The Edward Show

E902: A simple 5-minute SEO hack that can completely change how you build topical authority. David Quaid returns to the show to reveal how to use Google's "People Also Ask" feature to create high-relevance FAQ content - without paid tools, complex keyword research, or unnecessary schema. We also dig into: - How Google actually decides topical authority - Why search demand matters more than schema...

E901: A blog post that ranked for zero keywords was lightly updated to make it look like it had been updated in the future.   No new sections. No URL changes. No internal linking push. No major rewrites. A short time later, the page began ranking for: - 14 keywords   - 5 page-one positions   - Multiple SERP features   Even more interesting: the Google search result itself displayed a future update...

E900: Most SEO agencies aren't just outdated - many knowingly sell tactics that no longer move rankings, traffic, or revenue. I'm joined by Jake Hundley, who has spent years testing SEO tactics in real-world environments and publishing findings that directly contradict common agency practices - including a large-scale study showing that geo-tagging photos does not meaningfully impact rankings. We...

E899: Breaking down how earned media actually works - and how brands, founders, and creators can get press, podcast interviews, and brand mentions without paying influencers or agencies thousands of dollars. I'm joined by Bridget Sicsko and Lydia Bagarozza from Visibility on Purpose. We go deep into what journalists, podcast hosts, and writers are really looking for, why most pitches fail, and how...

E898: I sit down with Derek, founder of NapLab, to break down how he built one of the strongest authority sites in a hyper-competitive affiliate niche - without gray-hat tactics, automation spam, or short-term SEO plays. NapLab ranks for over 103,000 keywords, earns hundreds of thousands of organic clicks per month, and consistently wins Google core updates in a space where most sites get wiped ou...

E897: Barry Schwartz (Search Engine Roundtable, Search Engine Land) and David Quaid join the show! We break down what SEO is turning into as we head toward 2026. We zero in on how Google search is changing with AI Mode and AI Overviews, why Reddit became such a dominant surface in the SERPs, what's happening with links and updates, and which fundamentals still hold up when attribution and visibili...

E896: I break down five practical moves that will make you a better marketer. These are things I personally do and use across my own sites, emails, and social channels. No theory. No motivation talk. Just tactics that actually move the needle. This is especially useful if you work in SEO, digital marketing, ecommerce, or content, but everything here applies broadly to anyone trying to grow traffic...

E895: Most people do blog SEO wrong. I walk you through the exact process I use doing traditional blog SEO with ChatGPT - step by step - and why you have to be careful if you don't want to damage your brand, your voice, or your credibility. I also explain why I personally focus on bottom-of-funnel SEO instead, and when blog SEO actually makes sense. What I cover in this: - How to reverse-engineer...

E894: Click-through rate is now widely understood to be a ranking factor, but most people still underestimate how much it influences search results and how it actually works in practice. I break down real CTR experiments from Rand Fishkin, explain what they revealed about Google's ranking systems, and share why titles, branding, and user behavior matter far more than most SEOs are willing to admit...

E893: How do search engines actually work - and what role do LLMs really play? David Quaid joins the show to break open the search engine black box, explaining how Google, Bing, and AI-powered tools retrieve and rank content, why pages fail to get indexed, and which SEO "rules" are myths versus reality. We explore the Query Fan-Out, PageRank, CTR testing, indexing behavior, and why most advice abo...

E892: Google just dropped the December 2025 Core Update, and the early signs point to major SERP changes - not just rankings, but how traffic is distributed. I break down what we're seeing so far: - Massive volatility across top-of-funnel sites - Click-through rates collapsing even when rankings stay the same - Video thumbnails disappearing from organic results - YouTube carousels taking over key...

E891: One of the wildest SEO journeys you'll ever hear. Tryggvi Rafn went from running a portfolio of sites that were absolutely crushing it… to waking up one morning and seeing every single one wiped out by Google. From there, he rebuilt, reinvented, and eventually scaled 1,000+ profitable sites across multiple industries. We break down the real truths about SEO that no one talks about - what act...

E890: One of the most debated SEO tactics today: companies publishing "Best X in Y" listicles and ranking themselves #1. For years, this has been a common SEO strategy, but in 2025-2026 it has become far more powerful. These listicles are now being ingested by AI systems like ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, and Grok, and are influencing the rankings these models generate. A single self-promot...

