The Edward Show
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.
Episodes
Google Just Gave SEOs a New Ranking Signal (Do This Now) - Preferred Sources
E1145: Google just gave SEOs a new feature that could change how publishers build visibility across Search, Discover, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. I break down Google Preferred Sources, how it works, why it matters, and why publishers should pay attention before everyone starts using it. Google Preferred Sources allows users to choose publishers they want to see more often in Google Search experienc
Google's August Spam Update Just Crushed Scaled Content - SaaS Is Winning
E1144: Google's August 2026 spam update has officially finished rolling out, and we're seeing clear patterns in who got hit, who recovered, and who is winning. The update launched August 18 and completed just three days later on August 21. But the volatility started well before Google officially announced it. Throughout August, sites were reporting major ranking swings, sudden traffic losses, and
He Did 2,000 Podcasts in a Year Just for SEO Rankings
E1143: He Did 2,000 Podcasts in a Year Just for SEO Rankings James Dooley has published 2,000 unique podcast episodes this year and is on track to hit 3,000 by the end of the year. But he's not doing it to build a traditional podcast audience. He's doing it for SEO. James breaks down the system he uses to turn short, keyword-focused podcast episodes into Google rankings, video rankings, backlinks,
Reddit Citations Just Collapsed in ChatGPT. What SEOs Do Next
E1142: Reddit citations in ChatGPT just totally collapsed. Promptwatch data shows Reddit's share of ChatGPT citations dropping dramatically in August, falling to below 0.5% after previously sitting around 3-4%. This is the third major Reddit citation drop we've seen, and it raises a bigger question for SEOs: what happens when an AI search strategy built around one platform can disappear overnight?
Can You Launch 100,000 Pages and Survive Google?
E1141: Can you launch a brand-new website with 100,000 pages and survive Google? That's the question at the center of today's episode with David G. Quaid. A listener sent me a problem he and his friends keep running into: they launch programmatic SEO sites with 10,000 - 100,000 URLs, organic traffic shoots up, and then the sites collapse back to zero. So David and I dug into whether large-scale pr
Claude Is Watermarking Everything It Writes. Google Doesn't Have the Key
E1140: Claude is now watermarking everything it writes, and the SEO community is worried about what this means for AI content and Google rankings. But there's an important detail: Google likely doesn't have the key needed to verify Claude's watermark. I break down what Anthropic's new watermarking system does, why it's being implemented, what it can and can't prove, and whether any of this should
Image Backlinks Work Better Than You Think (Here's How to Get Them)
E1139: Image backlinks work surprisingly well for SEO, and one old experiment found they could even outperform exact-match anchor text links. I break down an SEO experiment from Dan Petrovic that tested four different types of backlinks to see which had the greatest effect on rankings. The test compared: - An exact-match anchor text backlink - A naked URL placed after the target keyword - An image
How James Dooley Starts a New SEO Site (650 Industries Deep)
E1138: How does James Dooley start a brand-new SEO site with 650 industries worth of SEO experience? James walks through how he evaluates a new SEO opportunity from the beginning, including when he'll use a fresh exact-match domain, when he'll buy an aged domain, how he evaluates the backlink profile before buying, and how he turns simple lead generation sites into larger brands. We also get into
How to Get Recommended by Google Maps AI | Darren Shaw
E1137: Local SEO is changing as Google Maps becomes more AI-driven. I'm joined by Darren Shaw, founder of Whitespark and one of the most respected people in local SEO, to break down Google's Ask Maps AI and what businesses need to do to get recommended. Ask Maps combines Gemini with Google's location data, Google Business Profiles, reviews, Maps activity, and other signals to answer detailed local
SEO Legend Charles Floate's A-to-Z Blueprint (Zero to Enterprise)
E1136: Charles Floate has been doing SEO for years, across everything from brand-new sites to companies spending hundreds of thousands of dollars a month on backlinks. In this episode, Charles lays out how he approaches SEO from A to Z: starting a site, building authority, finding keywords, structuring pages, getting links, becoming a topical authority, scaling what works, and changing the strateg
The Local SEO Playbook Behind a Law Firm Doing $100M in 6 Months | Matt Hammerton
