The Edward Show

E1221: OpenAI is reportedly building its own Search Console for ChatGPT. The new tool could show businesses how often they're mentioned in ChatGPT answers, how many people click through to their websites, and how their visibility changes over time.

Google Search Console doesn't separately report clicks from AI Overviews. OpenAI's new tool could give businesses data that Google currently doesn't provide.

I break down a new Search Engine Roundtable report about OpenAI's upcoming business analytics tools, what the leaked screenshots reveal, and what this could mean for SEO.

What ChatGPT's new Search Console...

E1220: Can you rank on Google without backlinks? I break down what five SEOs say about ranking a new website without building links, share my own take, and play a clip from SEO expert Kyle Roof explaining his 3-to-1 internal linking rule on this podcast.

A new website can rank without backlinks, but the keywords you choose matter. If established websites have strong backlink profiles and dedicated pages targeting the same keywords, competing without links can be difficult.

The better opportunity is finding high-intent keywords that other websites aren't targeting with a relevant page.

E1219: In this Microsoft Clarity tutorial, you'll learn how to find out why your SEO traffic isn't converting into leads, bookings, or sales.

Josh Silverbauer, Head of Analytics at Intrepid Digital and an early contributor to Microsoft Clarity, shares his screen to show how he investigates conversion problems using Microsoft's free website analytics tool.

We walk through heatmaps, session recordings, conversion funnels, and filters you can use to understand what visitors do on your website, including visitors from organic search.

You'll learn:
- How to use Clarity's dashboard, heatmaps, and session recordings.<...

E1218: How do you build local backlinks with a $500 monthly budget? What changes when you can spend $5,000?

I cover practical local link-building tactics for both budgets, with examples for local companies.

Learn how to get backlinks from partners, nonprofits, journalists, directories, and trade associations.

LOCAL LINK BUILDING: UNDER $500/MONTH - Business partnerships: Partner with complementary companies. A plumber and electrician who refer customers to each other can link through partner pages, articles, or case studies. - Donate services: Offer free work to local nonprofits, schools, or charities and request a backlink acknowledging your...

E1217: Craig Campbell has spent 25 years testing what works in SEO, including tactics Google says shouldn't work.

In this interview, he explains how SEOs manipulate Google rankings and ChatGPT answers, which older link-building methods still have uses, and why he now avoids many of those tactics on businesses he wants to keep for years.

We discuss real tests, specific tools, and the difference between a tactic that gets results for a few months and a strategy that can support a business long-term.

In this episode: - How a Chinese restaurant website can rank...

E1216: Anthropic is expanding AI text watermarking to more Claude models on November 3. Other AI companies have also committed to watermarking their outputs. What does this mean for SEO? Will Google start penalizing AI-generated pages, and can it tell the difference between content written entirely by AI and content edited with AI?

I break down the risks of publishing unedited AI content, what Google's recent guidance suggests, and why I still expect carefully reviewed, AI-assisted pages to rank and even be trained upon.

In this episode: - Claude's expanding text watermarking: Which models Anthropic says...

E1215: Discord is coming to Google Search, and this could be one of the biggest new SEO opportunities heading into 2027.

Starting November 16, 2026, Discord will give every eligible Discoverable Server a public webpage. Beginning in mid-December, messages from public channels may also appear on those pages and in Google Search.

Imagine owning a leading Discord server in your niche, with the influence that moderators of major subreddits have over the discussions people find when researching products and services.

I break down Discord's announcement, the eligibility requirements, what to optimize for SEO, and why I...

E1214: Google Maps rankings are changing dramatically, and proximity to the searcher appears to have become far more important than reviews, backlinks, and business authority.

Matt Hammerton returns to the podcast with data from 40-50 local ranking scans showing what he calls the biggest proximity shift he's seen in 20 years of doing SEO.

Matt manages more than 100 Google Business Profiles and works with personal injury law firms and home service businesses. He noticed the changes on October 27, 2026, and has been investigating what happened.

