The Edward Show

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 would buying a publication actually make more financial sense?
I push David on the acquisition costs, operating expenses, revenue, link value, and whether this is just a more expensive private blog network. We work through examples involving an ecommerce store, a Denver local newspaper, and an SEO agency with multiple clients.
In this episode:
- Why David believes SEO agencies should consider owning news sites instead of continually paying third parties for backlinks and PR.
- How an agency could acquire a local newspaper or niche publication, grow its organic traffic, and build a business around an existing audience.
- Why a publication's value goes beyond backlinks to include referral traffic, brand exposure, and relationships with local businesses.
- How to evaluate the economics: buying the site, paying journalists, growing readership, and finding revenue that supports the operation.
- How a local publisher could expand into separate websites for community news, restaurants, business, and other topics.
- Where sponsored articles, advertorials, editorial independence, and rel="sponsored" links fit into the model.
- Why David sees a major difference between acquiring a legitimate publication and operating a traditional PBN.
- Why the strategy could also work in reverse, with publishers acquiring SEO or PR agencies and selling services to existing advertisers.
- How publishers facing fewer clicks from Google AI Overviews could use newsletters, affiliate offers, and other revenue sources.
- Why I disagree with the idea that AI Overviews have made it impossible to grow organic traffic, and what I found when investigating Windows Forum's traffic decline.
- Whether targeting a keyword with every new article counts as excessive SEO, and how quickly David recommends expanding a smaller site.
- How to review a publication's existing content, prune pages that no longer serve a purpose, and improve its technical SEO and internal linking.
- Why David questions the assumption that a backlink from a topically relevant website must be more valuable than one from a different industry.
- Whether HubSpot could have avoided some of its SEO losses by moving unrelated content onto separate, focused domains.
We also discuss the future of publishers as AI changes search, the limitations of buying individual backlinks, and the opportunity to combine SEO, PR, and publishing under one company.
This is a live exploration of the idea. David explains why he believes in it, and I challenge the details to see where the numbers and the strategy hold up.
⭐️ David Quaid on 𝕏 - https://x.com/DavidGQuaid 
⭐️ David Quaid on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidquaid/ 
⭐️ David Quaid on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@DavidQuaid 
⭐️ David Quaid's agency - https://primaryposition.com/ 
⭐️ Nik Hulewsky's episode - https://youtu.be/IyUv47A5m40 
💎 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://compactkeywords.com/ 
00:00 News as a Service Intro
00:50 Why News Lost Value
01:27 Vertical Integration Lessons
03:55 TikTok Shop and PR SEO
05:06 GEO vs Owning Property
07:59 PR Spend Reality Check
09:51 Agency Moat via News
12:39 Monitors Niche Outlet Example
18:02 PBN vs Traffic Brands
20:45 Acquisition Economics Debate
28:21 Local Newspaper Multi Sites
31:54 Who Buys and Funding
38:42 Disclosure and Sponsored Links
45:38 Forbes Style Linking Tactics
46:41 Sponsored Link Debate
47:39 Costco Chicken Lesson
49:43 Local Newsletter Goldmine
52:18 Publishers Buy Agencies
55:08 AI Overviews And Clicks
01:01:15 Windows Forum AI Fail
01:06:32 News As A Service
01:09:03 Keyword Scaling Limits
01:12:48 Pruning And UX Fixes
01:17:00 Topical Bridges And Links
01:28:38 SEO Myths And Testing
01:31:16 Wrap Up And Goodbye
The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/  
#searchengineoptimization #seo #generativeengineoptimization #answerengineoptimization

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 broad positioning still has a place on your website.
- Prioritize comparison and alternative pages over generic informational articles. I discuss a Freshdesk vs. Zendesk comparison page valued at $17,000 per month in organic traffic versus $1,900 for a broad guide, and explain why purchase-intent pages can be easier to write.
- Update pages that already rank before publishing more content. Refresh information, improve introductions, and use Google Search Console to identify the queries that deserve additional sections.
- Adding large numbers of internal links without negative effects, and explain why link placement matters for passing authority.
- Target specific, underserved searches instead of competing only for broad keywords. Look for relevant queries that ranking competitors haven't included in their page titles, URLs, or headings.
- Track non-branded search traffic separately from branded traffic. I explain why I trust Google Search Console data and how to save keyword rankings beyond its 16-month history window.
- Answer the searcher's question in the first 100 words. For bottom-of-funnel pages, make it immediately clear what your company offers and give visitors a way to take action.
- Be careful with self-promotional "best X" listicles. A mention on an independent website can be more useful for AI recommendations than ranking your own product first on your own list.
- Create pages for distinct buyer situations: industries, budgets, problems, and use cases. These specific searches may have lower volume, but the people searching often know what they need.
- Publish consistently across your website and other channels. I explain how to make multiple short videos around an important keyword that's also targeted with your website, distribute the videos across platforms, and build recognition without publishing endless blog posts.
I also share the People Also Ask method for finding easy questions, building FAQ pages, improving them with Search Console data, and linking those pages to content that generates sales.
⭐️ Deno Hawari on 𝕏 ($35M SEO lessons thread) - https://x.com/denohawari/status/2098491264849293442 
⭐️ Ep 902 - The 5-Minute SEO Hack: Turn 'People Also Ask' Into Instant Topical Authority - https://youtu.be/cHFrWBzg9c4 
⭐️ Ep 1163 - The $50,000 Internal Linking Experiment: Links That Get Clicked Carry More Weight - https://youtu.be/biy8lLxTzqc 
💎 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://compactkeywords.com/ 
00:00 SEO Results
00:15 Tip 1 Use Exact Details
01:05 Tip 2 Comparison Pages
02:53 Tip 3 Refresh Old Pages
03:10 People Also Ask Hack
05:42 Tip 4 Internal Linking
06:38 Tip 5 Long Tail Questions
08:41 Tip 6 Track Non Branded
09:48 Tip 7 Answer Up Front
10:23 Tip 8 Tools Listicles
11:15 Tip 9 Buyer Situations
12:11 Tip 10 Post Consistently
13:43 Wrap
14:51 Closing Thanks
The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/  
#searchengineoptimization #generativeengineoptimization #answerengineoptimization #seo

