Show notes
E1012: How IBM managed to rank at the top of Google for some of the most competitive keywords in the world, including "AI," "AI agent," and "what is AI." We go through a real case study of IBM's content strategy, based on analysis from Lars Lofgren, and look at what they're doing right, what they're getting away with, and what you can apply to your own SEO strategy. This is one of the clearest examples of what Google currently rewards in B2B content. What you'll learn in this episode: - How IBM structures top-of-funnel content to rank for extremely competitive keywords - Why answering the search query immediately (above the fold) matters more than ever - How internal linking is used to pass authority across an entire content ecosystem - The role of media (images and video) in keeping users engaged and improving rankings - Why "perfectly optimized" content often feels bland - and why that's working - How IBM removes obvious AI-writing signals on high-value pages - Where IBM is over-optimizing (keyword stuffing) and why they still get away with it - The risk of expanding too far beyond your core topics (and what happened to HubSpot) - Why most companies fail when they try to scale content too aggressively - How legacy authority plays a role - and how to adapt these tactics if you don't have it I also share how I approach SEO differently, focusing first on bottom-of-funnel, high purchase intent keywords before expanding into top-of-funnel content like this. If you're trying to understand what it actually takes to rank for highly competitive terms today, this episode gives you a clear, practical breakdown. ⭐️ Lars Lofgren's breakdown - https://www.linkedin.com/posts/larslofgren_this-might-be-the-most-successful-b2b-seo-activity-7447692784615981057-qG8u/ 🚀 Edward's SEO Articles - https://edwardsturm.com/articles/search-engine-optimization/ 💎 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 IBM Dominates AI Keywords 01:05 Lars Lofgren Breakdown 01:56 HubSpot Greed Warning 03:09 Inside IBM What is AI Page 04:29 Internal Linking Flywheel 06:39 AI Agent Page Wins 07:06 Keyword Stuffing Critique 09:18 Podcast Outro The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #searchengineoptimization #seo #digitalmarketing #performancemarketing