E1135: Matt Hammerton joins me to break down the local SEO system he uses across personal injury law and home services. Matt has been doing SEO since 2009, manages more than 100 Google Business Profiles, owns stakes in multiple home service companies, and currently works with OneLaw, a law group that did $100 million in the first six months of this year. We get into the work behind those numbers:
The "Cheap" Keyword Trick Brands Are Too Proud to Use
E1133: Most brands don't want to call themselves "cheap." That's exactly why the word can be such a powerful SEO modifier. I break down an SEO tactic James Dooley shared during our recent three-hour podcast: targeting words like "cheap," "cheapest," "affordable," "low cost," "budget," "inexpensive," and even "free" to stand out in Google and attract searchers who actually care about price. The opp
Are Bot-Managed, CMS-Less Websites the Future of SEO? TJ Robertson & David Quaid
E1134: Are traditional CMS platforms like WordPress about to become unnecessary for SEO? TJ Robertson and David Quaid join me to talk about a very different way of building and managing websites: CMS-less sites where bots and AI agents handle publishing, technical fixes, internal links, site updates, analytics, and eventually even parts of optimization themselves. TJ has already been building webs
They Outranked Apple for "iPhone" in 1 Hour - 5 Insane SEO Stories
E1132: Somebody asked on Reddit: "What are some of the craziest, most interesting SEO stories and tactics you've come across?" The answers were incredible. I go through the best stories from the SEO Growth subreddit, including a Danish telco that outranked Apple for the keyword "iPhone" within an hour of a keynote. We also look at: - How an article about a random PS5 rumor reached #1 in Google and
James Dooley & David Quaid: The SEO "Best Practices" We Ignore
E1131: James Dooley and David G Quaid join me for a three-hour discussion about the SEO "best practices" they ignore, the advice they think gets repeated without enough testing, and what they really look at when trying to rank websites. We start with a simple question: which accepted SEO practices do you not follow? That turns into a much broader discussion about how Google works, why SEO checklis
The $50 Micro-Influencer SEO Strategy Nobody Is Using
E1130: Micro-influencer SEO is one of the most overlooked ways to get your brand mentioned across Google, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and AI search tools. I break down a simple strategy: instead of paying for generic press releases or chasing influencers with huge audiences, work with tiny creators whose videos are already being indexed and ranked by search engines. A micro-influencer wi
The Further You Are From Your Brand, The More AI Trusts You | Kaleigh Moore
E1129: The further a source is from your company's control, the more likely AI systems may be to trust it. Kaleigh Moore explains her "Source Signal Stack," a four-level framework for understanding how brands earn visibility in ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and other AI search tools. A company can control its website, blog, and social accounts. It has less control over what employees, independent
Local SEO in the AI Era: What's Working, What's Dying & What to Do Now - Joy Hawkins & Caleb Ulku
E1128: Local SEO is changing as Google, ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and other AI systems influence how people find and evaluate local businesses. I'm joined by Joy Hawkins and Caleb Ulku for a detailed discussion about what is working in local SEO now, which common tactics are becoming less effective, and how businesses should prepare for AI-powered local search. Joy and Caleb compare what they are s
Google's Biggest SEO Leak Changed Everything… But Almost Nobody Adapted
E1127: Google's biggest SEO leak gave marketers more information about how search works than almost any event in the industry's history. But according to Mike King, most SEO strategies, tools, and reporting systems barely changed after the leak. Mike explains what the leaked Google API documentation confirmed, what it revealed about links and ranking systems, and why the SEO industry has failed to
You're Reading Google Search Console WRONG (Here's Why)
E1126: Breaking down one of the most misunderstood parts of SEO: Google Search Console. David Quaid returns to the podcast, sharing his screen, showing what is really going on. Many SEOs judge performance by looking at clicks, impressions, click-through rate, and average position. But those numbers, by themselves, rarely tell you why a page is succeeding or failing. Instead, we explain how to use
Why Republishing Under a New URL Can Make a Dead Page Rank #1
E1125: A page can target an easy keyword, match the search intent, and still fail to stay indexed or rank. I explain why republishing that page under a new URL may give Google a reason to evaluate it again using the topical authority your website has built since the page was first published. I experienced this with a page I originally published in March 2023. The keyword was easy, the page was pro
YouTube's AI Detector Is Punishing Real Creators - Is Google Search Next?
