E694: The full playbook for how to do SEO for a clothing website. Everything is covered here: - Backlink strategies for clothing brands - beginner to advanced, including directories, targeting fashion reporters, getting on lifestyle podcasts, and sophisticated linkable assets - How to format a clothing website for SEO - URL structure, category page setup, and how to write effective page titles and meta descriptions - SEO for fashion product pages - step-by-step layout of high-converting, SEO-opt...
May 29, 2025•24 min•Season 1Ep. 694
E693: Does shared hosting - being on a shared IP address / shared server - hurt SEO? I go over a crazy SEO experiment that tested 20 nearly identical websites - half hosted on shared servers, half on dedicated IP addresses. The goal: to see whether shared hosting environments affect Google rankings. Topics covered: - What the "bad neighborhood" effect really is - What happens to your SEO when you use a shared IP address - What Google’s own documentation says about this - Tools you can use to che...
May 28, 2025•11 min•Season 1Ep. 693
E692: Unconventional advice for how to become nasty at SEO. This isn’t just about being able to rank with SEO - it’s about how to sell and make money. I start with explaining the why - why would you even want to become pro at SEO in 2025 when there are so many other great marketing channels? Then I explain the overall philosophy on what you should be doing… and what you shouldn’t. Finally, I tell you what to do and where to start. This is how to become an SEO pro - from scratch - in 2025. ▶️ $60...
May 27, 2025•21 min•Season 1Ep. 692
E691: Schema markup - the lie SEO agencies and consultants have been using for the past decade to fearmonger and basically steal money from clients. I, first, demystify what Schema markup actually is. Then, I explain the lie SEO agencies and consultants use, giving examples. Next I share when you need to worry about Schema markup. Finally - I explain how to implement it yourself - without paying lots of money to an agency or consultant. Don’t let agencies and consultants take money from you with...
May 26, 2025•15 min•Season 1Ep. 691
E690: A lot of people say SEO doesn’t work anymore. This episode shows otherwise. Chatbase grew their monthly recurring revenue by $103,000 - and SEO was a huge part of it. They didn’t rank for thousands of keywords. They just focused on a few that mattered, backed by a focused content effort. I walk you through what they did, what actually drove results, and why SEO still has plenty of room - if you know where to look. ⭐️ Sources 2025 State of SEO: - https://detailed.com/state-of-seo/ Sandra’s ...
May 25, 2025•15 min•Season 1Ep. 690
E689: People are searching Google now more than ever. A study last year showed, “Survey: 54% of people look through more search results vs. 5 years ago.” But are they searching more because they like it or out of frustration? Signs point to frustration… and this leads to a great opportunity for marketers. It’s now easier than ever to stand out in SEO - and I share how. Plus - huge news from Google: AI Mode reporting is coming to Google Search Console. GSC to show AI queries in addition to normal...
May 24, 2025•17 min•Season 1Ep. 689
E688: If you frequently publish a blog that isn’t optimized AT ALL, will that hurt your SEO? I break down the full answer. Here’s what I cover: - Why publishing a high volume of content, without keyword targeting, isn’t necessarily harmful - The situations where it can cause problems, and how to prevent them - How I use a similar approach on my own blog, https://edwardsturm.com/articles/ - A simple SEO trick: how to optimize already-published content in five minutes using data from Google Search...
May 23, 2025•12 min•Season 1Ep. 688
E687: Is AI-generated traffic replacing classic SEO (optimizing for the “10 blue links”) or is this just hype? I share the Internet’s most insightful thoughts on this and practical advice on how to optimize for AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, and more. Plus, we break down: - What Google’s new AI Mode means for search traffic and visibility - Whether LLM SEO is truly replacing traditional search - How to structure your content to appear in AI-generated answers - Why backlinks, ...
May 22, 2025•15 min•Season 1Ep. 687
E686: What does it really take to close and manage million-dollar SEO deals? In this powerhouse episode, we sit down with Yas Haque, the former Head of SEO at Omnicom. While Yas was at Omnicom, it was the largest publicly traded marketing agency in the world. Its current market cap is nearly $15 billion. Head of SEO at the biggest marketing agency = King of SEO in my book. Yas shares: - How to land and manage seven-figure SEO contracts - What it was like being Head of SEO at the largest publicly...
May 21, 2025•1 hr 9 min•Season 1Ep. 686
E685: Interest in search engine optimization is shockingly at a literal all-time high. Since December 2024, interest has spiked up. I share why I believe this is, what to look out for, and what to do now. Topics covered: - Why SEO interest spiked in December 2024 - The role of AI in enabling SEO and product launches - What Google’s AI Overviews and “AI Mode” mean for search - How to structure bottom-of-funnel hub pages - The growing influence of transactional keywords - Why backlinks matter less...
