The Edward Show

E1109: Local backlinks do not have to come from guest posts, national websites, or expensive digital PR campaigns.
In this episode, Ellen Sartin and Garrett French explain how local businesses can build backlinks through community sponsorships, nonprofit partnerships, chambers of commerce, local events, schools, youth sports teams, and other organizations operating in their area.
They break down how to find sponsorship opportunities, what these placements usually cost, where the links should point, how many links a business may need, and how to make sure the sponsorship produces more than just a backlink.
We cover:
- How local businesses can find sponsorship opportunities themselves
- Why local relevance can matter more than domain authority
- How to approach nonprofits and community organizations
- What information to prepare before beginning outreach
- Why personal emails and phone calls work better than mass outreach
- How much local sponsorship links typically cost
- Why businesses should start with organizations they already support
- The difference between a sponsorship placement and a paid advertisement
- Where local backlinks should point on your website
- Why location and service pages are often stronger targets than the homepage
- How to think about anchor text without making it look forced
- Whether businesses should build links directly to their Google Business Profile
- How chambers of commerce can provide links, articles, press releases, and local visibility
- When local directories are worth joining
- How newsletters, social posts, event banners, and offline placements can generate additional exposure
- What makes a local backlink valuable
- Which sponsorship and directory links businesses should avoid
- How to measure whether local link building is improving rankings and visibility
- Why businesses should create a page highlighting the organizations they support
- How one plumbing company earned 43 local links, ranked for 86 new keywords, and improved its average position by nine spots
The main lesson is simple: the strongest local backlinks often come from being genuinely involved in the communities where your customers live.
Instead of only paying for links on unrelated websites, local businesses can sponsor real organizations, earn relevant links, reach new customers, build brand recognition, and support causes in their area.
⭐️ Ellen Sartin on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellen-sartin-zipsprout/ 
⭐️ Garrett French on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/garrettfrench/ 
⭐️ Contact Ellen Sartin directly - ellen@zipsprout.com and 470-250-0670
⭐️ Book a call with Ellen - https://meetings.hubspot.com/ellen-sartin-zipsprout/discovery-call-zipsprout 
⭐️ DIY Sponsorship Guide - https://zipsprout.com/diy-sponsorship-link-building-for-local-businesses-on-a-budget/ 
⭐️ Dial One Case Study - https://zipsprout.com/texas-plumbing-company-ranks-higher-with-sponsored-link-campaign/ 
⭐️ AI Visibility with Community PR - https://zipsprout.com/building-local-trust-and-ai-visibility-through-community-pr/ 
⭐️ Survey Study: How Businesses View Local Sponsorships - https://zipsprout.com/local-nonprofit-sponsorship-report-business/ 
💎 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 Local Link Building Kickoff
01:01 Meet The Guests
02:54 Community Sponsorship Strategy
06:42 Sponsor Outreach Process
08:03 Dentist Example Planning
17:07 DIY Sponsorship Links
23:14 Results And AI Visibility
25:19 Press PR And Chambers
31:30 Directories Local Relevance
33:39 Anchor Text Guidelines
36:28 Links To Google Business Profile
37:22 Testing Lessons Learned
38:47 Local Relevance Basics
39:31 Best Pages For Backlinks
41:40 URL Structure Debate
43:31 Pricing And Pilot Plans
46:09 How Many Sponsorships
47:45 Good Vs Bad Links
49:05 Newsletters And Lead Gen
54:38 Sponsorship Perks Catalog
59:45 Proving It Works
01:02:31 Community First Link Building
01:07:23 Wrap Up And Resources
The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ 
#localseo #linkbuilding #localmarketing #searchengineoptimization

E1108: Hank Azarian has worked in SEO for more than 20 years across LegalZoom, Like.com, Refinery29, TMZ, Raptive, and thousands of independent publisher websites.
In this episode, Hank explains what he learned from working with more than 5,000 publishers, scaling major media sites, building SEO systems, and testing what actually improves traffic, engagement, and revenue.