E1124: YouTube's AI detection system classified videos from Kurzgesagt as AI-generated spam, even though the videos are made with love by ducks and people. That mistake sharply reduced distribution for one of the largest science channels on YouTube. The affected video performed well on the usual quality signals: - People clicked at an above-average rate - Viewers watched for longer than usual - Au
Claude's Privacy Disaster Proves Why SEO Matters
E1123: Claude shared conversations were appearing in Google, Bing, and other search engines, exposing information that users may never have expected to become publicly searchable. The problem was not caused by a complicated search engine failure. It came down to a basic technical SEO mistake: the shared pages were accessible to search engines without the correct indexing controls in place. In this
What Does an SEO Actually Do Every Day? New vs. Ranking vs. Established Sites
E1122: What does an SEO actually do every day? The answer depends on the stage of the website. The work required for a brand-new site is very different from the work required for a site that already ranks, generates revenue, or has an established presence in its market. I break down the day-to-day responsibilities of an SEO across three stages: - A brand-new website - A website that is already ran
There Is No #1 Ranking Anymore: Koray Tuğberk GÜBÜR & Charles Floate on SEO's New Rules
E1121: There is no permanent #1 ranking in AI search. Koray Tuğberk GÜBÜR and Charles Floate join the show to explain why Google's results are becoming less fixed, more variable, and harder to measure with traditional rank tracking. They break down what is changing across Google Search, AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Gemini, and other answer engines - and what they are changing in their own SEO s
You Don't Need 1,000 Backlinks to Rank on Google (Here's What Actually Works)
E1120: Your competitors may have 500 to 1,000 backlinks while your site has only a handful. That does not automatically mean you need hundreds of links to compete. I break down a popular SEO subreddit discussion about how to build backlinks today. I review the strongest comments, explain which advice is useful, and show why relevance, real traffic, relationships, and search intent often matter mor
$1B Ecommerce Expert Tears Apart Product Pages That Don't Convert
E1119: Most ecommerce brands assume they need more traffic. But sometimes the real problem is the product page. I sit down with James Backenstone from Build Grow Scale as we screenshare and tear apart real ecommerce product pages while explaining why some pages convert while others lose the sale. James has spent 10 years studying customer behavior, working with more than 100 brands, and reviewing
Google Smacked WindowsForum for AI Slop - Was the Penalty Deserved?
E1118: Google hit WindowsForum.com with a manual action covering roughly 168,000 forum threads and more than half a million posts. The site's owners argued that Google unfairly punished a decades-old community for "thin content" without providing example URLs. But once you look deeper, the case becomes much more complicated. We investigate what WindowsForum says happened, what changed on the site
Rank & Rent SEO: How Ippei Built 130 Sites - and Made $240K From One 15-Hour Website
E1117: Breaking down Rank-and-Rent, one of the most profitable local SEO business models. We are joined by a pro in the subject: Ippei Kanehara Ippei has been building Rank-and-Rent websites for more than 11 years. During that time he's built hundreds of local lead generation sites, generated recurring income from websites that are over a decade old, and recently built 130 new sites to test what's
What Actually Works in SEO in 2026 - James Dooley on AI Search, Links & "Money-Hat" SEO
E1116: James Dooley joins the pod to explain what's working in SEO in 2026, based on years of testing across hundreds of websites, multiple industries, and highly competitive search markets. James describes himself as a "money-hat SEO": he is less interested in labels such as white hat or black hat and more interested in testing, measuring results, managing risk, and building assets that make mone
He Lost 50% of His Google Traffic to AI Overviews (Here's How He Recovered)
