The Edward Show

Edward Sturm
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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.

  1. 7 hr ago

    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 checklists often fail, and why tactics that work on a large authority site can be useless on a new domain. James and David agree on a core principle throughout the episode: test what works, understand why it works, and avoid treating SEO advice as universal. We get into: - Why James largely ignores standard SEO best practices and relies on in-house testing instead - Why doing "more SEO" does not necessarily produce better rankings - How adding more pages can create cannibalization instead of improving topical authority - Examples of pages ranking with almost no content - James' story of ranking #1 with a page that was accidentally published before the content was written - Why a technically poor website with an unnatural links penalty could still rank for extremely competitive terms - The relationship between authority, relevance, traffic and rankings - Whether Google actually understands content quality in the way many SEOs assume - Why "just write good content" is incomplete SEO advice - EEAT and what James and David believe it does and does not affect - Why simply adding author bios is unlikely to fix a struggling website - Google quality raters, RaterHub and manual transparency actions - When EEAT considerations may matter more for finance, gambling, medical and other high-consequence searches - Why YMYL may need to be considered at the query level rather than treating an entire industry the same way - Schema: where it is necessary and where adding more schema probably will not improve rankings - Why job, flight, hotel and similar structured search features are different from ordinary webpages - Backlinks, PageRank and why authority still matters - Why comparing backlink counts alone can give you the wrong conclusion - Branded search and whether increased branded searches can influence broader rankings - Using search behavior, autocomplete and suggested searches to strengthen associations between a brand and a topic - Click-through rate and how James approaches CTR testing - Why advice from SEOs working on huge brands may not translate to a brand-new website - Exact-match domains and partial-match domains - Why both James and David dislike having a single website as the only source of SEO traffic - Using multiple sites to reduce single points of failure - How James evaluates aged and expired domains using data from multiple SEO tools instead of relying on DR or DA alone - Why looking at trends and historical data matters more than blindly trusting a single authority metric - Contextual bridging and how to move from easier topics into increasingly competitive search terms - Why topical relevance determines which keywords a website realistically has the authority to target - How Google Search Console can reveal search demand that traditional keyword tools miss - Ranking social profiles and videos in Google - SEO in an AI and LLM-driven search environment - Why David believes SEO remains one of the best ways to reach someone at the exact moment they are looking for something A recurring theme in this conversation is that SEO is contextual. A tactic can be useful on one site and pointless on another. Schema can be required for one search feature and irrelevant to another. An author bio can matter in a transparency review without being the reason a normal commercial page ranks. A change that produces huge results across one million pages may have almost no practical value for a small local business. Instead of building SEO around a checklist, James and David argue for understanding the underlying system: relevance, authority, search behavior, internal relationships between pages, external links and real-world testing. This is the longest conversation I've recorded, and we had enough time to get past the usual surface-level SEO arguments and into the reasoning behind how both James and David actually approach ranking websites. ⭐️ James Dooley's website - https://jamesdooley.com/  ⭐️ James Dooley on 𝕏 - https://x.com/james_dooley  ⭐️ James Dooley on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jameszdooley/  ⭐️ James Dooley on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/jameszdooley/  ⭐️ James Dooley on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/james.dooley1/  ⭐️ James Dooley on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@JamesDooley  ⭐️ David Quaid on 𝕏 - https://x.com/DavidGQuaid  ⭐️ David Quaid on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidquaid/  ⭐️ David Quaid on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@DavidQuaid  ⭐️ David 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 Best Practices Debate 01:44 Checklist SEO Myths 04:15 Authority Over Quality 06:20 SEO Case Studies 12:02 Content Quality Reality 21:21 EEAT Framework Clash 24:23 Why EEAT Falls Apart 32:25 Branded Search Signals 35:58 Brands Win on CTR 36:53 Autosuggest Brand Seeding 38:06 CTR Manipulation Done Right 39:56 Real Case Study EMD Launch 42:42 EEAT Myths vs Reality 44:02 RaterHub and Transparency Penalties 48:18 When EEAT Applies YMYL 01:01:53 Schema When It Matters 01:08:14 FAQ Schema and PAA Pages 01:12:40 Relevance Times Authority Framework 01:14:32 CTR Weakens Authority 01:15:19 Stop Anthropomorphizing Google 01:16:19 Bad Advice From Big Brands 01:20:07 Tribalism And Schema Wars 01:23:16 Debate Culture And Testing 01:26:47 CDN Fight And Ego 01:30:04 Penalties And Core Updates 01:31:35 Google Engineering Under Hood 01:38:07 Intent Shifts And Traffic Tiers 01:39:48 Listicles And SEO Creativity 01:42:26 LLMs Feed On Lists 01:53:58 AI Mode And Ad Economics 01:56:20 Index Moat And AI Race 02:00:03 Why Google Still Wins 02:00:42 Search Is Not The Real Battle 02:01:43 LLMs Need New Vectors 02:03:28 Best Time For SEO 02:05:09 SEO Demand From CEOs 02:07:36 AI Makes Building Easy 02:10:05 SEO Interest Explodes 02:11:22 Brand Building Myth 02:13:18 Chunking For AI Overviews 02:14:31 Using Every Tool 02:17:55 No Perfect Tool Stack 02:20:35 Data Driven Domain Buying 02:24:20 LLM Citations For Outreach 02:27:58 EMDs To Reduce Risk 02:31:59 Republish And Reuse Content 02:33:18 Steal Winning Slugs 02:35:11 Cheap Keyword Modifier 02:35:46 Search Console Goldmine 02:37:05 Social Linking Risks 02:39:56 Google As Traffic Engine 02:43:34 Tools Cost And Trials 02:47:17 Starting From Zero 02:51:16 Blogspot Ranking Playbook 02:54:16 Topical Bridging Explained 03:00:17 Strategy Over Keywords 03:04:05 Thanks And Wrap The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/  #searchengineoptimization #seo #seotips #seostrategy