We cover:
- How organic search helped take an ecommerce company from zero to a $1 million annual run rate
- How Refinery29 grew from roughly 1 million to 18 million monthly search visits
- How TMZ increased its search traffic by updating breaking-news pages instead of publishing multiple competing versions
- Why publishers who stay close to their content tend to outperform those who outsource everything
- Why testing matters more than blindly following SEO best-practice lists
- How to choose which old pages to update
- Why SEO teams should focus less on raw traffic and more on revenue, returning visitors, and email signups
- How to turn basic FAQs into pages that solve specific customer problems
- Why narrow, focused pages can perform better in AI search and passage-based retrieval systems
- Why generic programmatic SEO pages are becoming less useful
- How to find information that AI systems are missing, uncertain about, or getting wrong
- What Hank means when he says SEO is moving from keywords to "key people"
- Why LLMs.txt has not shown meaningful results in his testing
- How entity disambiguation helps Google and AI systems distinguish between similar people, brands, and businesses
- How Hank separated his identity from actor Hank Azaria in search and AI results
- Why third-party mentions, podcasts, structured data, media pages, and Wikidata can strengthen entity recognition
- What separates publishers that consistently grow from those that plateau
- How Hank would spend 10 hours on SEO for a new website
- How he would approach a mature website that has lost revenue or traffic
Hank also shares lessons from working across editorial, engineering, product, advertising, and executive teams, and explains why modern SEOs need to become better experimenters, builders, and decision-makers.
⭐️ Hank Azarian on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hankazarian/ 
⭐️ Hank Azarian's website - https://hankazarian.com/ 
⭐️ Hank Azarian Is Not Hank Azaria - https://hankazarian.com/hank-azarian-not-hank-azaria/ 
⭐️ Hank Azarian's AI SEO testing - https://hankazarian.com/ai-seo-testing/ 
💎 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 Hank Azarian
00:19 Accidental SEO Start
01:41 First Million Run Rate
03:28 Agency Life and Big Clients
04:15 Scaling Like Selling to Google
06:30 Miami Move and Refinery29
10:11 TMZ Tech Migration
11:39 Winning the News Box
17:51 Raptive SEO at Scale
20:54 Tooling and Network Keywords
25:23 ChatGPT Changes Investment
28:53 Decision Architecture Products
33:57 Actionable SEO Plays Today
39:27 Career Advice and Testing
44:13 Experiments and What Works
48:10 Peers Schema and Knowledge Graphs
49:47 Testing Beyond Best Practices
51:19 Why Entity Disambiguation Matters
54:31 Building a Distinct Personal Brand
58:59 SEO Patents Worth Watching
01:02:08 Volatility and Probabilistic Rankings
01:05:39 Entity Disambiguation Playbook
01:09:50 What Makes Publishers Grow
01:14:11 How to Spend 10 SEO Hours
01:19:03 Why Pages Don't Get Indexed
01:23:44 Rapid Fire and Wrap Up
The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ 
#searchengineoptimization #seo #enterpriseseo #publisherseo

E1107: E-commerce SEO is no longer only about ranking product and category pages in Google. AI search tools are also surfacing filtered URLs, faceted navigation pages, intent-based collections, and detailed product pages for highly specific buying queries.
I speak with Gagan Ghotra and Harpreet Singh about how e-commerce brands can improve visibility in Google, ChatGPT, AI Overviews, and AI Mode without creating crawl problems, duplicate pages, or large amounts of low-value content.
We explain how ChatGPT can surface faceted URLs for searches such as TVs under a certain price, products in a specific size, or items that match multiple attributes. The discussion also covers why some of these pages may appear in AI search even when they are canonicalized, noindexed, or not designed to rank in traditional search.
Topics covered:
- How faceted navigation works on e-commerce sites
- Why filtered URLs are appearing in AI search results
- How ChatGPT query fan-out creates detailed buying searches
- When faceted navigation helps SEO and when it causes crawl waste
- How to manage indexation, canonicals, robots.txt, and duplicate URL combinations
- Why Wayfair's keyword and search pages are worth studying
- How intent-based category pages can capture searches that standard product categories miss
- Why pages such as airport outfits, graduation dresses, products for sleep, and holiday sale pages can convert well
- When scaling category and collection pages becomes risky
- How much unique content similar collection pages actually need
- Why site size, authority, internal links, demand, and revenue data should guide page creation
- How scaled AI content can damage the wider site, not only the blog
- What e-commerce brands can learn from major organic traffic declines
- Why product options hidden behind JavaScript should also be explained in visible text
- How to write useful collection-page copy without keyword stuffing
- Where collection-page content should appear in relation to the product grid
- How FAQs, comparisons, buying guidance, and product education can support conversions
- How to optimize product descriptions, product variants, specifications, certifications, and use cases
- How to write unique image alt text for different product images and angles
- Why related-product sections should contain genuinely related items
- How to use internal site-search data to find bottom-of-funnel page ideas
- Why Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Mother's Day, Father's Day, and other sale pages should stay live year-round
- How Google Merchant Center is beginning to report product-feed performance in AI search
The episode focuses on a practical balance: create pages that match real customer demand, explain products clearly, and help people make buying decisions, while avoiding uncontrolled URL growth and content created only to increase page count.
