The Edward Show

E1031: Wil Reynolds, founder of Seer Interactive, joins the show to break down what's actually working in SEO right now - and what most people are getting completely wrong.
This conversation goes beyond tactics. Wil explains why chasing shortcuts, automations, and "quick wins" is a losing strategy, and why the future belongs to people who understand how humans think, search, and make decisions.
We talk about AI, agents, brand, keyword strategy, client work, and the mindset required to stay relevant in a rapidly changing industry.
In this:
- Why most SEOs are focused on the wrong things
- The difference between tenure and tenacity in SEO
- What's actually changing with AI search and LLMs
- Why "talking to real humans" is still the biggest edge
- How to find keywords that actually drive revenue (not vanity traffic)
- Why ranking #1 can still be a waste of time
- The problem with listicles, loopholes, and copycat strategies
- How to use PPC data to validate SEO decisions
- What real marketing looks like in a search-driven world
- How brand perception impacts both Google and AI results
- Wil's experiments with LLMs and how fast results can change
- Why most agencies lose trust (and how to avoid it)
- The role of agents and automation in modern workflows
- Why internal linking and SEO processes are becoming fully automatable
- The importance of playing the long game vs chasing short-term wins
Key ideas from Wil:
- Just because you rank doesn't mean you'll win customers
- SEO without understanding people is incomplete
- If your strategy depends on a loophole, it won't last
- Brand matters more than ever in AI-driven search
- The fastest wins are often the least durable
- The best insights come from watching real users, not tools
- You have to earn trust, not automate it
⭐️ Wil Reynolds' agency - Seer Interactive - https://www.seerinteractive.com/
⭐️ Wil Reynolds' 𝕏 - https://x.com/wilreynolds
⭐️ Wil Reynolds' LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wilreynolds/
⭐️ Wil Reynolds' YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/wilreynolds
⭐️ My mom passed away, what kind of son was I to her? - https://wilreynolds.medium.com/my-mom-passed-away-what-kind-of-son-was-i-to-her-af28b8e40c3e
🚀 Edward's SEO Articles - https://edwardsturm.com/articles/search-engine-optimization/
💎 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 Wil Reynolds
00:32 SEO Origins and Tenacity
05:18 Talk to Real Searchers
10:51 Intent and Keyword ROI
15:21 Listicles Versus Strategy
18:44 Buyer Psychology Reading List
21:28 AI Agents and Orchestrators
28:05 Internal Linking Automation
34:10 Meaningful Impact and Teaching
42:17 Creative Campaign Sex Toy Day
49:43 Influencing LLMs and Reputation
01:02:45 Long Game SEO Mindset
01:09:30 Accountability Beyond SEO
01:15:18 Closing Thoughts and Outro
The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/
#searchengineoptimization #seo #digitalmarketing #growthhacking

E1030: Keyword cannibalization - what it is, how to identify it, and how to fix it without wasting time on things that don't move your business forward.
This topic came from a detailed post in the SEO subreddit, along with real-world examples and insights from people actively working on sites. We also connect it back to how Google actually handles duplicate and competing content, and where people tend to get this wrong.
Keyword cannibalization is often misunderstood. It's not just about duplicate content - it's about multiple pages on your site competing for the same intent, causing Google to split ranking signals and making it harder for any one page to perform well.
In this episode, I walk through:
- What keyword cannibalization actually is (and what it isn't)
- How to spot it using Google Search Console
- Why pages bounce in rankings and what that usually means
- How to use SERP overlap to determine if two pages target the same intent
- When you should consolidate pages vs keep them separate
- A step-by-step process to fix cannibalization correctly
- Why 301 redirects matter more than most people think
- Common mistakes, including creating new content before fixing existing issues
- Why "best tools 2024 / 2025" URLs can create problems
- The limitations of canonical tags
- What to expect after making changes (timeline and ranking volatility)
I also share an important point that most people overlook:
You don't need to fix cannibalization everywhere.
Focus on keywords that actually drive revenue, leads, or meaningful traffic. It's easy to spend hours cleaning up issues that have no real impact on your business.
There's also a discussion on how Google handles duplicate content, including insights from Matt Cutts, and why this problem still exists today.
If you're doing SEO seriously, this episode will help you avoid one of the most common ways sites limit their own performance.
⭐️ The Reddit Thread - https://www.reddit.com/r/SEO/comments/1skbj17/heres_what_i_have_learnt_about_keyword/
⭐️ The Matt Cutts Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQZY7EmjbMA
🚀 Edward's SEO Articles - https://edwardsturm.com/articles/search-engine-optimization/
💎 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 Cannibalization Overview
00:43 What It Means
01:04 How To Spot It
01:42 SERP Overlap Test
02:25 Consolidation Playbook
03:16 Common Fix Mistakes
04:09 When It Actually Matters
05:06 Duplicate Content Explained
06:43 Local Site Examples
07:43 Advanced Diagnosis Issues
10:17 GSC Data Weirdness
11:09 Wrap Up
The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/
#searchengineoptimization #keywordcannibalization #technicalseo #seo