In one Phoenix personal injury lawyer market, a business went...

E1213: Kyle Roof ranked a page written mostly in Lorem Ipsum gibberish #1 on Google for a rhinoplasty keyword. After the experiment made headlines, Google deindexed it. That same night, Google also deindexed 20 of his other SEO test sites, despite their separate hosting and lack of links between them.

Kyle, SEO legend and founder of PageOptimizer Pro, tells me exactly how he pulled it off, why he believes Google changed its spam rules afterward, and why he says his gibberish pages still rank today. We also get into what he's learned from more than 400 SEO experiments and which...

E1212: What if SEO agencies stopped buying backlinks and started buying the news sites that publish them?

David Quaid joins me to break down a business model he calls "news as a service": acquiring established news sites, local publications, and niche blogs, improving their SEO, and using them to build businesses that earn money beyond advertising.

David argues that SEO agencies spend huge amounts on link building and PR without controlling the publications they depend on. He recalls one company spending $20,000 per month on PR and getting just one press mention in six months. But...

E1211: Can SEO generate revenue in 3-6 months? Deno Hawari shared 10 SEO tips drawn from work that generated $35 million for clients.

I go through every tip, explain what I agree with, and push back where the advice needs more context.

A lot of this comes down to targeting keywords that indicate someone is ready to buy, improving pages you already have, and giving Google and AI clear information about your business.

In this episode: - Replace vague claims with specific numbers. "Cut customer acquisition costs by 40%" is more useful than "grow faster," but...

E1209: Google's John Mueller explained how Google interprets searches, expands keywords with synonyms, and connects related topics. At Search Central Live in Barcelona, Google also showed how AI search breaks one question into multiple searches before generating an answer.

I break down a widely circulated recap of the event and explain what these findings mean for your SEO strategy.

Here's what I cover:
- How Google identifies a query's language, removes unnecessary words, and recognizes names and entities.
- Why Google keeps words like "the" and "of" when they're part of a name...

E1210: What makes a backlink worth $2,000? Ilias ISM joins me to explain which links he pays for, how he finds them, and why pages that rank and get real visitors often matter more than domain rating alone.

Ilias is a software engineer turned SEO who builds SaaS products and runs an SEO agency. We break down his link-building process, the Claude Code agents he uses to find backlink opportunities and write outreach emails, and the strategies he sees working as Google and AI search change.

In this episode: - Why Ilias would pay $1,000-$2,000 for...

E1208: Is GEO a distraction, or are SEOs measuring the wrong thing?

Marie Haynes analyzed 145 million sessions across 100 websites and found that ChatGPT sent just 0.62% as much traffic as Google organic. All LLMs combined sent 0.73%. Mike King argues that those numbers miss the point: AI search influences buying decisions even when people never click through.

In episode 1,208 of The Edward Show, I break down their disagreement, share my take, and explain the SEO tactics that get customers from Google and AI search.

In this episode: - Marie Haynes's research across 100 sites and 12 months...

E1207: An SEO spent his summer collecting more than 30,000 documents to find which SEO tactics work. That SEO, Krešimir Ćorluka, narrowed them to 9,249 studies, tests, and papers, then ranked the strongest evidence.

I covered some of his most surprising findings in an earlier episode. This time, Krešimir joins me to explain how he built the research, which results he trusts, which ones he questions, and which tactics he prioritizes in his own SEO work.

We dig into: - How he used Ahrefs, Screaming Frog, two AI models, and manual checks to sort thousands of...

E1206: Black Friday SEO usually starts months before the sale. But if you're starting late, there are still ways to get your offers in front of buyers on Google and ChatGPT.

I'm joined by Gagan Ghotra, Harpreet Singh, and David Quaid to break down Black Friday SEO for ecommerce brands, SaaS companies, and anyone selling products online.

We go through the pages to create, the keywords to target, and the changes you can still make as Black Friday approaches.

What we cover: - When to publish Black Friday pages, why February is a...