May 20, 2025•9 min•Season 1Ep. 685
E684: Jonathan Berthold, a senior executive at SEO data company, Moz, joins the pod! We go deep into one of the biggest questions in digital marketing: Is SEO dead in the era of AI? Topics for the show: - How Google’s AI Overviews and ChatGPT are impacting SEO strategies - The future of affiliate SEO and how it must adapt - Link building tactics that still work (and the ones that don’t) - How Moz is using AI agents and internal tools to scale SEO - Why bottom-of-funnel SEO is still thriving - Th...
May 19, 2025•1 hr 26 min•Season 1Ep. 684
E683: Google’s AI overviews took my entire page, rewrote it, and gave it right there in the Google results - the whole thing - so that searchers would not have to click into my page… and I would lose the traffic. But this isn’t necessarily a bad thing! And in this video, I share why. Plus two more examples of AI Overviews rewriting content and giving it in the Google results so that searchers do not have to click through to the pages the content comes from. ⭐️ Lily Ray’s post: https://x.com/lily...
May 18, 2025•11 min•Season 1Ep. 683
E682: How to measure pogo sticking in SEO and how to fix it! Plus more SEO questions from the audience… Question 1: Should you change the name of your company and URL if your company name is too common? If so, what’s the best way to do this while still maintaining SEO? Question 2: How do we measure pogo sticking in SEO - when a searcher comes to our page through Google Search, but goes back to the search engine results because our page doesn’t give them what they want? How do we measure this and...
May 17, 2025•11 min•Season 1Ep. 682
E681: Is blog SEO - doing search engine optimization with a blog and top-of-funnel SEO’d articles - necessary for building topical authority? Topical authority being how much authority your website and company have in your specific niche. Is blog SEO necessary for this? No - it’s not. And in fact, it’s a distraction. I share how you should be building topical authority in the absence of search engine optimization with a blog. 🔥 Sources and information: How to build topical authority: - Put up o...
May 16, 2025•9 min•Season 1Ep. 681
E680: The dust has settled on the March 2025 Google Core Algorithm Update. Here’s what actually changed. In this episode, I break down the biggest winners, losers, and key shifts from the latest update - and more importantly, how you should adjust your SEO strategy in response. Topics covered: - Content quality signals refined - UGC platforms: Reddit’s rise, Quora’s dip, forums fading - Retail & e-commerce SEO volatility: Uniqlo vs. Amazon - AI Overviews and their impact on blog CTR - The ri...
May 15, 2025•7 min•Season 1Ep. 680
E679: There’s a growing theory that Google is intentionally degrading its search results to drive more ad clicks and revenue. Is this actually true? I break down a recent rant from a two-decade Google engineer who directly pushes back on this claim. We’ll look at what the data actually says, why the court case may have misunderstood it, and what this means for SEO moving forward. If my conclusions are true, there’s actually far more opportunity in SEO than I previously thought. ⭐️ Barry Schwartz...
May 14, 2025•14 min•Season 1Ep. 679
E678: The disavow tool in Google Search Console lets you tell Google to ignore “toxic” backlinks. But is this actually useful in 2025? I break down whether you should be using the disavow tool, who it is really for, and why most websites and businesses are wasting their time (and money) on it. A listener emailed me about their SEO expert disavowing links with zero results. That inspired this deep dive into: - What the disavow tool is and how it works - Real opinions from SEOs on Reddit and the b...
May 13, 2025•13 min•Season 1Ep. 678
E677: This is for if you want to stick with something long enough to see results… if you’re seeking the 1% daily improvements that compound A TON over time. I share what I’ve learned from doing this show for 677 days in a row, making short-form videos for 925 consecutive days, and sending out a weekly newsletter without missing a week for nearly two years. I go into: - The truth about consistency and how to keep showing up, even when motivation is low - Shaan Puri’s Taste Gap - why your early wo...
May 12, 2025•16 min•Season 1Ep. 677
E676: Reddit parasite SEO - using Reddit to rank your brand for your keywords - is attempted by many SEOs and marketers. But there are two mistakes everybody makes. The thing is… they’re pretty simple mistakes, too. Sometimes knowing what to do isn’t enough; you need to know what NOT to do - pitfalls to avoid. This is how to do Reddit Parasite SEO. By the way, I don’t endorse this strategy, and you 100% should not do it! ⭐️ How to Humanize ChatGPT Content: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_bmGoL...
May 11, 2025•8 min•Season 1Ep. 676
E675: How to make ChatGPT output sound human. First, I give a high-level prompt to use in your ChatGPT settings. Then I give words to avoid, the best ChatGPT model for copywriting, what to do about emdashes, and AI writing detectors to double-check with. Then I share how to get away with AI-written video scripts. Finally, I share advice from Steven Bartlett about AI-written text. Shared in the episode 👇 ⭐️ From @justinfineberg_ on Instagram Add to Settings 👉 Personalization 👉 Custom instructi...
