO vs SEO Debate Gets Heated: The GEO Show Host Takes On David Quaid

    E1196: Is GEO actually different from SEO, or is generative engine optimization simply SEO under a new name? Paris Childress, host of The GEO Show, joins David Quaid for a heated debate about what gets brands recommended by ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Gemini, and other AI search engines. Paris argues that GEO is brand marketing, not performance marketing. Its goal is brand visibility, mentions, citations, and recommendations, rather than rankings and organic clicks. David disagrees. He argues that AI search uses traditional search indexes, query fan-outs, and the SEO fundamentals marketers have relied on for decades. Neither backs down as they challenge each other's definitions, tactics, and evidence. What we cover: 1. Is GEO different from SEO? - Why Paris calls GEO a separate marketing discipline. - Why David defines SEO as search visibility, not just traffic. - Whether different goals and KPIs make two disciplines different. - What each guest actually does to get brands into AI answers. 2. How ChatGPT and AI search find brands - How query fan-out turns prompts into multiple search queries. - Why Google rankings and AI citations don't always match. - How traditional search indexes influence AI recommendations. - The disagreement over ranking positions versus AI visibility. 3. Backlinks, brand mentions, and reviews - Why Paris prioritizes third-party brand mentions over links. - David's argument that SEO already includes online reputation management. - How G2 and Capterra reviews influence AI recommendations. - Why listicles appear in AI answers and how search engines find them. - Where PR distribution and press releases fit into SEO and GEO. 4. Does AI actually understand brand authority? - Why David challenges the idea that AI independently evaluates brand trust. - How search retrieval influences which sources AI cites. - Why a highly visible review site isn't automatically trustworthy. - What happens when AI repeats inaccurate information. 5. Measuring SEO and GEO results - Why Paris tracks share of voice, mentions, and citations for GEO. - Why David challenges the reliability of SEO attribution. - Their disagreement over GA4, organic conversions, and revenue. - Whether AI visibility and search traffic require different dashboards. - Whether SEO still exists if Google makes AI Mode the default. 6. What marketers should actually do - Identify the searches behind AI-generated answers. - Make pages accessible to search crawlers. - Earn coverage on the third-party sites AI retrieves. - Understand when your own rankings matter and when other sites shape recommendations. The central disagreement: Paris says SEO and GEO share many tactics but have different goals. David says those tactics, the search infrastructure, and the goal of visibility make GEO an extension of SEO. ⭐️ The GEO Show on YouTube - https://youtube.com/@getgeoforge ⭐️ Paris Childress's platform, GEOforge - https://getgeoforge.com/ ⭐️ The GEO Show on Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/bg/podcast/the-geo-show/id6805128323 ⭐️ The GEO Show on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/313Ae4gFG1GqXv4YNWEARI ⭐️ Paris Childress on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/parischildress/ ⭐️ Paris Childress on 𝕏 - https://x.com/parischildress ⭐️ David Quaid on 𝕏 - https://x.com/DavidGQuaid ⭐️ David Quaid on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidquaid/ ⭐️ David Quaid on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@DavidQuaid ⭐️ David Quaid's agency - https://primaryposition.com/ 💎 Compact Keywords - My SEO Course - Get paying customers through SEO - Clear step-by-step video breakdowns - SEO templates to be copied and adapted for your products and services: https://compactkeywords.com/ 00:00 Debate Setup GEO vs SEO 01:11 Paris Defines GEO Goals 03:08 David Says Same Discipline 06:06 Mechanics Training vs Retrieval 09:57 KPIs Powerlifting Analogy 11:36 Dashboards Visibility Metrics 14:20 Brand Mentions vs Links 18:28 ORM Argument SUV Analogy 22:33 G2 Reviews SEO Proof 28:38 Listicles and Query Fan Out 35:53 Press Releases and Citations 37:33 LLM Authority Misinformation 40:02 Budgets Brand vs SEO 40:55 Goals Versus Tactics 42:17 Same Work Different Labels 43:40 Defining SEO Outcomes 45:51 ROI And Attribution Fight 48:44 GA4 Limits And Opt Outs 54:01 Measuring GEO Without Clicks 55:38 Why SEO Still Gets Budget 57:21 Bing Tools For AI Visibility 01:03:57 Exact Match Domain Strategy 01:05:43 Wrap Up And Guest Plugs The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #generativeengineoptimization #answerengineoptimization #searchengineoptimization #seo

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  • S1 · E1195
    October 12 · 14 min

