The Edward Show

E1200: What SEO strategies actually work?
I found a Reddit thread asking SEO practitioners which strategies delivered real results. For episode 1,200 of The Edward Show, I break down nine strategies and explain how to use them for Google rankings, backlinks, leads, and AI search visibility.
Here's what we cover:
- Map the entire buyer journey, not just individual keywords. Someone researching an expensive purchase will check YouTube reviews, Reddit discussions, third-party websites, and AI answers before buying. Get your brand into that research process.
- Find buyer-intent keywords your competitors aren't targeting. Look for queries they rank for without dedicated content. Put the target keyword in your page title, URL slug, H1, and opening sentence. Don't stuff long-tail keywords throughout the page.
- Build topical clusters that support your money pages. Create pages around related searches, connect them with internal links, and link from pages already ranking to relevant bottom-of-funnel pages.
- Find opportunities in Google Search Console before creating new content. Look for pages with impressions but few clicks. Enable Average Position and identify queries close to the top three. Check whether the page targets those queries or needs improvements.
- Refresh existing content instead of constantly publishing. Update outdated information, match search intent, strengthen internal links, and cover missing long-tail topics. Three Reddit commenters recommended this. If your existing pages aren't ranking, diagnose the problem before publishing more.
- Answer the searcher's question above the fold. Cut introductions and clutter. Use concise explanations and white space. Revisit pages after a few months to spot weak sections that seemed fine when you wrote them.
- Earn backlinks through personalized outreach and partnerships. Approach businesses in adjacent industries instead of competitors. A plumber could earn a link from a roofer's website and promote the roofer through social media posts that also rank on Google.
- Prioritize search intent over search volume. A low-volume query with clear purchase intent often brings more business than a large informational query. Identify what the searcher wants, answer it immediately, and link to supporting content.
- Get mentioned on pages that rank on Google and appear in AI citations. Find recommendation lists repeatedly cited in your industry. Pitch your business to their publishers. These placements put your brand in front of buyers and give AI systems another source mentioning your company, even without a backlink.
⭐️ The Reddit Thread - https://www.reddit.com/r/SEOTips101/comments/1wn8k7n/whats_one_seo_strategy_that_actually_worked_for/ 
⭐️ Ep 1100 - The SEO Colony Hack That Ranks Money Pages Without Backlinks - https://youtu.be/FFGNSAjdz6Y 
⭐️ Ep 787 - The #1 SEO Hack: Why Content Refreshes Beat New Content - https://youtu.be/UKvGmqzIxg4 
⭐️ Ep 1194 - 6,337 Cold Emails Reveal What Actually Gets Replies (And Backlinks) - https://youtu.be/TRMM8wsCDes 
💎 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 Fundamentals Reality Check
00:32 User Journey Over Keywords
01:09 Reviews and Third-Party Proof
03:18 Competitor Gaps and Targeting
04:22 Topical Clusters That Compound
05:32 Refresh Pages Already Ranking
07:07 What Good Content Means
08:40 Personalized Outreach Partnerships
10:38 Intent First Internal Linking
11:09 Page One Mentions for GEO
12:29 1200 Day Podcast Wrap Up
The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/  
#searchengineoptimization #seo #seotips #digitalmarketing

E1198: Do nofollow backlinks boost Google rankings? I walk through findings from Rand Fishkin, Kyle Roof, and Joy Hawkins, plus an AI search study that challenges the idea that nofollow links have no SEO value.
The practical takeaway: look beyond the link attribute. Pay attention to whether the linking page ranks on Google and attracts organic traffic.
In this episode:
- Google's 2019 change: Google shifted from ignoring nofollow links as ranking signals to treating nofollow, sponsored, and UGC attributes as hints about which links to consider or exclude.
- Rand Fishkin's experiments: Two tests pointed nofollow links from 55 and 42 websites at target pages. I cover the ranking gains and the unexpected result after participants removed the links: rankings kept improving.
- Kyle Roof's two criteria: The linking page ranks well on Google AND gets organic clicks. I explain how these criteria shaped Joy Hawkins' follow-up tests.
- Joy Hawkins' results: Joy added a nofollow link from a Local Search Forum page that already ranked and attracted traffic. The next day, her target page ranked AND a YouTube video that she had embedded on the target page ALSO ranked. She then reported positive ranking effects in additional tests.
- Nofollow links from major websites: I discuss Link Rush's reports of ranking improvements, faster indexing, and greater brand visibility after receiving nofollow links from the BBC and GOV.UK, plus the additional links and client trust those mentions attracted.
