The Edward Show

E1052: We break down how to migrate a website without losing SEO traffic. Whether you are switching from WordPress to Squarespace or Webflow, changing to another CMS, restructuring your URLs, or moving to a new domain entirely, this conversation covers what actually happens inside Google during a migration - and how to minimize risk. We discuss real-world scenarios, including accidental migrations...

E1051: Most SEO copywriting is written for algorithms instead of searchers. That creates two problems: 1. Pages convert poorly 2. Rankings slowly decline over time In this episode, I break down one of the biggest SEO mistakes businesses make: misunderstanding search intent. A lot of websites technically "do SEO" correctly. They target keywords, publish articles, and rank on Google. But when search...

E1050: Rand Fishkin returns to the show to talk about what is actually changing in marketing right now. Search traffic is shrinking. AI answers are replacing clicks. Platforms are keeping users inside their ecosystems. And many marketers are still operating like it's 2015. We break down what "zero-click marketing" really means, why brand matters more than ever, and what founders should be doing in...

E1049: One of the most common SEO mistakes is trying to do too much too fast. In this episode, I break down why rushing SEO usually creates more problems than progress, especially for new websites. Publishing too many pages too early, automating workflows you do not fully understand, doing sloppy outreach, and chasing competitive keywords before building authority all create unnecessary variables...

E1048: How do you get backlinks when your website is brand new and has almost no authority? We break down a real question from a founder who launched an AI tools directory and is stuck in the classic SEO chicken-and-egg problem: if no one trusts your site yet, why would anyone link to it? We talk through what matters in the early stages of link building, what makes a new site look trustworthy, and...

E1047: Google just released official guidance on how to show up in generative AI search features like AI Overviews and AI Mode.  And according to them? GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is just SEO. AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) is just SEO. There's no special LLM optimization playbook. So… are they telling the full truth? I break down Google's official post from Search Central and separate...

E1046: Most websites ignore image SEO. They upload files named IMG_9283.jpg.
 They leave alt text blank.
 They use stock images with no context. Then they wonder why they are not getting traffic from Google Images or why their pages are underperforming. We break down a short thread from Hridoy Rehman on X where he shared results from optimizing images: - 241,000+ impressions - 7,000+ clicks - 2.9%...

E1045: This is what it takes to carry the responsibility of managing 90 SEOs AT THE SAME TIME. I sit down with Travis Tallent, former Managing Director of AI SEO at Brainlabs, where he led a team of 90 SEOs, CROs, digital PR specialists, and content strategists across enterprise clients like Microsoft and GitHub. We break down what scales inside a large SEO organization, what quietly breaks, and w...

E1044: Most companies use the exact same brand description everywhere online. Same wording.
Same positioning.
Same messaging. That is a mistake if you care about SEO. I break down why offsite messaging should evolve based on the keywords you want to rank for, the audience you are speaking to, and the search intent you are targeting. I explain how strategic changes to your marketing blurbs can help...

E1043: Walking through a brand new study from Ahrefs that tested one of the most repeated claims in SEO: "Add schema to get cited more by AI." The data does not support that claim. Ahrefs tracked 1,885 pages that added JSON-LD schema between August 2025 and March 2026. They matched those pages against nearly 4,000 control pages and measured citation changes across: - Google AI Overviews - Google A...

E1042: Breaking down the exact 22 Claude Cowork prompts used by a 40-person SEO agency every day to rank local businesses faster. Sarvesh Shrivastava joins the show! Three months ago, he said he could take almost any local service business to $100,000/month in 90 days using Claude. Now, after refining the system across dozens of clients, he says that was an understatement. This is a walkthrough of...

E1041: Google just officially killed FAQ schema support in Google Search. But the bigger story is this: Most SEO advice is still telling people to prioritize FAQ schema anyway. We break down: - What Google actually deprecated - Why this changes almost nothing for most websites - How schema became overhyped in SEO - Why ChatGPT still recommends outdated SEO tactics - How to use critical thinking in...