    Google's Secret "Content Effort" Score: Here's What It Looks For

    E1195: Does Google measure how much effort you put into your content? Google's Quality Rater Guidelines mention effort more than 100 times, and the 2024 Google API leak revealed an LLM-based metric called "content effort." We're breaking down Cyrus Shepard's article, "Content Effort: The Google Ranking Feature Nobody Talks About," and what it reveals about the content Google might consider high quality. Cyrus previously worked as a Google quality rater. He explains how Google evaluates effort, why writing longer articles doesn't count as more effort, and what separates valuable original content from thousands of nearly identical AI-generated pages. We also examine an internal Google presentation from its antitrust trial that explains why user behavior matters so much for search rankings. What you'll learn: - Google's definition of content effort (effort doesn't mean word count, hours spent writing, or whether a human wrote the content instead of AI). - The Google API leak: Two documented metrics, "contentEffort" and "ugcDiscussionEffortScore," that reference effort estimation. We don't know whether Google uses either metric in live rankings. - How quality raters evaluate content: Google asks raters to assess effort alongside originality, talent, skill, and accuracy. - Low-effort vs. high-effort AI content: Why generating 5,000 location pages with swapped city names differs from creating automated pages using proprietary data and authentic user reviews. - Original research and firsthand experience: Why testing 10 protein powders and publishing your results creates more value than rewriting existing product descriptions. - Why original photography, product demonstrations, screenshots, and custom visuals demonstrate effort and improve the usefulness of commercial pages. - The problem with filler content: Why answering the searcher's question immediately matters more than burying the answer beneath hundreds of words of unnecessary background. - User-generated content: Why detailed Reddit discussions with firsthand experiences provide more value than shallow threads with one-word replies. - How Google told employees, "We do not understand documents. We fake it," and described learning from how users react to search results. - User behavior and rankings: Why immediately satisfying search intent matters, especially when users otherwise return to Google's results. Cyrus Shepard's two-minute content audit: 1. Did you thoughtfully edit and organize the content so visitors immediately find what they need? 2. Did you add unique information, original research, observations, or perspectives that don't exist elsewhere? 3. Does the page show evidence of real work through photos, screenshots, testing methods, interviews, or firsthand experience? 4. Does the content go beyond information anyone could reproduce with a basic Google search? 5. Where appropriate, does the content include detailed discussion, evidence, and meaningful perspectives? Examples covered: - A collection of scraped recipes versus recipes personally tested and organized by taste. - Thousands of nearly identical location pages versus automated movie recommendations backed by original user data. - Generic "best X" listicles versus listicles supported by real testing, results, and original photography. - A recipe that buries instructions under unnecessary history versus one that immediately explains how to cook the dish. - A shallow Reddit thread versus a detailed discussion of hiking boots with real-world testing and experiences. - A SaaS landing page for a room planner app that uses a custom image to demonstrate the product immediately. Google isn't simply looking for content that took a long time to create, but instead evidence of useful work that makes the finished page more valuable to searchers. And regardless of how much effort goes into your content, give visitors the answer they're searching for upfront. ⭐️ Cyrus Shepard's Content Effort Article - https://signal.zyppy.com/p/content-effort ⭐️ Google 2016 Q4 Search All Hands - https://www.justice.gov/d9/2023-11/417516.pdf ⭐️ Ep 807 - Link Building in 2025: First 10 Links, Linkable Assets & HCU Wins (w/ Cyrus Shepard) - https://youtu.be/TPEkoQnwErc ⭐️ Ep 1056 - Backlinks Aren't Enough: How to Win Competitive SEO - https://youtu.be/1Pkfj_X7nHM 💎 Compact Keywords - My SEO Course - Get paying customers through SEO - Clear step-by-step video breakdowns - SEO templates to be copied and adapted for your products and services: https://compactkeywords.com/ 00:00 Does Google Measure Effort 00:43 Quality Raters Explained 02:09 Google Definition of Effort 03:39 What Effort Is Not 04:00 Five High Effort Examples 05:43 Original Media and Testing 07:36 Cut the Fluff Upfront 08:09 Reddit and Discussion Depth 09:09 Google Watches Reactions 11:27 Two Minute Effort Audit 13:12 Wrap Up and Resources The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #searchengineoptimization #contentmarketing #seo #webdevelopment

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  • S1 · E1194
    October 11 · 13 min

    6,337 Cold Emails Reveal What Actually Gets Replies (And Backlinks)

    E1194: Cold outreach is one of the most effective ways to build backlinks, earn media coverage, and get your content in front of the right people. But most outreach emails get ignored. A Reddit user analyzed 6,337 cold emails and uncovered striking differences in reply rates based on email length, subject lines, follow-ups, and who receives the message. I break down these findings, share advice from experienced link builders, and explain the cold outreach strategies I've personally used to get viral videos onto national television, earn coverage from major publications, and promote businesses. What the data from 6,337 cold emails reveals: - Emails under 100 words earned an 11.9% reply rate. - Emails between 100 and 200 words earned just 1.9%. - Emails over 200 words earned a 0.3% reply rate. - The ideal email length fell between 60 and 90 words. - One email earned a 4.1% reply rate. One follow-up increased that to 6.6%. - Two follow-ups increased replies to 6.9%, with diminishing returns beyond that. - Subject lines under 30 characters achieved an 83.7% open rate, compared to 69.5% for longer ones. - Subject lines containing numbers performed particularly well. - Tuesday and Wednesday outperformed Thursday and Friday. How to get more replies to your link-building outreach: - Personalize every message. Generic templates immediately signal mass outreach. - Lead with something valuable to the recipient rather than asking for a favor. - Keep subject lines short and make the first sentence immediately relevant. - Find the right person. At larger companies, department heads and managers often make more sense than CEOs. - Offer original research, useful statistics, corrections, or genuinely interesting content. - Use broken links as an opportunity to suggest relevant replacement resources. - Track positive replies rather than total replies to understand which offers work. - Follow up once or twice rather than repeatedly chasing people. - Use email tracking tools to understand whether recipients open your messages. My own cold outreach experiences: I've spent years pitching journalists, YouTubers, bloggers, and other content creators. I explain how I used concise, targeted outreach to get extraordinary results. - 2012: My friends and I created a video where fake bodyguards and paparazzi convinced strangers in Times Square that an ordinary guy was a celebrity. I pitched the video on Reddit, reached the site's front page, and ended up on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and NBC's The Jeff Probst Show. - 2009–2010: A crazy driving stunt video sat unnoticed on YouTube for a year. I pitched it to automotive publications, and Jalopnik featured it on its homepage for two days. - 2018: We created an early blockchain video game and helped establish the play-to-earn genre. I reached out to major cryptocurrency YouTubers, and one of the largest channels covered our project. The same principles apply to SEO link building. Create something genuinely interesting, find people whose audiences care about it, and send concise, personalized messages explaining its relevance. You don't need another generic guest posting template. You need a compelling reason for somebody to open your email, read your content, and share it. ⭐️ Reddit: What Makes Link Outreach Get Replies? - https://www.reddit.com/r/seogrowth/comments/1vqym2j/what_makes_link_outreach_actually_get_replies/ ⭐️ Reddit: Breaking Into PR (6,337 Cold Emails Analyzed) - https://www.reddit.com/r/PublicRelations/comments/1u2f71l/breaking_into_pr_is_mostly_a_coldoutreach_problem/ ⭐️ Short subject lines matter for newsletter open rates - https://read.first1000.co/p/things-matter-for-growing-a-newsletter ⭐️ Times Square fake celebrity video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYU1a0lTTTw 💎 Compact Keywords - My SEO Course - Get paying customers through SEO - Clear step-by-step video breakdowns - SEO templates to be copied and adapted for your products and services: https://compactkeywords.com/ 00:00 Why Outreach Gets Ignored 01:10 Value First Link Building 02:01 Templates Kill Replies 03:39 PR Data on Email Length 05:13 Target the Right Person 05:55 Follow Ups and Subject Lines 07:23 Tracking Opens and Deliverability 07:59 Going Viral With Smart Pitches 11:00 Make It Easy to Share 11:43 Wrap Up The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #linkbuilding #backlinks #searchengineoptimization #seo

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  • S1 · E1192
    October 9 · 8 min