- Backlinks and AI search: A Semrush study with Kevin Indig examined 1,000 domains across five AI platforms. Nofollow backlinks showed a slightly stronger correlation with AI mentions than follow backlinks.
- A possible explanation for the AI findings: Platforms such as Reddit, Wikipedia, and Quora use nofollow links and frequently appear in AI answers.
- What this means for link building: Evaluate the source page, its rankings, its traffic, and its audience before dismissing a backlink because it carries a nofollow attribute.
These experiments and reports challenge the blanket claim that nofollow backlinks are worthless. They also give you specific criteria for evaluating the next link you earn.
⭐️ Google's 2019 announcement on nofollow links - https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2019/09/evolving-nofollow-new-ways-to-identify 
⭐️ Rand Fishkin's nofollow experiments (#10) - https://seosherpa.com/seo-experiments/ 
⭐️ Joy Hawkins nofollow backlink tests - https://www.sterlingsky.ca/nofollow-links-impact-seo/ 
⭐️ Link Rush nofollow study - https://www.linkrush.co.uk/blog/do-nofollow-backlinks-help-seo-in-2026 
⭐️ Semrush nofollow AI search study - https://www.semrush.com/blog/backlinks-ai-search-study/ 
⭐️ Ep 1163 - The $50,000 Internal Linking Experiment: Links That Get Clicked Carry More Weight - https://youtu.be/biy8ILxTzqc 
⭐️ Ep 948 - Why Low-Authority Backlinks Can Outperform High-Authority Ones - https://youtu.be/1gCsGVu3Izg 
💎 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 Do Nofollow Links Rank
00:16 Google Nofollow Update
01:35 Early Nofollow Experiments
02:31 Joy Hawkins 2024 Test
05:14 API Leak Engagement Signals
06:01 Big Brand Nofollow Wins
06:58 Nofollow Links For AI
07:32 Natural Link Profile Tips
08:16 Final Verdict And Advice
09:26 Podcast Milestone Outro
The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/  
#searchengineoptimization #linkbuilding #seo #backlinks

E1199: Rihanna's Fenty Beauty is beating Dior in the AI Search. Harpreet Singh joins me to break down the customer reviews, third-party coverage, and product pages behind Fenty's outstanding visibility.
His explanation starts with one idea: "AI is a parrot." When publications, customers, and retailers consistently recommend a product, AI repeats those recommendations.
We examine what Fenty gets right and how to apply those lessons to ecommerce, B2B, and local businesses.
In this episode:
- Nearly 53,000 customer reviews. We look at Fenty's Google Shopping presence and discuss why a good product and strong customer feedback belong at the center of your AI search strategy.
- Recommendations from trusted publications. The New York Times, InStyle, beauty bloggers, and creators all reinforce Fenty's reputation. We discuss how to find the equivalent publications and reviewers in your industry.
- Product descriptions that answer buying questions. Fenty clearly lists ingredients, benefits, awards, and attributes like "vegan" and "cruelty-free." Those details match the preferences shoppers share with ChatGPT and other AI tools.
- A specific statistic that AI repeats. Fenty says it sells one lip gloss every 10 seconds. We examine how the brand reinforces that claim through its product page and media coverage.
- Third-party retailer pages. Sephora adds its own product descriptions and thousands of reviews, creating another source of information about Fenty beyond the brand's website.
- Sales copy on bottom-of-funnel pages. Explain your product, establish trust, and show buyers what makes your offer worth choosing. We discuss why generic informational content misses the purpose of these pages.
- Local mentions for smaller businesses. Relevant directories, industry websites, and chambers of commerce offer practical places to establish your business's credentials.
We also investigate Sephora's holiday SEO pages:
- Searches like "affordable gifts for teachers," "gifts for men who have everything," and "gifts for your boyfriend's mother."
- The trade-off between publishing more keyword-targeted pages and maintaining content quality.
- Why a major retailer's results don't automatically translate to a smaller website.
- How existing authority, traffic, and site history affect decisions about scaling content.
- Ways to improve or repurpose seasonal pages after the holiday shopping period.
Finally, we examine Toyota's consistent use of "reliable" across its brand messaging and press releases. Harpreet explains how repeated language spreads through third-party coverage and strengthens the association between a brand and the qualities buyers want.
We also discuss:
- Why Harpreet expects AI discovery to drive more branded searches.
- How shoppers move from AI recommendations to Google and YouTube research before buying.