E1029: How e-commerce brands should build backlinks, especially Shopify brands.
Kai Cromwell, an e-commerce SEO legend, joins the show for his second time.
We cover what links are worth paying for, what links to avoid, how to evaluate link marketplaces, when to use cold email, and why most e-commerce brands should be careful about building too many links directly to product pages.
Topics covered:
- Where e-commerce brands should build backlinks from
- When a new brand should avoid spending money on links
- How much Kai recommends spending if you use link marketplaces
- Why link insertions are often better than guest posts
- How to check whether marketplace metrics are outdated
- Red flags to look for before buying a link
- Why traffic history matters
- How to evaluate a site's outbound link ratio
- What topical relevance should look like
- What makes a link insertion look natural
- How Kai uses cold email for link building
- Why niche sites are often more useful than big news sites
- How to think about building links to the homepage, collection pages, blog posts, and product pages
- Why Kai usually avoids building links to product pages
- Anchor text ratios for e-commerce sites
- How smaller brands can build links without a large budget
- Why free foundational links still matter
- How link exchanges, journalist requests, and PR can fit into a link building strategy
- What makes one backlink more valuable than another
- Why having a real brand and useful content makes link building easier
Kai also shares a few link building stories, including one involving a food blogger, a cookie company, and a fake cookie recipe made with ChatGPT.
If you're in e-commerce, this episode is a must.
⭐️ Kai's first time on the podcast - Full Shopify SEO breakdown - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pu8J3ldS9mQ
⭐️ Kai Cromwell on 𝕏 - https://x.com/KaiCromwell
⭐️ Kai Cromwell on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kai-cromwell/
⭐️ Kai Cromwell on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@searchnewseas
⭐️ Kai Cromwell's Shopify SEO Agency, New Seas - https://newseas.co/
🎯 The AI System to Find Relevant Journalists, Land Coverage, and Earn Ongoing High-Authority Backlinks - https://edwardsturm.com/articles/articles_ai-system-find-journalists-earn-high-authority-backlinks/
💎 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 Backlinks for Ecommerce
00:24 Choosing Link Sources
01:52 Best Marketplaces and Pricing
03:14 Buying Links Mistakes
06:53 Red Flags to Avoid
09:15 Topical Relevance Checks
10:18 Great Link Insertions
12:32 Cold Email Link Building
15:46 Natural Link Profiles
17:53 Where to Point Links
19:03 Blog Links and Internal Juice
20:57 Branded Search and Anchors
22:39 Branded Anchors Only
22:57 Why News PR Is Hard
24:33 Press Releases And Tools
26:33 Scaling Outreach With Rechecks
28:50 Link Building On A Budget
31:16 HARO And Reporter Platforms
32:45 Picking High Value Links
35:44 Creative Link Building Stories
39:28 Make A Site Worth Linking
40:38 Viral Assets And Trend Surfing
43:05 Brand Quality Beats SEO
45:31 Wrap Up And Where To Find Kai
The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/
#ecommerceseo #shopifyseo #linkbuilding #searchengineoptimization

