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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
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  • English

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  • S1 · E1183
    September 30 · 1 hr 1 min

    ChatGPT Is Building Its Own Search Index. Here's How to Rank in It

    E1183: ChatGPT is building more of its own search index, and that changes where SEO goes next. David G. Quaid joins me to break down what OpenAI appears to be doing, how its cached web content starts to function like an index, and what SEOs need to understand if ChatGPT relies less on Google and Bing over time. OpenAI has already discussed a long-term goal of serving most search traffic from its own first-party index. David explains why the change may already be happening: repeatedly fetching the same pages in real time costs too much, takes too long, and creates unnecessary dependence on traditional search engines. We get into: - Why ChatGPT's cache increasingly resembles its own search index - OpenAI's stated goal of serving more searches from first-party indexed content - Why the same small group of pages can receive tens of thousands of AI crawl requests - How Common Crawl fits into ChatGPT's search infrastructure - Why ranking #1 in Google does not automatically mean more visibility in ChatGPT - How LLMs use query fan-out to retrieve multiple documents - Why consensus across multiple sources matters more than being position #1 - How OpenAI could use Google for occasional quality checks instead of every search - Why OpenAI does not need to recreate Google's exact ranking order - Why Google's decades of spam-fighting experience still give it an advantage - How quickly OpenAI could copy major search-engine concepts once SEOs expose weaknesses - Why exact-match domains and separate satellite sites become interesting in AI search - How fabricated awards, press releases, and repeated claims across multiple websites influence AI answers - What the King of AEO experiments reveal about how easily AI systems accept manufactured consensus - Why targeting less competitive query fan-outs creates more opportunities - Why David still says doing strong Google SEO gives you the best foundation for AI visibility We also discuss another major change happening in SEO: traditional rank tracking is getting less reliable. Google's personalization and recent search changes increasingly create situations where rank trackers report positions that do not match what users actually see. David and I discuss why Google Search Console may become the real source of truth and why more SEOs may eventually build their own tracking systems around the Search Console API. Other topics include: - Whether traditional SERP trackers face an existential problem - Why impressions can fall while clicks stay flat - Google's increasing personalization of search results - Why newer SEOs suffer most when ranking data becomes less reliable - Why schema does not create authority simply because you declare an entity - Why Google's Knowledge Graph does not require schema to understand a person or brand - Why ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity produce very different answers despite working from overlapping web information - Why Google Images also prefers source diversity instead of showing one domain repeatedly The biggest takeaway: even if ChatGPT builds its own index, the fundamentals do not suddenly disappear. It still needs to discover pages, decide which sources belong in its retrieval set, compare competing claims, and synthesize an answer. Optimize for Google and you land the most simultaneous high-value wins. ⭐️ 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 LLMs Building Indexes 00:51 Crawl Inefficiency Signals 02:37 Caching Becomes Index 03:20 King Of AEO Experiments 05:24 Common Crawl Shift 07:42 OpenAI Index Evidence 10:00 Schema And Knowledge Graph 13:23 Authority Without Browser Data 18:50 SEO Spam And Digg Moment 21:35 Preparing For LLM Indexing 26:20 Rank Trackers Breaking 32:01 Flying Blind On ROI 35:01 Why This Episode 35:52 Guest Debate Fallout 36:15 LLMs Building Indexes 37:39 Why Reddit YouTube Drop 42:17 Caching Over Live Fetch 44:25 Consensus Not Ranking 46:11 Early AI Spam Loopholes 48:05 Google vs Gemini Output 48:56 Fake Awards Gray Hat 51:50 Calling Out GEO Grifters 55:23 SEO Agency Horror Story 59:19 Variance Across Sources 01:00:54 Wrap Up Next Episode The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #generativeengineoptimization #answerengineoptimization #searchengineoptimization #seo

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  • S1 · E1182
    September 29 · 1 hr 30 min

    AEO Companies Are Selling You 2016 SEO

    E1182: AEO companies keep presenting old SEO tactics as if AI search invented them. Harpreet Singh joins me to break down what is actually different about AEO/GEO, what is simply traditional SEO with new terminology, and where companies are wasting time because they do not understand the history of search. We start with the tactics now getting promoted on AI search conference stages: keywords in URLs, FAQs, meta descriptions, paragraphs, press releases, solution pages, listicles, and other concepts SEOs have used for years. Harpreet explains why removing the historical context around these tactics leads companies to overuse them and damage their search strategy. Then we get into what is genuinely changing. Harpreet walks through how he analyzes query fan-out, including ChatGPT searches that use site: operators to pull information from Gartner, G2, Capterra, and other third-party sources. For some brands, optimizing those profiles matters more than publishing another page on their own site. We also talk about how difficult competitive AI visibility becomes when an LLM already associates established brands with a category. If a company spent 10 years being known as a mid-market product and suddenly wants to become an enterprise brand, changing a few pages will not rewrite that positioning. The company needs consistent signals across its own site, third-party profiles, reviews, media, creators, press, and search results. In this episode: - Why Harpreet says AEO companies are selling 2016 SEO - Old SEO tactics getting repackaged as new AI search tactics - Why SEO remains the foundation of AI visibility - What query fan-out actually changes about keyword research - Why Gartner, G2, Capterra, Reddit, YouTube, and other third-party sources matter - How to optimize third-party profiles for the positioning you want LLMs to understand - Why industry pages matter more as AI results become personalized - How Harpreet tracks prompts like keywords instead of tracking endless prompt variations - Why he ignores top-of-funnel AI citations that do not connect to revenue - How to attack hyper-competitive terms such as "best email marketing software" - Why solution pages and listicles still matter - How reviews, press releases, influencers, and outside websites create consensus around a brand - Why moving a brand from mid-market to enterprise creates an AI visibility problem - How New Balance can outrank Nike and Adidas with basic category-page SEO - Why enterprise SEO is often much worse than people assume - Why creator-led AEO still has an attribution problem - The simple "How did you hear about us?" field Harpreet uses to track AI-driven customers - Why cheap press releases still influence AI answers - Why AI search optimization remains a game of Whac-A-Mole - Why search optimization does not disappear even if AI companies build their own indexes The biggest point: AI search changes the surfaces and the retrieval process, but it does not erase the fundamentals. Relevance, authority, positioning, third-party validation, keyword targeting, internal linking, and strong pages still determine what gets found and trusted. Harpreet Singh joins me for a 90-minute breakdown of what serious AI search optimization looks like once you strip away the new labels. ⭐️ 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/@harpsdigital 💎 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 AEO and GEO Repackaging 01:27 Conference Speaker Concerns 04:14 Misleading Studies and Statistics 07:02 Debating AEO Tactics 08:47 Business Expansion Beyond AEO 10:57 Current AEO Sprint Work 13:24 Press Releases and Parasite SEO 15:41 Versus Pages Strategy 17:06 Industry Pages and Personalization 19:28 Query Fan Out Analysis 23:34 Profile Optimization Tactics 25:37 Award Winning Strategies 26:37 Brand Reviews Domain Tactic 28:13 Small Business Advantages 29:38 Tools and Tech Stack 30:34 Prompt Tracking Strategy 32:23 Hyper Competitive Keywords Approach 39:40 Brand Repositioning Challenges 43:26 AI Has Picked Winners 46:00 New Balance SEO Example 48:53 Fixing Page Copy 49:29 Internal Links Win 50:35 Enterprise SEO Fails 54:28 Why Copy Moves Rankings 56:29 Small Brands Need More 58:54 What AEO Talks Miss 01:00:34 Creator Led AEO ROI 01:07:27 Attribution Workarounds 01:09:10 Reputation and Affiliates 01:13:48 Small Business AEO Playbook 01:16:40 Press Releases Game AI 01:28:09 Why SEO Never Dies 01:29:41 Wrap Up and Where to Find The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #generativeengineoptimization #answerengineoptimization #searchengineoptimization #seo

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  • S1 · E1181
    September 28 · 10 min