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, such as "The Lord of the Rings."
- How synonym expansion connects different searches to the same pages. Google might interpret "fried chicken place" alongside "fried chicken restaurant."
- Why context matters: "GM" means General Motors in a car search and genetically modified in a search about barley.
- How Google treats competing brands such as Canon and Nikon as related entities, but not synonyms.
- How AI search creates query fan-outs, using multiple related searches to gather information for one answer.
- Why Google's AI-generated fan-out queries don't appear in Google Search Console.
- How to study search fan-outs in Perplexity and other AI tools to identify the questions and terms they repeatedly research.
- Why you don't need to repeat every variation of a keyword on a landing page.
- How to work secondary terms naturally into a page, using "room planner app," "room planner online," and "kitchen planner app" as examples.
- Why brand mentions, backlinks, and descriptions on third-party websites matter for the searches Google associates with a company.
- How a PDF-editing website built over many years reached $106 million in annual revenue and 2.7 million monthly Google clicks.
- Which pages to build around your brand, competitors, pricing, reviews, comparisons, and alternatives.
A particularly useful takeaway: look at the follow-up searches an AI tool performs. If it repeatedly searches for "[brand] price" and "[brand] reviews," those are searches you want your own website to answer. The same applies to comparisons between your product and competing products.
I also explain why Google's understanding of synonyms doesn't eliminate the need for keyword research. You still want to choose a primary search term, identify secondary terms that matter, and cover the topic with natural language.
⭐️ The article: Google Search Central Live Deep Dive, Barcelona - Day 3 Recap - https://weareroast.com/news/google-search-central-live-deep-dive-barcelona-day-3-recap/ 
⭐️ Ep 1171 - Query Augmentation: How One Page Ranks for Thousands of Keywords | James Dooley - https://youtu.be/rHRlAMH99Y8 
💎 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://compactkeywords.com/ 
00:00 Barcelona Event Overview
00:30 How Google Understands Queries
01:20 Synonyms Context Siblings
02:44 AI Search Fanout Queries
03:58 Key Takeaways Summary
04:30 Backlinks Query Augmentation
06:17 On Page Keyword Variations
07:10 Using Fanouts For Content
08:42 Find Fanouts In Search Console
08:59 Wrap Up
The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/  
#generativeengineoptimization #searchengineoptimization #seo #answerengineoptimization