E1204: Google is heading toward an algorithm designed to target AI-generated content, according to Kristine Schachinger, an SEO and Google penalty recovery specialist with 15 years of recovery experience. Google's John Mueller liked her public prediction that recent spam updates are testing the approach.

Kristine joins me to explain what she thinks Google is preparing, what she's seeing on sites hit by spam updates, and how businesses should protect their rankings before the next major update.

In this episode: - Why Kristine predicts an AI content-focused algorithm in the next 6-8 months. - How repeated AI-generated...

E1203: Bodhi Gallo reveals the local SEO tactics he's using to rank businesses on Google Maps, including strategies he believes Google hasn't caught up with yet.

Bodhi grew a dumpster rental business to roughly $750,000 in annual revenue through local SEO before selling it. Today, he runs a 60-person SEO agency serving home service businesses.

We break down his most aggressive strategies, including how he got a brand-new business into Google Maps' top 3 in just 24 hours.

We cover: - How Bodhi reached Google Maps' top 3 in 24 hours with an exact-match domain, matching Business Profile...

E1202: AI is turning self-promotion into recommendations. People are calling themselves the top expert in their niche on LinkedIn, in press releases, and on their own websites. Google's AI Overviews then repeat those claims and cite the original posts as evidence.

I break down real examples from the competitive SEO industry and show how to use these tactics to get AI to associate your name or business with the searches that matter.

Here's what I cover:
- How Pedro Dias called himself the world's most renowned AI visibility expert in a LinkedIn post, and...

E1201: Google is feeding Ahrefs, Semrush, Moz, and other SEO rank trackers incorrect search results. Websites appear to lose rankings overnight, even when Google Search Console shows stable rankings and traffic.

Google's crackdown on AI companies scraping its search results is disrupting SEO tools. I explain what's happening, why rank tracking data has become unreliable, and what SEOs need to trust instead.

Here's what I cover:

Why SEO rank trackers are showing incorrect data: - Ahrefs, Semrush, and Moz are showing major inconsistencies in Google ranking data. - Some tools show websites disappearing...

E1200: What SEO strategies actually work?

I found a Reddit thread asking SEO practitioners which strategies delivered real results. For episode 1,200 of The Edward Show, I break down nine strategies and explain how to use them for Google rankings, backlinks, leads, and AI search visibility.

Here's what we cover: - Map the entire buyer journey, not just individual keywords. Someone researching an expensive purchase will check YouTube reviews, Reddit discussions, third-party websites, and AI answers before buying. Get your brand into that research process. - Find buyer-intent keywords your competitors aren't targeting. Look for queries...

E1198: Do nofollow backlinks boost Google rankings? I walk through findings from Rand Fishkin, Kyle Roof, and Joy Hawkins, plus an AI search study that challenges the idea that nofollow links have no SEO value.

The practical takeaway: look beyond the link attribute. Pay attention to whether the linking page ranks on Google and attracts organic traffic.

In this episode: - Google's 2019 change: Google shifted from ignoring nofollow links as ranking signals to treating nofollow, sponsored, and UGC attributes as hints about which links to consider or exclude. - Rand Fishkin's experiments: Two tests pointed...

E1199: Rihanna's Fenty Beauty is beating Dior in the AI Search. Harpreet Singh joins me to break down the customer reviews, third-party coverage, and product pages behind Fenty's outstanding visibility.

His explanation starts with one idea: "AI is a parrot." When publications, customers, and retailers consistently recommend a product, AI repeats those recommendations.

We examine what Fenty gets right and how to apply those lessons to ecommerce, B2B, and local businesses.

In this episode: - Nearly 53,000 customer reviews. We look at Fenty's Google Shopping presence and discuss why a good product and...

E1197: Elon Musk's Grokipedia went from 6.5 million monthly Google clicks in July to just 200,000. That's a 97% collapse in organic search traffic for xAI's entirely AI-written alternative to Wikipedia.

And despite Grokipedia earning backlinks from The New York Times, The Guardian, NPR, NBC News, The Verge, and other major publications, its rankings have fallen off a cliff.