    How Long Does SEO Take? Google Finally Shares the Real Numbers

    E1192: How long does SEO actually take? Google's Gary Illyes shared specific timeframes for crawling, indexing, title changes, canonicalization, site migrations, manual action removals, and recovery from core updates. Some changes take hours. Others take months. And in certain cases, Google never processes them. Google's reported typical SEO timeframes: - New URL discovery: 20 hours. At the slowest, weeks or never. - Recrawling an existing URL: 1 month. At the slowest, weeks or never. - Sitemap processing: 1 day. At the slowest, 14 days or never, depending on quality. - Indexing: 1.5 hours. At the slowest, months or never. - Canonical changes: 1-3 weeks. At the slowest, months. - Site migrations: 1-3 months. At the slowest, 6 months to over a year. - Page title changes: 1-2 days. At the slowest, several weeks to months. - Search snippet changes: 1-2 days. At the slowest, several weeks to months. - Google Search Console removals: 2 hours. At the slowest, 24 hours. - Manual action removals: 1-2 weeks. At the slowest, 4-6 weeks or much longer for dormant sites. - Core update recovery: 3-6 months. At the slowest, 6 months to a year, often requiring another core update. These numbers represent typical ranges. Also covered: - Why crawling delays also delay indexing and other Google processes. - Why some URLs never get indexed, despite appearing in XML sitemaps. - Why Google sometimes takes months to recognize canonical changes. - Why recovering from a Google core update often requires waiting for another update. - Why a site migration might take more than a year to finish. - How website authority, backlinks, and traffic influence crawling and indexing speed. - My experience publishing a brand-new page that ranked #1 above The New York Times within five minutes. - Why established websites with real users, backlinks, and topical relevance often get their pages crawled and indexed faster. - Why low-authority websites with little traffic and few backlinks experience longer delays. - Why these reported timeframes matter when diagnosing SEO problems and setting client expectations. One of the biggest takeaways from this episode is that these timelines vary enormously between websites. I've personally published a new page, submitted it through Google Search Console, and watched it rank #1 above The New York Times within five minutes. The website had authority, real search traffic, backlinks, and strong topical relevance to the target keyword. Those things matter. If you want Google to discover, crawl, and refresh your pages faster, focus on building a website that attracts real visitors, earns backlinks, and gets shared. ⭐️ Google Shows How Long Crawling, Indexing & Recovery Can Take https://searchenginejournal.com/google-crawling-indexing-recovery-timing-ranges/591829/ ⭐️ Ep 939 How to Build Backlinks for a Brand New Website (From Zero Authority) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcNmYaMrM3o ⭐️ Ep 1160 How To Get Free Backlinks in 2026 (Methods That Actually Work) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-5VL9o9RGQ 💎 Compact Keywords - My SEO Course - Get paying customers through SEO - Clear step-by-step video breakdowns - SEO templates to be copied and adapted for your products and services: https://compactkeywords.com/ 00:00 Google Timing Overview 00:59 Indexing Recap Context 01:29 Key Timeframes Explained 02:13 Core Update Recovery Windows 03:00 Limits of the Data 03:32 Timing Table Breakdown 04:45 What It Means for Clients 05:34 Real World Fast Indexing Story 06:14 How to Speed Things Up 06:49 Link Building Resources 08:24 Final Thanks and Sign Off The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #searchengineoptimization #seo #technicalseo #digitalmarketing

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  • S1 · E1193
    October 9 · 1 hr 14 min

    Parasite SEO: How Charles Floate Ranks Pages on Google.com Itself

    E1193: Charles Floate shares how he ranks parasite SEO pages on Google.com itself, gets those pages cited in Google's AI Overviews, and builds campaigns that generate thousands of dollars in revenue. With a full presentation, Charles breaks down his parasite SEO strategy, including the exact process he uses to find profitable keywords, identify powerful third-party domains, publish pages, get them indexed, and turn rankings into affiliate commissions. He also demonstrates how he automates parasite SEO with AI agents, including a system that published 10 pages in roughly 60 seconds and another that has created over 400 pages. We get into Google's site reputation abuse policy, the September 2026 spam update, how Google recently deindexed parasite pages on NotebookLM and Google Scripts, and why Charles believes Google's own domains remain some of the strongest opportunities in SEO. Topics covered: - What parasite SEO is and why high-authority websites outperform smaller domains - How Charles finds parasite opportunities on Google.com itself - Why Google.com and YouTube receive so much visibility in Google's AI Overviews - How parasite pages influence AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Bing, and Copilot - Why Google's September 2026 spam update benefited certain parasite websites - How Charles finds free parasite opportunities on LinkedIn, Reddit, Medium, GitHub, Spotify, and other platforms - How paid parasite placements on newspapers and magazines work - Why certain parasite pages rank on Google the same day they go live - How Charles identifies profitable keywords and low-competition SERPs - How to find affiliate programs and negotiate higher commissions - Why Charles focuses roughly 90% of his parasite campaigns on international, non-English markets - How to optimize titles, opening sentences, and page content for target keywords - Why people accidentally try to index the wrong parasite URLs - How to identify canonical URLs and indexing problems - How Charles uses AI agents, OpenClaw, and Chameleon Mode Pro to automate parasite SEO - How his automation published 10 parasite pages in roughly 60 seconds - How Grok Bot created more than 400 third-party pages for one brand - Why Google removed NotebookLM parasite pages from its search index - How Google recently deindexed another parasite opportunity involving Google Scripts - Why Charles believes Google's site reputation abuse policy has barely changed his strategy - How parasite SEO affects AI search results even when Google deindexes a page - Why parasite pages traditionally suffer from poor conversion rates - How AI Overviews change the conversion opportunity for parasite SEO - When Charles builds backlinks, buys internal links, or uses 301 redirects - Why internal links sometimes outperform expensive backlink campaigns - How Charles keeps certain parasite pages ranking for five years or longer - How a press release ranked number three on Google in nine minutes and changed an AI Overview's sentiment - Which press release providers Charles uses for parasite SEO and online reputation management - Why some press releases maintain rankings for years while others disappear - How competitors use fraudulent DMCA takedowns against parasite pages in iGaming - What barnacle SEO is and how it differs from black hat parasite SEO - How legitimate customer review videos create additional search visibility - Why Charles believes third-party mentions matter more in AI search - What Charles looks for before investing in a paid parasite placement - How he would approach a parasite SEO campaign with a $1,000 budget versus $5,000 - Why he recommends starting with contextual parasite pages - How AI agents automate prospecting, account creation, publishing, indexing, and tracking Charles also shares real examples of parasite pages that have survived multiple Google updates, explains what kept them ranking, and demonstrates the tools behind his automated campaigns. Whether you're interested in parasite SEO, affiliate SEO, AI search optimization, online reputation management, or black hat SEO experiments, this episode gives you a detailed look at what Charles is doing right now. ⭐️ Charles Floate's Rainmakers community - https://www.skool.com/ai-seo-rainmakers/about?ref=38c0628b17b741f6aeb947f8b0cd1b92 ⭐️ Charles Floate on 𝕏 - https://x.com/Charles_SEO ⭐️ Charles Floate on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlesfloate/ ⭐️ Charles Floate on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@CharlesFloate ⭐️ Charles Floate on Facebook - https://facebook.com/thecharlesfloate 💎 Compact Keywords - My SEO Course - Get paying customers through SEO - Clear step-by-step video breakdowns - SEO templates to be copied and adapted for your products and services: https://compactkeywords.com/ 00:00 Parasite SEO Overview 00:51 Authority And UGC Signals 02:33 Free Versus Paid Parasites 05:02 Why Parasites Win 06:14 Site Reputation Abuse Risks 09:23 Automation And Ops Stack 13:52 Conversion Problems And Fixes 16:59 AI Overviews Boost Parasites 19:06 Five Step Parasite Process 21:29 Affiliate Offers Research 25:17 Keyword Targeting Tactics 27:23 Indexing Mistakes Canonicals 28:58 Google Parasite Crackdowns 35:07 Costs Links And Internal Links 36:49 Fast Wins Press Releases ORM 37:59 iGaming DMCAs War Zone 40:35 Press Release Longevity 43:18 Newswire Indexing Picks 44:37 Barnacle SEO Basics 46:54 Social Proof Reviews 47:27 AI Era Rule Changes 51:37 Spotting Easy SERPs 52:34 Click Bombing Signals 54:49 Keeping Parasites Alive 57:21 301 Redirect Playbook 59:30 Indexers and SRA Risk 01:01:03 Grok Bot Parasite Demo 01:06:56 Budget and Outreach Tips 01:10:25 Grok Bot vs DOTS 01:13:01 Podcast Wrap Up The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #blackhatseo #searchengineoptimization #parasiteseo #digitalmarketing