  2. 20 hr ago

    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 with only a few hundred or a few thousand followers can still publish content that appears in Google for months or even years. And in many cases, the cost can be as little as $25 to $50 per creator. I cover: - Why micro-influencers can be useful for SEO even if they have a small audience - How to check whether an influencer's videos are being indexed by Google - How to test their past content before paying them - Why follower count is not the most important metric for this strategy - Using high-intent keywords that competitors are ignoring - How to structure an influencer's video description around a target keyword - Why the target keyword should appear near the beginning of the description - How to coordinate multiple creators around the same keyword and brand - How to support those creator posts with a page on your own website - Where to place the keyword in your page title, URL, H1, and opening copy - Why YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok matter beyond their own platforms - How video content can continue ranking long after it is published - Why social platforms are increasingly being used as search engines - How video descriptions can influence what ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and other AI systems cite - Why authentic creator content can be more useful than a generic press release I also walk through a specific example using the keyword "residential general contractor software." The basic process is: - Find a micro-influencer in your niche - Copy the description from one of their recent videos - Search that exact description in Google - Check whether the video is indexed - Look at older videos to see how long their content tends to stay indexed - Find a high-intent keyword that is not being targeted heavily - Pay the creator to make a relevant video around your product or company - Give them an SEO-focused description to use - Repeat the process with several creators - Create or optimize a page on your website around the same keyword The goal is not simply influencer reach. The goal is to create multiple relevant pieces of content that associate your brand with a specific high-intent search term across platforms that Google and AI systems already crawl and reference. ⭐️ The Gary Vaynerchuk episode - https://youtu.be/EUnV-xaH32k  💎 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 Micro Influencer SEO Edge 00:56 Find Creators That Rank 01:37 Pitch With Overlooked Keywords 02:04 Write Descriptions For SEO 02:50 Dominate With Multi-Platform Posts 03:44 Social Search Is Exploding 04:08 Benefits And LLM Impact 04:18 Fake Reviews And Citations 05:01 Why This Tactic Wins 05:46 Wrap Up The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/  #searchengineoptimization #influencermarketing #generativeengineoptimization #seo

