The Edward Show

E1177: Google just changed how its parasite SEO penalty works across Europe, but the headline leaves out the most important part.
I break down Google's change to its Site Reputation Abuse Policy inside the European Economic Area and explain what it means for parasite SEO, publishers, affiliate sites, and SEOs trying to rank through high-authority domains.
The European Commission challenged Google over its treatment of publisher sections containing sponsored, commercial, and third-party content. Google responded by changing how its manual site reputation abuse actions affect searchers inside the EEA.
As of August 30, the manual-action impact no longer applies to users searching from the European Economic Area, which includes the 27 EU countries plus Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein.
That sounds like a massive win for parasite SEO.
There's a catch.
Google says it may separate the affected section of a website from the rest of the domain inside its ranking systems. That means a parasite section might avoid the manual penalty while also losing the authority it previously inherited from the host website.
In this episode:
- What parasite SEO means
- Why Reddit provides such a simple example of parasite SEO
- Why the EU challenged Google's Site Reputation Abuse Policy
- What changed for searchers inside the European Economic Area
- Why the United States, United Kingdom, and other non-EEA markets still operate under the existing penalty system
- How Forbes Advisor became one of the clearest examples of publisher parasite SEO
- How Forbes ranked for commercial terms across insurance, finance, VPNs, home services, health, and other industries
- What happened after Google started enforcing its site reputation abuse rules
- Why removing the manual penalty does not mean parasite SEO gets a free pass
- How Google plans to separate third-party sections from the authority of the main domain
- Why subfolders and subdomains matter
- Why Forbes using forbes[.]com/advisor matters to this discussion
- Why Google's section-level authority separation will determine how big this change really becomes
- Why the EEA search results may look very different from US and UK search results
- Why implementation will likely create unusual opportunities and inconsistencies
- What SEOs are saying about the change
- Why this matters more for publishers than social platforms like Reddit, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn
I also explain why the real SEO story here is not simply "Google stopped penalizing parasite SEO."
The real question is whether Google successfully identifies commercial third-party sections and prevents those sections from inheriting the full ranking authority of the host domain.
If Google gets that right, the manual penalty matters a lot less.
If Google struggles with it, EEA search results could get very interesting.
I finish the episode with community reactions and my take on what SEOs need to watch next.
⭐️ Google: Update to the Site Reputation Policy - https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2026/08/update-site-reputation-policy 
⭐️ Charles Floate on 𝕏 - https://x.com/Charles_SEO/status/2093229846013137123 
⭐️ Lars Lofgren: Forbes Marketplace - https://larslofgren.com/forbes-marketplace/ 
⭐️ Browser Media: The Downfall of Parasite SEO and Google's Site Reputation Abuse Update - https://browsermedia.agency/blog/the-downfall-of-parasite-seo-and-googles-site-reputation-abuse-update/ 
⭐️ European Commission: Investigation into Google Demoting Media (Digital Markets Act) - https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/commission-opens-investigation-potential-digital-markets-act-breach-google-demoting-media 
💎 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 Parasite SEO Explained
00:49 EU Rule Change
02:00 Forbes Advisor Case
03:45 EEA Penalty Removed
04:59 Authority Separation Nuance
06:31 What Changes In Search
07:15 Community Reactions
08:06 Impact On Social Platforms
10:00 Episode Wrap Up
The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/  
#searchengineoptimization #parasiteseo #digitalpublishing #seo

E1176: Breaking down legal SEO - specifically search engine optimization that makes money for personal injury law firms.
I talk with Lindsey Busfield of Optimize My Firm about how her team approaches SEO exclusively for personal injury law firms.
We get into the pages that make money, how to structure a legal website, how law firms build authority, what drives Google Maps rankings, and why reviews matter so much for personal injury firms.
We also break down how Lindsey's team earns backlinks through scholarships, local organizations, news coverage, original studies, and even a $75,000 Guinness World Record campaign.