889: We break down image SEO, visual search, AI-generated alt text at scale using Gemini, and Easter Eggs in alt text! The timeless SEO sage, Gagan Ghotra returns to the podcast for this once-in-a-lifetime episode. If your website has product images, blog images, ecommerce listings, or ANY visual content, this episode will show you how Google actually understands those images - and how to use AI t...

E888: Stop making service area pages you'll never rank for. We break down one of the most common local SEO mistakes new businesses make - trying to rank in cities they don't have topical authority for. From Darren Shaw (founder of Whitespark and one of the top local SEO experts in the world) said it best, "If you want to rank 50 miles away, you need a new location." Not more pages. Not more blog p...

E887: Parasite Properties - the long-term SEO assets brands build to influence Google, AI models, and customer decision-making. These properties rank because they sit on top of platforms Google already trusts, letting brands bypass traditional SEO. They also feed directly into AI assistants, which increasingly pull their answers from high-authority UGC posts, reviews, and niche sites. Understandin...

E886: Link echoes / link ghosts in SEO are one of the most misunderstood concepts in search ranking. Most people still believe that when a backlink is removed, its value disappears with it. But that isn't what really happens - and this, we break open the data that proves otherwise. We walk through a fascinating series of backlink experiments run by Moz, Rand Fishkin, Mike King from iPullRank, and...

E885: How self-promotional "Best X" lists dominate ChatGPT results and how you can use them to increase AI visibility and drive more traffic from LLMs. From Glen Allsopp's new viral Ahrefs study analyzing 26,283 source URLs, I share how ChatGPT selects sources, why updated comparison content ranks so well, and how even low-authority sites can get cited by LLMs. If you want to show up in ChatGPT, b...

E884: Some of the most shockingly effective SEO tactics of 2025: listicle self-plugs, Medium parasite SEO, Reddit domination, AI visibility hacks… then the future of SEO/GEO/AEO tactics in 2026. Ivan Palii (Head of Product at Sitechecker) joins the podcast to share real experiments he's running right now - including AI manipulation, influencer marketing results, backlink insertion tactics, Reddit...

E883: AI poisoning is here - and it's shockingly easy. New research shows that bad actors can manipulate LLMs with as few as 250 malicious documents, opening the door to brand sabotage, fake comparisons, and engineered hallucinations inside AI responses. I break down: - How AI poisoning actually works - Why LLM spam prevention is still laughably immature - How black-hat SEO tactics from the 2000s...

E882: How to influence LLMs like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and AI search engines by giving them the exact brand comparison data you want them to use. I break down this simple but powerful growth hack: placing structured comparison tables across YouTube descriptions, social posts, UGC platforms, and your website so AI models consistently pull the right information about your brand and you contro...

E881: Local SEO in 2026 - this is EVERYTHING you need to know to get top positions in the map pack with a Google Business Profile that CONVERTS. Darren Shaw - founder of Whitespark and one of the most respected voices in local SEO - joins the show to break down the newly released 2026 Local Search Ranking Factors report. We cover what's actually moving the needle right now for local businesses, in...

E880: Does adding GPS coordinates to your photos actually boost your Google Business Profile rankings? For years, SEOs have debated whether geotagging image EXIF data helps with local SEO. Some claim it improves visibility in local map results, while others argue it's a waste of time. We dive into a controlled 10-week study across 27 local business locations, where all other SEO efforts were pause...

E879: I break down one of the most powerful lessons from the last decade of SEO - why shortcut tactics (including AI spam, auto-posting, link networks, and churn-and-burn SEO hacks) may work briefly but ultimately destroy long-term results. We talk: - The 2012 Penguin update and how it nuked overnight success - AI-generated spam content, backlink schemes, and what's happening now - Why you cannot...

E878: I break down the 6 critical steps of SEO in the exact order you must follow to avoid wasting time and resources. Most people get SEO backwards, which leads to frustration and stalled growth. Follow this sequence to maximize effectiveness, improve rankings, and drive real results. What you'll learn: - Why starting with "offensive SEO" (creating pages to rank) is often a huge mistake. - The cr...