    6 Boring SEO Habits That Actually Grow Your Traffic

    E1181: I break down six SEO habits that marketers and site owners use to grow traffic without chasing a new tactic every week. These came from a popular SEO Growth subreddit thread where people shared the habits that made the biggest difference for them. I go through the best responses, explain why they work, and show you how to take each one further. In this episode: - Export Google Search Console data every month and study what Google tells you. Look at which queries generate impressions, where your pages rank, which pages get clicks, and where the gaps are. - Separate keywords into covered and uncovered opportunities. Covered keywords tell you which existing pages deserve updates. Uncovered keywords tell you what new pages to create. This also reduces unnecessary overlap between pages targeting similar searches. - Refresh old content instead of constantly publishing new pages. Update outdated information, tighten search intent above the fold, remove fluff, improve what comes next, and add relevant queries your page already ranks for. - Build backlinks every single week. Consistent link acquisition compounds. Journalist outreach, partnerships, link outreach, and other repeatable methods beat doing one huge link-building push every six months. - Use Google Search Console to find queries you rank for but never intentionally targeted. If a page sits on page two for a relevant search, add a section or paragraph that directly addresses that query. Google already sees the page as relevant. Give it a stronger reason to rank higher. - Study search results constantly. When you search Google, look at why certain pages rank above others. When you use ChatGPT or Claude, study which sources they cite and why. Over time, patterns become obvious. I also cover: - Why informational content keeps losing clicks even when impressions stay strong - How to spot pages that need an update - Why broken links and fading pages deserve regular attention - Why giving companies free SEO recommendations sometimes turns into paid work - How partnerships create recurring backlink opportunities - Why learning directly from SERPs beats blindly trusting tool scores ⭐️ The Reddit Thread - https://www.reddit.com/r/seogrowth/comments/1wh0yvq/whats_one_seo_habit_that_has_made_the_biggest/ ⭐️ Ep 787 - The #1 SEO Hack: Why Content Refreshes Beat New Content - https://youtu.be/UKvGmqzIxg4 ⭐️ Ep 1104 - The 1-Hour SEO Update That Makes Your Best Pages Rank for More Keywords - https://youtu.be/GmsAuotHGso ⭐️ Ep 1160 - How To Get Free Backlinks in 2026 (Methods That Actually Work) - https://youtu.be/U-5VL9o9RGQ ⭐️ Ep 1173 - The Internal Linking Trick That Uses Topical Authority You Already Have - https://youtu.be/2dPc80Z_DZk ⭐️ AI SEO/GEO/AEO: How to Get Shown in LLMs in 2026 - https://edwardsturm.com/articles/ai-seo-geo-aeo-get-shown-llms-2026/ 💎 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 Biggest SEO Habit 00:16 Monthly GSC Review 01:14 Covered vs Uncovered Keywords 01:45 Content Refresh Checklist 03:22 Weekly Backlink Outreach 04:40 Query Tweaks to Rank 05:27 Learn From Other Sites 07:37 Consistency and Internal Links 08:21 Partnership Link Exchanges 09:08 Wrap Up The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #searchengineoptimization #seo #digitalmarketing #performancemarketing

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  • S1 · E1180
    September 27 · 14 min

    Google's September 2026 Spam Update Is Here (And It Came With a Secret AI Spam Detector)

    E1180: Google's September 2026 spam update is rolling out, and this one looks very different from the last few. The update started September 24 and is registering a 9.4/10 on Semrush's volatility tracker. Google Search Advocate John Mueller also confirmed that this spam update is expected to take longer than recent spam updates, with volatility potentially continuing for roughly two weeks. At the same time, a Google research paper about a system called SAFE started circulating across the SEO industry. SAFE stands for Scaled Abuse Forensic Examiner. Google describes it as an AI-driven anti-abuse system built to identify synthetic threats that traditional classifiers and manual review struggle to catch. The timing raises an obvious question: is SAFE connected to the September spam update? Google has not confirmed that. But the paper shows how far Google's anti-spam systems have moved beyond simply asking whether a page "looks AI-generated." I break down: - What Google's September 2026 spam update is - How this rollout is taking longer than recent spam updates - What I'm seeing across two very different websites - Why one bottom-of-funnel SaaS site dropped and quickly recovered - Why a top-of-funnel content site is still experiencing volatility - How Google's SAFE analyzes content, behavior, infrastructure, timing, and relationships between content producers - Why multimodal semantic embeddings matter - How Google is using specialized AI agents to investigate synthetic abuse - Why SAFE appears designed to catch new forms of spam that traditional classifiers miss - How this relates to Google's other 2026 AI spam detection research - Why some SEOs think the September update is catching spam missed by the August update - What SEOs are reporting across X and Reddit - Why thin programmatic SEO pages may be especially exposed - What to do if your Google Search Console data suddenly becomes volatile - Why I would wait for the rollout to finish before making drastic changes - The two things I would still check immediately on your most important pages - How bottom-of-funnel SEO tends to remain more stable through major updates The biggest point: do not panic and start rebuilding your site because rankings move during the rollout. Wait until the rollout ends. Always check whether your important pages are tightly relevant to the query. Make sure the keyword appears in the title, URL, H1, and opening sentence. Then make sure the page answers search intent immediately. Google's spam systems are getting more sophisticated. SAFE shows that Google is looking at far more than individual pages. It can analyze coordinated behavior, infrastructure, semantic patterns, content relationships, and signals across larger abuse networks. The September spam update is still rolling out, so we do not have the full picture yet. I'll continue covering what changes as more data comes in. ⭐️ SE Roundtable: Google September 2026 Spam Update - https://www.seroundtable.com/google-september-2026-spam-update-42163.html ⭐️ SEMrush Volatility Tracker - https://www.semrush.com/sensor/ ⭐️ Search Engine Journal - https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-has-deployed-a-new-ai-spam-detector-called-safe/590918/ ⭐️ Google's SAFE Research Paper (PDF) - https://storage.googleapis.com/gweb-research2023-media/pubtools/1039292.pdf ⭐️ Barry Schwartz on 𝕏 (update rollout discussion) - https://x.com/rustybrick/status/2103161355561766957 ⭐️ 2026 September spam update on Reddit - https://www.reddit.com/r/SEO/comments/1wp6ml7/google_search_central_on_x_today_we_released_the/ ⭐️ 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 💎 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 September Spam Update Hits Hard 00:34 What Spam Updates Mean 01:24 How This Rollout Is Longer 02:16 Real Site Volatility Examples 03:18 SAFE Paper Goes Viral 05:00 How SAFE Detects Abuse 07:33 SAFE Technical Foundations 10:01 SEO Community Reactions 11:57 What To Do If Hit 12:31 Bottom of Funnel SEO Stability 13:56 Final Sign-Off The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #searchengineoptimization #seo #googlespamupdate #searchmarketing

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  • S1 · E1179
    September 25 · 1 hr 26 min

    Black Hat SEO in 2026 Why PBNs Still Work (With the Guy Who Owns 200,000 Domains)

    E1179: PBNs still work in 2026, and Kalin Karakehayov has the numbers to back up why he thinks they remain one of the most underrated strategies in SEO. I'm joined by Kalin Karakehayov, Charles Floate, and David Quaid for a deep discussion on black hat SEO, private blog networks, aged domains, backlinks, AI search, parasite SEO, and where search is heading next. Kalin owns more than 200,000 domains and operates a PBN of roughly 30,000 websites. He explains why PBNs have become easier to operate than they were a decade ago, why his network doesn't need organic traffic to pass value, and how he evaluates domains based on strength, relevance, history, and geography. Charles and David push the discussion further into how agencies could build private networks of their own, why backlinks remain fundamental to ranking, and why so many SEOs have moved away from link building even though links still drive results. Then the conversation moves into AI search. Kalin explains his research into Common Crawl and harmonic centrality, a link metric based on proximity across the web rather than the traditional PageRank model. He lays out a theory for using domains with high harmonic centrality to increase crawling and potentially increase the chances of websites entering AI training data. Charles explains how Common Crawl data can also be reverse engineered to find valuable domains and connections between websites, and the group discusses what this means for GEO, AI citations, brand associations, and the future value of aged domains. We also get into: - Why Kalin believes PBNs are underrated in 2026 - How a 30,000-site PBN works without ranking the individual sites - PBNs vs. public link farms - Why private networks are harder for Google to identify - Why backlinks without traffic still pass value - How Kalin evaluates aged and expired domains - Exact-match domains and partial-match domains - Why valuable domains keep getting more expensive - PageRank vs. harmonic centrality - Common Crawl and AI training data - How domains could influence AI visibility - Charles' approach to reverse engineering Common Crawl - The danger of negative SEO in AI search - Why the internet increasingly becomes a fight for digital territory - The ultra-high-quality vs. ultra-low-quality content strategy - Why Kalin thinks websites stuck in the middle face the biggest problem - How Charles chooses between Google, YouTube, AI search, and other channels - Using parasite SEO to test markets before investing heavily - How Charles would approach a new website with a limited budget - Building the entire core of a site before launch - When to start building links - Why SEO risk isn't as simple as "white hat" vs. "black hat" - Why Charles focuses on ROI instead of labels This is a wide-ranging conversation about what actually works in SEO, how black hat SEOs think about risk and assets, and how those strategies are evolving as search expands beyond Google into AI. ⭐️ Kalin Karakehayov on 𝕏 - https://x.com/Karakehayov ⭐️ Kalin Karakehayov on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/karakehayov ⭐️ Kalin Karakehayov on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/kalin.karakehayov/ ⭐️ Kalin Karakehayov on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/karakehayov ⭐️ SEO.Domains (domains and backlinks) - https://seo.domains ⭐️ GigaLinks (AI SEO and citations) - https://gigalinks.com ⭐️ SEO.BO (SEO agency) - https://seo.bo ⭐️ I Grow Younger - https://i.gy ⭐️ I Grow Younger on YouTube - https://youtube.com/@growyounger ⭐️ Charles Floate's community - https://seo.stream ⭐️ 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 ⭐️ David "The King" Quaid on 𝕏 - https://x.com/DavidGQuaid ⭐️ David "The King" Quaid on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidquaid/ ⭐️ David "The King" Quaid on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@DavidQuaid ⭐️ David "The King" 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 Meet The Panel 00:39 Are PBNs Underrated 02:04 PBN Risks And Footprints 04:25 Shared PBNs And EMDs 07:24 Zero Traffic PBN Math 10:40 Buying And Assessing Domains 12:38 Backlinks Culture Wars 16:34 AI Search Makes Domains Pricier 19:28 Harmonic Centrality For LLMs 22:35 Testing Common Crawl Strategies 27:44 Token Engineering And Negative SEO 31:20 Economics Of Link Inflation 34:28 Stop Debating Start Building 41:03 Territory Mindset And AI Agents 44:21 Search Opportunity And Click Economics 46:38 Cheap Sites With AI 47:29 Budget Question Reframed 47:48 Ultra High vs Low 50:43 Channel First Planning 54:10 MVP Zero To 100 56:26 Build To Exit 58:26 Career Moves And Networking 01:00:59 Comfort Zone Duality 01:04:51 Safe But Dangerous 01:10:31 Hedging With Parasites 01:12:09 Sell Links As Hedge 01:18:44 Scale Like A Commodity 01:21:36 Minimum Viable SEO 01:23:41 Where To Find Them 01:25:47 Podcast Wrap Up The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #blackhatseo #searchengineoptimization #privateblognetwork #seo