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  • S1 · E1191
    October 8 · 14 min

    9,249 SEO Case Studies Reveal the Weirdest Tactics That Work

    E1191: One SEO spent the summer going through more than 30,000 documents and narrowing them down to 9,249 SEO case studies, tests, and papers with measurable results. The final dataset covered 552 cited sources and 182 SEO tactics. I go through some of the weirdest findings, the tests I agree with, the ones I question, and the tactics worth experimenting with on your own sites. Some of the findings: - Writing title tags entirely in capital letters increased organic traffic 17.5% across two independent tests - Removing synonym keywords from title tags reduced organic traffic 27% - Removing the word "compare" from title tags increased organic traffic 24% - Putting product prices in title tags reduced organic traffic 15% - Number emojis in meta descriptions reduced organic traffic 5% - Using a 410 instead of a 404 got removed pages dropped from Google's index much faster - Editorial backlinks earned through digital PR increased organic sessions 71% - Disavowing links without a manual penalty showed no measurable direction - Adding internal links to orphaned blog posts produced major ranking improvements - Homepage footer links to category and subcategory pages increased organic sessions 5-10% in one controlled test - Adding prominent brand CTA blocks to product pages increased conversions 80% across two tests I also dig into the AEO and GEO findings. The evidence there is much thinner, but some of the reported results are worth testing: - Adding quantitative statistics increased AI citations 37% - Adding quotes from credible named sources increased citations 22-41% - Keyword stuffing reduced AI citations 10% - Putting a direct answer in the opening paragraph increased citations 280% - Writing content as discrete factual statements produced a 5X increase - Moving source references directly next to claims increased citations 40% - Adding author bylines increased AI citations 113% - Human editing of AI-written content increased citations 67% - Targeted AI-written additions to specific pages increased citations 73% - Publishing AI-generated text across an entire site reduced organic sessions 35% I also cover one of the most interesting findings around LLMs.txt. Across the underlying measurements, results ranged from -19.7% to +81%. More importantly, there wasn't a single controlled LLMs.txt test in all 9,249 documents. Anyone claiming LLMs.txt definitively improves SEO or AI visibility is working with extremely weak evidence. We also get into Google Business Profile categories, keywords in URLs, emojis in title tags, internal linking, disavow files, title tag testing, mass AI content, and why so many GEO studies are difficult to trust. The biggest takeaway: traditional SEO testing still produces some of the strongest measurable results, especially around title tags, internal links, backlinks, and page structure. ⭐️ Reddit: I Read 9,249 SEO Case Studies to Build the Biggest SEO Meta-Study - https://www.reddit.com/r/TechSEO/comments/1wmb181/i_read_9249_seo_case_studies_to_build_the_biggest/ ⭐️ Ovisy: The Biggest SEO Meta-Study (Full Study) - https://ovisy.hr/blog/seo-meta-study ⭐️ Ep 763 - The SEO Trick That Breaks All the Rules: How Ultra-Long Page Titles Boost Rankings - https://youtu.be/ufjwb51hJuc 💎 Compact Keywords - My SEO Course - Get paying customers through SEO - Clear step-by-step video breakdowns - SEO templates to be copied and adapted for your products and services: https://compactkeywords.com/ 00:00 Meta Study Setup 00:52 How The Data Was Built 01:38 Title Tag Oddities 03:15 Breadcrumbs And Status Codes 04:01 Backlinks And Disavow 05:27 Internal Linking Wins 07:31 AEO And GEO Evidence 10:27 LLMs.txt And AI Content 11:50 Local SEO And URL Keywords 13:02 Wrap Up The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #searchengineoptimization #seo #generativeengineoptimization #answerengineoptimization

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  • S1 · E1190
    October 6 · 1 hr 1 min