⭐️ Ep 1081 - Google Merchant Center Mistakes Killing Your Ecommerce Revenue - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIyAv_Li1qA 
⭐️ Gagan Ghotra on 𝕏 - https://x.com/gaganghotra_ 
⭐️ Gagan Ghotra on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/gagan-ghotra/ 
⭐️ Gagan Ghotra's website - https://gaganghotra.com/ 
⭐️ Harpreet Singh's Personal Site - https://harpsdigital.com  
⭐️ Harpreet on X - https://x.com/harpreetchatha_ 
⭐️ Harpreet's Newsletter - https://seoespresso.com 
⭐️ Harpreet on LinkedIn - https://linkedin.com/in/harpreetsingh8/ 
⭐️ Harpreet on TikTok - https://tiktok.com/@seoharp 
⭐️ Harpreet on YouTube - https://youtube.com/@harpsdigital 
💎 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 Ecommerce SEO kickoff
00:16 Facets in AI search
01:09 Faceted navigation basics
02:35 SEO risks and crawl control
03:25 Why facets get cited
06:22 Wayfair sitemap strategy
08:40 How to implement facets
10:41 AI partnerships and JS limits
15:24 Query fan out investigation
20:33 Traffic drops case studies
26:42 Meaningful category page copy
30:30 Where to place the text
31:53 Safe URLs and takeaways
33:47 Intent Category Pages
36:01 Supplement Intent Collections
36:57 Granular Products Blogging
40:16 Long Term Content ROI
41:39 Scaling Category Variations
47:03 Internal Links Risk
48:52 Evergreen Sale Pages
52:43 Merchant Center AI Report
54:21 Product Page Essentials
57:09 Alt Text Related Products
01:01:39 CRO Copy And Keywords
01:04:12 Navigation Architecture Fixes
01:06:03 Authority And Backlinks
01:11:34 Digital PR Link Tactics
01:13:47 Final Wrap And Thanks
The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ 
#searchengineoptimization #ecommerceseo #ecommerce #seo

E1105: Google is not indexing every page it discovers.
As the web keeps growing, Google has to decide which pages are worth crawling regularly, storing in its index, and showing in search results. That means weak site structure, accidental noindex tags, and poor internal linking can make it harder for your important pages to get indexed.
We break down three simple SEO mistakes shared by Mike Friedman (SEO Pub) that can reduce crawling and indexation across your website.
You'll learn:
- Why you should be careful about adding noindex tags to category pages
- How noindexed category pages can make it harder for Google to discover new content
- Why internal links help Google understand which pages matter most
- What it tells Google when an important page only has one or two internal links
- How crawl depth affects how frequently pages are crawled
- Why your most important pages should ideally be reachable within three clicks of the homepage
- How to use high-authority pages on your site to help Google find deeper pages
- How to check crawl depth inside Screaming Frog
- How accidental noindex tags commonly appear during website redesigns
- How to quickly identify non-indexable pages that return a 200 status code
- Why duplicate or undifferentiated content may struggle to remain indexed
- How stronger page titles can help your result stand out and earn more clicks
Before changing your site structure, also check the basic technical problems that frequently prevent indexing:
- Review your robots.txt file for accidental blocks
- Check your WordPress SEO plugin for unintended noindex settings
- Make sure staging-site noindex tags were removed when the new site went live
- Crawl your website and confirm that every intentionally published page is indexable
- Look for important pages buried too deeply inside your site
A page can be technically accessible without being treated as important.
If your own website rarely links to a page, Google may crawl it less frequently. If it takes nine clicks to reach from your homepage, Google may treat it as less important than a page linked directly from your main navigation or strongest pages.
Good indexing starts with making your content easy to find.
Your important SEO pages should be:
- Unique enough to add something useful
- Internally linked from relevant pages
- Close to your homepage or other high-authority pages
- Free from accidental crawling and indexing restrictions
- Part of a clear site structure that search engines can follow
⭐️ The article - https://theseopub.com/3-simple-ways-to-improve-the-indexing-of-your-webpages/ 
⭐️ Ep 779 - "Beating Google with AI SEO, Brand Signals & Obnoxiously Long Titles" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkTnuOxCYT4 
⭐️ Ep 951 - "Why Google Crawls Your Page but Refuses to Index It (And How to Fix It)" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahNhcLDa1LQ 
💎 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 Why Indexing Got Harder
00:36 Common Sense Indexing Checks
01:26 Avoid Duplicate Content
01:42 Titles That Earn Clicks
02:49 Robots Txt Pitfalls
03:27 Accidental Noindex Tags
04:22 Tip One Index Categories
05:23 Tip Two Internal Linking
05:45 Tip Three Crawl Depth
07:25 Wrap Up
08:32 Final Thanks and Outro
The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ 
#searchengineoptimization #seo #technicalseo #digitalmarketing

E1106: Pedro Dias spent six years working in Google Search Quality, where he investigated web spam, reviewed search results, and helped identify quality problems across different markets.