Topics include:
- How to structure a personal injury law firm's website around practice areas, locations, and increasingly specific case types
- Why longer-tail legal pages often rank faster and support more competitive parent pages
- Which legal SEO pages generate the highest-value signed cases
- How to avoid thin or repetitive location pages by making each page specific to the city
- Why Lindsey builds links to useful studies and linkable assets instead of pointing every backlink directly at money pages
- How scholarship campaigns generate links from schools and local organizations
- How to create newsworthy campaigns that earn local press and backlinks
- How Lindsey's team finds journalists and pitches stories personally
- Why branded mentions still matter even when a news outlet refuses to add a backlink
- Why good legal content needs human writers who understand the subject
- Lindsey's process for finding writers and why she says she goes through roughly 500 candidates to find a great one
- Why her team does not use AI-generated content on law firm websites
- How attorney photos, personal branding, and consistent messaging increase trust and conversions
- Why law firms should make phone numbers, forms, and other contact options immediately accessible
- How Google reviews affect local visibility and lead volume
- Why review recency matters alongside review quantity and rating
- The three factors Lindsey focuses on for Google Maps: reviews, organic rankings, and proximity
- How personal injury firms expand their Maps presence with legitimate satellite offices
- Why incorrect Google Business Profile categories and inconsistent address information hurt local SEO
- How to find bottom-of-funnel legal keywords instead of chasing informational traffic
- How to use the Google Sheets AI function to filter large keyword lists for commercial intent
- Why legal SEO still matters as AI search grows
- How reviews, podcasts, YouTube, directories, rankings, and a broader digital footprint influence how people and AI systems understand a law firm
Lindsey also explains why personal injury SEO has such high stakes: some cases are worth tens of thousands of dollars, while others reach into tens of millions. The goal is not simply rankings or traffic. The goal is getting the right prospective client to trust the firm, make contact, and sign.
⭐️ Lindsey Busfield's agency, Optimize My Firm - https://optimizemyfirm.com/ 
⭐️ Lindsey Busfield's Podcast - https://optimizemyfirm.com/podcasts/ 
⭐️ Lindsey Busfield's book - https://optimizemyfirm.com/leads-book/ 
⭐️ Lindsey Busfield on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindsey-busfield 
💎 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 Legal SEO Kickoff
00:15 Lindsay's Unusual Path
01:37 Niche Focus PI SEO
01:55 Link Building Strategy
03:21 Types of Backlinks
03:50 Compact Keywords Ad
05:00 Scholarship Link Outreach
06:41 Creative Scholarship Ideas
07:30 Newsworthy Link Campaigns
08:05 Guinness Event Breakdown
10:44 Cheaper PR Alternatives
11:25 Pitching Journalists Right
14:26 Cases That Earn Press
16:49 First 30 Days SEO Plan
17:44 Tracking Tools Stack
18:21 WordPress Elementor Build
20:00 Site Hierarchy Silos
21:39 Internal Links Breadcrumbs
22:20 Conversion Focused Pages
24:17 Clean URL Structure
25:44 Natural Writing Beats Stuffing
28:05 Hiring Training Writers
29:06 Writer Screening System
29:47 Screening Writer Applicants
31:24 AI Policy for Legal Writing
33:02 Money Pages and Local SEO
35:35 Linkable Assets Strategy
36:22 Bios and Trust Signals
42:01 AI Recommendations and Footprint
43:59 Reviews That Drive Leads
46:24 Bottom Funnel Keyword Research
49:20 Local Pack Ranking Factors
51:14 Maps Expansion and Mistakes
53:39 Bad Content and Spam Links
54:58 Future of Legal SEO
56:47 Where to Find Lindsay
57:50 Wrap Up and Next Episode
The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ 
#legalseo #legalmarketing #searchengineoptimization #seo

E1175: Most SEOs know how to rank websites. Far fewer know how to sell that skill.
Blair Witkowski joins to break down how he sells SEO services without leading with the word "SEO." Instead, he talks about phone calls, missed leads, competitors showing up in ChatGPT, and money the business owner leaves on the table.
Blair walks through his sales process from the first cold call to the signed client, including the exact research he does before calling, how he gets prospects to agree to a Loom audit, how he follows up, and what he sells once the prospect says yes.
We cover:
- Why Blair avoids talking about SEO during sales calls
- How he sells "more phone calls" instead of rankings
- How he uses ChatGPT and AI visibility as the opening problem
- How he builds prospect lists by niche and location
- What he checks on a website before making the call
- Why he looks at the website footer before spending more time on a prospect
- How he finds problems within seconds instead of spending 30 minutes researching every lead
- How directories give him a reason to contact businesses
- The cold-call opening he uses with local businesses
- How he gets past gatekeepers without asking for the owner
- Why he researches the business before calling
- How he ties every technical problem back to lost revenue
- The role Claude audits, GeoGrids, SplashDash, BBB listings, reviews, and competitor research play in his pitch
- How he gets roughly one Loom audit from every 20-25 cold calls
- What he shows inside the Loom without overwhelming the prospect
- Why he sends the Loom almost immediately after the call
- Why multiple Loom views signal serious interest
- How he follows up without saying "just following up"
- Why he keeps contacting prospects for months or even years
- The prospect who saved one of his cold emails for almost a year before hiring him
- Why Blair sends Starbucks cards, books, cookies, DoorDash, and other gifts during follow-up
- Why he treats every prospect who agrees to an audit like a future client
- How he reports a roughly 42% close rate after prospects agree to a Loom audit
- How he uses simple spreadsheets to track prospects and follow-ups
- What he charges for local SEO clients
- Why $1,800-$3,500 per month represents his main pricing range
- How some clients reach $6,500 per month
- What he delivers at lower, middle, and higher monthly retainers
- Why higher tiers include more websites, Google Business Profiles, links, sponsorships, content, and local assets
- Why he sometimes pays for links and local sponsorships out of the monthly retainer
- Why communication matters after the sale just as much as getting the result
Blair also explains why business owners rarely care about SEO terminology. They care about missed calls, missed jobs, competitors taking business, and whether their marketing produces revenue.