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  • S1 · E1178
    September 24 · 1 hr 36 min

    Ross Hudgens: The Page Type That Drives the Most AI Search Traffic

    E1177: Ross Hudgens of Siege Media breaks down the page type driving the most AI search traffic across his clients: versus pages. Ross says Siege Media's correlation analysis found that clients with the most AI traffic also had the most comparison and versus content. We get into why these pages perform so well across ChatGPT, Gemini, Google, and traditional search, how to structure them, and why most companies still execute them poorly. We also go deep on branded subreddits, Reddit SEO, AI search measurement, link building, digital PR, keyword research, content refreshes, publisher traffic declines, and how SEO strategy is changing as more searches end without a click. In this episode: - Why versus pages are driving so much AI search traffic - Why comparison pages belong on landing pages instead of blogs - Where to put comparison tables - How to write versus pages without turning them into templated SEO garbage - How to choose which competitors deserve comparison pages - Why three-way comparisons sometimes work - How versus pages support sales teams beyond SEO - Why companies struggle to publish honest competitor comparisons - Using YouTube influencers when a brand refuses to publish comparison content itself - Why branded subreddits matter for SEO, reputation management, and LLM visibility - When a company has enough branded search demand to justify its own subreddit - How little traction a branded subreddit needs before it starts ranking - Why Reddit still matters even as its AI citation share changes - Repurposing existing website content onto Reddit - Using branded communities to rank for review and reputation queries - Why Siege Media does less manual link building than it did years ago - Where link-building budget is moving instead - Why fewer niche bloggers exist today - The growing role of LinkedIn, YouTube, influencers, and UGC in search - Why backlinks still matter even as the open web shrinks - How Siege Media approaches digital PR differently today - Using proprietary data across multiple existing ranking pages - Why recurring annual and quarterly data studies compound over time - How publishers need to rethink monetization as AI takes top-of-funnel clicks - Why publishers still hold valuable influence inside LLM answers - The problem with treating Perplexity like it has the same importance as ChatGPT - How Ross measures AI search and GEO performance - Why "How did you hear about us?" remains one of the strongest attribution questions - The AI search tracking tools Siege Media uses - How third-party citations influence LLM visibility - Why generic "best overall" positioning often fails - How LLMs categorize brands into specific use cases - Siege Media's KOB keyword research framework - How Ross now adds LLM visibility into keyword prioritization - How to decide whether a keyword deserves a new page - Why top-of-funnel informational SEO keeps getting harder - The types of informational content that still defend their clicks from AI Ross has spent more than 14 years building Siege Media and working across SEO, content marketing, link building, digital PR, and now AI search. This conversation gets into what Siege Media is doing more of in 2026, what it has reduced, and where Ross thinks search is moving next. ⭐️ Ross Hudgens on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosshudgens/ ⭐️ Ross Hudgens on 𝕏 - https://x.com/RossHudgens ⭐️ Ross Hudgens' book, Generative Engine Optimization: The Definitive Guide to AI SEO - https://www.amazon.com/Generative-Engine-Optimizations-Ross-Hudgens/dp/1394439806 ⭐️ Siege Media Book page - https://www.siegemedia.com/geo-book 💎 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 Ross Hudgens 00:30 Siege Media Origin Story 00:56 Versus Pages Win AI 07:07 Comparison Page Blueprint 09:54 Avoid Templated Comparisons 13:33 Branded Subreddit SEO 15:48 Republishing Content on Reddit 25:05 Less Manual Link Building 26:48 LinkedIn and Social Signals 33:58 Digital PR Data Strategy 40:27 Publisher Survival in AI Era 44:33 Measure GEO and AI Traffic 46:54 AI Long Tail Traffic 48:03 Tools For Measuring 48:27 Citation Share Strategy 50:16 New Client Audit 51:02 Common SEO Mistakes 53:23 Versus Pages Limits 54:05 KOB Keyword Framework 55:46 LLM Visibility Signals 57:52 New Page Or Update 01:00:54 Rank Position Eight To One 01:02:10 AI Content UX Fails 01:05:24 When To Refresh Content 01:09:00 Reddit And Offsite SEO 01:14:49 Site Structure Mapping 01:17:01 CRO Is GEO 01:18:36 Prompt Tracking Mistakes 01:20:05 Influencing LLM Answers 01:21:35 AI Slop Sites Fade 01:24:38 Hallucination Story 01:29:17 Using AI As Partner 01:30:23 Schema And LLMs Txt 01:33:32 Quick Wins And 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 · E1177
    September 24 · 10 min

    Google Just Dropped the Parasite SEO Penalty in Europe. Here's the Catch

    E1177: Google just changed how its parasite SEO penalty works across Europe, but the headline leaves out the most important part. I break down Google's change to its Site Reputation Abuse Policy inside the European Economic Area and explain what it means for parasite SEO, publishers, affiliate sites, and SEOs trying to rank through high-authority domains. The European Commission challenged Google over its treatment of publisher sections containing sponsored, commercial, and third-party content. Google responded by changing how its manual site reputation abuse actions affect searchers inside the EEA. As of August 30, the manual-action impact no longer applies to users searching from the European Economic Area, which includes the 27 EU countries plus Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein. That sounds like a massive win for parasite SEO. There's a catch. Google says it may separate the affected section of a website from the rest of the domain inside its ranking systems. That means a parasite section might avoid the manual penalty while also losing the authority it previously inherited from the host website. In this episode: - What parasite SEO means - Why Reddit provides such a simple example of parasite SEO - Why the EU challenged Google's Site Reputation Abuse Policy - What changed for searchers inside the European Economic Area - Why the United States, United Kingdom, and other non-EEA markets still operate under the existing penalty system - How Forbes Advisor became one of the clearest examples of publisher parasite SEO - How Forbes ranked for commercial terms across insurance, finance, VPNs, home services, health, and other industries - What happened after Google started enforcing its site reputation abuse rules - Why removing the manual penalty does not mean parasite SEO gets a free pass - How Google plans to separate third-party sections from the authority of the main domain - Why subfolders and subdomains matter - Why Forbes using forbes[.]com/advisor matters to this discussion - Why Google's section-level authority separation will determine how big this change really becomes - Why the EEA search results may look very different from US and UK search results - Why implementation will likely create unusual opportunities and inconsistencies - What SEOs are saying about the change - Why this matters more for publishers than social platforms like Reddit, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn I also explain why the real SEO story here is not simply "Google stopped penalizing parasite SEO." The real question is whether Google successfully identifies commercial third-party sections and prevents those sections from inheriting the full ranking authority of the host domain. If Google gets that right, the manual penalty matters a lot less. If Google struggles with it, EEA search results could get very interesting. I finish the episode with community reactions and my take on what SEOs need to watch next. ⭐️ Google: Update to the Site Reputation Policy - https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2026/08/update-site-reputation-policy ⭐️ Charles Floate on 𝕏 - https://x.com/Charles_SEO/status/2093229846013137123 ⭐️ Lars Lofgren: Forbes Marketplace - https://larslofgren.com/forbes-marketplace/ ⭐️ Browser Media: The Downfall of Parasite SEO and Google's Site Reputation Abuse Update - https://browsermedia.agency/blog/the-downfall-of-parasite-seo-and-googles-site-reputation-abuse-update/ ⭐️ European Commission: Investigation into Google Demoting Media (Digital Markets Act) - https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/commission-opens-investigation-potential-digital-markets-act-breach-google-demoting-media 💎 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 Explained 00:49 EU Rule Change 02:00 Forbes Advisor Case 03:45 EEA Penalty Removed 04:59 Authority Separation Nuance 06:31 What Changes In Search 07:15 Community Reactions 08:06 Impact On Social Platforms 10:00 Episode Wrap Up The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #searchengineoptimization #parasiteseo #digitalpublishing #seo

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  • S1 · E1176
    September 22 · 58 min