E1115: Endre Olsvik Elvestad built a large SEO program around SignLab, a sign-language learning company. Its websites offered searchable sign language videos across multiple countries. Then Google AI Overviews appeared. SignLab lost about 50% of its Google clicks. High-intent traffic and app downloads fell even harder. Google could show the answer directly in search by displaying SignLab's videos,
5 SEO Empires That Collapsed - And the One That Came Back
1113: Five websites once dominated Google search, bringing in millions and millions of clicks every month. Then their rankings collapsed. We break down five major SEO declines from the last few years, explain what caused them, and show why one site was able to recover while the others continued to struggle. These examples cover some of the most common SEO mistakes companies are still making today,
AI Is Dumb: How to Use AI Agents for SEO Without Getting Crushed by Google
E1114: AI can search faster, pull data from dozens of sources, analyze entire websites, and complete hours of SEO research in minutes. But AI still does not think. Andrew Melnychuk-Oseen explains what large language models actually do, why their reasoning can look more intelligent than it is, and where AI agents commonly fail when used for SEO. We discuss why AI-generated work often sounds convinc
Medium Parasite SEO Is Back: How Brands Are Ranking Fast - and the Risks
E1112: Medium is ranking strongly in Google again, and brands are using it to publish keyword-focused content, earn fast rankings, and appear in AI-generated search results. I explain why Medium has returned as a useful parasite SEO platform, how companies are using it alongside LinkedIn and other social platforms, and what can go wrong when the strategy becomes too promotional. You'll learn: - Wh
Why Red Bull Ranks for Everything: The SEO Power of Viral Marketing and Sponsorships
E1111: Red Bull ranks for far more than energy drink keywords. It ranks for searches related to GTA V cheat codes, skateboarding, Formula 1, surfing, motocross, breakdancing, athletes, and many other topics across sports, gaming, and entertainment. I break down how Red Bull built enough authority to rank across such a wide range of subjects - and why its success comes from much more than publishin
Google's Next SEO Apocalypse: The Scaled AI Content Crackdown Is Coming
E1110: Google may be preparing its biggest crackdown on scaled AI content yet. David Quaid joins the show to explain why he believes the next major Google update could be as significant as Panda or Penguin, why automated content production is the real risk, and how legitimate websites could get caught in the fallout. We discuss the difference between using AI to help create content and using AI to
How Local Businesses Build Powerful Backlinks Through Community Sponsorships
E1109: Local backlinks do not have to come from guest posts, national websites, or expensive digital PR campaigns. In this episode, Ellen Sartin and Garrett French explain how local businesses can build backlinks through community sponsorships, nonprofit partnerships, chambers of commerce, local events, schools, youth sports teams, and other organizations operating in their area. They break down h
The SEO Lessons From Working With 5,000 Publishers
E1108: Hank Azarian has worked in SEO for more than 20 years across LegalZoom, Like.com, Refinery29, TMZ, Raptive, and thousands of independent publisher websites. In this episode, Hank explains what he learned from working with more than 5,000 publishers, scaling major media sites, building SEO systems, and testing what actually improves traffic, engagement, and revenue. We cover: - How organic s
E-commerce SEO for AI Search: Faceted Navigation, Bottom-of-Funnel Pages & Scaling Without Getting Hit
E1107: E-commerce SEO is no longer only about ranking product and category pages in Google. AI search tools are also surfacing filtered URLs, faceted navigation pages, intent-based collections, and detailed product pages for highly specific buying queries. I speak with Gagan Ghotra and Harpreet Singh about how e-commerce brands can improve visibility in Google, ChatGPT, AI Overviews, and AI Mode w
Google Isn't Indexing Your Pages? Fix These 3 SEO Mistakes
E1105: Google is not indexing every page it discovers. As the web keeps growing, Google has to decide which pages are worth crawling regularly, storing in its index, and showing in search results. That means weak site structure, accidental noindex tags, and poor internal linking can make it harder for your important pages to get indexed. We break down three simple SEO mistakes shared by Mike Fried