    Barry Schwartz: Google's War on AI Scrapers Is Breaking SEO Tools

    E1190: Google is making it harder to scrape its search results, and SEO tools are getting caught in the middle. Barry Schwartz, founder of Search Engine Roundtable and one of the longest-running reporters in the search industry, joins me to break down what Google is doing, why rank-tracking data has become less reliable, and what happens next. Barry has covered Google and search every day since 2003. In this episode, we go deep on Google's fight against AI scrapers, the September 2026 spam update, scaled AI content, Google losing trust in entire websites, and the future of SEO. We cover: - Google's new GoTo redirects and what they mean for SEO tools - Why Barry says the GoTo redirect itself is not the biggest problem - Google's broader crackdown on companies scraping its search results - The widespread IP blocking targeting proxies used by scraping companies - The increase in CAPTCHAs making automated Google searches harder - Reports that Google is injecting bad or fake data into search results shown to bots - Why unreliable SERP data creates a much bigger problem for rank trackers - Why Google appears more focused on ChatGPT and SERP APIs than Ahrefs or Semrush - Why Barry doubts rank trackers will return to their previous level of reliability - Why Google Search Console has become more important as third-party data gets harder to trust - Why selling rankings becomes harder when Google controls the underlying data - What makes the September 2026 spam update different from recent spam updates - Why its long rollout suggests Google is pushing several spam systems or components - The multiple phases Barry has seen throughout the September spam update - How Google could detect sudden explosions of AI-generated pages without behavioral data - Why publishing 50,000 pages in a week creates an obvious pattern for Google - How templated programmatic content fits into Google's fight against scaled AI content - Google's complicated internal relationship with AI-generated writing - Google's new guidance telling publishers to manually review AI-generated content - Why scale matters more than whether one individual page used AI - Why spam updates and core updates require different recovery strategies - What website owners should review after getting hit by a spam update - Why Barry warns against blindly disavowing links after an update - The difference between fixing a spam violation and rebuilding a site after a core update - What John Mueller meant when he said Google's systems can "lose faith in a website" - How enough weak pages create sitewide trust and indexing problems - Why recovering from lost trust may require rewriting, removing, and pruning content - Why some Google spam systems already run continuously - Why Google keeps introducing structured data and later removing support for certain types - What actually keeps Google up at night: the enormous amount of AI content flooding the web - Why Google's problem has flipped from not having enough content to having far too much - Barry's perspective after nearly 50,000 published Search Engine Roundtable articles - Why consistency, expertise, and actually caring about the industry still matter after decades in search ⭐️ Search Engine Roundtable - https://www.seroundtable.com/ ⭐️ Barry Schwartz on 𝕏 - https://x.com/rustybrick ⭐️ Barry Schwartz on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/rustybrick/ ⭐️ Barry Schwartz's agency, RustyBrick - https://www.rustybrick.com/ 💎 Compact Keywords - My SEO Course - Get paying customers through SEO - Clear step-by-step video breakdowns - SEO templates to be copied and adapted for your products and services: https://compactkeywords.com/ 00:00 Barry Schwartz Intro 01:09 GoTo Redirect Chaos 03:33 Google Blocking Tactics 07:07 Rank Tracking Future 09:06 SEO Reporting Reality 12:15 September Spam Update 15:01 Mount AI Signals 17:00 Google AI Writing Stance 20:22 Mueller Likes AI Critique 22:23 Spam Updates Hitting Harder 26:38 SEO Interest Surging 31:08 Which Sites Get Hit 32:05 Spam Update Targets 33:11 Spam Winners Losers 35:03 Old School SEO 37:15 Recovering From Hits 39:56 AI Scale Signals 41:31 Collateral Damage Stories 45:11 Google Bugs Iteration 46:14 Google And SEOs 48:44 Losing Trust Recovery 50:17 Continuous Enforcement 51:25 Schema Rise Fall 54:46 What Surprises Barry 56:04 Passion Community Work 01:00:29 Final Thanks Outro The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #searchengineoptimization #seo #searchmarketing #digitalmarketing

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  • S1 · E1188
    October 5 · 12 min

    Blog Post, Landing Page, or Category Page? (Search Intent Quiz)

    E1188: Your page might target a keyword properly and still lose rankings because you chose the wrong type of page for the search. I turn search intent into a quiz: for each keyword, predict whether searchers want a blog post, landing page, or category page - before I reveal the answer. I recently consulted a site with thousands of pages that had steadily lost SEO traffic for years. They blamed negative SEO and bad backlinks. But new pages still ranked within two weeks, then lost their positions. The bigger problem was mismatched search intent: the site frequently used the wrong page type and the wrong copy for what searchers wanted. In this episode: - The exercise I recommend when your SEO traffic starts declining - Why I start with a site's most-clicked pages - How to decide between a blog post, landing page, and category page - Why "top tenant screening tools" needs a blog post - Why "tenant screening software" needs a landing page - Why "tenant screening software features" needs a blog post - Why "shingle repair Dallas" needs a service landing page - Why "PR agencies for service businesses" needs a blog post - Why "roof repair cost Dallas" needs informational content - Why "handwoven storage baskets" needs an ecommerce category page - Why "how to choose an ergonomic office chair" needs a blog post - How I approach "best office chairs for back pain" with a blog/category hybrid - The important difference between "Salesforce alternative" and "Salesforce alternatives" - Why a singular landing page outranks plural listicles - How satisfied clicks influence which result deserves to stay near the top - Why searchers sometimes prefer a direct first-party landing page over another comparison article - My page title formula: Target Keyword | Benefit or Searcher's Goal | Brand Name - How I place the target keyword in the page title, URL, H1, and opening sentence - How "Looking for tenant screening software? We've got you covered" wastes valuable above-the-fold copy - How to write an opening sentence that immediately tells searchers what the product does - Why mismatched search intent hurts rankings more today than it did several years ago - What pogo-sticking tells a search engine about the experience on your page - The search-intent audit I recommend running even when your traffic looks healthy The core exercise is simple: Start with your most-clicked pages. Ask what primary keyword each page targets. Then ask whether someone searching that keyword actually wants the type of content you gave them. A relevant page is not enough. The page also needs to satisfy what the searcher came to Google looking for. 💎 Compact Keywords - My SEO Course - Get paying customers through SEO - Clear step-by-step video breakdowns - SEO templates to be copied and adapted for your products and services: https://compactkeywords.com/ 00:00 Fix Declining SEO Traffic 00:39 Case Study Intent Problem 02:16 SaaS Page Type Quiz 03:51 Services Keyword Examples 04:46 Ecommerce Category vs Blog 05:59 Singular vs Plural Nuance 08:09 Page Titles and Copywriting 09:13 Why Intent Mismatch Hurts 10:52 Exercise Recap 12:05 Final Thanks and Outro The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #searchengineoptimization #seo #digitalmarketing #performancemarketing

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  • S1 · E1189
    October 5 · 33 min

