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 Update outdated information, tighten search intent above the fold, remove fluff, improve what comes next, and add relevant queries your page already ranks for.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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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