- How strong customer support encourages positive reviews and protects your reputation.
- How to incorporate valuable search terms into your company descriptions across relevant websites.
Build a product people recommend. Give them excellent support. Earn relevant coverage. Make your product pages clear, specific, and persuasive.
⭐️ 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/@seoharp  
💎 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 Challenger Wins AI Search
00:18 Why Fenty Shows Up
01:13 Reviews Drive Visibility
02:23 Press Mentions Matter
04:26 AI Is a Parrot
06:09 On Page Product Signals
07:53 Sales Copy Over Blogs
09:43 Stats and PR Amplify
12:03 Resellers and Unique Copy
13:31 Playbook for Any Industry
15:45 Sephora Gift Pages Test
17:31 Fenty Traffic Collapse Clue
18:30 Sephora Gift Pages
19:00 Fenty Long Tail TikTok
20:15 Core Update Traffic Drop
20:53 SEO Nuance Warnings
21:59 Sephora Rank And Tank
24:45 Safer Scaling Tactics
27:06 Win In AI Search
29:14 Branded Click Future
33:17 Toyota Reliable Narrative
36:45 Final Wrap Up
The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ 
#generativeengineoptimization #answerengineoptimization #searchengineoptimization #seo

E1197: Elon Musk's Grokipedia went from 6.5 million monthly Google clicks in July to just 200,000. That's a 97% collapse in organic search traffic for xAI's entirely AI-written alternative to Wikipedia.
And despite Grokipedia earning backlinks from The New York Times, The Guardian, NPR, NBC News, The Verge, and other major publications, its rankings have fallen off a cliff.
I break down what happened to Grokipedia, the Google policies its AI content runs into, and the lessons every SEO needs to understand before scaling AI-generated content.
Here's what I cover:
1. Grokipedia's 97% SEO traffic collapse
- How Grokipedia reached 5.8 million monthly Google clicks by January 2026.
- Why traffic fell to 1.5 million in May, recovered to 6.5 million in July, and then collapsed to 200,000.
- Why major media coverage, powerful backlinks, and Elon Musk's influence haven't protected its Google rankings.
- Why early traffic growth doesn't guarantee long-term SEO success.
2. The Google policies Grokipedia runs into
- Google's scaled content abuse policy and its rules against mass-producing unoriginal content.
- Google's scraping policy and its restrictions on republishing existing information without substantial added value.
- Why Grokipedia's fully automated approach raises concerns under both policies.
- Google's October 1 AI content guideline changes and its explicit instructions to manually fact-check and review AI-generated content before publishing.
- Why using AI to fact-check AI doesn't satisfy the human-review standard Google describes.
3. Other explanations for Grokipedia's collapse
- Why users might trust human-edited Wikipedia more than an entirely AI-generated encyclopedia.
- How poor user signals and declining trust might contribute to falling rankings.
- How Google's AI Overviews compete directly with informational websites.
- Why Wikipedia itself has suffered a major decline in organic search traffic.
- Why we can't conclude that Google issued Grokipedia a penalty.
4. What Grokipedia's backlinks reveal
- Why most of Grokipedia's major press backlinks point to its homepage.
- How Wikipedia benefits from links pointing directly to its individual articles.
- Why building links to subpages, category pages, and content hubs matters.
- How site structure and internal linking distribute authority throughout a website.
5. Lessons for SEOs using AI content
- Why you need to manually review AI-generated articles, landing pages, and metadata before publishing.
- Why one-shot AI content often misses important aspects of search intent.
- How to use noindex until your AI content passes human review.
- Why you shouldn't mistake the initial traffic surge from scaled AI content for lasting success.
- Why I recommend keeping aggressive AI experiments separate from valuable, established websites.
- What Google says about recovery times after fixing serious SEO problems.
I also discuss three possible futures for Grokipedia: continued decline, Elon Musk publicly challenging Google, or xAI finding another purpose for its AI-generated encyclopedia.
The bigger lesson: If you're building a website for long-term organic traffic, don't sacrifice content quality and human oversight just to publish more pages.