Former Google Search Quality Analyst Reveals How Google Really Ranks Websites
E1106: Pedro Dias spent six years working in Google Search Quality, where he investigated web spam, reviewed search results, and helped identify quality problems across different markets. In this episode, Pedro explains how Google evaluates websites, why many popular SEO metrics are misleading, and what site owners should focus on if they want stronger rankings. We begin with the LinkedIn post tha
The 1-Hour SEO Update That Makes Your Best Pages Rank for More Keywords
E1104: Your best-performing pages may already be ranking for dozens or hundreds of searches that they do not fully cover. I show you a practical one-hour SEO update that uses Google Search Console and Claude to find those missed opportunities, add the right sections to your content, and help pages that already perform well rank for even more keywords. You are not guessing which topics to add. You
Google Just Added Instagram, TikTok, X & YouTube to Search Console
E1103: Google has added a new Search Console property type that shows how content from Instagram, TikTok, X, and YouTube performs across Google Search and Discover. The new "platform properties" feature lets creators and businesses see which search terms lead people to their social and video content, along with data about how people interact with those posts. This is further evidence that Google's
They Ranked #1 on Google and Got Only 5 Calls a Month - So He Told Them to Move
E1102: Ranking #1 on Google does not matter if the market is too small to produce meaningful business. Legal SEO expert Nick Cohen explains why he told a law firm to move offices even though it ranked first for nearly every important personal injury keyword in its city. The firm had around 200 reviews but received only about five calls per month from SEO. The problem was not its rankings. The prob
The Reddit SEO Hack That Ranks Your Website Instead of Reddit
E1101: People search Google with the word "Reddit" because they want real opinions, real discussions, and answers that feel less filtered. But here's the part most SEOs miss: Google does not always rank Reddit for those searches. ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini do not always pull Reddit pages when the query includes Reddit either. That means you can build pages on your own website that target thes
The SEO Colony Hack That Ranks Money Pages Without Backlinks
E1100: Breaking down the SEO colony strategy: how to use easy, low-competition pages to build topical authority, pass that authority through internal links, and rank money pages without needing to rely on backlinks first. This comes from one of my favorite Reddit posts about topical authority, PageRank, clicks, links, and how Google ranks pages. The post explains a simple but important idea: every
GaryVee: Gemini Is the Only Guaranteed Winner in AI Search
E1099: Gary Vaynerchuk joins the podcast to talk about AI search, Gemini, social media, content volume, and what brands need to understand before the internet changes again. The biggest moment from this conversation is Gary saying Gemini is the only guaranteed winner in AI search because of the stack Google already has: YouTube, YouTube Shorts, Gmail, Calendar, and the rest of Google's infrastruct
This Backlink Pivot Ranked a Startup Above Industry Giants in 2 Months
E1098: Breaking down a link building case study about what to do when your business is so niche that "perfectly relevant" backlink opportunities barely exist. The example comes from a petrochemical / chemical manufacturing startup trying to rank against much larger competitors. At first, they tried the obvious approach: - Create content around their exact niche - Place links inside that content -
Charles Floate Tested 10 SEO Indexers - One Got Reddit Indexed in 2 Hours
E1097: Charles Floate tested 10 SEO indexers with real URL cohorts to find out which tools actually get backlinks and pages indexed in 2026. The big point: if your backlink is not indexed, it passes zero PageRank. I break down Charles's test, the best-performing indexers, why so many backlinks never get indexed, and when it is or is not safe to use indexing tools on your own sites or client sites.
