Google Is Poisoning Your Rank Tracker Data (OpenSEO Founder Explains)

E1227: Can ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini replace an SEO agency? Harpreet Singh shares his screen to test all three AI tools on the same Nike website page - and show why following their SEO advice blindly can waste hours. We gave ChatGPT, Claude, and Google Gemini Nike Canada's men's running shoes category page and the same prompt: "Give me SEO, AEO, and GEO recommendations for this page. Prioritize them based on impact." All three produced detailed audits. But they disagreed on what mattered most, overlooked important issues, and repeatedly treated low-impact changes as urgent. We cover: - What ChatGPT got right about product comparisons, category navigation, and internal linking. - Why ChatGPT prioritized adding FAQs ahead of improving the page title - and why we disagreed. - How vague recommendations to "validate" crawlability and indexation can send beginners down hours-long rabbit holes. - What Claude spotted that ChatGPT missed: UK language signals on Nike's Canadian page, including "trainers" in the title and an en-GB language setting. - Why Claude flagged a major product discovery concern: 45 products listed on the page, but only 24 found in the HTML, with others loaded through JavaScript. - How footer links to the UK site created another potential problem for Canadian shoppers. - Where Claude still went wrong with FAQ markup and unsupported claims about AI citations. - Why structured data may improve search appearance and click-through rates without fixing weak rankings. - How Gemini ranked meta description keyword changes and removing meta keywords among its top SEO recommendations. - Why adding FAQ schema isn't a proven shortcut to ranking in Google AI Overviews or being cited by AI tools. - How years of repeated SEO advice can become misleading recommendations from AI systems. - Which changes deserve attention first: titles, headings, search intent, localization, crawlable product links, and relevant internal links. - Why looking at one URL without understanding the rest of the website limits any AI audit. - Why tracking positions for the keywords you're actively targeting can be more useful than a crowded SEO reporting dashboard. - How to apply the 80/20 rule so AI gives you a few high-impact recommendations instead of an overwhelming checklist. We also share a practical way to use AI for SEO audits: 1. Crawl your site with Screaming Frog SEO Spider. The free version covers up to 500 URLs. 2. Open the Issues tab and export the findings. 3. Upload the export to Claude, along with this episode's transcript. AI can speed up SEO work, but you still need to judge whether its advice is accurate, relevant, and worth implementing. ⭐️ Episode Transcript - https://edwardsturm.com/wp-content/uploads/Ep-1227_Harpreet-Singh_ChatGPT-vs-Claude-vs-Gemini-for-SEO-We-Tested-All-3-on-Nikes-Site-One-Was-Terrible.txt  ⭐️ 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 AI SEO Hype Check 01:01 Testing Three LLMs 02:41 ChatGPT Priorities Review 03:55 UX vs SEO Impact 05:00 Internal Links Done Right 06:59 Crawl Checks Rabbit Holes 09:50 FAQ Advice Is Outdated 12:45 Metadata Should Come First 14:05 Localization and Hreflang 18:00 Too Many Low Value Tips 19:41 Measuring SEO Success Now 20:27 SEO Success Metrics 21:02 ChatGPT Audit Gaps 22:17 Claude High Impact Fixes 24:20 Schema Versus Rankings 25:35 Bad FAQ Schema Advice 28:43 Gemini Recommendations Review 30:05 Pareto Prompting Framework 32:19 Screaming Frog Plus LLMs 34:17 AI Hype And SEO Noise 35:43 Wrap Up And Where To Follow The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #searchengineoptimization #seo #ecommerce #aiseo

E1226: Google released its November 2026 Core Update on November 10, with a rollout expected to take up to two weeks. SEOs reported ranking volatility before Google even announced it. Could this be another Panda-style update, targeting mass-produced content, low-quality pages, and websites using fake authors? I cover Google's announcement, predictions about which sites could be hit, new content quality guidance, and what to do if your rankings drop. What I cover: - November 2026 Core Update: Google's announcement, the two-week rollout, and early ranking fluctuations. - A possible Panda-style update: An October 15 Search Engine Journal article reported a 96.8% modeled probability of a Panda-style update within 30 days. The timing matched, but Google's targets remain unconfirmed. - The original Panda update: Google's 2011 update targeted content farms, thin pages, duplicate content, and shallow articles. It affected approximately 11.8% of US search queries at launch, with some publishers losing over half their organic traffic. - Mass-produced AI content: Why pages that stitch together search results without adding original information may be vulnerable. - Fake authors and AI headshots: Google's October 6 