I break down what happened to Grokipedia, the Google policies its AI content runs into, and the lessons every SEO needs to understand before scaling AI-generated content.

Here's what I cover: 1. Grokipedia's 97% SEO traffic collapse - How...

E1196: Is GEO actually different from SEO, or is generative engine optimization simply SEO under a new name?

Paris Childress, host of The GEO Show, joins David Quaid for a heated debate about what gets brands recommended by ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Gemini, and other AI search engines.

Paris argues that GEO is brand marketing, not performance marketing. Its goal is brand visibility, mentions, citations, and recommendations, rather than rankings and organic clicks.

David disagrees. He argues that AI search uses traditional search indexes, query fan-outs, and the SEO fundamentals marketers have relied...

E1195: Does Google measure how much effort you put into your content? Google's Quality Rater Guidelines mention effort more than 100 times, and the 2024 Google API leak revealed an LLM-based metric called "content effort."

We're breaking down Cyrus Shepard's article, "Content Effort: The Google Ranking Feature Nobody Talks About," and what it reveals about the content Google might consider high quality.

Cyrus previously worked as a Google quality rater. He explains how Google evaluates effort, why writing longer articles doesn't count as more effort, and what separates valuable original content from thousands of nearly identical AI-generated...

E1194: Cold outreach is one of the most effective ways to build backlinks, earn media coverage, and get your content in front of the right people. But most outreach emails get ignored.

A Reddit user analyzed 6,337 cold emails and uncovered striking differences in reply rates based on email length, subject lines, follow-ups, and who receives the message.

I break down these findings, share advice from experienced link builders, and explain the cold outreach strategies I've personally used to get viral videos onto national television, earn coverage from major publications, and promote businesses.

What...

E1192: How long does SEO actually take? Google's Gary Illyes shared specific timeframes for crawling, indexing, title changes, canonicalization, site migrations, manual action removals, and recovery from core updates.

Some changes take hours. Others take months. And in certain cases, Google never processes them.

Google's reported typical SEO timeframes: - New URL discovery: 20 hours. At the slowest, weeks or never. - Recrawling an existing URL: 1 month. At the slowest, weeks or never. - Sitemap processing: 1 day. At the slowest, 14 days or never, depending on quality. - Indexing: 1.5 hours. At the slowest, months or never...

E1193: Charles Floate shares how he ranks parasite SEO pages on Google.com itself, gets those pages cited in Google's AI Overviews, and builds campaigns that generate thousands of dollars in revenue.

With a full presentation, Charles breaks down his parasite SEO strategy, including the exact process he uses to find profitable keywords, identify powerful third-party domains, publish pages, get them indexed, and turn rankings into affiliate commissions.

He also demonstrates how he automates parasite SEO with AI agents, including a system that published 10 pages in roughly 60 seconds and another that has created over 400 pages.<...

E1191: One SEO spent the summer going through more than 30,000 documents and narrowing them down to 9,249 SEO case studies, tests, and papers with measurable results.

The final dataset covered 552 cited sources and 182 SEO tactics.

I go through some of the weirdest findings, the tests I agree with, the ones I question, and the tactics worth experimenting with on your own sites.

Some of the findings: - Writing title tags entirely in capital letters increased organic traffic 17.5% across two independent tests - Removing synonym keywords from title tags reduced organic traffic 27% - Removing the...

E1190: Google is making it harder to scrape its search results, and SEO tools are getting caught in the middle.

Barry Schwartz, founder of Search Engine Roundtable and one of the longest-running reporters in the search industry, joins me to break down what Google is doing, why rank-tracking data has become less reliable, and what happens next.

Barry has covered Google and search every day since 2003. In this episode, we go deep on Google's fight against AI scrapers, the September 2026 spam update, scaled AI content, Google losing trust in entire websites, and the future of...

E1188: Your page might target a keyword properly and still lose rankings because you chose the wrong type of page for the search.