If you know how to rank websites but struggle to consistently get clients, this episode gives you a complete look at how one agency owner approaches prospecting, sales, follow-up, pricing, and fulfillment.
⭐️ Blair Witkowski's Personal Site - https://blairwitkowski.com/ 
⭐️ Blair Witkowski's SEO Agency - https://coastalmarketingstrategies.com/ 
⭐️ Blair Witkowski on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@TheGarageDoorPodcast 
⭐️ Blair Witkowski on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/blairwitkowski/ 
⭐️ Blair Witkowski on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/blairwitkowski/ 
💎 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 Sales Episode Kickoff
01:10 Why SEOs Stay Broke
02:50 Offer That Clicks
03:16 Directory Cold Call Hook
05:31 Cold Call Research Stack
07:12 Gatekeepers And Openers
09:18 Loom Audit Pitch
12:39 Sell AI Phone Calls
16:28 Prospecting And Follow Up
19:11 Directories Best Of Plays
21:22 Live Electrician Call Script
25:31 Pricing And Deliverables
32:52 Loom Audit Structure
37:09 What To Fix In Loom
40:04 Live Audit Proof Points
40:49 Loom Follow Up System
42:26 Tracking Views And CRM
44:08 Pricing And Service Tiers
48:50 Higher Tier Trust Signals
52:48 Global Selling With Accents
57:17 Handling SEO Company Objection
01:00:27 When To Stop Following Up
01:02:40 Lead Sources And Call Volume
01:06:11 Hiring Callers And Directories
01:09:48 Client Win Stories
01:15:07 Scaling Out Of Operations
01:17:21 No Small Talk Cold Calls
01:19:06 Charge More Final Advice
The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/  
#searchengineoptimization #generativeengineoptimization #seo #digitalmarketing

E1174: Google has told employees not to discuss how clicks are used in Search outside of a need-to-know basis.
That comes directly from an internal Google presentation from around the end of 2018 that surfaced during discovery in Google's antitrust trial.
The presentation gives a rare look at how Google talks internally about Search, SEOs, leaks, ranking information, clicks, and the risks of explaining too much about how the algorithm works.
I break down the most important slides and what they mean for SEOs.
I cover:
- Google's warning to employees to "be careful in discussing Search"
- Why Google says information about how Search works should remain on a need-to-know basis
- The internal line: "Everything we leak will be used against us by SEOs"
- Google's warning not to discuss the use of clicks in Search except with people who understand not to discuss the topic externally
- Why this matters when compared with Google's historical public statements about click-through rate and dwell time
- Rand Fishkin's old CTR experiments where hundreds of searchers clicking a result were followed by major ranking movements
- Gary Illyes' statement that theories around dwell time and click-through rate were "generally made-up crap"
- Why Google has strong incentives to avoid publicly explaining ranking systems that SEOs would immediately test and manipulate
- How John Mueller and Danny Sullivan get information about Google Search
- Danny Sullivan's explanation that Search representatives talk directly with the engineers building Google's systems
- Why that still does not mean every detail of Google's ranking systems gets shared publicly
- Google's internal list of Search quality factors, including relevance, page quality, popularity, freshness, localization, language, centrality, topical diversity, personalization, spam authority, privacy, and more
- Google's basic Search control flow: crawling, indexing, query interpretation, candidate retrieval, scoring, and final adjustments
- How query interpretation includes things like synonyms, spelling, intent interpretation, and query expansion
- Why Google deliberately makes parts of Search difficult to reverse engineer
- Google's rank-modifying spammer patent and the idea of introducing ranking behavior designed to prevent spammers from understanding the system
The larger takeaway is not that SEO is unknowable.
SEOs have spent decades testing ranking factors, comparing results, running experiments, and sharing what works.
That gives us a strong practical understanding of Search even when Google does not explain every ranking signal publicly.