  3. 2 days ago

    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 creators, customers, journalists, and online communities say. According to Kaleigh, those independent sources can carry more weight because they are harder for a brand to manufacture. Kaleigh spent 10 years running a content marketing agency and working with companies including Shopify, Stripe, and Amazon Business. After AI changed the content industry, she enrolled in a graduate program at Harvard to study how large language models are built. She now researches AI search visibility, creates content, and publishes the Context Window newsletter. We cover: - How AI systems form an impression of a brand across the internet - The four levels of Kaleigh's Source Signal Stack - Why company-owned content may be the weakest trust signal - Why Reddit discussions, podcasts, earned media, and independent mentions matter - How named experts can help companies become associated with specific subjects - Why brands should create original frameworks and repeat clear, consistent language - How LinkedIn articles can reach the top of Google quickly - How Kaleigh ranked LinkedIn articles at number one within 24 hours - How short YouTube videos helped her earn citations in Google AI Overviews - Why creators may become increasingly important for AI search visibility - What "Creator AEO" means and how companies can work with outside experts - Why one-off sponsored posts are less useful than long-term creator relationships - How to check whether an influencer's existing content ranks before paying them - Why a small creator with ranking content may be more valuable than a large creator - How long video descriptions can help search engines and AI tools understand content - Why companies should stop publishing anonymous blog posts - How scaled AI content can create poor user signals - Why readers can usually recognize content written entirely by AI - How Kaleigh uses AI as a research and thinking partner without handing over her voice - Why conversational writing, personal stories, and unusual details are difficult to copy - Why founders should publish from personal LinkedIn accounts instead of relying only on company pages - How six months of daily LinkedIn posting created inbound leads and speaking opportunities - Why brands need to think and operate more like media companies - How podcasts can build relationships with bloggers, journalists, and potential customers - Why offline events can produce online mentions, social posts, and backlinks - How AI is changing the way businesses research and purchase software - Why buyers increasingly use AI during long and expensive evaluation processes - Why citation counts alone may be an unreliable measurement The central lesson is that AI visibility cannot be created only through changes to your website. Brands need recognizable experts, useful content, independent discussion, trusted relationships, and evidence that exists seemingly outside their direct control. The companies that understand this are the ones that appear when people ask AI tools what to buy, who to trust, and which solution to choose. ⭐️ Kaleigh Moore's newsletter, Context Window - https://kaleigh-moore.beehiiv.com/  ⭐️ Kaleigh Moore on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaleighmoore/  ⭐️ Kaleigh Moore on 𝕏 - https://x.com/kaleighf  ⭐️ Kaleigh Moore on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@aisearchlady  ⭐️ The Source Signal Stack - https://www.kaleighmoore.com/blog/2026/4/22/the-source-signal-stack  💎 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 Kaylee Background Pivot 01:54 AI Changes Marketing 04:25 LinkedIn UGC SEO Hack 06:00 Repurposing Content Systems 11:51 Source Signal Stack 17:26 Future of Blogging Audio 23:30 Human Authors Beat Slop 27:17 Using AI Without Losing Voice 36:06 Creator AEO Partnerships 39:01 Long Cut Consistency 40:48 LinkedIn Daily Reps 41:29 X vs LinkedIn Posting 42:36 Which Platform Pays 43:09 Journalism Links Debate 47:30 SEO Needs Media Company 48:24 Podcasting For Backlinks 51:50 Offline SEO Flywheel 55:02 Ecommerce Community Lessons 57:48 Time Compression Burnout 58:53 AI Search Newsletter Workflow 01:02:19 Winning AI Evaluations 01:04:14 Micro Influencers Parasite SEO 01:09:21 Growing On X 01:12:49 Lightning Round Wrap 01:17:00 Final Thanks And Outro The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/  #contentmarketing #generativeengineoptimization #searchengineoptimization #seo