I turn search intent into a quiz: for each keyword, predict whether searchers want a blog post, landing page, or category page - before I reveal the answer.

I recently consulted a site with thousands of pages that had steadily lost SEO traffic for years. They blamed negative SEO and bad backlinks. But new pages still ranked within two weeks, then lost their positions.

The bigger problem was mismatched search...

E1189: Exact match domains still rank in local SEO, and David Quaid explains where they still give businesses an advantage.

David breaks down how to use exact match domains for local businesses, how they interact with Google Business Profiles, why branded domains and EMDs serve different purposes, and where people go wrong when they expect the domain alone to do all the work.

David also explains why EMDs work especially well in competitive cities, how he thinks about topical authority, and why a local business should build around one valuable root keyword instead of trying...

E1187: Google changed its guidance on AI-generated content on October 1, and the new language makes one thing very clear: publishing unchecked AI content creates real SEO risk.

Google now explicitly says publishers must manually fact-check and review AI-generated content for accuracy and trustworthiness before publishing. That review doesn't stop with the body copy. Google says it also applies to page titles, meta descriptions, structured data, and image alt text.

I break down exactly what Google changed, what it means for SEOs using AI at scale, and how I use AI without handing an entire page...

E1186: Google is now showing AI Overviews for simple brand-name searches, and those summaries sometimes tell customers why they should avoid the company they just searched for.

Ann Smarty joins to break down what this means for SEO, branded search, online reputation management, Reddit, reviews, and the way businesses control what people see before they ever reach their website.

We look at real examples including GoDaddy, JustAnswer, and Bluehost. Someone searches a company name, and Google immediately surfaces complaints, controversies, cancellation information, outdated pricing, old Reddit threads, and other third-party information.

That creates...

E1185: Google's September 2026 spam update just entered what looks like phase two.

Google launched the update on September 24. The first major wave hit around September 25-27. Things cooled down, then volatility exploded again on September 30.

This rollout looks very different from Google's recent spam updates. Instead of finishing in roughly two days, Google says this one will run for around two weeks, which means we're seeing separate waves of sites drop, recover, and move throughout the rollout.

I break down what changed during the September 30 wave, what types of sites are getting hit...

E1184: Jacky Chou and David Quaid sit down for a wide-ranging conversation about where SEO still makes money in 2026, what Jacky would build today, and why he thinks most indie hackers leave huge opportunities on the table.

Jacky's opening argument is simple: find SaaS products already making money, build a competing product, then use SEO and paid distribution to beat founders who know how to code but do not know how to market.

From there, the conversation goes deep into SaaS, affiliate SEO, parasite SEO, Reddit, ChatGPT, listicles, backlinks, partial-match domains, offsite SEO, and what...

E1183: ChatGPT is building more of its own search index, and that changes where SEO goes next.

David G. Quaid joins me to break down what OpenAI appears to be doing, how its cached web content starts to function like an index, and what SEOs need to understand if ChatGPT relies less on Google and Bing over time.

OpenAI has already discussed a long-term goal of serving most search traffic from its own first-party index. David explains why the change may already be happening: repeatedly fetching the same pages in real time costs too much...

E1182: AEO companies keep presenting old SEO tactics as if AI search invented them.

Harpreet Singh joins me to break down what is actually different about AEO/GEO, what is simply traditional SEO with new terminology, and where companies are wasting time because they do not understand the history of search.

We start with the tactics now getting promoted on AI search conference stages: keywords in URLs, FAQs, meta descriptions, paragraphs, press releases, solution pages, listicles, and other concepts SEOs have used for years. Harpreet explains why removing the historical context around these tactics leads...

E1181: I break down six SEO habits that marketers and site owners use to grow traffic without chasing a new tactic every week.

These came from a popular SEO Growth subreddit thread where people shared the habits that made the biggest difference for them. I go through the best responses, explain why they work, and show you how to take each one further.

In this episode: - Export Google Search Console data every month and study what Google tells you. Look at which queries generate impressions, where your pages rank, which pages get clicks, and...