guidance warns against invented author names, false credentials, and AI-generated portraits used to deceive readers. - Content effort: Five questions to assess whether pages show original research, firsthand experience, evidence, and useful information. - Early ranking volatility: Reports from October and November, including Reddit and Search Engine Roundtable discussions. - Black Friday and Cyber Monday: How an update before the holiday shopping season concerns e-commerce businesses. - Rollout timelines: Most core updates finish within 10-15 days, compared with the 45-day March 2024 update. - What to do if rankings drop: Why major changes during a rollout can obscure the causes of ranking movements. Five types of low-quality content potentially at risk: 1. Mass-produced AI content without meaningful human oversight or fact-checking. 2. Unoriginal content that adds nothing new to existing search results. 3. Content created primarily to rank instead of serving readers. 4. Deceptive authorship, including fake names, AI headshots, and false credentials. 5. Low-effort content without originality, accuracy, skill, or demonstrated expertise. My recommendation: Keep publishing useful pages and improving existing content, but wait until the rollout finishes before making major SEO changes. Otherwise, you could mistake Google's volatility for the effects of your own edits. ⭐️ Google November 2026 Core Update (Search Engine Roundtable) - https://www.seroundtable.com/google-november-2026-core-update-42504.html  ⭐️ 96.8% Chance Of A Panda-Style Update - https://www.searchenginejournal.com/a-panda-style-update-within-a-month-according-to-prediction-model-signals/591955/  ⭐️ Ep 1195 - Google's Secret "Content Effort" Score: Here's What It Looks For - https://youtu.be/T2ZMC4utIBQ  ⭐️ Google's "Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content" Author Update - https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/creating-helpful-content#ask-who-how-why  ⭐️ r/SEO - November 2026 Core Update - https://www.reddit.com/r/SEO/comments/1xswpdu/november_2026_core_update/  💎 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 Core Update Drops 00:41 Early Volatility Reports 01:28 Panda Style Fears 03:15 Content Effort Checklist 04:09 Deceptive Authorship Warning 04:55 Rollout Timeline Patterns 05:39 SEO Subreddit Reactions 06:35 What Not To Do Mid Update 07:23 Black Friday Season Stakes 08:56 Episode Wrap Up The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/  #searchengineoptimization #seo #googlecoreupdate #digitalmarketing

E1225: Google is feeding bad search results to scrapers, and SEO rank trackers are showing rankings that don't match what people see on Google. A sudden drop in Ahrefs, Semrush, Moz, or another rank tracker might be a data problem, not a loss of Google rankings. I interview Ben Senescu, founder of OpenSEO, about Google's crackdown on scraping, why third-party rank tracking has become less reliable, and how AI and open-source tools are changing SEO software. We discuss: - SERP poisoning: How misleading search results collected by scrapers can cause false ranking drops, strange SERPs, and inaccurate competitor tracking. - The removal of num=100: Why Google's decision to stop supporting the 100-results parameter disrupted tools that tracked positions well beyond page one. - Google's anti-scraping measures: Changing redirects, CAPTCHAs, and IP blocking, and why collecting rankings costs more than before. - Why Google is doing this: Whether Google primarily wants to stop SEO rank trackers or AI companies trying to build competing search indexes. - DataForSEO and OpenSEO: How DataForSEO was initially able to handle some of Google's changes, why SERP poisoning remains a problem, and how OpenSEO checks results multiple times to find likely accurate rankings. - How to verify ranking drops: Why I compare third-party tracking with Google Search Console and check the actual SERP when a result makes no sense. - Will rank tracking recover? Signs that some results are improving, plus Google's existing search syndication agreements and the possibility of licensed data for SEO tools. - OpenSEO vs. Ahrefs, Semrush, and Moz: Why Ben built an alternative, its $10/month starting price, usage-based billing, and the value of historical data from established platforms. - How open-source SEO software works: Self-hosting OpenSEO, connecting a DataForSEO API key, changing its code, and building custom features without waiting for a software vendor. - Claude, ChatGPT, and MCP: How OpenSEO gives AI agents access to SEO data, Google Search Console, research logs, reporting, and workflows across client projects. - SEO automation for agencies: How users are combining SEO tools with CRMs, email systems, and reporting to manage more work through AI agents. - Why rankings still matter: Why leads and conversions alone don't tell you whether an SEO campaign is working, and why position data