Chewy Used This Google Spam Tactic 88 Times - Then Traffic Fell
E1096: We're talking about keyword stuffing, Google's own definition of it, and why copying what big authority sites do can be a dangerous SEO mistake. I came across a Search Engine Land article pointing to Chewy's dry dog food page as an example of strong "cosine similarity." But when I looked at the page, it looked much closer to old-school keyword stuffing than smart SEO. The phrase "dry dog fo
He Audited 70,000 Websites. Here's Why Your SEO Traffic Isn't Converting
E1095: Most businesses think they need more SEO traffic. But if the page does not convert, more traffic just means more wasted visitors. I talk with Irwin Hau, founder of Chromatix and ConversionCow, about why SEO pages, landing pages, homepages, service pages, and blog posts fail to turn visitors into leads. Irwin has audited close to 70,000 websites over 17 years. After seeing that many pages, h
An iGaming SEO Reveals How He Manipulates ChatGPT Recommendations
E1094: I talk with Léo Poitevin, an SEO who spent years in iGaming, CBD, and some of the most competitive search niches online. Léo has been testing how to influence ChatGPT recommendations, AI search visibility, and traditional Google rankings using tactics that come from aggressive affiliate SEO. We get into how SEOs are using third-party listicles, backlinks, Reddit, review pages, and brand men
Google Can't Stop Fake DMCA Attacks - And SEOs Are Getting Wiped Out
E1093: Fake DMCA takedowns are becoming one of the scariest forms of negative SEO in Google Search. I break down how fraudulent copyright complaints are being used to remove legitimate pages from Google, why original publishers are getting hit, and why the counter-notice process can still leave your content out of search results for days, weeks, or even months. Search Engine Roundtable, Press Gaze
The Digital PR Playbook That Earns High-Authority Links (Most SEOs Never Learn)
E1092: Digital PR has become one of the most effective ways to build authority, earn high-quality backlinks, and strengthen your brand across both Google Search and AI search. In this episode, Aashish Khakhar breaks down the exact process his agency uses to consistently earn links from major publications. Instead of vague advice, he walks through every stage of a campaign - from coming up with ide
If I Started Over at 22, I'd Use This Playbook to Pay NYC Rent in 90 Days
E1090: If I had to start over at 22 years old with no connections, very little experience, and no audience, this is the exact playbook I'd use to start paying NYC rent in 90 days. This episode breaks down the credibility-first strategy I would use to get seen, get trusted, get referrals, and start charging more. The core idea is simple: before people hire you, they Google/ChatGPT you. So if you ca
How the GEO Playbook Is Challenging SEO With Paid Citations, Reddit & AI Search
E1091: Is GEO actually different from SEO, or is it just SEO with a new name? We're joined by Callum Kennard from ClickSlice and David Quaid for another deep debate on GEO, AEO, AI search, and where traditional SEO fits into all of it. This conversation gets into the practical side of the argument. Callum explains how his agency approaches AI search visibility using tools like Profound, paid citat
Google's June Spam Update Is Brutal: The Sites Getting Wiped Out (And Why)
E1089: Google's June 2026 spam update is done rolling out, and the SEO world is seeing major volatility. I break down what happened, who appears to be losing, who is better positioned, and what this update says about where Google Search is going next. The update started on June 24, 2026 and completed on June 26, 2026. Google called it a normal spam update, but many SEOs reported movement that felt
Google Discover Is the Biggest Traffic Opportunity SEOs Are Missing (1B+ Clicks Proven)
E1088: Most SEO conversations focus on rankings, backlinks, and AI search. But one of Google's largest traffic sources is still overlooked. I sit down with Google Discover specialist Guilhem Chauvin, who has spent years working with more than 120 publishers across 30 countries and has helped generate over 1 billion Google Discover clicks. We break down how Google Discover works, why it's fundament
Does GEO Actually Exist? An SEO Debate Gets Heated