    Exact Match Domains Still Rank in Local SEO - David Quaid Explains How

    E1189: Exact match domains still rank in local SEO, and David Quaid explains where they still give businesses an advantage. David breaks down how to use exact match domains for local businesses, how they interact with Google Business Profiles, why branded domains and EMDs serve different purposes, and where people go wrong when they expect the domain alone to do all the work. David also explains why EMDs work especially well in competitive cities, how he thinks about topical authority, and why a local business should build around one valuable root keyword instead of trying to rank for everything. We cover: - Why exact match domains still matter in local SEO - How to choose an EMD around your highest-value keyword - Why city modifiers matter for local businesses - How EMDs affect Google Business Profile relevance - Why David prefers combining a brand with the target keyword - When to use a new domain versus your existing branded domain - Why EMDs still need links, authority, and trust - Why adding "best" to a domain does not automatically improve rankings - Why "near me" domains no longer carry the same weight - How Google treats branded searches differently from generic searches - Why EMDs work differently now than they did years ago - How strong brands make competitor EMDs harder to rank - Why EMDs often show up in competitive local map results - How David thinks EMDs affect topical authority - Why one focused EMD beats spreading relevance across unrelated services - How child pages inherit relevance from the domain topic - What an EMD homepage should look like - Why the site still needs to look like a real business - Why service pages should match Google Business Profile services - How to connect service pages to your Google Business Profile - Why Google Business Profile verification remains one of the hardest parts - Why real offices, signage, and business information matter - How multiple locations affect local visibility - Why local businesses often rank across dozens of commercial search terms - How EMDs may affect Google Ads quality score and paid search costs - Why David recommends announcing new branded domains through press releases - Why subfolders usually beat subdomains for sharing authority - When separate domains make sense for divisions, services, or locations David also walks through a hypothetical web design company in New York and shows how he would structure its domain, Google Business Profile, homepage, service pages, links, and local presence from the ground up. ⭐️ David Quaid on 𝕏 - https://x.com/DavidGQuaid ⭐️ David Quaid on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidquaid/ ⭐️ David Quaid on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@DavidQuaid ⭐️ David Quaid's agency - https://primaryposition.com/ 💎 Compact Keywords - My SEO Course - Get paying customers through SEO - Clear step-by-step video breakdowns - SEO templates to be copied and adapted for your products and services: https://compactkeywords.com/ 00:00 Rapid Listener Episode 01:04 Business Names and DBAs 02:20 EMD Domain Strategy 03:57 Google Profile Verification 05:12 Keyword Research Setup 06:51 Multiple Profiles and Categories 11:48 Profile Optimization Basics 14:56 EMD Links and Ads Savings 17:10 API Leak and EMD Reality 20:00 Bad Domain Examples 24:24 Topical Authority Boost 28:38 Building the EMD Site 31:15 Subfolders Not Subdomains 31:50 Wrap Up and Outro The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #localseo #googlebusinessprofileoptimization #searchengineoptimization #seo

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  • S1 · E1187
    October 4 · 13 min

    Google Just Changed Its AI Content Guidelines (Unreviewed AI Is Now a Liability)

    E1187: Google changed its guidance on AI-generated content on October 1, and the new language makes one thing very clear: publishing unchecked AI content creates real SEO risk. Google now explicitly says publishers must manually fact-check and review AI-generated content for accuracy and trustworthiness before publishing. That review doesn't stop with the body copy. Google says it also applies to page titles, meta descriptions, structured data, and image alt text. I break down exactly what Google changed, what it means for SEOs using AI at scale, and how I use AI without handing an entire page over to an LLM. We cover: - Google's new October 1 guidance on AI-generated content - Why Google now explicitly calls for manual fact-checking - Why hallucinations give Google another reason to distrust scaled AI pages - Why scaled AI content becomes especially risky when nobody reviews it - Google's stance on AI content vs. AI spam - Why Google does not ban AI-generated content - How Google evaluates low-quality automated content - Why useful, original AI-assisted content still ranks - What Google says about AI disclosures and author bylines - Why I recommend using AI as a writing assistant instead of one-shotting entire SEO pages - How one-shot AI pages frequently miss search intent - How unchecked AI content often creates weak above-the-fold experiences - How bad user signals build when pages fail to satisfy searchers - How Google can lose faith in an entire website after enough weak pages - Why images and video matter when you use AI-generated text - How AI produces bloated pages that hurt conversions - How cutting copy, navigation, and distractions increases conversions - Why AI-detected content may also get excluded from AI training data The biggest takeaway: AI content itself is not the problem. Google explicitly says automation and AI generation are not automatically spam. The problem starts when publishers use AI to generate large amounts of content without adding value, reviewing the output, correcting inaccuracies, or making sure the page satisfies search intent. My approach remains the same: use AI as a writing assistant. Guide it closely. Edit aggressively. Fact-check everything. Add original thought, images, video, examples, and real experience. Do not give an LLM a keyword and blindly publish whatever comes back. I also explain why simply proofreading a fully AI-written page still falls short. Once the AI decides the structure, arguments, and interpretation of search intent, you are already anchored to its thinking. ⭐️ Google Search's guidance on using generative AI content on your website - https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/using-gen-ai-content ⭐️ Google's FAQ - https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2023/02/google-search-and-ai-content ⭐️ How to Humanize AI Content - https://edwardsturm.com/articles/humanize-chatgpt-content/ ⭐️ How to Double Your Conversions by Doing Less (10 Before-and-After Examples) - https://edwardsturm.com/articles/conversion-rate-optimisation-strategy-simplify-landing-pages/ ⭐️ Ep 1083 - Google's New AI Spam Detector Could Wipe Out Entire SEO Networks - https://youtu.be/I78IQS99EwU ⭐️ Ep 1153 - Google Can Detect Your AI Content. Here's What Happens Next. - https://youtu.be/G0qcfknUCcU ⭐️ Ep 1166 - Google Can Lose Faith In Your Website (Here's How To Get It Back) - https://youtu.be/Q4cB34UticI 💎 Compact Keywords - My SEO Course - Get paying customers through SEO - Clear step-by-step video breakdowns - SEO templates to be copied and adapted for your products and services: https://compactkeywords.com/ 00:00 AI Content Warning 00:24 Google AI Guidance Overview 01:14 Quality Raters And AI 02:03 October 1 Fact Check Update 02:51 Scaled AI Content Risks 03:29 Give Users Context 04:21 FAQ What Counts As Spam 05:44 Detection And EEAT Basics 06:50 Authorship And Disclosures 07:42 Practical AI SEO Workflow 09:38 Humanize With Media 10:26 Trim Fluff Boost Conversions 11:20 AI Detection Consequences 13:00 Episode Outro The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #searchengineoptimization #seo #digitalmarketing #webdevelopment