E1028: Breaking down what Google is rewarding right now when it comes to SEO - and how so much "standard" content isn't working.
Last week at the Google Search Central Live Toronto event, a series of slides started circulating in the SEO community. One in particular stood out: the difference between commodity content and non-commodity content.
This is a practical breakdown of that idea, what it means for your site, and how to apply it without losing rankings for keywords.
I also share a simple ChatGPT prompt you can use to create titles that combine keyword targeting with real, experience-driven angles that people actually want to click.
What you'll learn in this episode:
- The difference between commodity content and non-commodity content
- How generic "tips" content struggles to rank and convert
- How to keep strong keyword relevance while making your content more specific
- A simple prompt you can use with ChatGPT to generate better titles
- When non-commodity content works best (top-of-funnel vs. bottom-of-funnel)
- How to structure titles so they match search intent and improve click-through rate
- How scaled, templated content can lead to ranking drops or manual actions
- What Google actually says about AI-generated content and when it becomes a problem
- Why you don't need to target every keyword variation or conversational query
- Practical advice on SERP comparison and keyword selection
Key takeaway:
You still need keywords. Google is still a relevance-driven system. But content that is generic, repeatable, and easy to produce is getting filtered out more aggressively.
Content that is specific, experience-based, and difficult to replicate performs better - especially when combined with clear keyword targeting.
⭐️ The Commodity vs Non Commodity slide: https://x.com/CyrusShepard/status/2047044462774563300
⭐️ Google Search Central Live Toronto - All Slides (April 2026) - https://www.jcchouinard.com/google-search-central-live-toronto-slides-april-2026/
⭐️ The Reddit Thread - https://www.reddit.com/r/TechSEO/comments/1svgj8p/need_help_manual_action/
🚀 Edward's SEO Articles - https://edwardsturm.com/articles/search-engine-optimization/
💎 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 Organic Search Shift
00:15 Commodity vs Non-Commodity Content
01:14 Kris Ott Shoutout
03:51 Keyword Targeting Reality
04:26 ChatGPT Title Prompt
05:30 Top vs Bottom of Funnel Titles
07:05 Avoid Obvious Patterns
07:55 What Non-Commodity Means
08:43 AI Content Guidance
10:09 Myth Busting SEO Slides
12:40 Core SEO Still Works
13:17 Wrap Up And Outro
The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/
#searchengineoptimization #seo #contentmarketing #digitalmarketing

E1027: Tryggvi Rafn rejoins the show to screenshare (on YouTube) the AI-powered SEO system he built from scratch over four months.
This is not another "AI writes blog posts" workflow. The system is designed to discover, prioritize, and build revenue-driving pages automatically, using a combination of data pipelines, keyword clustering, and agent-based workflows.
We walk through how it works end-to-end, including how it finds opportunities, creates content, and routes everything through a structured review process.
What we cover:
- How the system builds a "keyword universe" from multiple data sources
- Using Google Search Console, scraped content, forums, and product data together
- Turning website content into a vector database to better understand topics
- Automatically generating and scoring new keyword opportunities
- Clustering keywords into topics and mapping them to the right pages
- Why most tools focus too much on blog content (and what to do instead)
- Building commercial pages, landing pages, and product-driven SEO content
- How the system identifies missing pages and creates them
- The role of intent analysis and why it needs to be tracked over time
- How "striking distance" and information gain are used to improve rankings
- The content pipeline: research → brief → draft → review → publish
- Why human review is still a critical step in the workflow
- How agents are used for research, analysis, and execution
- The difference between stateful agents and task-based agents
- How the team iterates on content quality and improves outputs over time
- What actually makes AI-generated content useful instead of generic
- The biggest challenges in building a system like this (and what broke along the way)
- How much time this saves compared to manual SEO workflows
- Real-world results, including ranking for competitive keywords and driving high-ticket sales
We also get into the technical side:
- Building data pipelines that don't break at scale
- Error handling and workflow reliability
- Managing handoffs between different agents
- Designing systems that continuously improve with feedback
This episode is especially useful if you:
- Run SEO for an e-commerce or service business
- Want to move beyond manual keyword research and content planning
- Are thinking about building internal tools using AI
- Care about ranking pages that actually drive revenue, not just traffic
⭐️ Tryggvi Rafn on 𝕏 - https://x.com/ecomtryggvi
⭐️ Tryggvi Rafn on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tryggvi-rafn/
⭐️ Tryggvi Rafn on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@Ecomtryggvi
⭐️ Tryggvi Rafn's agency - https://www.nordicamarketing.com/
🚀 Edward's SEO Articles - https://edwardsturm.com/articles/search-engine-optimization/
💎 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 Auto SEO Overview
01:20 Why Page Types Matter
02:06 Brand DNA Brain
03:05 Keyword Universe Pipeline
06:38 Clustering Explained
07:47 Results and Human Review
08:46 Command Center Workflows
11:02 Intent and Commercial Focus
11:57 Images and Alt Text Automation
14:29 Project Brain Knowledge Base
17:46 Information Gain Briefs
19:45 Backlog to Review Workflow
24:54 Writing Quality Controls
26:36 Building Lessons and Roadblocks
29:52 Five Keyword Sources
32:54 Impact on Rankings
33:47 Wrap Up and Next Features
The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/
#searchengineoptimization #seo #programmaticseo #growthhacking