    Legal SEO: How Personal Injury Lawyers Turn Google Searches Into Signed Cases

    E1176: Breaking down legal SEO - specifically search engine optimization that makes money for personal injury law firms. I talk with Lindsey Busfield of Optimize My Firm about how her team approaches SEO exclusively for personal injury law firms. We get into the pages that make money, how to structure a legal website, how law firms build authority, what drives Google Maps rankings, and why reviews matter so much for personal injury firms. We also break down how Lindsey's team earns backlinks through scholarships, local organizations, news coverage, original studies, and even a $75,000 Guinness World Record campaign. Topics include: - How to structure a personal injury law firm's website around practice areas, locations, and increasingly specific case types - Why longer-tail legal pages often rank faster and support more competitive parent pages - Which legal SEO pages generate the highest-value signed cases - How to avoid thin or repetitive location pages by making each page specific to the city - Why Lindsey builds links to useful studies and linkable assets instead of pointing every backlink directly at money pages - How scholarship campaigns generate links from schools and local organizations - How to create newsworthy campaigns that earn local press and backlinks - How Lindsey's team finds journalists and pitches stories personally - Why branded mentions still matter even when a news outlet refuses to add a backlink - Why good legal content needs human writers who understand the subject - Lindsey's process for finding writers and why she says she goes through roughly 500 candidates to find a great one - Why her team does not use AI-generated content on law firm websites - How attorney photos, personal branding, and consistent messaging increase trust and conversions - Why law firms should make phone numbers, forms, and other contact options immediately accessible - How Google reviews affect local visibility and lead volume - Why review recency matters alongside review quantity and rating - The three factors Lindsey focuses on for Google Maps: reviews, organic rankings, and proximity - How personal injury firms expand their Maps presence with legitimate satellite offices - Why incorrect Google Business Profile categories and inconsistent address information hurt local SEO - How to find bottom-of-funnel legal keywords instead of chasing informational traffic - How to use the Google Sheets AI function to filter large keyword lists for commercial intent - Why legal SEO still matters as AI search grows - How reviews, podcasts, YouTube, directories, rankings, and a broader digital footprint influence how people and AI systems understand a law firm Lindsey also explains why personal injury SEO has such high stakes: some cases are worth tens of thousands of dollars, while others reach into tens of millions. The goal is not simply rankings or traffic. The goal is getting the right prospective client to trust the firm, make contact, and sign. ⭐️ Lindsey Busfield's agency, Optimize My Firm - https://optimizemyfirm.com/ ⭐️ Lindsey Busfield's Podcast - https://optimizemyfirm.com/podcasts/ ⭐️ Lindsey Busfield's book - https://optimizemyfirm.com/leads-book/ ⭐️ Lindsey Busfield on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindsey-busfield 💎 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 Legal SEO Kickoff 00:15 Lindsay's Unusual Path 01:37 Niche Focus PI SEO 01:55 Link Building Strategy 03:21 Types of Backlinks 03:50 Compact Keywords Ad 05:00 Scholarship Link Outreach 06:41 Creative Scholarship Ideas 07:30 Newsworthy Link Campaigns 08:05 Guinness Event Breakdown 10:44 Cheaper PR Alternatives 11:25 Pitching Journalists Right 14:26 Cases That Earn Press 16:49 First 30 Days SEO Plan 17:44 Tracking Tools Stack 18:21 WordPress Elementor Build 20:00 Site Hierarchy Silos 21:39 Internal Links Breadcrumbs 22:20 Conversion Focused Pages 24:17 Clean URL Structure 25:44 Natural Writing Beats Stuffing 28:05 Hiring Training Writers 29:06 Writer Screening System 29:47 Screening Writer Applicants 31:24 AI Policy for Legal Writing 33:02 Money Pages and Local SEO 35:35 Linkable Assets Strategy 36:22 Bios and Trust Signals 42:01 AI Recommendations and Footprint 43:59 Reviews That Drive Leads 46:24 Bottom Funnel Keyword Research 49:20 Local Pack Ranking Factors 51:14 Maps Expansion and Mistakes 53:39 Bad Content and Spam Links 54:58 Future of Legal SEO 56:47 Where to Find Lindsay 57:50 Wrap Up and Next Episode The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #legalseo #legalmarketing #searchengineoptimization #seo

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  • S1 · E1175
    September 22 · 1 hr 21 min

    How to Sell SEO Without Ever Saying "SEO"

    E1175: Most SEOs know how to rank websites. Far fewer know how to sell that skill. Blair Witkowski joins to break down how he sells SEO services without leading with the word "SEO." Instead, he talks about phone calls, missed leads, competitors showing up in ChatGPT, and money the business owner leaves on the table. Blair walks through his sales process from the first cold call to the signed client, including the exact research he does before calling, how he gets prospects to agree to a Loom audit, how he follows up, and what he sells once the prospect says yes. We cover: - Why Blair avoids talking about SEO during sales calls - How he sells "more phone calls" instead of rankings - How he uses ChatGPT and AI visibility as the opening problem - How he builds prospect lists by niche and location - What he checks on a website before making the call - Why he looks at the website footer before spending more time on a prospect - How he finds problems within seconds instead of spending 30 minutes researching every lead - How directories give him a reason to contact businesses - The cold-call opening he uses with local businesses - How he gets past gatekeepers without asking for the owner - Why he researches the business before calling - How he ties every technical problem back to lost revenue - The role Claude audits, GeoGrids, SplashDash, BBB listings, reviews, and competitor research play in his pitch - How he gets roughly one Loom audit from every 20-25 cold calls - What he shows inside the Loom without overwhelming the prospect - Why he sends the Loom almost immediately after the call - Why multiple Loom views signal serious interest - How he follows up without saying "just following up" - Why he keeps contacting prospects for months or even years - The prospect who saved one of his cold emails for almost a year before hiring him - Why Blair sends Starbucks cards, books, cookies, DoorDash, and other gifts during follow-up - Why he treats every prospect who agrees to an audit like a future client - How he reports a roughly 42% close rate after prospects agree to a Loom audit - How he uses simple spreadsheets to track prospects and follow-ups - What he charges for local SEO clients - Why $1,800-$3,500 per month represents his main pricing range - How some clients reach $6,500 per month - What he delivers at lower, middle, and higher monthly retainers - Why higher tiers include more websites, Google Business Profiles, links, sponsorships, content, and local assets - Why he sometimes pays for links and local sponsorships out of the monthly retainer - Why communication matters after the sale just as much as getting the result Blair also explains why business owners rarely care about SEO terminology. They care about missed calls, missed jobs, competitors taking business, and whether their marketing produces revenue. If you know how to rank websites but struggle to consistently get clients, this episode gives you a complete look at how one agency owner approaches prospecting, sales, follow-up, pricing, and fulfillment. ⭐️ Blair Witkowski's Personal Site - https://blairwitkowski.com/ ⭐️ Blair Witkowski's SEO Agency - https://coastalmarketingstrategies.com/ ⭐️ Blair Witkowski on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@TheGarageDoorPodcast ⭐️ Blair Witkowski on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/blairwitkowski/ ⭐️ Blair Witkowski on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/blairwitkowski/ 💎 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 Sales Episode Kickoff 01:10 Why SEOs Stay Broke 02:50 Offer That Clicks 03:16 Directory Cold Call Hook 05:31 Cold Call Research Stack 07:12 Gatekeepers And Openers 09:18 Loom Audit Pitch 12:39 Sell AI Phone Calls 16:28 Prospecting And Follow Up 19:11 Directories Best Of Plays 21:22 Live Electrician Call Script 25:31 Pricing And Deliverables 32:52 Loom Audit Structure 37:09 What To Fix In Loom 40:04 Live Audit Proof Points 40:49 Loom Follow Up System 42:26 Tracking Views And CRM 44:08 Pricing And Service Tiers 48:50 Higher Tier Trust Signals 52:48 Global Selling With Accents 57:17 Handling SEO Company Objection 01:00:27 When To Stop Following Up 01:02:40 Lead Sources And Call Volume 01:06:11 Hiring Callers And Directories 01:09:48 Client Win Stories 01:15:07 Scaling Out Of Operations 01:17:21 No Small Talk Cold Calls 01:19:06 Charge More Final Advice The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #searchengineoptimization #generativeengineoptimization #seo #digitalmarketing

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  • S1 · E1174
    September 21 · 12 min

    Google's Leaked Internal Presentation: "Don't Talk About Clicks"