The fundamentals remain straightforward:
- Make the page highly relevant to the target query
- Put the target keyword in important locations such as the title, URL, H1, and beginning of the first sentence
- Satisfy search intent immediately
- Build real backlinks from indexed pages
- Earn links people actually click
- Build foundational business profiles and citations
- Stay active on social media
- Drive branded searches
- Test what works and pay attention to real ranking results
⭐️ The internal Google presentation - https://www.justice.gov/d9/2023-09/416694.pdf 
⭐️ Rand Fishkin's experiments - https://seosherpa.com/seo-experiments/ 
⭐️ Gary Illyes's comment - https://www.reddit.com/r/TechSEO/comments/ao3fmk/comment/efxzljs/?context=8&depth=9 
⭐️ Danny Sullivan's comment - https://www.seroundtable.com/communication-engineers-google-ranking-systems-37376.html 
⭐️ Google's API Leak - https://sparktoro.com/blog/an-anonymous-source-shared-thousands-of-leaked-google-search-api-documents-with-me-everyone-in-seo-should-see-them/ 
⭐️ Ep 974 - Google's New AI Patent Could Replace Your Website - https://youtu.be/0kTEYwiRBbg 
💎 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 Google Presentation Leaked
00:51 Why Search Secrecy Matters
01:57 Sensitive Topics and PR Risk
03:17 Clicks and CTR Controversy
05:34 Google Reps Info Source
06:52 SEO Community vs Black Box
08:05 How Search Actually Works
10:01 Simple Pareto SEO Playbook
12:18 Episode Wrap Up
The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/  
#searchengineoptimization #seo #digitalmarketing #generativeengineoptimization

E1173: Internal linking is one of the fastest SEO improvements you can make, and this episode breaks down a simple method for using topical authority you already have to rank new pages and push existing pages higher.
The method starts with a Google search:
[your website] "keyword you want to rank for"
Google will show you which pages on your site it already sees as relevant to that keyword.
From there, you take the most relevant text on those indexed pages and internally link it to the page you actually want ranking.
I cover:
- How to find pages Google already associates with your target keyword
- How to use those pages to pass relevance and authority to your target page
- How to decide whether an existing page actually satisfies search intent
- When to use exact-match anchor text and when to use variations
- Why natural anchor text matters for both users and Google
- How to use section anchor links when the relevant content sits farther down a page
- Why optimizing an entire page around a keyword is stronger than optimizing one section
- When you should create a completely new page instead
- The three questions to answer before writing new SEO content
- Where to place your target keyword on a new page
- Why the page title, URL slug, H1, and opening sentence matter
- How to satisfy search intent immediately above the fold
- Why internal links from pages already getting search traffic carry more value
- Why internal links that people actually click matter even more
- How too many internal links make content look spammy and reduce clicks on the links that matter
- Why relevant anchor text gives Google stronger context about the destination page
- How this method pushes authority from existing indexed content toward new SEO pages
- Why I mainly use this strategy with top-of-funnel informational content
- Why I keep bottom-of-funnel SEO pages much more minimal
- How excessive internal linking on conversion pages distracts people from your calls to action
- How to use hub pages to build relevance for bottom-of-funnel keywords before the individual pages even exist
- Why hub pages sometimes start ranking for keywords before you publish the page that satisfies the search
The core idea is simple:
Google already tells you which pages on your site it associates with a keyword.
Use those pages.
Find the relevant text, internally link it to the page you want ranking, and concentrate that existing topical authority instead of starting from zero.
And if you do not already have a page that properly satisfies search intent, create one, optimize it around the keyword, give the searcher what they want immediately, and then turn the relevant content on your existing pages into internal links pointing to it.
I also explain why I treat bottom-of-funnel pages differently. Those pages exist to convert. If someone lands on a page ready to buy, book, call, sign up, or become a lead, I do not want to distract them with unnecessary internal links.
⭐️ The written version of this episode: https://edwardsturm.com/articles/topical-authority-rank-faster/ 
⭐️ Ep 1163 - The $50,000 Internal Linking Experiment: Links That Get Clicked Carry More Weight - https://youtu.be/biy8ILxTzqc 
💎 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 Internal Linking Quick Win
00:20 Find Indexed Keyword Pages
00:56 Link to Intent Winners
01:49 Real World Anchor Examples
02:44 Avoid Exact Match Spam
03:07 Use Anchor Link Sections
04:29 Why This Works in Google
06:06 Create a New Target Page
07:53 Top vs Bottom Funnel Links
08:26 Hub Pages for Relevance
11:33 Wrap Up and Goodbye
The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/  
#seotips #searchengineoptimization #seo #digitalmarketing