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 a backlink from the right page, especially one ranking in the top 10-20 for a valuable keyword.
- How to evaluate backlinks based on page-level search traffic, relevance, referral clicks, and placement, not just domain rating.
- His starting filters for backlink prospects: 500-1,000+ monthly organic visits to the domain, relevant top pages, and no obvious signs of a link farm.
- How he finds thousands of link-building opportunities by combining competitor backlink overlaps with sites ranking for target keywords.
- An overlooked research tactic: analyze the pages linking to your competitors, then study which topics bring those linking pages traffic.
- What gets replies to backlink outreach: short, direct emails with a specific request, offer, or reason to include your product.
- How he replaced much of a complex link-building software codebase with Claude Code, a database, and tools the AI agent builds as needed.
- Why a $50 GitHub sponsorship that sent referral traffic and branded searches became an early SEO breakthrough for him.
- What nofollow links, unlinked mentions, brand searches, and social media coverage mean for search visibility.
- Why building a recognizable brand and publishing original testing, like NapLab's mattress reviews, creates an advantage over generic AI content.
- How Ilias tripled the monthly recurring revenue of an acquired AI presentation SaaS by improving its SEO, backlinks, and product.
- What he learned paying short-form video creators $500 per month each, including how to test creators before hiring them.
- How to target buyer-intent Google searches with YouTube videos, Shorts, Instagram Reels, and other third-party content.
- How to use Ahrefs to find the keywords your existing YouTube videos already rank for.
- His prediction for SEO in 2027: more discovery through social media and AI recommendations, with bottom-of-funnel pages converting visitors into customers.
We also discuss protecting paid content from AI agents, why Ilias uses public SEO audits to demonstrate his skills, and what separates long-term SEO strategies from short-term tricks.
If you build SaaS products, run SEO for clients, or want backlinks that bring rankings and customers, this conversation covers specific tactics you can put to work.
⭐️ Ilias ISM on 𝕏 - https://x.com/illyism 
⭐️ Ilias Ismanalijev on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/illyism 
⭐️ Ilias's agency, Magic Space - https://magicspace.agency 
⭐️ Ilias's link building tool, LinkDIY - https://linkdr.com/ 
⭐️ SEO Roast - https://seoroast.com 
⭐️ AI SEO Tracker - https://aiseotracker.com 
⭐️ Ilias's SEO Skills repo - https://github.com/Illyism/seo-skills 
💎 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://compactkeywords.com/ 
00:00 Meet Ilias
00:28 From Startup Exit
01:57 Backlinks Breakthrough
04:10 Emailing For Links
07:21 Listicles Today
09:10 AI Overviews Shift
12:16 Brand As SEO Moat
14:52 Blocking AI Scrapers
18:28 LinkDIY Automation
23:09 Paying For Links
28:52 Authority Signals Everywhere
33:02 Scaling Competitor Data
35:45 NapLab Case Study
41:06 Avoiding Spam Links
42:57 Cornerstone Mattress SEO
44:16 Real Testing Authority
44:48 Black Hat Press Tricks
46:45 Growing on X
47:34 SEO Roasts That Convert
50:12 Funding a Vibe SaaS
51:59 Why AI Misses SEO
54:30 Build in Public Risks
56:24 Indie SEO That Works
57:16 UGC Creator Engine
01:03:36 Acquiring and Scaling SaaS
01:07:18 Social Video SEO Tactics
01:08:51 Batch Analyze YouTube Rankings
01:10:11 SEO in 2027
01:18:30 Wrap Up and Resources
The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/  
#searchengineoptimization #seo #indiehackers #generativeengineoptimization

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 of GA4 data.
- ChatGPT generated just 0.62% of Google's organic traffic volume, and all LLMs combined generated 0.73%.
- The conversion-rate surprise: 13.8% for ChatGPT visitors versus 3.02% for Google organic visitors.
- Google's 27x conversion advantage over all LLMs combined, despite ChatGPT's higher conversion rate.
- Marie's finding that ChatGPT referral traffic has declined since August 2025.
- Mike King's response: AI search is a brand channel, not primarily a referral-traffic channel.
- Why judging AI visibility solely by clicks overlooks recommendations, trust, and purchase decisions.
- Where Mike agrees with GEO critics: schema hacks, LLMs.txt, and writing content for robots are distractions.
Then I get into the tactics:
- Build bottom-of-funnel SEO landing pages for searches people make when they're ready to buy, use something, or book a call.
- Create product pages that explain what you offer and why someone should choose it.
- Examine Promptwatch's citation data: listicles at 18.7%, landing pages at 15.2%, and product pages at 14%.
- Understand new research showing that Google cites self-promotional listicles less often, and why third-party recommendations matter.
- Get your brand included in relevant listicles on websites you don't own.
- Build backlinks, earn brand mentions, and get independent coverage from publishers and creators.
- Deliver strong customer support so people leave positive reviews and discuss your business on platforms AI search uses for research.
- Publish videos, posts, and other social content around the same buyer-intent keywords as your landing pages.
My conclusion: I don't know whether GEO is a distraction, but I know the tactics that get results.
Target buying intent. Make pages that convert. Earn links and mentions. Build a reputation people trust. Expand your reach across channels.
These efforts build on each other over time and create visibility in traditional search and AI search.
⭐️ Marie Haynes: GEO Is a Distraction - https://www.mariehaynes.com/geo-is-a-distraction/ 
⭐️ Mike King on 𝕏 - https://x.com/VeryWellVersed/status/2113335299807801456 
⭐️ Mike King: AI Search Is a Branding Channel - https://ipullrank.com/ai-search-is-a-branding-channel 
⭐️ Promptwatch research - https://www.linkedin.com/posts/gijs-de-groot2021_seeing-a-lot-of-talk-about-listicles-losing-share-7426618882129362944-FsN7/ 
⭐️ Dmytro Sokhach self-promo listicle research - https://x.com/Dmytro_Sokhach/status/2112241629281087513 
💎 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://compactkeywords.com/ 
00:00 SEO Community Controversy
00:41 Marie Haynes Data Breakdown
02:22 Why LLM Traffic Plateaued
02:59 Marie's Practical SEO Advice
03:49 Mike King Pushes Back
04:56 AI Search as Brand Channel
07:06 Host Take Bottom Funnel Focus
07:53 What Gets Cited in AI
09:25 Mentions Links and UGC
11:31 Long Cut Wins Closing
12:06 Wrapping
The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/  
#generativeengineoptimization #searchengineoptimization #seo #answerengineoptimization