    E1174: Google has told employees not to discuss how clicks are used in Search outside of a need-to-know basis. That comes directly from an internal Google presentation from around the end of 2018 that surfaced during discovery in Google's antitrust trial. The presentation gives a rare look at how Google talks internally about Search, SEOs, leaks, ranking information, clicks, and the risks of explaining too much about how the algorithm works. I break down the most important slides and what they mean for SEOs. I cover: - Google's warning to employees to "be careful in discussing Search" - Why Google says information about how Search works should remain on a need-to-know basis - The internal line: "Everything we leak will be used against us by SEOs" - Google's warning not to discuss the use of clicks in Search except with people who understand not to discuss the topic externally - Why this matters when compared with Google's historical public statements about click-through rate and dwell time - Rand Fishkin's old CTR experiments where hundreds of searchers clicking a result were followed by major ranking movements - Gary Illyes' statement that theories around dwell time and click-through rate were "generally made-up crap" - Why Google has strong incentives to avoid publicly explaining ranking systems that SEOs would immediately test and manipulate - How John Mueller and Danny Sullivan get information about Google Search - Danny Sullivan's explanation that Search representatives talk directly with the engineers building Google's systems - Why that still does not mean every detail of Google's ranking systems gets shared publicly - Google's internal list of Search quality factors, including relevance, page quality, popularity, freshness, localization, language, centrality, topical diversity, personalization, spam authority, privacy, and more - Google's basic Search control flow: crawling, indexing, query interpretation, candidate retrieval, scoring, and final adjustments - How query interpretation includes things like synonyms, spelling, intent interpretation, and query expansion - Why Google deliberately makes parts of Search difficult to reverse engineer - Google's rank-modifying spammer patent and the idea of introducing ranking behavior designed to prevent spammers from understanding the system The larger takeaway is not that SEO is unknowable. SEOs have spent decades testing ranking factors, comparing results, running experiments, and sharing what works. That gives us a strong practical understanding of Search even when Google does not explain every ranking signal publicly. The fundamentals remain straightforward: - Make the page highly relevant to the target query - Put the target keyword in important locations such as the title, URL, H1, and beginning of the first sentence - Satisfy search intent immediately - Build real backlinks from indexed pages - Earn links people actually click - Build foundational business profiles and citations - Stay active on social media - Drive branded searches - Test what works and pay attention to real ranking results ⭐️ The internal Google presentation - https://www.justice.gov/d9/2023-09/416694.pdf ⭐️ Rand Fishkin's experiments - https://seosherpa.com/seo-experiments/ ⭐️ Gary Illyes's comment - https://www.reddit.com/r/TechSEO/comments/ao3fmk/comment/efxzljs/?context=8&depth=9 ⭐️ Danny Sullivan's comment - https://www.seroundtable.com/communication-engineers-google-ranking-systems-37376.html ⭐️ Google's API Leak - https://sparktoro.com/blog/an-anonymous-source-shared-thousands-of-leaked-google-search-api-documents-with-me-everyone-in-seo-should-see-them/ ⭐️ Ep 974 - Google's New AI Patent Could Replace Your Website - https://youtu.be/0kTEYwiRBbg 💎 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 Presentation Leaked 00:51 Why Search Secrecy Matters 01:57 Sensitive Topics and PR Risk 03:17 Clicks and CTR Controversy 05:34 Google Reps Info Source 06:52 SEO Community vs Black Box 08:05 How Search Actually Works 10:01 Simple Pareto SEO Playbook 12:18 Episode Wrap Up The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #searchengineoptimization #seo #digitalmarketing #generativeengineoptimization

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  • S1 · E1173
    September 20 · 11 min

    The Internal Linking Trick That Uses Topical Authority You Already Have

    E1173: Internal linking is one of the fastest SEO improvements you can make, and this episode breaks down a simple method for using topical authority you already have to rank new pages and push existing pages higher. The method starts with a Google search: [your website] "keyword you want to rank for" Google will show you which pages on your site it already sees as relevant to that keyword. From there, you take the most relevant text on those indexed pages and internally link it to the page you actually want ranking. I cover: - How to find pages Google already associates with your target keyword - How to use those pages to pass relevance and authority to your target page - How to decide whether an existing page actually satisfies search intent - When to use exact-match anchor text and when to use variations - Why natural anchor text matters for both users and Google - How to use section anchor links when the relevant content sits farther down a page - Why optimizing an entire page around a keyword is stronger than optimizing one section - When you should create a completely new page instead - The three questions to answer before writing new SEO content - Where to place your target keyword on a new page - Why the page title, URL slug, H1, and opening sentence matter - How to satisfy search intent immediately above the fold - Why internal links from pages already getting search traffic carry more value - Why internal links that people actually click matter even more - How too many internal links make content look spammy and reduce clicks on the links that matter - Why relevant anchor text gives Google stronger context about the destination page - How this method pushes authority from existing indexed content toward new SEO pages - Why I mainly use this strategy with top-of-funnel informational content - Why I keep bottom-of-funnel SEO pages much more minimal - How excessive internal linking on conversion pages distracts people from your calls to action - How to use hub pages to build relevance for bottom-of-funnel keywords before the individual pages even exist - Why hub pages sometimes start ranking for keywords before you publish the page that satisfies the search The core idea is simple: Google already tells you which pages on your site it associates with a keyword. Use those pages. Find the relevant text, internally link it to the page you want ranking, and concentrate that existing topical authority instead of starting from zero. And if you do not already have a page that properly satisfies search intent, create one, optimize it around the keyword, give the searcher what they want immediately, and then turn the relevant content on your existing pages into internal links pointing to it. I also explain why I treat bottom-of-funnel pages differently. Those pages exist to convert. If someone lands on a page ready to buy, book, call, sign up, or become a lead, I do not want to distract them with unnecessary internal links. ⭐️ The written version of this episode: https://edwardsturm.com/articles/topical-authority-rank-faster/ ⭐️ Ep 1163 - The $50,000 Internal Linking Experiment: Links That Get Clicked Carry More Weight - https://youtu.be/biy8ILxTzqc 💎 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 Internal Linking Quick Win 00:20 Find Indexed Keyword Pages 00:56 Link to Intent Winners 01:49 Real World Anchor Examples 02:44 Avoid Exact Match Spam 03:07 Use Anchor Link Sections 04:29 Why This Works in Google 06:06 Create a New Target Page 07:53 Top vs Bottom Funnel Links 08:26 Hub Pages for Relevance 11:33 Wrap Up and Goodbye The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #seotips #searchengineoptimization #seo #digitalmarketing

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  • S1 · E1172
    September 18 · 1 hr 11 min

    How He Ranks #1 in Google Maps From 53 Miles Away | Mike Martin

    E1172: Mike Martin ranks #1 in Google Maps for "business coaching" from 53 miles away from his Google Business Profile. In this episode, Mike breaks down the Google Business Profile strategy he uses across his own businesses, clients, and agencies. The core is what he calls the GBP Loop: profile completeness, pictures, posts, and praise, multiplied by consistency. Mike started in SEO after teaching himself to become a locksmith and building one of the largest independently owned locksmith companies in the UK. He used mass page websites, local lead generation, expired domains, and single-niche PBNs before shifting his focus almost entirely to Google Business Profiles. We go step by step through what he does now to expand Google Maps visibility. We cover: - How Mike ranks #1 for "business coaching" from 53 miles away - The GBP Loop: profile completeness, pictures, posts, praise, and consistency - Why Mike says consistency beats constantly chasing new local SEO tactics - How to make your Google Business Profile mirror your website - Why your business name, hours, categories, location, prices, and other details need to match - How incorrect citations around the web interfere with Google's understanding of a business - What Mike does during the first month of Google Business Profile optimization - Why he prefers a steady stream of reviews instead of getting hundreds at once - Why review responses matter and how his system uses AI while requiring human approval - What types of photos and videos local businesses should upload - Why Mike prefers real business photos over fully AI-generated images - What businesses should publish as Google Business Profile posts - Why Mike treats a Google Business Profile more like an active social profile than a static listing - How quickly he has taken profiles from weak visibility to #1 across larger geographic areas - When schema, CIDs, and service area pages enter his local SEO process - Why unique business data is more valuable than pumping out hundreds of generic AI articles - The individual practitioner profile opportunity for lawyers, doctors, dentists, insurance brokers, real estate professionals, and other public-facing professionals - How agencies use practitioner profiles to create additional recurring revenue from existing clients - Why a lawyer or doctor could build a Google Business Profile and review history tied specifically to themselves - The difference between a service area business, storefront business, and hybrid business - How Mike structures Google Business Profiles for businesses serving multiple cities - Why showing an address incorrectly creates verification and suspension problems - How people outside your company use "Suggest an edit" to propose changes to your phone number, hours, location, and other GBP information - Why businesses need to monitor the email attached to their Google Business Profile - Mike's old-school local lead generation system that grew his locksmith operation - How his "fastest finger first" phone system rewarded salespeople for answering and converting calls - Why Mike moved away from black-hat lead generation when working with Google Business Profiles owned by real businesses Mike's main argument is simple: most businesses already have enough tactics. What they lack is consistent execution of the fundamentals. Profile completeness. Pictures. Posts. Praise. Then repeat. ⭐️ 20% of Mike Martin's platform - GBPly - https://gbply.net/edward ⭐️ Mike Martin's personal site - https://mikemartin.uk ⭐️ Mike Martin on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikemartinuk/ 💎 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 Local SEO Kickoff 00:37 Mike's Locksmith Origin 01:31 From Lead Gen to GBP 03:14 Fast Map Pack Wins 04:05 The GBP Loop Framework 07:37 Reviews and Consistency 10:40 Schema Boost Tactics 13:07 Step One Completeness 15:36 Fixing Citations Impact 20:28 Website Content vs Data 24:04 Practitioner Profiles Goldmine 28:45 Media Strategy and AI Images 36:10 Posts That Convert 38:20 Old School PBN Tactics 39:39 From Locksmithing to SaaS 40:35 Reviews That Rank Fast 41:19 Drip Review Requests 45:03 Avoiding Spam and Bad Reviews 46:09 Playing It Safe With Google 48:52 Leaving Black Hat Behind 51:27 Phone Answering Signals 53:23 Fastest Finger Lead Gen 57:24 Multi Town Service Areas 01:01:22 The GBP Loop and Book 01:03:59 Protecting Against Edits 01:08:49 Where to Find Mike The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #localseo #googlebusinessprofileoptimization #searchengineoptimization #seo