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  • S1 · E1186
    October 3 · 1 hr 16 min

    Google's AI Overviews Now Tell Customers Why to Avoid Your Brand (w/ Ann Smarty)

    E1186: Google is now showing AI Overviews for simple brand-name searches, and those summaries sometimes tell customers why they should avoid the company they just searched for. Ann Smarty joins to break down what this means for SEO, branded search, online reputation management, Reddit, reviews, and the way businesses control what people see before they ever reach their website. We look at real examples including GoDaddy, JustAnswer, and Bluehost. Someone searches a company name, and Google immediately surfaces complaints, controversies, cancellation information, outdated pricing, old Reddit threads, and other third-party information. That creates a completely different customer journey. Someone already knows your brand. They type your name into Google or even their browser address bar. Google autocomplete sends them toward searches like "[brand] legit" or "[brand] reviews." Then an AI Overview summarizes what Google finds before that person ever visits your site. In this episode, Ann and I cover: - Why AI Overviews appearing for brand-name searches matter so much - How old Reddit threads and outdated reviews influence what Google says about your company - Why unhappy customers naturally create more public content than happy customers - Finding the branded searches that influence buying decisions - Why you should monitor the top 10 to 20 results for important branded queries - How to identify the complaints and pain points Google keeps surfacing - Why strong customer support forms the foundation of reputation management - How your website, YouTube, LinkedIn, Reddit, and other properties work together in branded search - Why Ann recommends creating dedicated YouTube playlists around customer reviews - How video testimonials give you additional branded search assets - Why businesses should answer questions about pricing, complaints, controversies, and policies themselves instead of forcing customers to search elsewhere - Why hiding important information often creates more branded searches around words like "scam," "legit," "reviews," and "price" - How to use a branded subreddit without making the mistake of deleting every negative comment - Why responding calmly to criticism often works better than trying to erase it - What happens when brands try to bury negative search results too aggressively - How companies use parasite properties and unofficial-looking accounts for reputation management - Why those tactics create serious risks when employees, contractors, or community members expose what the company is doing - How to prepare for a reputation crisis before one happens Ann also tells the story of the Google penalty that hit her guest blogging platform after it became one of the biggest platforms in the industry. Google publicly targeted the platform, users received manual penalties, and Ann faced the news while speaking at an industry conference. Instead of disappearing, she addressed it publicly, supported her users, kept working, and continued building her career. The biggest takeaway: reputation management starts long before you have a reputation problem. If you plan to grow a brand, start controlling your branded search results now. Know what ranks for your name. Build properties you control. Answer uncomfortable questions directly. Take care of customers. Give happy customers reasons to share their experiences. Now Google does not just rank what people say about your brand. It summarizes it for your customers. ⭐️ Ann Smarty's SEO for AI Subreddit - https://www.reddit.com/r/SEO_for_AI/ ⭐️ Ann Smarty on 𝕏 - https://x.com/seosmarty ⭐️ Ann Smarty on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/annsmarty/ ⭐️ Ann Smarty's site - https://www.annsmarty.com/ 💎 Compact Keywords - My SEO Course - Get paying customers through SEO - Clear step-by-step video breakdowns - SEO templates to be copied and adapted for your products and services: https://compactkeywords.com/ 00:00 AI Overviews Hit Brands 01:51 Branded Search Horror Stories 02:57 Zero Click Reputation Risk 06:15 Why Negativity Dominates 10:00 Audit Branded SERPs 14:25 Own The Pain Points 18:40 Customer Support Fixes ORM 19:37 Burying Lawsuit Searches 22:59 ChatGPT Digs Everything 23:51 Anne's Google Penalty Story 28:15 Video Reviews Everywhere 32:31 Stop Hiding Pricing 38:42 Can You Bury Minor Issues 40:27 Owning The Spotlight 41:30 Quiet Statement Strategy 42:36 Reddit Fire Control 44:28 Crisis Playbook Basics 46:21 Distraction PR Tactics 47:50 Owning Mistakes Publicly 50:49 Preplanned Crisis Responses 53:19 Parasite SEO Ethics Debate 57:29 Build Reputation Foundation 01:01:41 Branded Subreddit Moderation 01:06:42 Time Smooths Crises 01:11:35 Brand Growth Makes Targets 01:14:40 Wrap Up And Where To Find The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #generativeengineoptimization #onlinereputationmanagement #searchengineoptimization #seo

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  • S1 · E1185
    October 2 · 16 min

    Google's September 2026 Spam Update Phase 2 Hits (And Reddit's AI Translations Are Winning Again)