  4. 3 days ago

    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 seeing across client accounts, ranking tests, Google Business Profiles, local packs, AI-generated recommendations, website content, reviews, links, and conversion rates. Topics covered: - How large language models evaluate local businesses and decide which companies to cite - Why local businesses may need content that clearly explains pricing, processes, outcomes, and service details - How awards and industry-specific directories can influence AI recommendations - Why winning an award is not enough unless the business also promotes it clearly on its website - How AI-powered local packs may reduce the importance of Google review volume and frequency - Why Yelp, Facebook, Reddit, and other third-party platforms are becoming more important for local visibility - How AI systems read the actual language inside reviews instead of only looking at star ratings - Why businesses should encourage customers to describe their experience and outcome in their reviews - The risks of asking for, buying, or incentivizing reviews on different platforms - Why fake listings, fake reviews, rank-and-rent listings, and other forms of Google Business Profile spam continue to create problems for legitimate businesses - How business hours can affect local rankings and why Google's written guidelines do not always match what works in practice - Whether keyword-stuffed Google Business Profile names will continue working as AI local results become more common - Why improving a local business website's design can increase leads without rebuilding the entire website - How AI tools can help businesses improve landing pages, buttons, coupons, images, page layouts, and conversion rates - How Joy and Caleb use AI to produce content without publishing generic rewrites of competing pages - Why original interviews, customer stories, project details, pricing information, measurements, timelines, and outcomes make content more useful - Why publishing dozens or hundreds of similar AI-generated pages can become a liability - How to approach location pages, service-area pages, and multi-location business websites - When separate location pages compete against each other and when combining locations may produce better results - Why press releases appear to have lost much of their previous influence on rankings and AI citations - Why exact-match anchor text, scaled link building, and guest posting have become increasingly risky - Which local link-building methods still work, including sponsorships, charities, community organizations, events, youth sports, and relevant award sites - What to examine when a website's organic traffic has been declining for several years - How excessive informational content, weak search intent, and expansion beyond a site's authority can damage performance - Why some websites need content consolidation, pruning, restructuring, or partial rebuilding - How local rank maps and Google Search Console data can reveal missing topical and geographic relevance - How Google Business Profile categories and services can guide website structure and internal linking - Where Joy and Caleb disagree about URLs, internal links, location pages, and duplicate content - Why CTR manipulation and driving-direction manipulation may work temporarily but can create serious long-term risks - Why tactics that stop working as soon as you stop paying for them are difficult to build a reliable business around This conversation is for local business owners, SEO consultants, agency owners, marketers, lawyers, home-service companies, and anyone trying to understand how local search is changing. ⭐️ Joy Hawkin's Agency - Sterling Sky: https://www.sterlingsky.ca/  ⭐️ Joy Hawkin's YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/SterlingSkyInc  ⭐️ Joy Hawkin's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/joyhawkins/  ⭐️ Local Search Forum - https://localsearchforum.com/  ⭐️ Caleb Ulku on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@calebulku  ⭐️ Caleb Ulku - https://calebulku.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 Local SEO Pros 00:34 Getting Recognized IRL 02:02 Local SEO in the LLM Era 04:31 Awards as AI Signals 07:52 Paying for Credibility 12:34 Reviews Beyond Google 15:47 Yelp and Reddit Trust 18:50 Spam and Fake Listings 23:40 Loopholes That May Die 25:50 Big Missed Opportunities 31:35 AI Content That Ranks 36:38 AI Content Scaling Trap 37:12 Unique Content vs Relevance 38:24 Citygate Pages Risk 39:53 Multiple Locations Strategy 41:14 Press Releases Decline 43:08 Anchor Text Crackdown 43:55 Local Link Building Wins 48:46 Traffic Drops and Audits 55:22 GBP Landing Page Fixes 58:03 Citations and CTR Hype 01:02:27 Fake Reviews and Takedowns 01:05:44 Site Structure and URLs 01:10:00 30 Day Action Plan 01:11:25 Wrap Up and Thanks The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/  #localseo #localsearchengineoptimization #localmarketing #seo