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  • S1 · E1171
    September 17 · 1 hr 3 min

    Query Augmentation: How One Page Ranks for Thousands of Keywords | James Dooley

    E1171: Query augmentation: how Google connects searches with related queries and why one page can end up ranking for hundreds or thousands of keywords that never even appear on the page. James Dooley returns to the show, bringing the goods. We get into the difference between lexical matching and query semantics, how Google interprets search intent, and why trusted sites with strong user and brand signals start ranking across much broader keyword buckets. James explains why a page targeting one keyword can eventually rank for entirely different phrases when Google decides those searches share the same intent. We cover: - What query augmentation is and how it relates to query fan-out - How synthetic queries expand a search into related terms - Why a page can rank for keywords that are nowhere in the content - The difference between dictionary semantics and query semantics - Why "cheap" and "best" can mean the same thing in one industry and completely different things in another - How branded search, social traffic, backlinks, user behavior, and site trust expand the queries a page ranks for - Why smaller sites need tighter relevance while trusted sites get more freedom - How to use Google Search Console to find queries Google already associates with a page - A simple Claude workflow for turning existing GSC rankings into new H2s and sections - How People Also Ask questions reveal additional topics worth targeting - James' Google Images trick for finding entities connected to a question through modifier chips - How query augmentation produces more impressions, clicks, leads, and sales - How James uses self-optimizing pages to identify low-CTR queries and rewrite sections - Why the text Google pulls into a search result matters for CTR - How to decide whether a query deserves its own page or belongs as an H2 - Why SERP overlap is one of the clearest ways to make that decision - Why 200 words is not automatically thin content - Why satisfying search intent matters more than hitting an arbitrary word count - Why James wants pages as short as possible and as long as necessary - How changing only the H2 hierarchy moved pages into different query buckets - How Claude-built websites often become too wordy - How James uses AI agents focused on semantics, sales copy, compliance, information gain, and concision - Why he uses multiple LLMs instead of relying on a single model - How LinkGap ranked for related backlink terms despite having almost no written content - How James says Koray's Audio To Text expanded into huge numbers of related searches as traffic, links, and usage grew - What the ongoing "King of AEO" competition is revealing about Google, Bing, ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, Grok, YouTube, and Google Images - How James is seeing press release effects fade after roughly four to six weeks - How LinkedIn posts are still competing with exact-match domains, guest posts, press releases, and other SEO tactics The central idea is simple: rank for the initial query, satisfy the searcher, build trust, study the additional queries Google starts showing your page for, and then expand the page around the terms Google already associates with it. ⭐️ James Dooley's website - https://jamesdooley.com/ ⭐️ James Dooley on 𝕏 - https://x.com/james_dooley ⭐️ James Dooley on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jameszdooley/ ⭐️ James Dooley on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/jameszdooley/ ⭐️ James Dooley on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/james.dooley1/ ⭐️ James Dooley on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@JamesDooley 💎 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 Query Augmentation 00:30 Synthetic Queries Explained 03:02 Intent and Behavioral Signals 03:47 Cheap vs Best Semantics 08:03 PPC Match Types Analogy 11:09 When Smaller Sites Win 14:24 Expanding Buckets with GSC 18:15 Entity Chips in Images 20:18 Turning Rankings into Revenue 22:04 CTR Optimization with AI 27:23 People Also Ask Link Strategy 29:08 Case Studies LinkGap and AudioToText 34:00 SEO Compounding Wins 34:40 Link Gap Lead Magnet 35:04 H2 vs New Page 37:43 Testing the 50 50 Call 39:04 Thin Content Myth 40:44 Claude Sites Done Right 45:11 Concise SOP Mindset 47:06 Query Augmentation Mistakes 49:28 Self Healing SEO Tweaks 50:40 AI Harness Model Debates 53:21 King of AEO Showdown 56:39 Press Releases and Social 01:01:23 Wrap Up and Thanks The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #searchengineoptimization #seotips #seo #digitalmarketing

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  • S1 · E1169
    September 16 · 12 min

    How SEOs Actually Find Keywords in 2026 (What Reddit Gets Right and Wrong)

    E1169: How are SEOs doing keyword research in 2026? I break down a viral thread from the SEO subreddit where SEOs shared their real processes, tools, shortcuts, and ways of deciding which keywords deserve attention. Some of the advice is strong. Some of it misses the point. The biggest mistake is treating keyword research like a spreadsheet exercise instead of looking at search intent, business value, and what is really ranking in Google. In this episode: - Why I ignore keyword difficulty scores from SEO tools - Why looking at the actual Google SERP gives you better information than staring at a difficulty metric - How to spot keywords competitors rank for but have not targeted properly - Why a supposedly "high-difficulty" keyword sometimes ranks with very little work - How to tell whether competitors have optimized a page for a keyword - Why page titles, URL slugs, H1s, and the beginning of the first sentence matter when evaluating competition - How to use competitor keyword research to build your initial keyword list - Why search intent matters more than raw search volume - How to identify high-intent searches that lead to customers, users, calls, and warm leads - The type of keyword I value most: the searcher knows what they want but has not decided which brand will provide it - How to use AI to group large keyword lists by topic and intent - Why you should not ask an LLM to estimate keyword difficulty without giving it live search data - How Google Search Console reveals keywords your site already has a chance of ranking higher for - Why keywords sitting around positions 5-20 often deserve attention before completely new topics - How to map keyword groups to individual pages - When an existing page deserves optimization versus when you need to create a new page - Why different searches require different page types, including product pages, service pages, landing pages, and blog posts - How Google Keyword Planner, Google Trends, ChatGPT, Semrush, and AlsoAsked fit into keyword research - Why informational "how to" and "what is" keywords often have far less business value than bottom-of-funnel searches - The four questions I start with when researching keywords: 1- Who are my competitors? 2- What are they ranking for but not targeting properly? 3- Which of those keywords will make me money? 4- Which SERPs are under-targeted? I also explain why I prioritize keywords that directly connect SEO traffic to revenue instead of publishing huge amounts of top-of-funnel content just because a keyword tool shows search volume. ⭐️ Reddit: How Do You Choose Keywords for SEO? - https://www.reddit.com/r/SEO/comments/1wbmgx0/how_do_you_choose_keywords_for_seo/ ⭐️ Ep 1104 - The 1-Hour SEO Update That Makes Your Best Pages Rank for More Keywords - https://youtu.be/GmsAuotHGso 💎 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 Viral Keyword Question 02:04 Keyword Filtering 04:07 Intent and SERP Checks 05:19 Competitors and Priorities 08:27 Search Console Quick Wins 09:21 Free Tools and AlsoAsked 10:42 Keyword Grouping and Mapping 11:42 Wrap Up The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #keywordresearch #searchengineoptimization #seo #digitalmarketing

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  • S1 · E1170
    September 16 · 28 min

    Nike Has Infinite SEO Authority. Its Blog Gets 1,400 Clicks a Month.

    E1170: Nike has one of the strongest brands and domains on the internet, yet its blog gets an estimated 1,400 organic clicks per month. That is an absurd amount of wasted SEO authority. I sit down with David Quaid to break down why enormous companies like Nike, GoPro, and Chewy leave so much organic traffic on the table, despite having domains that smaller companies would kill to own. Nike has decades of authority, massive amounts of branded search, famous athletes, globally recognized product lines, and enormous links and mentions across the web. Yet Nike Stories (its blog) barely takes advantage of it. We break down what Nike would do differently if an aggressive SEO team took over its content strategy. Topics covered: - Why Nike's blog getting roughly 1,400 estimated organic clicks per month is so shocking - Why a site with Nike's authority belongs at the top of enormous sports-related searches - How Nike could build content around basketball, running, yoga, pickleball, athletes, shoes, training, and its individual product lines - Why Nike should publish pages around the athletes and creators already associated with the brand - How Red Bull uses athlete pages to capture search demand around the people it sponsors - Why Nike's existing authority creates an enormous head start over almost any new sports website - How major brands restrict themselves because they worry too much about staying "on brand" - Why brands sometimes treat SEO as beneath them even when search demand is sitting directly in front of them - The difference between building a brand and actually getting that brand discovered - Why GoPro fails to properly target "action camera" even though GoPro created the category - How companies miss high-intent commercial keywords because basic SEO elements never make it onto the page - Why Chewy repeating "dry dog food" dozens of times still does not make up for weak page targeting - How weak URLs, poor keyword selection, thin content, and limited internal linking waste existing authority - Why search volume gives companies direct evidence of what customers already want - How massive brands could turn informational traffic into remarketing audiences and product sales - Why smaller companies still have room to outrank businesses with vastly more authority - How SEO lets a company start from nothing, build rankings one page at a time, and eventually dominate an entire niche We also get into press releases and AI search. David explains how he approaches press release titles when the objective is ranking for a specific query, why he puts the primary keyword first, and why he sometimes leaves the brand name out of the headline entirely. We use the ongoing "King of AEO" competition as an example of how SEOs are testing Google AI Overviews, press releases, exact-match domains, entity associations, and supporting websites in real time. The bigger lesson is simple: Authority only matters if you use it. Nike already did the hardest part. It built one of the strongest brands in the world. The SEO opportunity sitting on top of that authority is enormous. Meanwhile, smaller companies are taking the searches that major brands leave open. ⭐️ 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 Nike Blog SEO Fail 00:40 Why Nike Underperforms 02:10 Thin Content Missing Links 04:06 Robots.txt Easter Egg 05:03 GoPro Action Camera Miss 07:44 Branding Versus SEO 08:59 Press Release SEO Tactics 13:13 King of AEO Title Strategy 18:42 How To Fix Nike Blog 23:20 Breaking Down Nike Posts 25:26 Why SEO Still Wins 27:41 Podcast Wrap Up The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #searchengineoptimization #enterpriseseo #seo #digitalmarketing

