Show notes
E1210: What makes a backlink worth $2,000? Ilias ISM joins me to explain which links he pays for, how he finds them, and why pages that rank and get real visitors often matter more than domain rating alone. Ilias is a software engineer turned SEO who builds SaaS products and runs an SEO agency. We break down his link-building process, the Claude Code agents he uses to find backlink opportunities and write outreach emails, and the strategies he sees working as Google and AI search change. In this episode: - Why Ilias would pay $1,000-$2,000 for a backlink from the right page, especially one ranking in the top 10-20 for a valuable keyword. - How to evaluate backlinks based on page-level search traffic, relevance, referral clicks, and placement, not just domain rating. - His starting filters for backlink prospects: 500-1,000+ monthly organic visits to the domain, relevant top pages, and no obvious signs of a link farm. - How he finds thousands of link-building opportunities by combining competitor backlink overlaps with sites ranking for target keywords. - An overlooked research tactic: analyze the pages linking to your competitors, then study which topics bring those linking pages traffic. - What gets replies to backlink outreach: short, direct emails with a specific request, offer, or reason to include your product. - How he replaced much of a complex link-building software codebase with Claude Code, a database, and tools the AI agent builds as needed. - Why a $50 GitHub sponsorship that sent referral traffic and branded searches became an early SEO breakthrough for him. - What nofollow links, unlinked mentions, brand searches, and social media coverage mean for search visibility. - Why building a recognizable brand and publishing original testing, like NapLab's mattress reviews, creates an advantage over generic AI content. - How Ilias tripled the monthly recurring revenue of an acquired AI presentation SaaS by improving its SEO, backlinks, and product. - What he learned paying short-form video creators $500 per month each, including how to test creators before hiring them. - How to target buyer-intent Google searches with YouTube videos, Shorts, Instagram Reels, and other third-party content. - How to use Ahrefs to find the keywords your existing YouTube videos already rank for. - His prediction for SEO in 2027: more discovery through social media and AI recommendations, with bottom-of-funnel pages converting visitors into customers. We also discuss protecting paid content from AI agents, why Ilias uses public SEO audits to demonstrate his skills, and what separates long-term SEO strategies from short-term tricks. If you build SaaS products, run SEO for clients, or want backlinks that bring rankings and customers, this conversation covers specific tactics you can put to work. ⭐️ Ilias ISM on 𝕏 - https://x.com/illyism ⭐️ Ilias Ismanalijev on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/illyism ⭐️ Ilias's agency, Magic Space - https://magicspace.agency ⭐️ Ilias's link building tool, LinkDIY - https://linkdr.com/ ⭐️ SEO Roast - https://seoroast.com ⭐️ AI SEO Tracker - https://aiseotracker.com ⭐️ Ilias's SEO Skills repo - https://github.com/Illyism/seo-skills 💎 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 Ilias 00:28 From Startup Exit 01:57 Backlinks Breakthrough 04:10 Emailing For Links 07:21 Listicles Today 09:10 AI Overviews Shift 12:16 Brand As SEO Moat 14:52 Blocking AI Scrapers 18:28 LinkDIY Automation 23:09 Paying For Links 28:52 Authority Signals Everywhere 33:02 Scaling Competitor Data 35:45 NapLab Case Study 41:06 Avoiding Spam Links 42:57 Cornerstone Mattress SEO 44:16 Real Testing Authority 44:48 Black Hat Press Tricks 46:45 Growing on X 47:34 SEO Roasts That Convert 50:12 Funding a Vibe SaaS 51:59 Why AI Misses SEO 54:30 Build in Public Risks 56:24 Indie SEO That Works 57:16 UGC Creator Engine 01:03:36 Acquiring and Scaling SaaS 01:07:18 Social Video SEO Tactics 01:08:51 Batch Analyze YouTube Rankings 01:10:11 SEO in 2027 01:18:30 Wrap Up and Resources The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #searchengineoptimization #seo #indiehackers #generativeengineoptimization