  5. 4 days ago

    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 act on some of its most important findings. We break down Google's different index tiers, why a backlink's value may depend on where the linking page sits in the index, and why common third-party metrics such as Domain Authority and Domain Rating may not tell you what Google actually values. Mike also explains how Google uses vector embeddings to understand pages, passages, websites, authors, brands, and entities. This changes how marketers should think about relevance, authority, mentions, links, and content creation. We also go deep into AI search and how platforms such as ChatGPT retrieve and evaluate information. Topics covered include: - What Google's API leak confirmed about ranking systems - Why Mike believes the SEO industry failed to adapt - How Google separates content into different index tiers - Why links from pages with rankings and traffic may carry more value - Why Domain Authority and Domain Rating can be misleading - How vector embeddings help Google understand relevance - Why brand mentions can sometimes matter more than backlinks - The difference between optimizing for prompts and query fan-outs - How ChatGPT breaks a prompt into multiple search queries - Why comprehensive content can create more chances to appear in AI answers - How to inspect the searches ChatGPT performs behind the scenes - Why AI search should not be treated as another version of traditional SEO - How brands should measure AI visibility, citations, accuracy, and performance - Why Reddit, YouTube, LinkedIn, earned media, and your website all matter - How content format affects whether AI systems select your page or video - Why starting your own subreddit may help protect your brand's position - The biggest mistake companies make with AI-generated content - Why publishing an article from a single prompt often produces weak results - How human review, original sources, structured prompts, and subject experts improve AI content - Why Google may rely more on user behavior than unreliable AI-content detection - Which older SEO tactics are returning because of AI search - What "relevance engineering" means - Why future marketing teams may need SEO, PR, UX, content, data, and engineering skills - Why SEOs should learn to build tools and test AI platforms directly Mike also shares a specific AI search case study involving 499 response codes. His team found that ChatGPT was abandoning page requests because the client's website took too long to respond. After identifying the problem in the site's log files and improving response speed, the client's AI search visibility increased by roughly 300% over three months. Mike's practical recommendation is simple: Check your server logs for 499 errors. Identify the affected URLs. Improve page speed, especially time to first byte. According to Mike, fixing this problem can improve AI search performance in 30 days or less. This conversation is for SEOs, founders, content teams, PR professionals, and marketing leaders trying to understand how discovery is changing across Google, ChatGPT, Claude, Bing, YouTube, Reddit, and other search surfaces. ⭐️ Mike King's agency, iPullRank - https://ipullrank.com  ⭐️ Mike King's music - https://verywellversed.com  ⭐️ Mike King on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelkingphilly/  ⭐️ Mike King on 𝕏 - https://x.com/iPullRankAgency  💎 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 Welcome and Setup 00:17 Google Leak Takeaways 05:44 Index Buckets Explained 07:50 Embeddings and Entities 09:19 Mentions vs Links 11:51 Earning Mentions Tactics 14:27 Black Mirror Launch 16:05 Seeding Clips and Ads 19:15 Leak Frenzy and Twiddlers 22:14 Optimizing for AI Search 23:50 Inspecting Query Fanout 26:18 Fanouts vs Keywords Strategy 30:01 C-Suite Measurement Framework 31:05 Input Metrics That Matter 31:43 Why It Is Not Just SEO 33:01 Tooling For Measurement 33:38 Query Fan Out Research 34:54 RAG Pipeline Visibility Gaps 37:06 Who Should Lead GEO 38:46 Pilot Win Fixing 499s 42:09 Getting Into Training Data 44:22 Relevance Engineering Explained 48:04 Content Formats For AI Search 49:29 Using Reddit Without Astroturfing 51:58 AI Content Mistakes To Avoid 54:10 How Google Judges AI Content 57:09 Future Of Niche Publishing 59:01 Unpopular SEO Take And Skills 01:02:44 One Action For 90 Days 01:03:04 Wrap Up And Where To Follow The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/  #seo #searchengineoptimization #generativeengineoptimization #answerengineoptimization