remains important for diagnosis. - AI content mistakes: Why beginners publishing large volumes of low-quality AI pages risk damaging their sites instead of building lasting search traffic. - The next three years of SEO tools: Whether open-source, customizable software will challenge expensive subscriptions and how existing SEO companies are responding to AI agents. We also debate whether ChatGPT and other AI search tools can match Google's results, why AI-generated writing still misses important details, and whether black-hat SEO will be harder for AI search engines to detect. ⭐️ OpenSEO - https://openseo.so/  ⭐️ OpenSEO on 𝕏 - https://x.com/openseo  ⭐️ OpenSEO on GitHub - https://github.com/every-app/open-seo  ⭐️ SEO Party (Community Skill Library) - https://seo.party/  ⭐️ Ben Senescu on 𝕏 - https://x.com/bensenescu  ⭐️ OpenSEO on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/openseo-so  ⭐️ Every App on GitHub - https://github.com/every-app/every-app  💎 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 Ben and OpenSEO 00:37 Origin Story and Reddit Breakout 03:14 Viral X Post and Grok Automation 04:19 How OpenSEO Differs 07:13 Rank Tracking Crisis Explained 11:01 DataForSEO Workarounds 14:22 Will Google Ease Up 16:20 AI Search Adoption Reality 20:24 Black Hat vs AI Indexes 24:37 Why Open Source Wins 27:21 What Agencies Are Saying 31:09 AI Agent Integration 32:06 Onboarding With MCP 32:41 Agency Scale Automation 32:54 Tool Stack Pricing Limits 33:47 Custom CRM Email Workflows 34:26 Project Context Memory 35:38 AI SEO Shortcut Risks 36:46 Google Losing Trust 40:09 SEO Demand Surge 44:03 Agentic SEO Software Future 46:25 Data Portability Rank Tracking 48:52 Vibe Coding Reality Check 50:13 Optimism Industry Momentum 51:25 AI Retrieval Hallucinations 56:54 Automating Work Not Life 58:06 Customer Wins And Wrap Up The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/  #searchengineoptimization #seo #technicalseo #opensource

E1224: How do you build a beautiful site people want to share, earn backlinks to, and send traffic from, without writing a single line of code? Mike Hawley walks through how he uses Claude Code to build interactive websites for linkable assets, newsjacking, trending events, and SEO. He shows the entire process, from researching keywords and planning pages to building the design, checking technical SEO, and publishing the finished site. Mike has zero programming experience. His example is SEO-TV.com, a searchable video store for SEO YouTube channels and podcasts that he built in about five hours. We cover: - How to make a standalone site worth sharing, then direct attention and links to your business - How Mike built SEO-TV in five hours using Claude Code - How he started with a single prompt to plan the site's topical map - How Claude identified 21,180 related searches, narrowed them to 213 target keywords, and planned the initial 73 pages - How to choose page types based on what Google ranks and avoid keyword cannibalization - How Mike adds more pages as earlier pages get indexed, growing SEO-TV.com to 139 pages - How server-side rendering makes page content and metadata accessible to search engines - How the site's keyword search works and how it checks YouTube hourly for new videos - How to install Claude Code and set up project folders, notes.md files, and standing instructions - When to use Ask and Auto permissions when Claude needs to use your computer - How to request four different homepage designs instead of accepting the first result - How to stop Claude from producing the same fonts, rounded cards, stock layouts, and other familiar AI design patterns - The design skills Mike uses, including Hallmark, Impeccable, and UI UX Pro Max - How to save mistakes, preferences, and requirements as reusable Claude skills - How Mike connects Chrome, hosting services, Cloudflare, and keyword data sources - Why logos, favicons, page titles, and Open Graph images matter for sites designed to be shared - Why you need to inspect the finished website before publishing, even when Claude runs automated checks - When Claude spent nearly nine hours working on a GTA VI map site that wasn't what Mike requested We also examine cheese.help, an AI-built cheese encyclopedia that Mike launched without manually building backlinks. It began getting Google clicks and earned links from food blogs and MSN. Mike shows 11 MSN backlinks pointing to seven pages and more than 4,200 AI citations reported by Ahrefs. Since September, Mike has worked on 114 websites and launched 56. He explains how the rules and skills he's built over those projects make each new site easier to create. If you want to build linkable assets for SEO or create a custom website with Claude Code without learning to program, this episode shows the process from start to finish. ⭐️ Mike's prompts that get Claude to build great websites - https://aka.bike/prompts/  ⭐️ Mike Hawley on 𝕏 - https://x.com/funwithgoogle  ⭐️ Mike's website - https://aka.bike  ⭐️ Mike Hawley on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/bikehawley/  ⭐️ Mike's AI SEO Discord - https://aiseo.gg  ⭐️ Mike's AI SEO Blog - https://aiseo.ooo  💎 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 Build Non Vanilla AI Sites 00:28 Mike's Background And Vision 01:38 SEO TV Site Tour 03:34 Easter Egg And Counter 05:31 Automation And Server Side Rendering 06:35 Why Linkable Assets Work 08:29 Planning Topical Map 12:51 Design Choices And Pages 13:39 Search Feature And Indexing 15:33 Build Pipeline And QA Rules 18:25 Claude Code Setup Basics 21:44 Prompting For Better Design 23:05 Avoiding The AI Website Look 24:41 Reverse Engineer Great Sites 26:23 Finding Claude Skills 26:47 Design Skills Setup 27:38 Notes Into Skills 29:36 Plugins And Connections 31:10 Rules For Non AI Look 31:53 Logos And OG Images 34:38 Workflow And Cheat Sheet 36:38 Surprise 3D Vape Site 38:18 Costs And Token Use 41:44 Cheese Help Case Study 43:50 Links And Citations Growth 45:36 Testing Content Limits 48:00 Wrap Up And Where To Find The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/  #searchengineoptimization #seo #generativeengineoptimization #answerengineoptimization

E1223: People add "Reddit" to Google searches because they want recommendations from other people. But Google doesn't restrict those results to Reddit. Your website can rank for these searches, too. I explain a three-stage SEO strategy that uses topical bridges to move from easy, long-tail "Reddit" keywords to more competitive keywords that bring in customers. I break down how to find those keywords in Google Search Console, create pages around them, and use internal links to support the pages you want to rank. Here's what I cover: - Why people search for terms like "best payroll software Reddit" and "sneakers for arched feet Reddit" - Why adding "Reddit" to a Google search doesn't guarantee results from Reddit - How AI search tools sometimes add "Reddit" to their own searches, creating another reason to target these keywords - Why keyword research tools often miss the long-tail searches you can discover through Google Search Console - How to identify promising keywords by comparing clicks with average ranking position - Where to put your target keyword: page title, URL slug, H1, and opening sentence - Why a page doesn't need thousands of words to rank for a specific search - How to connect resource pages, bridge pages, and money pages with internal links - How to expand your pages using additional queries from Google Search Console The three-stage process: 1. Create a resource page. Target a broad, easy search such as "Why small businesses get payroll wrong: lessons from Reddit." Let the page collect impressions and clicks, then examine the queries it appears for in Google Search Console. 2. Create about five bridge pages. Choose long-tail "Reddit" queries that your resource page already ranks for, especially queries showing clicks despite poor rankings. Optimize each bridge page for a target keyword and link to it from the resource page. 3. Create your money page. Target a more competitive phrase such as "best payroll software Reddit." Link to this page from the bridge pages. Once those pages have stable rankings, add a direct link from the resource page. ⭐️ Written directions (guide) for this episode: https://edwardsturm.com/articles/reddit-seo-strategy-your-website/  ⭐️ Ep 1101 - The Reddit SEO Hack That Ranks Your Website Instead of Reddit - https://youtu.be/We9OJVcrlag  💎 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 Topical Bridges Overview 00:19 Why Reddit Keywords Work 00:58 Humans and AI Search Reddit 01:20 Three Page Funnel System 01:30 Build the Resource Page 01:49 Mine Search Console Winners 03:35 Short Content Still Ranks 04:11 Create Bridge Pages 04:43 Target the Money Keywords 05:28 Expand Pages With GSC 05:53 Apply the Framework Anywhere 07:48 Wrap Up and Thanks The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/  #searchengineoptimization #seo #generativeengineoptimization #answerengineoptimization

E1222: Press release backlinks work, even when they're nofollow. I break down an SEO experiment where a press release backlink made Google's own head of webspam rank for a made-up keyword that didn't appear anywhere on his website. I also explain Kyle Roof's findings about when nofollow backlinks pass ranking value, share a black hat SEO tactic involving press releases and job listings, and cover legitimate ways to apply these ideas to improve Google rankings. In this episode: - The Matt Cutts press release experiment: Google's former Head of Webspam, Matt Cutts, publicly stated that he wouldn't expect press release links to benefit rankings. An SEO company tested this by publishing a press release linking to his personal blog. - Ranking for a made-up keyword: The press release used the invented anchor text "Sreppleasers," a term