In this episode, Pedro explains how Google evaluates websites, why many popular SEO metrics are misleading, and what site owners should focus on if they want stronger rankings.
We begin with the LinkedIn post that caused Google's AI Overview to describe Pedro as the "world's most renowned AI visibility expert." Pedro explains why the result was partly a joke, but also why his experience, authority, and consistent online positioning likely helped Google make that connection.
We also discuss what his work inside Google actually involved. Spam detection was not simply about finding one suspicious pattern and applying a penalty. Google had to consider intent, context, false positives, user satisfaction, language markets, and the quality of the search results that would remain.
We cover:
- What Pedro did as a Google Search Quality Analyst
- How Google investigated spam, abuse, and low-quality results
- Why suspicious patterns do not automatically prove manipulation
- Why search quality decisions were often handled case by case
- How Google's processes may have changed with AI
- What "quality content" actually means
- Why longer content is not automatically better
- Why people scan a page before deciding whether to read it
- How design, structure, and presentation affect perceived quality
- Why content quality declines as user expectations increase
- Why Google is moving away from repetitive commodity content
- What makes firsthand experience and original information more valuable
- How brands become associated with specific topics in Google
- Why consistency strengthens topical authority
- Why trying to cover every topic can weaken a website
- Why backlinks still matter in 2026
- Why referral traffic and qualified leads matter more than link scores
- Why Domain Rating, Domain Authority, and other third-party metrics can mislead you
- How supposedly natural link building can still look manipulated
- Why content at scale repeatedly causes problems
- The difference between controlled programmatic SEO and uncontrolled AI content
- How to use AI for structured tasks where the output can be checked
- Why producing more pages is not automatically better
- What companies can do to improve visibility in ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews
- Why websites must be crawlable, fast, retrievable, and internally consistent
- Why schema, JSON-LD, and LLMs.txt may not work the way many SEOs claim
- Whether GEO requires different tactics from traditional SEO
- Whether semantic HTML helps search engines understand a page
- The technical SEO problems Pedro repeatedly finds on large websites
- Why architecture, click depth, server speed, and caching still matter
- The common SEO audit recommendations that waste time without improving traffic
Pedro also gives listeners three practical assignments:
- One SEO action to complete tomorrow
- One controlled AI project to build over the next 30 days
- One capability SEOs should develop over the next year
This conversation explains Google rankings from the perspective of someone who worked inside Search Quality and then spent years applying those lessons to real websites.
⭐️ Pedro Dias on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/pedrodias/ 
⭐️ Pedro Dias on 𝕏 - https://x.com/pedrodias 
⭐️ Pedro Dias consulting - https://visively.com/ 
💎 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 Welcome and Intro
00:50 Pedro's Google Journey
03:12 Matt Cutts Era Stories
03:31 Viral LinkedIn AI Title
05:21 Spam Signals and Intent
10:33 Webspam Work Then vs Now
15:17 Defining Quality Content
21:30 Non Commodity Content SEO
27:21 Entity Authority Consistency
32:56 Do Backlinks Still Matter
37:55 Earning Links with Great Assets
40:58 SEO Myths and Fake Natural Links
46:29 Safe AI Content Scaling
53:58 AI Visibility and GEO Theater
54:49 Many Bots Era
55:22 SEO Mindset Shift
57:08 LLMs Txt And Schema Myths
01:00:35 Be Retrievable And Fast
01:04:19 Semantic HTML Debate
01:07:30 Top Technical SEO Fixes
01:11:02 Internal Linking And Crawl Budget
01:15:01 Pruning Weak Pages
01:18:53 Diagnosing Traffic Drops
01:22:31 Search Intent And Topicality
01:27:14 SEO Polishes Value
01:29:13 Vanity Metrics To Ignore
01:31:23 Tomorrow 30 Days 1 Year
01:37:30 GEO Vs SEO Future
01:40:36 Google Memories And Wrap Up
The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ 
#searchengineoptimization #seo #technicalseo #webdevelopment