  6. 5 days ago

    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 Google Search Console to understand what Google is actually testing, which queries matter, when pages are competing against each other, and how experienced SEOs diagnose ranking problems. Topics covered include: - Why clicks, impressions, CTR, and average position can be misleading - How to analyze Search Console at the page and query level - Why average metrics often hide what's really happening - Understanding Google's ranking and testing process - How Google experiments with pages before rankings stabilize - Why keyword-level analysis is more valuable than site-wide metrics - Identifying keyword cannibalization using Search Console - When keyword cannibalization is worth fixing - and when it isn't - How to determine whether a ranking problem is caused by authority, relevance, or user behavior - Why page titles past page 1 rarely improve CTR - How to use Search Console alongside a SERP tracking tool - Looking for patterns in page history instead of reacting to daily fluctuations - Why Google hides parts of Search Console query data - How Google groups searches into keyword clusters - Using Search Console to spot intent mismatches - Why some pages rank for keywords you never targeted - How to decide when to republish, retarget, or rewrite content - Building a keyword universe instead of tracking vanity metrics - Why CEOs and marketing leaders should know their most valuable keywords The breakdown also covers: - Google's testing periods for new pages - Search intent versus page intent - Topical authority and relevance - Search Console filters and query analysis - SERP reports and keyword tracking - Common mistakes beginners make when evaluating SEO performance - How experienced SEOs interpret ranking volatility - Google Knowledge Panels and entity updates - Why EEAT discussions are often misunderstood - What YMYL actually means in practice If you've ever looked at your Google Search Console dashboard and wondered whether your SEO is actually working, this episode explains what to focus on - and what to ignore. ⭐️ David Quaid on 𝕏 - https://x.com/DavidGQuaid  ⭐️ David Quaid on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidquaid/  ⭐️ David Quaid on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@DavidQuaid  ⭐️ David 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 Welcome Back David 00:35 SEO Castle Metaphor 00:48 Reddit GSC Metrics 02:34 Why Macro Stats Mislead 03:55 Keywords And SERP Reports 06:30 Click Zone And Titles 07:52 Creating A New Query 10:54 Regex And Query Filters 12:37 Knowledge Panel Name Edit 17:10 Hidden Queries In GSC 19:29 Google As CTR Engine 22:02 Testing And SERP Fluidity 25:24 Why GSC Data Lags 27:30 Finding Cannibalization 31:36 Fixing SEO Expert Overlap 35:37 When Cannibalization Matters 35:50 Diagnosing With SERP Tools 39:23 GSC Drops And Page Deltas 41:55 Rebuild Pages And Retarget 43:04 Newbie GSC Starting Points 45:28 Keyword Research And Relevance 48:09 What Data To Share Online 49:49 Keyword Universe For Leaders 52:38 SERP Fluctuations And Alerts 55:31 EEAT And YMYL Reality Check 01:05:17 Historical Trends And Tagging 01:10:49 Debates LLMs And Wrap Up The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/  #seo #googlesearchconsole #searchengineoptimization #digitalmarketing

  7. 6 days ago

    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 properly optimized, and few competing websites were directly targeting the query. However, my website did not have enough topical authority when the page was first published. The page briefly reached the number-one position about a year and a half later, but it eventually disappeared from the index again. In March 2025, I republished the same content under a slightly different URL and redirected the old URL to the new one. Less than a month later, the page was ranking number one for its target keyword. It has remained in that position since. The content did not need to be rewritten. The main change was the URL. In this episode, you'll learn: - Why a page may fail to rank even when it targets a low-competition keyword - How your website's topical authority can affect a page when it is first published - Why an older page may continue to underperform after your site becomes more authoritative - How publishing the page under a new URL can lead to a new evaluation - Why the old URL should be redirected to the new URL - How to determine whether a keyword is genuinely being targeted by competing websites - Why keyword tracking is necessary for finding pages that should be performing better - How organic clicks and relevant backlinks can strengthen your authority within a topic - When this method may be worth testing on one of your own pages The basic process discussed in the episode is: - Find a page targeting a keyword that should be attainable - Confirm that the keyword appears in your title and URL - Check whether competing pages are directly targeting the same keyword - Confirm that the page has consistently failed to stay indexed or rank - Create a new URL by making a small, relevant change to the slug - Publish the existing content under the new URL - Add a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new URL - Track the target keyword to see whether the new page begins ranking This is not about changing URLs across your entire website. It is a specific test for pages that appear to be properly optimized but were originally published before the website had enough relevance or authority in the topic. The episode also includes an excerpt from a previous conversation with David Quade explaining why Google treats each URL as a separate page and why a new slug can give the content a new start. ⭐️ The Magic Pill of SEO: Topical Authority - https://edwardsturm.com/articles/magic-pill-seo-topical-authority/  ⭐️ 10-Minute SEO Hack That Took My Page from Invisible to #1 on Google - https://edwardsturm.com/articles/10-minute-seo-hack-that-took-my-page-from-invisible-to-1-on-google/  ⭐️ Ep 846 - The SEO Playbook That Actually Works: PageRank, Topical Authority & Real Results - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eK5-TpaiPw  💎 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 Indexing Problem Setup 00:44 Republish With New URL 01:44 Topical Authority Explained 02:36 Case Study Timeline 03:36 David Quaid Google Canon 05:17 New Slug Fresh Start 05:34 Track Keywords And Republish 06:17 Wrap Up The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/  #searchengineoptimization #seo #technicalseo #digitalmarketing