E1087: For the past year, one question has dominated conversations around AI search: Is GEO actually different from SEO? Some marketers argue that Generative Engine Optimization is an entirely new discipline. Others believe it's simply good SEO applied to a new interface. In this episode, I sit down with David Quaid and Vlad Pivnev for a detailed debate on what has changed, what hasn't, and whethe
How 5,000 SEO Visits Got Her Client's Local Business Bought by Private Equity
E1086: Tiffani Daniel is back on the show to talk about how SEO copywriting can turn into real business value. Last time, we talked about how one blog a week helped take a local dentist to 130,000 monthly visits - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsI3XJ-_FUs This time, Tiffani shares another local SEO story: a landscaping and pest control client that reached about 5,000 monthly visits, got calls f
The 30-Page Local SEO Hack Google's AI Is Already Rewarding
E1085: Caleb Ulku joins to talk about one of the most practical local SEO systems I've heard in a while: the "Core 30." The idea is simple: stop treating your website and Google Business Profile like two separate things. Caleb's approach is to build the website so it directly supports the Google Business Profile. Your GBP categories, services, landing page, location pages, service pages, and inter
The 301 Redirect Myth Google Killed… That SEOs Still Believe in 2026
E1084: Should you avoid 301 redirects because they reduce link equity? A lot of SEOs still believe that 301 redirects cause a loss in PageRank. That belief made sense years ago. In 2013, Matt Cutts said 301 redirects could result in a PageRank loss. But in 2016, Gary Illyes from Google said redirects no longer lose PageRank. And Google's own documentation still says that 301 and other permanent re
Google's New AI Spam Detector Could Wipe Out Entire SEO Networks
E1083: Google researchers published a paper showing how coordinated AI spam can be detected at scale. The research focuses on video spam, but the methods are highly relevant to SEO because they show how Google may think about mass AI content, repeated templates, automated publishing patterns, and networks of accounts or sites using similar generative systems. The key idea is simple: instead of jud
Google Took WPBeginner From 2.6M Clicks to 27K - Here's Why
E1082: WPBeginner used to be one of the biggest WordPress educational blogs on the internet. According to Semrush, WPBeginner was getting around 2.6 million monthly clicks from Google at its peak in May 2021. Now it appears to be down to roughly 27,000 monthly clicks. That is not a small decline. That is a near-total collapse in Google traffic for a site that many WordPress users have relied on fo
Google Merchant Center Mistakes Killing Your Ecommerce Revenue
E1081: Google Merchant Center can make or break ecommerce revenue. Gagan Ghotra and Harpreet Singh join the show to break down how Google Merchant Center works, why it matters for ecommerce SEO, and the common mistakes that cause products to lose visibility, get disapproved, or underperform in Google Shopping and free product listings. We cover how product feeds influence visibility across Google,
He Got 300,000 Followers With AI Videos of Himself: Exactly How He Does It
E1080: Sarvesh Shrivastava grew a new Instagram account from zero to almost 300,000 followers using AI videos of himself. He has not recorded a single video for that account. The face is AI. The voice is AI. The scripts come from his existing ideas, Loom videos, 𝕏 posts, and team research. The editing is handled by his team. And the account has reached millions of views per month. Sarvesh breaks d
SEO Myths That Won't Die: Backlinks, GEO, Gemini & What Ranks in 2026
E1079: David Quaid returns to the podcast to talk through SEO myths that refuse to die, and why a lot of the current advice around SEO, GEO, AI search, backlinks, content, and LLMs is either incomplete or flat-out misleading. We start with the SEO vs. GEO debate and why treating them like two separate worlds can lead to bad strategy. David argues that if your site cannot rank, cannot get crawled p
Brand Mentions Are Exploding in Value - But Do Backlinks Still Matter?
E1078: Charles Floate joins the show to talk about where SEO is going as Google, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and other AI systems change how people find information. The main question: if brand mentions are becoming more important, do backlinks still matter? Charles argues that backlinks still have value, but mentions are becoming much more important because AI systems do not only look at links.