that didn't appear anywhere on Matt Cutts' website. His blog subsequently ranked at the top of Google for the term. - Why press release backlinks usually don't work: Most press release distribution services use nofollow links, which generally don't pass ranking authority the same way followed links do. - Kyle Roof's nofollow backlink findings: Kyle's testing suggests that nofollow backlinks can influence rankings when the linking page itself ranks in Google and receives clicks. - Joy Hawkins' independent tests: Joy tested nofollow backlinks from her local SEO forum and found that they improved rankings for a linked page. Even a YouTube video embedded on that page started ranking. - A black hat press release strategy: An SEO I met in Bucharest described a tactic involving job listings without website links. Applicants searched Google for the company and job, found an optimized press release, and clicked through to an application form. - How the strategy passed authority: The press release linked to the application form, which linked to two or three SEO pages. Applicants had to visit those pages to answer questions, generating clicks through the internal links. - Why branded searches matter: Publishing job listings without direct links can generate searches for a company's name. I discuss how SEOs use these searches and clicks to influence Google rankings. - A legitimate alternative using promotions: Run a promotion where participants search Google for your brand, find a press release, and visit relevant pages on your site to find information needed to enter. - Using press releases for actual company news: Publish announcements that people want to read, link to relevant SEO landing pages, and create opportunities for readers to discover your SEO content. - Anchor text and internal linking: How to use descriptive anchor text in press releases and connect announcement pages to important SEO landing pages. - Press release distribution services: I compare AB Newswire, which offers one-off press releases for $80 and bulk pricing as low as $6 per release, with EIN Presswire, which costs more but can keep releases indexed longer. The central lesson is that where a backlink appears, whether its page ranks, and whether people click through can matter more than simply counting backlinks. ⭐️ 21 SEO Experiments That Will Change The Way You Think About SEO (Forever) - https://seosherpa.com/seo-experiments/  ⭐️ Ep 1213 - Kyle Roof Ranked Gibberish #1 on Google. Then Google Deindexed 20 of His Sites. - https://youtu.be/LCrW28jb9UM  ⭐️ Ira Bodnar's post on 𝕏 - https://x.com/irabukht/status/2114390277737890085  💎 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 Press Release Links Matter 00:34 Matt Cutts Experiment 01:54 Why Nofollow Can Count 02:18 Kyle Roof Podcast Clip 03:30 Dark Job Listing Tactic 05:47 White Hat Alternatives 07:13 Press Release Services 07:42 SEO That Makes Money 08:28 Wrap Up and Goodbye The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/  #searchengineoptimization #backlinks #linkbuilding #seo

E1221: OpenAI is reportedly building its own Search Console for ChatGPT. The new tool could show businesses how often they're mentioned in ChatGPT answers, how many people click through to their websites, and how their visibility changes over time. Google Search Console doesn't separately report clicks from AI Overviews. OpenAI's new tool could give businesses data that Google currently doesn't provide. I break down a new Search Engine Roundtable report about OpenAI's upcoming business analytics tools, what the leaked screenshots reveal, and what this could mean for SEO. What ChatGPT's new Search Console could do: - Let businesses claim and verify their presence in ChatGPT - Track how often a business appears in ChatGPT responses - Show impressions and clicks on links to business websites - Display daily charts showing changes in visibility - Let businesses add products, services, pricing, and other information - Keep business information accurate and up to date - Give ChatGPT a source of information directly from the business - Allow businesses to verify ownership What the tool reportedly won't show at launch: - The prompts that caused ChatGPT to mention your business - Information about individual ChatGPT users - Rankings or comparisons against competitors - Why your brand mentions or clicks are increasing or decreasing I also discuss how the tool could evolve, including whether OpenAI might eventually add more detailed reporting. Will claiming your business improve your ChatGPT rankings? Being able to describe your business directly to ChatGPT could make its answers about your products and services more accurate. But I don't expect claiming your business to dramatically increase how often ChatGPT recommends you. ChatGPT still searches the web to find information for many of its answers. Your visibility across websites, search results, reviews, and user-generated