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  • S1 · E1167
    September 14 · 18 min

    Claude Sites Have a Serious SEO Problem: Too Many Words

    E1167: Claude-generated websites have a serious SEO problem: they use a lot of unnecessary words. Search intent is not only about covering the right topic. It is also about presenting the answer in a way that is fast and easy to consume. I break down three real AI-heavy websites and show how unnecessary copy, repeated headings, pointless "eyebrows," bloated introductions, and buried answers create a worse experience for searchers. I cover: - Why satisfying search intent includes how information is presented, not just whether the information exists - Why Claude-generated sites often add unnecessary words throughout the page - Three real examples of wordy AI pages - A Toronto SEO agency page that buries its H1 under repeated copy and targets the wrong search intent - Why the first few sentences of a landing page need to immediately explain why the business is the right choice - How multiple competing calls to action weaken the page - A Sprout Social alternatives page that makes readers dig through long explanations before reaching the comparison table - Why someone searching for an alternative already knows why they want an alternative - Why "how we evaluated these tools" sections are often unnecessary - Why a strong single-product alternative page beats another generic list of 10 tools - A "King of AEO" page that repeats its title, author, company name, and other information before getting to the actual point - Why AI pages frequently repeat information without adding anything useful - How excessive copy leads searchers to return to Google and choose another result - Why bad user behavior becomes far more dangerous when hundreds or thousands of AI pages are published quickly - How scaled AI content creates bad behavioral signals faster than a normal site - Why real photos and useful video make pages easier to consume - Why service businesses should use real images instead of generic AI-generated visuals - Why bottom-of-funnel keywords deserve most of your content effort - Why buyers do not need a 2,000-word essay explaining why they need the thing they are already searching to buy - Why 400 to 500 words is often enough for a strong SEO landing page - How some pages need fewer than 200 words - The questions I answer before writing: Who is searching this keyword? What do they want? What are they trying to achieve? - Why I write the outline first and use AI as a writing assistant instead of letting AI decide what the page needs - Why spending more time on one strong bottom-of-funnel page produces better long-term results than mass-producing disposable AI content - How a well-built page keeps ranking and generating revenue for years without constant rewrites The goal is not to hit a word count. The goal is to give the searcher exactly what they came for with as little friction as possible. ⭐️ Ep 1164 - How $72 in Press Releases Made Google Call This Man the King of AEO - https://youtu.be/DhmQ7cZhHFw ⭐️ 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 Why Wordy Pages Fail 01:08 Claude Site Example One 02:14 Above the Fold Fluff 05:31 Claude Site Example Two 07:48 Cut the Ultimate Guide 08:36 Claude Site Example Three 12:36 Pogo Sticking Consequences 13:36 What to Do Instead 14:18 Short Pages That Convert 17:22 Wrap Up The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #searchengineoptimization #seo #claudeseo

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  • S1 · E1168
    September 14 · 1 hr 22 min

    SaaS Link Building: Why One Listicle Placement Is Worth $1,000

    E1168: SaaS link building gets expensive fast. In this episode, Kristiyan Yankov breaks down why a single placement in the right listicle can be worth $1,000+, how he decides which backlinks are worth paying for, and the link-building methods his team uses across more than 60 SaaS companies. We go deep into the actual process behind SaaS link building, from finding competitor backlink gaps to pitching publishers, negotiating paid placements, building relationships on LinkedIn, getting links from major publications, and using third-party mentions to increase visibility in both Google and AI search. We also get into what separates a valuable backlink from one that Google may effectively ignore. What we cover: - Why some SaaS companies will pay $1,000+ for a single listicle placement - What separates a $300 backlink opportunity from a $1,000+ opportunity - How to identify the listicles and roundups dominating your industry - How Kristiyan reverse-engineers competitors' backlink profiles in Ahrefs - Why multiple competitors appearing on the same site signals a strong outreach opportunity - Why existing articles are often better targets than creating brand-new guest posts - How to check whether a listicle actually ranks, gets traffic, or feeds AI search results - Why LinkedIn often beats cold email for link-building outreach - What an actual paid-placement outreach message looks like - When to mention payment in the first message and when not to - Why you should not name your price first when negotiating a backlink - Why smaller, highly targeted outreach lists outperform mass outreach - How incentives such as free product access, payment, content creation, and link swaps improve response rates - How to maintain consistent brand positioning across dozens of third-party listicles - Why inconsistent descriptions of your company across the web create problems for AI search - How to split backlinks between your homepage, commercial pages, comparison pages, and informational content - How expert quote outreach gets links and mentions from sites such as BBC, HubSpot, Zapier, and Wix - Why expert quote platforms remain one of the strongest low-budget link-building methods - Foundational backlinks every new SaaS company should build - Why directories such as Crunchbase, BetaList, and Product Hunt still matter - How a Product Hunt launch caused a major organic traffic spike for one of my projects - How to use link swaps without making the links look artificial - Why adjacent industries are strong targets for link exchanges - How link-building outreach itself can generate customers and partnerships - How podcasts, industry meetups, and personal relationships create backlinks competitors struggle to copy - Why thanking tools you use publicly can turn into case studies and backlinks - How to build your own Rolodex of marketers and site owners for recurring link opportunities - The biggest mistake people make when judging backlinks by DR and traffic alone - Why a smaller, highly relevant site can be more valuable than a much larger generic site - When guest posting is worth the effort and when it is a waste of time - How third-party brand mentions influence ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and other AI search systems - Why getting included in the sources AI systems already retrieve is one of the fastest off-page opportunities - Which link-building strategies compound over time instead of producing one-off results Kristiyan and I also share some of the stranger link-building tactics we've used ourselves, including podcasts built partly around relationship building, industry networking, creative link exchanges, expert contributions, and other methods that go far beyond sending thousands of generic outreach emails. ⭐️ Kristiyan Yankov's agency, Above Apex - https://aboveapex.com/ ⭐️ Kristiyan Yankov on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristyan-yankov/ 💎 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 SaaS Link Building Intro 00:12 Kristiyan SEO Journey 01:50 Top Link Building Plays 03:43 Link Gap Analysis Steps 07:01 Proving Competitor Links Work 09:12 Outreach and LinkedIn First 10:12 Incentives for Listicles 13:13 Outreach Message Templates 14:43 When to Lead With Money 17:01 Finding Dominant Listicles 17:58 Existing Posts and Indexing 22:23 Small Batch Outreach Strategy 28:18 Follow Ups and Timing 30:13 Listicle Pricing and Value 34:11 Positioning and Keywords 37:24 Deep Links Beyond Homepage 39:09 Expert Quote Outreach Setup 40:02 Best Quote Platforms 41:31 Low Budget Link Tactics 43:10 Directory Links That Work 45:37 Clicks From Backlinks 46:40 Adjacent Industry Link Swaps 51:42 Relationship Driven Links 56:50 Common Link Building Mistakes 01:00:28 Guest Posts Done Right 01:05:37 Brand Mentions For AI Search 01:10:52 Linkable Assets And Virality 01:15:05 Natural Backlink Profiles 01:17:41 Where To Find Christian 01:17:56 Bulgaria Rose Valley Chat 01:21:34 Podcast Wrap Up The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #searchengineoptimization #linkbuilding #saasmarketing #seo

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  • S1 · E1166
    September 13 · 11 min

    Google Can Lose Faith In Your Website (Here's How To Get It Back)