Do Lost Backlinks Still Help Your SEO? The "Link Echoes" Effect
E1076: Do lost backlinks still help your SEO after they disappear? We look at the "link echo" effect: the idea that Google may continue to carry value from backlinks even after those links are removed. This came up again after a recent Google Search Console bug made many SEOs think they had lost a large number of backlinks. Some people saw link counts drop or even go to zero, which caused a lot of
Why SEO Gets Ignored Inside Big Companies (And How to Fix It) w/ Ash Nallawalla
E1077: Ash Nallawalla has been doing SEO for more than 25 years, mostly inside or alongside large companies. In this episode, we talk about why SEO so often gets ignored inside big organizations, even when leadership says organic search matters. Ash explains his idea of visibility governance: the rules, documentation, ownership, approvals, and accountability needed to make sure SEO recommendations
Google's May Core Update Isn't Done: What June SERP Volatility Means for SEO
E1075: Google's May Core Update may be officially over, but many SEOs and site owners are still seeing major ranking volatility in June. We break down what people are reporting across the search results, why the update may still feel active, and what types of sites and pages appear to be gaining or losing visibility. We cover the ongoing chatter around traffic drops, sudden ranking swings, e-comme
Blogging Isn't Dead: How Niche Blogs Still Make Money With SEO
E1074: Blogging is not dead. Bad blogging is. I break down how people are still making money from blogs in 2026, why so many "SEO is dead" takes are coming from people who never won with SEO in the first place, and what works now if you want to build a niche site that gets traffic and makes money. I start with a Reddit post from someone who ignored the usual advice that blogging is dead, kept goin
What Small Business Owners Get Wrong About SEO (with Mariah Magazine)
E1073: Most small business owners know they should care about SEO, but they often misunderstand what moves the needle. I'm joined by Mariah Magazine to break down what small business owners get wrong about SEO, why keyword research is more than just picking phrases with search volume, and how business owners can use search data to make better decisions about their websites, offers, and content. Ma
Match Search Intent or Lose the Click: SEO + CRO That Converts
E1072: Breaking down the most common CRO and SEO advice shared by entrepreneurs and marketers, and explaining why nearly all of it comes back to one principle: matching search intent. The discussion comes from a popular entrepreneur community thread where dozens of business owners share the tactics that consistently improve both rankings and conversions. Despite different backgrounds and industrie
How Does ChatGPT Cite Brands? Does It Need Google?
E1071: How does ChatGPT choose which brands to cite, and how much of that comes from Google's existing search ecosystem? Zachary Long (Modern Humans AI) and SEO veteran David Quaid join the show for a clear, side-by-side conversation about "GEO vs SEO" and what influences visibility inside AI-generated answers and recommendations. Along the way, they discuss how AI tools gather sources, what "real
Schema Mythbusting: The Biggest LocalBusiness Schema Study Ever (and the Surprise ChatGPT Result)
E1070: Breaking down the most extensive LocalBusiness schema test ever run - what it proves, what it doesn't, and why the results matter for local SEO and how businesses show up in ChatGPT. Jake Hundley joins Edward Sturm and David Quaid to walk through a controlled schema experiment designed to answer a simple question: does LocalBusiness schema move the needle? The study tested performance acros
SEO Is at an All-Time High - The AEO Panic Has Turned Into Regret
E1069: Search interest in SEO just hit a new all-time high. For more than a decade, people have said SEO is dying. Every algorithm update. Every new platform. Every new shift in traffic. The narrative repeats. But the data tells a different story. I break down why search engine optimization is at its highest recorded interest level, what changed over the past 24 months, and why the AEO panic is no
This Simple Canonical Tag Change Increased SEO Traffic by 22%
E1068: Breaking down a real-world ecommerce SEO test that answers a common question: if you have multiple product variations (size, color, quantity), is there anything "special" you should do? The test looked at a simple canonical tag change and found a clear lift on variation pages, without hurting the main product pages. What you'll learn - How canonical tags affect indexing and rankings when pr
Why Most E-Commerce Sites Waste Their Traffic (And How to Fix It)
E1067: Most e-commerce founders believe they need more traffic. In reality, most stores already have enough qualified visitors. They just fail to convert them. In this episode, I sit down with David Schomer - former CPA, Amazon seller, founder, and now CEO of Build Grow Scale - to break down why most e-commerce sites waste organic and paid traffic, and what actually increases revenue. We go deep i
How Jotform Gets 2.7M Google Clicks a Month (SEO Breakdown)
E1066: Breaking down exactly how Jotform built an SEO engine that consistently drives traffic, rankings, and high-intent users - and what you can apply to your own business. Jotform is getting a whopping 2.7 million clicks per month from Google. We're looking at real numbers, real pages, and real strategy. Jotform has: - 92/100 domain authority - 21.2 million backlinks - 108,000 ranking keywords -
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