  8. 2 Aug

    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 - Audience feedback was positive But the video still became the channel's worst-performing upload since 2013. YouTube later confirmed that its automated systems had incorrectly identified the channel's content as AI-generated material. We look at why that matters for SEO. Google and YouTube are both part of Alphabet, and both platforms are working to detect large-scale AI spam. Research connected to YouTube has described systems that can analyze patterns across text, media, accounts, and publishing networks. These systems look for signals such as: - Repeated AI-generated text patterns - Similar text embeddings across many accounts - Shared templates and sentence structures - Repeated terms and phrasing - Coordinated publishing behavior - Groups of sites or accounts using similar content systems - Poor engagement signals across a larger network The concern is that these systems will not always distinguish between low-quality automated content and legitimate work. A real creator, publisher, or business could be affected because its content happens to share patterns with a larger group of AI-generated pages. We cover: - What happened to Kurzgesagt - Why YouTube reduced the reach of the channel's video - How automated AI detection can make mistakes - Why this incident matters for Google Search - How Google may identify scaled AI content - Why common AI writing tools can create detectable patterns - How default prompts and templates can make websites look similar - Why an entire group of sites could be judged together - How user behavior may influence spam classification - What website owners should review before the next major update - What to do if legitimate content is caught in an algorithmic crackdown - Why continuing to publish and improve still matters after a traffic loss Questions to ask about your own content: - Does it follow Google's spam policies? - Does it give the searcher the information they expected? - Does it sound like it was written for a specific audience? - Does it contain repeated generic phrases found across many other websites? - Are you publishing large amounts of content with the same structure? - Are you relying on default AI settings without substantial editing? - Are there obvious AI writing patterns throughout the site? - Are users clicking your pages and quickly returning to the search results? - Does the site contain original experience, examples, opinions, or research? - Would the content still be useful if search engines did not exist? This does not mean every site using AI will be penalized. The larger risk is producing content at scale that looks, reads, and performs like content from low-quality automated networks. The goal should be to create pages that are useful, specific, accurate, and clearly made for the person searching. I also discuss the HouseFresh recovery. The site lost most of its Google traffic after the Helpful Content Update, continued publishing and marketing its work, and later grew well beyond its previous traffic level. An algorithmic loss can be severe, but it does not always have to be permanent. ⭐️ Ep 1110 - Google's Next SEO Apocalypse: The Scaled AI Content Crackdown Is Coming - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0w66ME9-IRQ  ⭐️ Kurzgesagt writeup - https://x.com/Kurz_Gesagt/status/2083191397981561232  ⭐️ Google Research Shows How AI Spam Can Be Detected - https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-generated-ai-detected/579987/  ⭐️ Glenn Gabe - https://x.com/glenngabe/status/2067951984187949532  ⭐️ Ep 1083 - Google's New AI Spam Detector Could Wipe Out Entire SEO Networks - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I78IQS99EwU  ⭐️ Ep 999 - How to Humanize AI Content (Before It Destroys Your SEO) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8CoElpldtk  💎 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 AI Crackdown Warning 00:34 Kurzgesagt Gets Flagged 01:38 YouTube Confirms Bug 02:34 Why It Matters for SEO 03:22 How AI Spam Is Detected 04:51 Protect Your Content 06:48 If You Get Hit, Persist 07:56 Consistency Mindset 10:17 Final Thanks and Outro The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/  #seo #searchengineoptimization #googleupdate #growthhacking

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About

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.

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  • Creator
    Edward Sturm
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    1.1k
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026
  • Show Website
    The Edward Show

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