    E1166: Google can lose faith in your website. That is the language Google's John Mueller used when discussing sites filled with large amounts of programmatic SEO content, low-quality pages, and generated content that fails to give users enough value. I break down what that means, why bad old pages continue to hurt a site, and what actual SEO recoveries look like. I cover: - John Mueller's warning that Google's systems can lose faith in a site based on its old pages - Why publishing hundreds or thousands of weak pages creates a sitewide problem - The danger of scaled AI content and programmatic SEO - Why producing more content does not fix a site that already has a quality problem - The "Boy Who Cried Wolf" effect in SEO - How repeatedly disappointing searchers damages the reputation of a site - Why click-through rate and pogo-sticking matter when thinking about user satisfaction - How weak pages create bad behavioral signals at scale - Why programmatic SEO makes the problem worse by publishing bad pages far faster than a human could - What happens when Google becomes more cautious about showing content from a site - How fixing the problem takes significant work and time I also break down a real recovery example where a company deleted around 200 thin AI-written pages and later saw Google traffic grow from roughly 1,000 to nearly 4,000 monthly visitors. Their new approach included: - Deleting thin AI pages first - Keeping only pages worth maintaining - Using real search data instead of having AI invent the content - Researching SERPs, search volumes, Reddit, Hacker News, and X - Using the actual language customers use - Writing bottom-of-funnel pages buyers actively search for - Publishing competitor lists with current pricing - Creating alternative pages for products people are leaving - Publishing original customer stories - Reviewing and editing every piece of content before publishing I also cover another recovery shared by Lily Ray. The site was hit by the December 2025 spam update, started making fixes, and finally began recovering roughly five months later. The takeaway is simple: If you flood your site with content that repeatedly disappoints searchers, cleaning it up is not instant. Delete the weak pages, improve the pages worth keeping, publish content people actually want, and give Google's systems enough time to see the change. Google does not forget a large history of bad content overnight. ⭐️ John Mueller's statements - https://bsky.app/profile/johnmu.com/post/3muwiaq3mws22 ⭐️ Charlotte Schmitt on 𝕏 - https://x.com/LottiSchmitt/status/2096967274343047324 ⭐️ Lily Ray on 𝕏 (recovery post) - https://x.com/lilyraynyc/status/2069739309075161234 ⭐️ Ep 989 - Google's Helpful Content Update DESTROYED the Internet (What Actually Happened) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YLUFjYrIEA 💎 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 Can Google Lose Trust 00:25 John Mueller on Programmatic SEO 01:53 Behavior Signals Explained 02:42 Boy Who Cried Wolf SEO 04:24 How Sites Recover 05:13 Pruning Playbook Steps 06:06 Bottom of Funnel Content Wins 06:37 Customer Stories Strategy 07:45 Recovery Timelines and Updates 08:51 Learn SEO the Right Way 10:40 Final Wrap Up The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #searchengineoptimization #seo #seorecovery #programmaticseo

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  • S1 · E1165
    September 11 · 1 hr 29 min

    Position #1 On Google Is Dead (8.1 Million Searches Prove It)

    E1165: Position #1 on Google is dead, at least as a single, static ranking you can check once and trust. Joy Hawkins returns to break down a study of 8.1 million Google search results that found organic rankings became 48.7% more volatile after the May 2026 Core Update. 97% of the tracking reports analyzed started shuffling, and two people searching the same phrase at the same time now regularly see different rankings. The volatility didn't disappear after the update ended. It stayed elevated. We get into what this means for SEO, rank tracking, local search, AI Overviews, Google's new AI local results, content pruning, scaled AI content, reviews, and measuring whether SEO is actually making money. Topics we cover: - The 8.1 million-search study that found Google rankings became 48.7% more volatile - Why 97% of the tracking reports studied started shuffling - Why saying "we rank #1" or "we rank #3" is becoming increasingly inaccurate - How two people searching the exact same keyword can see completely different results - Why city + service keywords such as "Denver plumber" were among the searches hit hardest - Why checking a keyword once is no longer enough to measure rankings - How many searches Joy wants before she trusts rank-tracking data - Why top-three visibility across many searches matters more than one recorded position - Why SEOs need to connect rankings to traffic, calls, leads, and revenue - Why Joy trusts Search Console and call tracking more than a single rank-tracker snapshot - How Google's go-to redirects are making life harder for rank trackers and scrapers - Why rank trackers could start contaminating Search Console click data - The theory that increased ranking variation could make CTR manipulation easier for Google to detect - Why Google's traditional local pack, organic results, and AI local results need to be treated as different algorithms - SEO tactics that work in the traditional local pack but lose strength in AI local results - Why keyword-stuffed business names and extended business hours matter less in AI local packs - The three review signals Joy sees affecting traditional local rankings: rating, review count, and review frequency - Why the actual language inside customer reviews matters more for AI searches - How Google uses reviews to answer subjective local searches such as finding a cafe with fast Wi-Fi - Why your Google Business Profile description does not move rankings - How changing copy on your website changes what Google says about your business inside AI results - The risks of self-promotional "best X" listicles - Why a strong differentiator on your landing page matters more now - Joy's experiment deleting roughly 1,000 pages receiving zero clicks - Her experiment comparing Claude-generated content from expert interviews against content written by a human from the same source material - What happened after pruning more than half the content from sites hit with domain-wide ranking losses - Why scaled AI content on a real business website has become far riskier - How businesses can see enormous traffic growth from scaled content before the entire site crashes - Why AI content itself isn't the problem and where Joy sees legitimate uses for AI-generated content The biggest change is not that SEO stopped working. Sites still dominate search results. The problem is that a single ranking position no longer tells you enough. You need enough searches to measure how often you appear near the top, then connect that visibility to traffic, leads, calls, and ultimately revenue. Joy Hawkins is one of the most experienced local SEO testers in the industry, and this episode gets deep into what she is seeing across millions of searches and active client campaigns. ⭐️ Joy's write-up on this - https://www.sterlingsky.ca/the-dynamic-serp-update-may-2026-core-update-changed-seo/ ⭐️ Joy Hawkin's Agency - Sterling Sky: https://www.sterlingsky.ca/ ⭐️ Joy Hawkin's YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/SterlingSkyInc ⭐️ Joy Hawkin's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/joyhawkins/ ⭐️ Local Search Forum - https://localsearchforum.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 Joy Returns and Setup 00:18 May Update Weirdness 02:42 Eight Million Study Results 05:55 Static Rankings Are Dead 08:38 Measure Leads Not Spots 10:21 How to Trust Rank Data 11:19 Client Reporting and Revenue 14:57 Why Google Changed SERPs 16:17 Go To Redirect Fallout 20:49 AI Packs and Shortcut Tactics 25:01 Not Personalization and Next Steps 33:00 Business First SEO 33:17 Lead Source Tracking 34:58 Local Rankings Reviews 36:22 AI Local Packs 37:42 Review Keywords AI 41:17 Listicles And Risks 46:27 USP For AI Overviews 47:31 Experiments And Tools 51:13 Pruning And Penalties 54:35 Scaled Content Scams 58:58 Accident Page Case Study 01:02:51 Safer Testing Domains 01:03:20 Traffic Spike And Crash 01:03:49 Screen Share SEO Graphs 01:05:06 Scaled Content Publishing 01:05:55 Is Number One Dead 01:06:20 What Still Works Now 01:09:50 Keywords And Local Links 01:12:54 Risky Tactics And Scale 01:22:09 AI Content Nuance 01:23:40 AI Slop Backlash 01:25:53 Hype Versus Proven SEO 01:28:57 Closing Thoughts And Farewell The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #searchengineoptimization #seo #localseo #digitalmarketing

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  • S1 · E1164
    September 11 · 11 min

    How $72 in Press Releases Made Google Call This Man the King of AEO

    E1164: It cost just $72 in press releases to get Google's AI Overview to call James Dooley the "King of AEO." I break down how two cheap press releases created enough relevance and third-party confirmation for Google to repeat the claim directly inside an AI Overview. The first press release cost $66 through an EIN Newswire package. The second cost $6 through AB Newswire. Both placed "King of AEO" in the locations that matter most for relevance: the headline, page title, URL slug, and opening sentence. Google then cited those releases when answering the query "Who is the king of AEO?" I break down: - How $72 in press releases influenced a Google AI Overview - The exact press releases Google cited - How the phrase "King of AEO" appeared in the title, H1, URL slug, and first sentence - How direct, unambiguous language matters when building entity associations - How one $66 EIN Newswire press release became the first citation in the AI Overview - How a $6 AB Newswire press release syndicated to USA Today became another supporting source - Why repeating the same entity association across multiple sources creates consensus - Why Google's AI Overview confidently repeated a claim about a crowning ceremony that never actually happened - How the press release image also started appearing in Google Images for "King of AEO" - What happened after I posted videos about the experiment across Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and YouTube Shorts - How other SEOs then started publishing their own "King of AEO" press releases - Why the SERP turned into an SEO battleground - Why James Dooley still remained the dominant entity associated with "King of AEO" - How relevance and consensus work together when multiple people compete for the same entity association - Why press releases still matter for both traditional Google Search and AI-generated answers - What this experiment shows about influencing the information Google uses to construct AI Overview responses Before the competition started, James had a major advantage: most of the highly relevant pages around "King of AEO" pointed to him. Once more people entered the SERP with their own press releases, social posts, videos, images, and websites, Google started acknowledging the competing claims while still naming James as the person most widely associated with the title. This is a clear look at how the sausage gets made inside modern search. If you understand how relevance, entity associations, third-party mentions, syndication, and consensus work together, a bizarre AI Overview like this becomes much easier to explain. 💎 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 Press Releases Still Work 00:59 EIN Newswire Case Study 01:30 Keyword Placement Breakdown 02:55 AB Newswire For Six Bucks 04:13 The Fake Crowning Event 04:44 Google Images Impact 05:05 Blowing Up The SERP 05:38 New Challengers Appear 07:51 Why This Works 10:48 Wrap Up And Goodbye The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #searchengineoptimization #seo #generativeengineoptimization #answerengineoptimization

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Showing 41–60 of 109 episodes