SEO Is Not That Hard

Send a text The digital landscape shifts constantly, and zero-click searches represent one of the most significant evolutions in how users interact with search engines. This eye-opening episode tackles the phenomenon where Google provides answers directly in search results—no clicking required. What exactly are zero-click searches? Whether appearing as featured snippets, knowledge panels, or quick...

Send a text We've compiled 101 quick SEO tips from Edd Dawson's popular series into one comprehensive episode to help you improve your website rankings. This collection covers everything from technical foundations to content strategy and link building techniques. • Make your website as fast as possible because Google hates slow sites and so do your users • Ensure new pages are linked fro...

Send a text Edd Dawson explores why Google is a superior source for SEO data compared to ChatGPT, explaining how Google's real-time web model and user behavior data provides more accurate keyword research. Despite ChatGPT's usefulness for content creation and coding assistance, it lacks understanding of web relationships and user search behavior, making it unreliable for SEO tasks like k...

Send a text Google patents offer an unparalleled glimpse into how search actually works, yet few SEO professionals take advantage of this valuable resource. Edd Dawson explains how exploring Google's patent database can reveal the mechanisms behind search features and help cut through common SEO myths. • Google has over 100,000 patents, many directly related to search functionality • Patents...

Send a text We explore the often overlooked power of internal linking for both SEO strategy and user experience, covering everything from basic definitions to advanced implementation tactics. • Internal links are hyperlinks connecting pages within the same website • They serve two main purposes: enhancing user navigation and helping search engines crawl and understand site structure • Proper inter...

Send a text Edd Dawson shares his twenty years of experience on the importance of diversification for SEO professionals and website owners. He draws from his personal journey of recovering from the Google Penguin update that decimated his site traffic to explain why having multiple income streams provides security during algorithm changes and business challenges. • Diversification means splitting...

Send a text Google Tag Manager simplifies website management by allowing you to add and modify tracking codes without editing your site's code directly. This one-time implementation saves time and reduces errors while providing advanced functionality through triggers and variables. • Requires only a one-time code placement on your website • Eliminates the need to edit site code when adding ne...

Send a text SEO Is Not That Hard is hosted by Edd Dawson and brought to you by KeywordsPeopleUse.com Help feed the algorithm and leave a review at ratethispodcast.com/seo You can get your free copy of my 101 Quick SEO Tips at: https://seotips.edddawson.com/101-quick-seo-tips To get a personal no-obligation demo of how KeywordsPeopleUse could help you boost your SEO and get a 7 day FREE trial of ou...

Send a text Edd Dawson shares his 20-year journey building and selling broadband.co.uk, offering insights into affiliate marketing success and navigating major Google updates like Penguin and Panda. He reveals the data-driven strategies that led to a life-changing business exit during COVID in 2021. • Building broadband.co.uk as one of the UK's first comparison sites by identifying a gap in t...

Send a text Edd Dawson challenges the common SEO approach of targeting high-volume keywords, arguing that website owners should focus on building topical authority by comprehensively answering questions instead. This best-of episode demonstrates why obsessing over search volume metrics can distract from creating truly useful content that naturally ranks for a variety of keywords. • Search volume t...

Send a text Link building and link buying are fundamentally different approaches with vastly different risks for your SEO strategy. Google's original PageRank algorithm used backlinks as genuine votes of confidence, which is why artificially manipulating this system through paid links violates their guidelines. • Link buying is transactional and violates Google's terms of service • Googl...

Send a text Edd Dawson explores why audience research delivers better SEO results than traditional keyword research. He breaks down how understanding your audience helps you find low-difficulty terms that convert better than competitive trophy keywords. • High-volume keywords are often highly competitive and don't convert well • Traditional keyword research leads to "trophy terms" w...