E1040: Discussing Unichannel SEO - the idea that you can build and scale an entire company primarily through Google. David Quaid and I record this in person on an NYC balcony, with the Manhattan skyline behind us, breaking down why SEO remains the largest and most dependable acquisition channel for B2B, SaaS, and tech companies. David shares real numbers from companies he's worked with, including...

E1039: Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is becoming one of the biggest topics in search, SEO, and AI marketing. But is it actually safe? Edward Sturm and Harpreet Singh break down what is really happening with GEO, Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), AI citations, and AI search visibility across tools like ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Claude, Perplexity, and Bing. They discuss why many GEO stra...

E1038: Breaking down one of the most dramatic SEO collapses in recent SaaS history. ClickUp's blog went from 1.19 million organic visitors per month to just 28,000 in 15 months - a 97.6% decline. This wasn't a single Google update. It wasn't just AI overviews. And it wasn't just "topical overreach." It was a compounding series of strategic, editorial, and technical decisions that made each algorit...

E1037: Breaking down one of the most effective SEO strategies on the internet: linkable assets. These are simple tools, calculators, generators, databases, reports, studies, visualizers, and micro-apps that naturally earn backlinks because people ACTUALLY want to share them. I walk through real examples of tiny websites and simple web apps that generated thousands - and in one case hundreds of tho...

E1036: Breaking down practical SEO tactics that are working great and explaining why most people overcomplicate search engine optimization. We go through a massive Reddit thread on "SEO hacks" and separate the good advice from the outdated spam tactics. Topics covered: - Why customer reviews are becoming one of the most powerful SEO assets - How YouTube videos and video testimonials are getting ci...

E1035: Breaking down the risks of using AI to fully automate SEO. The man… the myth… the legend… Gagan Ghotra returns to the podcast!!! We get into why so many founders, startups, and small businesses are being tempted by viral posts promising that Claude, ChatGPT, or other AI tools can replace an SEO team, an agency, or a group of writers. The problem is that a lot of these workflows turn into sc...

E1034: David McSweeney breaks down what actually drives visibility in AI search - and what is a complete waste of time. The conversation starts with a viral experiment claiming that a blank website ranked in AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity. From there, Edward and David dig into how AI systems really parse content, why that experiment was misunderstood, and what it reveals about how search is...

E1033: Breaking down a dense set of notes from the BrightonSEO conference and turning them into a practical playbook for modern SEO. These are real observations about what you have to do to win search and conversions - especially with AI, generative engine optimization (GEO), and the growing importance of conversion-focused content. I recorded this episode from a rooftop in Manhattan, and we cover...

E1032: Breaking down new research analyzing 1.4 million ChatGPT prompts to understand a simple but important question: why does ChatGPT cite some pages and ignore others? This study, conducted by Ahrefs, gives one of the clearest looks yet into how ChatGPT selects sources, what influences citation likelihood, and how you can position your content to be included. We walk through the key findings, w...

E1031: Wil Reynolds, founder of Seer Interactive, joins the show to break down what's actually working in SEO right now - and what most people are getting completely wrong. This conversation goes beyond tactics. Wil explains why chasing shortcuts, automations, and "quick wins" is a losing strategy, and why the future belongs to people who understand how humans think, search, and make decisions. We...

E1030: Keyword cannibalization - what it is, how to identify it, and how to fix it without wasting time on things that don't move your business forward. This topic came from a detailed post in the SEO subreddit, along with real-world examples and insights from people actively working on sites. We also connect it back to how Google actually handles duplicate and competing content, and where people...

E1029: How e-commerce brands should build backlinks, especially Shopify brands. Kai Cromwell, an e-commerce SEO legend, joins the show for his second time. We cover what links are worth paying for, what links to avoid, how to evaluate link marketplaces, when to use cold email, and why most e-commerce brands should be careful about building too many links directly to product pages. Topics covered:...

E1028: Breaking down what Google is rewarding right now when it comes to SEO - and how so much "standard" content isn't working. Last week at the Google Search Central Live Toronto event, a series of slides started circulating in the SEO community. One in particular stood out: the difference between commodity content and non-commodity content. This is a practical breakdown of that idea, what it me...