    E1185: Google's September 2026 spam update just entered what looks like phase two. Google launched the update on September 24. The first major wave hit around September 25-27. Things cooled down, then volatility exploded again on September 30. This rollout looks very different from Google's recent spam updates. Instead of finishing in roughly two days, Google says this one will run for around two weeks, which means we're seeing separate waves of sites drop, recover, and move throughout the rollout. I break down what changed during the September 30 wave, what types of sites are getting hit, why some previously crushed sites are suddenly recovering, and one of the strangest winners so far: Reddit's AI-translated pages. Reddit's AI translations surged across countries including Italy, Germany, Brazil, and France. These pages previously dropped hard during Google's May 2026 core update and June 2026 spam update, but they're climbing again. Reddit itself has now reached an all-time high in estimated organic search traffic. I also cover: - Why September 30 looks like the second major phase of the spam update - Why Google's unusually long two-week rollout matters - Sites recovering after previous spam updates - One recovery that jumped from nearly zero to roughly 8,000 Google clicks per day - Reddit AI translations returning to Google Search - Why Reddit's AI-translated UGC performs differently from mass-translated blog content - The types of pages taking the hardest hits - Highly templated service pages - Programmatic SEO pages with little unique value - Thoughtless AI-generated content - Doorway pages that swap locations while keeping almost everything else identical - A site with 143 templated county service pages getting hit - Why Google keeps targeting large-scale page generation that fails to satisfy specific search intent - Why normal white-hat sites are still seeing volatility during the rollout - Amazon Spain reportedly losing significant estimated organic traffic during the update - Why Ahrefs, Semrush, and other rank trackers are showing unreliable SERP data right now - Google's latest anti-scraping changes and the problems they're creating for SEO tools - Why Google Search Console matters more than third-party rank tracking during this period - What I'm doing while the update continues rolling out The biggest pattern remains clear: Google keeps going after scaled pages that exist mainly because someone found a template and multiplied it across hundreds or thousands of keywords. Changing a city, county, product, or keyword while leaving almost everything else the same does not create a page specifically for that searcher. But this update isn't only producing losses. Sites hit by previous spam updates are also seeing major recoveries. Google appears to be reevaluating sites as its spam systems update, meaning work done after an earlier hit is showing up during later algorithm updates. My advice during the rollout remains simple: don't panic and make massive changes while Google is still moving everything around. Instead, look closely at the pages that actually make you money. Ask whether those pages: - Satisfy search intent immediately - Give the searcher what they came for above the fold - Remove unnecessary distractions - Make the main action obvious - Contain information created specifically for that query rather than copied from a template Google's September spam update still has time left to run. September 30 looks like the second major wave, and we'll see whether another phase hits before the rollout finishes. ⭐️ SE Roundtable: Phase Two of the Google September 2026 Spam Update Hits - https://www.seroundtable.com/google-september-2026-spam-update-two-42209.html ⭐️ Glenn Gabe on 𝕏 - https://x.com/glenngabe/status/2105638422102561193 ⭐️ Lily Ray on 𝕏 - https://x.com/lilyraynyc/status/2105298995543425445 ⭐️ Charles Floate on 𝕏 - https://x.com/Charles_SEO/status/2104504430683197518 ⭐️ How to Double Your Conversions by Doing Less (10 Before-and-After Examples) - https://edwardsturm.com/articles/conversion-rate-optimisation-strategy-simplify-landing-pages/ 💎 Compact Keywords - My SEO Course - Get paying customers through SEO - Clear step-by-step video breakdowns - SEO templates to be copied and adapted for your products and services: https://compactkeywords.com/ 00:00 Spam Update Phase Two 00:19 Early Impact Timeline 01:10 What We Know So Far 01:47 Reddit Translations Return 03:06 Recovery Surges Explained 05:04 Why Reddit Still Wins 06:56 What Content Got Hit 08:38 Rank Trackers Breaking 11:15 Community Reactions 12:42 What To Do Now 13:34 Conversion Cleanup Tips 16:03 Wrap Up The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #searchengineoptimization #seo #googlespamupdate #performancemarketing

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  • S1 · E1184
    September 30 · 1 hr 21 min

    Jacky Chou: Clone Indie Hacker Apps, Then Outrank Them on Google

    E1184: Jacky Chou and David Quaid sit down for a wide-ranging conversation about where SEO still makes money in 2026, what Jacky would build today, and why he thinks most indie hackers leave huge opportunities on the table. Jacky's opening argument is simple: find SaaS products already making money, build a competing product, then use SEO and paid distribution to beat founders who know how to code but do not know how to market. From there, the conversation goes deep into SaaS, affiliate SEO, parasite SEO, Reddit, ChatGPT, listicles, backlinks, partial-match domains, offsite SEO, and what Jacky would do if he had to start from zero again. In this episode: - Why Jacky says SaaS is the biggest SEO opportunity right now - How he finds indie hacker apps with proven revenue, rebuilds the idea, and attacks the search demand around it - Why marketers now have an advantage when AI makes software much easier to build - How Jacky replaced a $600/month rank tracker with his own tool and sold it as a lifetime deal - Why he launches constantly instead of betting everything on one business - How some of his older income streams fell roughly 90%, and why that changed how he thinks about diversification - Why he believes traditional SEO display-ad sites have largely disappeared while affiliate SEO still works - Why "best X" and other buyer-intent searches still produce revenue even with AI Overviews - Why Jacky barely checks Google Search Console unless revenue drops - How he validates new products with paid ads instead of waiting for SEO - Why he thinks many AI SEO tools fail because their creators do not actually understand SEO - Why he says Reddit spam became much harder, and why buying established subreddits entered the playbook - How Jacky thinks Google's preference for high-authority sites creates more opportunities for parasite SEO - Why he believes listicles remain one of the strongest ways to influence what ChatGPT cites and recommends - Why he thinks ChatGPT and Google are becoming less dependent on the same underlying results - Why Jacky prefers partial-match domains and puts more energy into offsite SEO than onsite SEO - How David thinks about expired domains, backlinks, clicks, and authority - Why both of them think SEOs overcomplicate Google - What Jacky would do if he had to start over today - How he took a new iOS app from $0 to about $1,000/month in its first month through search - Why Jacky says the fastest way to learn SEO is to stop reading, start testing, and keep launching Jacky and David also get into the economics behind SEO software, Meta retargeting, programmatic SEO, site reputation abuse, Forbes, buyer's guides, and why execution beats waiting for the perfect idea. If you work in SEO, build software, run affiliate sites, or want to use search to launch your own products, this episode gives you a direct look at how Jacky Chou and David Quaid approach SEO in 2026. ⭐️ Jacky Chou on 𝕏 - https://x.com/indexsy ⭐️ Jack Chou's website - https://jackychou.com/ ⭐️ Jacky Chou on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@indexsy ⭐️ David Quaid on 𝕏 - https://x.com/DavidGQuaid ⭐️ David Quaid on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidquaid/ ⭐️ David Quaid on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@DavidQuaid ⭐️ David Quaid's agency - https://primaryposition.com/ 💎 Compact Keywords - My SEO Course - Get paying customers through SEO - Clear step-by-step video breakdowns - SEO templates to be copied and adapted for your products and services: https://compactkeywords.com/ 00:00 Jackie and David Join 01:17 Biggest SEO Opportunity SaaS 05:35 Affiliate and Ads Reality 08:27 From Consulting to SaaS 13:08 AI Tools and Indie Hackers 17:28 Sprint Before AI Loop 24:15 Launch Fast and Iterate 26:18 Replacing Tools and Paid Ads 32:05 Google Spam and Parasites 34:43 Reddit Spam and Sub Markets 39:46 Buying Subreddits Pricing 42:39 Build vs Buy Communities 43:20 Buyer Guides vs Listicles 44:38 LLMs Splitting from Google 45:56 Spamming ChatGPT Citations 47:29 Forbes and Reputation Abuse 49:59 Entrepreneur Paths for Engineers 52:17 SEO Learn by Doing 54:22 Modern SEO Frameworks 56:12 Parasite SEO and Offsite Focus 01:00:22 Indexers and User Signals 01:04:39 Parasite Deals and Economics 01:09:07 Building Multiple Brands 01:13:04 Viral Growth and Fraud 01:19:04 Nord Tactic and Wrap Up The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #searchengineoptimization #seo #indiehackers #buildinpublic

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