Send a text FAQs are powerful engagement tools that can significantly boost your website's performance and SEO rankings. Research shows FAQs can generate over 20% of a page's engagement, outperforming even testimonials when implemented strategically. • Wood burner example demonstrates how answering questions builds authority and expertise • Recent studies show FAQs are the most engaged-w...

Send a text Edd Dawson shares a smart competitor research tip from Freddie Chatt that can help improve your website's traffic and rankings. When researching competitors, look beyond the high authority sites at the top and focus on sites with lower domain authority that still rank in the top 10. • Sites with lower domain authority ranking high are succeeding because of their content, not just...

Send a text Edd Dawson explores the complex world of expired domains and auction purchases for SEO value, sharing a detailed case study of a domain that appeared valuable but had significant hidden issues. Although initially impressive with 2,554 backlinks from 377 domains including Telegraph and Wikipedia, a thorough investigation revealed multiple points where the domain likely lost its link equ...

Send a text We explore how to revolutionize your content strategy with keyword clustering, a powerful technique for grouping related keywords to target them on a single page rather than creating multiple competing pages. • Keyword clustering helps prevent content cannibalization while creating more topically relevant pages • Traditional clustering methods using AI like ChatGPT often create impreci...

Send a text Creating interactive tools is one of the most effective ways to earn natural backlinks because people link to content they cannot easily replicate themselves. This episode explores how tools differ from standard content and why they generate links automatically when they provide unique value. • Tools that perform complex functions or aggregate difficult-to-collect data naturally attrac...

Send a text Guest posting can lead to Google penalties if links aren't properly managed, as demonstrated by Niche Site Lady's recent manual penalty despite her claims of never buying links. • Guest posting provides content to other websites while including backlinks to your own site • Google considers guest posting purely for link building purposes as algorithm manipulation • Google requ...

Send a text The Rank and Rent model represents a promising SEO monetization strategy for 2023, allowing marketers to build websites targeting local service niches and sell the resulting leads to service providers. • Focus on service niches that don't monetize well with traditional methods like plumbing, roofing, or carpet cleaning • Target businesses that rely on leads and aren't typical...

Send a text Programmatic SEO offers a powerful strategy for creating web pages at scale through automation rather than manual creation. This approach uses templates and databases to generate location-specific or variable-based content that would be too time-consuming to create individually. • Airbnb exemplifies programmatic SEO with their location-specific pet-friendly rental pages • Two key eleme...

Send a text Google's EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authority, Trust) evaluation likely works through sophisticated AI that analyzes writing patterns rather than just author bios. Two key Google patents reveal how the search engine might classify both authors and websites based on writing style fingerprints compared against established experts. • EEAT stands for Experience, Expertise, Authority...

Send a text Edd Dawson discusses a question-based approach to online marketing that outperforms traditional keyword methods. Questions reveal deeper insights about audiences and their needs, creating stronger content that builds authority across various marketing disciplines. • Questions form the foundation for stronger SEO content clusters and topical authority • PPC specialists improve landing p...

Send a text SEO Is Not That Hard is hosted by Edd Dawson and brought to you by KeywordsPeopleUse.com Help feed the algorithm and leave a review at ratethispodcast.com/seo You can get your free copy of my 101 Quick SEO Tips at: https://seotips.edddawson.com/101-quick-seo-tips To get a personal no-obligation demo of how KeywordsPeopleUse could help you boost your SEO and get a 7 day FREE trial of ou...

Send a text Site architecture stands as the foundation for building topical authority, with proper structure helping both users and search engines understand relationships between content pieces. Topical clusters serve as the strategic framework for organizing website content in a way that builds authority over time. • Randomly posting content without strategic architecture makes it difficult for...

Send a text We explore how a creative marketing approach using the 'curiosity gap' at Brighton SEO conference generated over 1000 new users without speaking to anyone. • Springtime-related change in podcast schedule with some best-of episodes coming up • Explanation of Brighton SEO conference and our minimal sponsorship package • Implementation of the curiosity gap principle using a scra...