The Edward Show

E1033: Breaking down a dense set of notes from the BrightonSEO conference and turning them into a practical playbook for modern SEO.
These are real observations about what you have to do to win search and conversions - especially with AI, generative engine optimization (GEO), and the growing importance of conversion-focused content.
I recorded this episode from a rooftop in Manhattan, and we cover everything from technical SEO foundations to how AI systems actually discover, evaluate, and cite content.
If you care about getting customers from search - not just traffic - this episode will give you a clear direction.
What we cover:
- The modern SEO framework: technical SEO as the foundation, content and PR as the catalyst, social media as the amplifier, and GEO as expanding your presence across AI systems
- A decision framework before creating content: demand, winnability, indexability, visibility, differentiation, and trust
- How AI search works: query fan-outs, partial page reading, citation behavior, and why influence happens at the prompt level
- Key data points shaping strategy: AI overviews reducing clicks, more journeys involving AI, homepages getting more AI traffic, and low overlap with top Google rankings
- Content strategy shifts: optimize for passages, answer one question per paragraph, use neutral language, and focus on problems instead of keywords
- Conversion-focused SEO: why bottom-of-funnel pages matter, how intent-driven pages perform, and how to structure pages to convert
- AI and content quality: using LLMs effectively, spotting mistakes, and validating outputs with multiple systems
- Brand and trust: the role of reviews, sentiment, consistency, and where AI pulls brand signals from
- E-commerce and AI search: what gets products cited, how to structure product pages, and the importance of attributes and Q&A
- Practical takeaways: mining fan-out queries, aligning navigation with customer language, focusing on leading metrics, and combining engineering with storytelling
This episode is packed. You may want to slow it down or take notes.
Subscribe if you want daily episodes on SEO, AI, and building a business through search.
⭐️ Malte Landwehr's write-up - https://x.com/MalteLandwehr/status/2050268682115272994
🚀 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 BrightonSEO Notes
00:41 GEO KPI Checklist
01:16 GEO Like Poker
01:52 Indexability And Speed
02:29 Intent Driven Categories
03:17 AI Visibility Mindset
03:47 Using LLMs Wisely
04:44 AI Mode Metrics
05:36 Passage Level Optimization
06:07 Grounding And Fan-outs
06:36 AI Overviews And BOFU
07:37 Trust And Disinformation
07:58 Conversational Search Future
09:19 Brand Terms And Navigation
10:20 Ecommerce Content Playbook
11:10 Content That Gets Cited
11:36 AI Shopping Tactics
13:00 Grow And Protect Brand
13:29 Wrap Up And Thanks
The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/
#searchengineoptimization #generativeengineoptimization #ecommerce #seo

E1032: Breaking down new research analyzing 1.4 million ChatGPT prompts to understand a simple but important question: why does ChatGPT cite some pages and ignore others?
This study, conducted by Ahrefs, gives one of the clearest looks yet into how ChatGPT selects sources, what influences citation likelihood, and how you can position your content to be included.
We walk through the key findings, what they mean in practice, and how they connect to real SEO strategy.
What you'll learn in this episode:
- How ChatGPT retrieves dozens of sources but only cites about half
- The role of titles, snippets, and URLs before your page is even opened
- Why semantic relevance to "fan-out queries" is one of the strongest ranking factors
- What fan-out queries are and how to find them yourself
- Why most cited sources come from traditional search results (and what that means for SEO)
- The surprising role of Reddit: heavily used for context, rarely cited
- Citation breakdown across sources like search, news, Reddit, YouTube, and academia
- Why natural language URLs and keyword alignment increase your chances of being cited
- The relationship between content freshness and citation likelihood
- Why older, more established pages often beat newer ones within the same query
- How news content is treated differently, with freshness acting as a tiebreaker
- Why SEO landing pages and product pages are among the most cited content types
We also cover a practical method to uncover the exact queries ChatGPT uses behind the scenes, and how to use those insights to structure your content.
If you're trying to get your site, product pages, or content cited in AI-generated answers, this episode gives you a clear framework based on real data.
⭐️ Why ChatGPT Cites One Page Over Another (Study of 1.4M Prompts) - https://ahrefs.com/blog/why-chatgpt-cites-pages/
🚀 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 Why Citations Vary
00:34 Gatekeeping Before Reading
01:35 Study Setup and Goals
02:02 Where Sources Come From
04:54 Reddit Not Credited!?
05:31 Semantic Scoring and Titles
07:30 Find ChatGPT Fanout Queries
09:05 Freshness Versus Relevance
11:19 What It Means to Be Citable
11:55 SEO Pages Win Citations
15:19 Wrap Up and Goodbye 
The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/
#generativeengineoptimization #answerengineoptimization #searchengineoptimization #seo

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