⭐️ Grokipedia - https://grokipedia.com/ 
⭐️ Ep 1187 - Google Just Changed Its AI Content Guidelines (Unreviewed AI Is Now a Liability) - https://youtu.be/wxqf9J2Huu0 
⭐️ Ep 1192 - How Long Does SEO Take? Google Finally Shares the Real Numbers - https://youtu.be/sRZizu5mi_c 
💎 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 Grokipedia Crashes
00:48 Why It Looked Promising
01:54 Traffic Spike Then Collapse
02:34 Scaled Content Abuse
04:20 Scraping Policy Violations
05:11 AI Content Review Warning
06:15 Other Causes and Rebound
08:07 SEO Lessons for Marketers
08:39 Link Authority and AI Surges
09:33 Risk Management and Recovery
10:42 Wrap Up
The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/  
#searchengineoptimization #seo #generativeengineoptimization #aiseo

E1196: Is GEO actually different from SEO, or is generative engine optimization simply SEO under a new name?
Paris Childress, host of The GEO Show, joins David Quaid for a heated debate about what gets brands recommended by ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Gemini, and other AI search engines.
Paris argues that GEO is brand marketing, not performance marketing. Its goal is brand visibility, mentions, citations, and recommendations, rather than rankings and organic clicks.
David disagrees. He argues that AI search uses traditional search indexes, query fan-outs, and the SEO fundamentals marketers have relied on for decades.
Neither backs down as they challenge each other's definitions, tactics, and evidence.
What we cover:
1. Is GEO different from SEO?
- Why Paris calls GEO a separate marketing discipline.
- Why David defines SEO as search visibility, not just traffic.
- Whether different goals and KPIs make two disciplines different.
- What each guest actually does to get brands into AI answers.
2. How ChatGPT and AI search find brands
- How query fan-out turns prompts into multiple search queries.
- Why Google rankings and AI citations don't always match.
- How traditional search indexes influence AI recommendations.
- The disagreement over ranking positions versus AI visibility.
3. Backlinks, brand mentions, and reviews
- Why Paris prioritizes third-party brand mentions over links.
- David's argument that SEO already includes online reputation management.
- How G2 and Capterra reviews influence AI recommendations.
- Why listicles appear in AI answers and how search engines find them.
- Where PR distribution and press releases fit into SEO and GEO.
4. Does AI actually understand brand authority?
- Why David challenges the idea that AI independently evaluates brand trust.
- How search retrieval influences which sources AI cites.
- Why a highly visible review site isn't automatically trustworthy.
- What happens when AI repeats inaccurate information.
5. Measuring SEO and GEO results
- Why Paris tracks share of voice, mentions, and citations for GEO.
- Why David challenges the reliability of SEO attribution.
- Their disagreement over GA4, organic conversions, and revenue.
- Whether AI visibility and search traffic require different dashboards.
- Whether SEO still exists if Google makes AI Mode the default.
6. What marketers should actually do
- Identify the searches behind AI-generated answers.
- Make pages accessible to search crawlers.
- Earn coverage on the third-party sites AI retrieves.
- Understand when your own rankings matter and when other sites shape recommendations.
The central disagreement:
Paris says SEO and GEO share many tactics but have different goals.
David says those tactics, the search infrastructure, and the goal of visibility make GEO an extension of SEO.
⭐️ The GEO Show on YouTube - https://youtube.com/@getgeoforge 
⭐️ Paris Childress's platform, GEOforge - https://getgeoforge.com/ 
⭐️ The GEO Show on Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/bg/podcast/the-geo-show/id6805128323 
⭐️ The GEO Show on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/313Ae4gFG1GqXv4YNWEARI 
⭐️ Paris Childress on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/parischildress/ 
⭐️ Paris Childress on 𝕏 - https://x.com/parischildress 
⭐️ 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/ 
💎 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 Debate Setup GEO vs SEO
01:11 Paris Defines GEO Goals
03:08 David Says Same Discipline
06:06 Mechanics Training vs Retrieval
09:57 KPIs Powerlifting Analogy
11:36 Dashboards Visibility Metrics
14:20 Brand Mentions vs Links
18:28 ORM Argument SUV Analogy
22:33 G2 Reviews SEO Proof
28:38 Listicles and Query Fan Out
35:53 Press Releases and Citations
37:33 LLM Authority Misinformation
40:02 Budgets Brand vs SEO
40:55 Goals Versus Tactics
42:17 Same Work Different Labels
43:40 Defining SEO Outcomes
45:51 ROI And Attribution Fight
48:44 GA4 Limits And Opt Outs
54:01 Measuring GEO Without Clicks
55:38 Why SEO Still Gets Budget
57:21 Bing Tools For AI Visibility
01:03:57 Exact Match Domain Strategy
01:05:43 Wrap Up And Guest Plugs
The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/  
#generativeengineoptimization #answerengineoptimization #searchengineoptimization #seo