Why Big Blogs Are Collapsing (And How to Fix Them) - Lars Lofgren

E825: Big blogs that once dominated SEO are now collapsing - and it’s not just because of AI.

The SEO legend, Lars Lofgren joins the show. Lars was one of Neil Patel’s early employees back in 2011 and was active in aggressive marketing when the term, “growth hacking” was invented.

We go into why so many large content sites are in steady decline, what “sloppy SEO” looks like, and the brutal truth about recovering from years of content bloat, broken links, and weak topical authority.

You’ll learn: - Why SEO “moats” don’t work anymore - How big blogs got lazy and started sinking - The future of blog SEO - What it really takes (time + money) to rebound - The role of topical authority in 2025 - When to save a site vs. when to start fresh

If you run a blog, manage SEO, or want to understand the future of search, this conversation is a must-listen.

⭐️ Lars’s newsletter: https://larslofgren.com/ ⭐️ Lars on LinkedIn (tell him you came from this podcast and he’ll accept your connection): https://www.linkedin.com/in/larslofgren/ ⭐️ Lars on 𝕏: https://x.com/larslofgren ⭐️ Lars’s post: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7374545781061718017/

💎 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 Introduction 00:52 Common Issues with Large Blogs 01:32 Google Algorithm Changes and Their Impact 03:50 Rearchitecting Struggling Blogs 08:33 Challenges with Topical Authority 20:48 Fixing Foundational Issues 38:51 Evaluating SEO Strategies for Different Business Sizes 52:33 The Evolution of Attribution in Marketing 52:52 The Impact of LLMs on Marketing Strategies 54:09 Shifting Away from Performance Affiliate Models 56:07 The Case for Creating Your Own Product 57:41 Challenges in Transitioning Business Models 58:28 The Importance of Bottom-of-Funnel SEO 01:08:12 Google's Recent Changes and Their Implications 01:11:24 The Rise of AI Programmatic SEO 01:16:31 Balancing Quality and Quantity in SEO 01:23:10 Final Thoughts and Recommendations for Brands

The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/

#searchengineoptimization #contentmarketing #blogseo #digitalmarketing