May 10, 2025•13 min•Season 1Ep. 675
E674: Rand Fishkin joins the pod! Founder of Moz. Creator of SparkToro. Hugely influential in how millions of people - myself included - approach marketing. He goes deep on: - The future of SEO in an AI world - Why engagement beats backlinks (confirmed in Google’s own court testimony) - The unexpected top-of-funnel gap being left to exploit - The marketing metrics he actually tracks - And why audience insights are the most overlooked growth lever ⭐️ Rand and his companies: Rand on Threads: https...
May 09, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 674
E673: Alphabet stock bombs after Apple says it is reconsidering its $19 billion partnership with Google - using Google as their default engine. Instead, Apple is considering going with a more AI-dominant search solution. So, should we as SEOs, marketers, and business owners be worried? I’m not, and here’s why. ⭐️ CNBC - Alphabet shares sink 7%: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/07/alphabet-shares-sink-on-report-apple-may-add-ai-search-to-its-browser.html ⭐️ Google’s Statement: https://blog.google/pro...
May 08, 2025•10 min•Season 1Ep. 673
E672: There’s a growing concern among publishers that the party is coming to an end. That: - Zero-click searches are on the rise because of AI Overviews and Chatbots - Google updates like the Helpful Content Update are making it hard to operate So, is there a world where web publishers can thrive? I believe there is, and I share it in this episode. — 💎 Compact Keywords - My SEO Course - Get paying customers through SEO - Clear step-by-step video breakdowns - SEO templates to be copied and adapt...
May 07, 2025•11 min•Season 1Ep. 672
E671: Semrush just released a MASSIVE study analyzing 10 million+ keywords to uncover how Google’s AI Overviews are reshaping search in 2025 - and I’m going through the whole thing with you. In this, we cover: - How often AI Overviews are appearing (spoiler: it’s growing FAST) - Which search terms and industries are most affected - Zero-click search trends - is AI really stealing your clicks? - Why informational content is at the highest risk - The safest SEO strategies going forward - What this...
May 06, 2025•31 min•Season 1Ep. 671
E670: Feeling overwhelmed by SEO? This is how and what to prioritize when you have limited time! If you’re struggling with what to do next in SEO - whether it’s backlinks, content, audits - this episode is for you. I break down what to prioritize, how to find easy wins (low-hanging fruit striking-distance keywords), and how to manage your efforts every day. This is a common issue for every digital marketer, and I’ve definitely felt this myself. If you’re struggling, I made this for you. Sources:...
May 05, 2025•12 min•Season 1Ep. 670
E669: My step-by-step method for getting a page that was not ranking on Google to suddenly rank #1. Works best with pages that are not ranking at all for keywords you are sure they should rank for - at least on page 1-3 of Google. Do this for pages not ranking at all. One wouldn’t expect this to work, so there’s also a detailed explanation of why it works. This isn’t backlinks… this isn’t keyword selection… it’s not changing the meta tags… it’s something else entirely - something very unexpected...
May 04, 2025•12 min•Season 1Ep. 669
E668: The #1 thing to do with a new site isn’t building backlinks… And if you don’t do this thing, it’s going to create huge headaches for you later on. The top sites put a ton of thought into this, and even if you’re not a new site, it’s not too late. Do this to win in SEO: INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE. 💎 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://compactk...
May 03, 2025•8 min•Season 1Ep. 668
E667: Nathan Latka shares a startling 16-month Google Search Console screenshot: his impressions are skyrocketing… but his clicks are decreasing. This is a real-life example of what happens when Google’s AI Overviews take hold. Then - how to avoid this. But not JUST how to avoid this… how to actually make AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini, and other AIs recommend your brand - instead of disrupt it. Don’t end up on the wrong side of history. 🔎 The LinkedIn Post - https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update...
May 02, 2025•8 min•Season 1Ep. 667
E666: If you have a page that isn’t ranking at all, which you think should be ranking #1, try this. I just tried it, and my page went from not ranking at all directly to #1. March 25, when the change was made. Week of April 9, I begin ranking #1 The change - take your page that SHOULD be ranking - copy the contents over to a new page and 301 redirect the old page. Submit to Google Search Console. Make tiny changes to avoid duplicate content. That’s it. Listen to learn more. 💎 Compact Keywords -...
May 01, 2025•13 min•Season 1Ep. 666
E665: How to build backlinks to a new website - the method for 2025. This is an overview of why backlinks for new websites are so important then: - Three primary ways to build links for a new site - A bonus way that, if done properly, can be more effective than any other link-building method If you have a website and you want to build domain authority for it - do this - while also putting up SEO pages (not blog posts) on your site. Combine this as you put up purchase-intent content on your site ...
Apr 30, 2025•15 min•Season 1Ep. 665