content will continue to matter. My SEO recommendations: - Target bottom-of-funnel keywords that indicate buying intent - Create landing pages for your products and services - Target pricing and cost keywords - Create pages targeting competitor alternatives - Target comparison and review keywords - Build pages around specific situations your customers want to solve - Organize these landing pages into a hub page - Link to that hub page from your website's footer - Build relevant backlinks to strengthen your website's authority - Make sure your business appears in the sources ChatGPT uses when researching customer questions I also explain how you could use your existing keyword research to describe your business inside ChatGPT's new tools, and why OpenAI might eventually use the information businesses submit to identify spam. The feature is reportedly still in development. There's no confirmed public launch date. ⭐️ OpenAI Working On ChatGPT Tools For Business For Analytics & Citations - https://www.seroundtable.com/chatgpt-tools-for-business-42476.html  ⭐️ Gary Illyes Implies Click Data Not Coming To Google Search Console AI Reporting - https://www.seroundtable.com/click-data-search-console-ai-reporting-42437.html  💎 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 Breaking News Drop 00:14 Claim Your Business 01:34 Analytics And Clicks 02:28 Screenshots And Verification 03:06 Limits And Future Features 03:39 Spam Honeypot Theory 04:56 How It Might Work 05:32 Will Visibility Increase 06:20 SEO Advice For Brands 07:07 Wrap Up And Outro The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/  #searchengineoptimization #generativeengineoptimization #answerengineoptimization #ecommerce

E1220: Can you rank on Google without backlinks? I break down what five SEOs say about ranking a new website without building links, share my own take, and play a clip from SEO expert Kyle Roof explaining his 3-to-1 internal linking rule on this podcast. A new website can rank without backlinks, but the keywords you choose matter. If established websites have strong backlink profiles and dedicated pages targeting the same keywords, competing without links can be difficult. The better opportunity is finding high-intent keywords that other websites aren't targeting with a relevant page. I cover: - What five Reddit commenters say about ranking on Google without backlinks - Why low-competition keywords are easier to rank for, even on brand-new websites - How to find keywords that established websites rank for without specifically targeting them - Why search intent matters more than vague claims about "high-quality content" - How to use long-tail keywords and overlooked search queries to get initial rankings - How to structure supporting pages and internal links to strengthen your most important pages - Kyle Roof's 3-to-1 rule: Three internal links of similar value can equal one external backlink of that value - Why internal linking can reduce the number of backlinks you need to rank - Easy ways to build backlinks through directories, podcast appearances, and journalist requests - Why ranking for a keyword with 137,000 monthly searches doesn't necessarily bring in customers - How to turn informational traffic into something more valuable through internal links - Why targeting bottom-of-funnel keywords can generate more revenue than chasing high search volume I also discuss a business whose article ranked at the top of Google for "apples," a keyword with an estimated 137,000 monthly searches, but generated zero additional business. That example demonstrates the difference between vanity traffic and traffic that brings revenue. However, a popular informational page can still be valuable when you use internal links to direct traffic and ranking strength toward commercial pages. I also examine PDFfiller, a website generating $106 million annually with 860,000 paying customers. Its homepage ranks for keywords it isn't directly optimized for, illustrating what prolonged time building authority and backlinks can accomplish. Whether you're doing SEO for a local business, ecommerce website, SaaS company, or new website, this episode explains when you can rank without backlinks, how to use internal links to strengthen your pages, and why consistently building backlinks can make it easier to rank for more lucrative keywords. ⭐️ The Reddit thread - https://www.reddit.com/r/seogrowth/comments/1xibhdy/can_a_new_website_rank_on_google_without_building/  ⭐️ The Apples X post - https://x.com/roblabonne/status/2118072363057369325  ⭐️ Ep 1218 - How to Build Local Backlinks for Under $500 vs. $5,000 a Month - https://youtu.be/GjbkLBWmDxQ  ⭐️ Ep 1213 - Kyle Roof Ranked Gibberish #1 on Google. Then Google Deindexed 20 of His Sites. - https://youtu.be/LCrW28jb9UM  💎 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 Can You Rank Without Links 00:30 Reddit Says Long Tail Wins 01:23 Internal Linking Content Clusters 02:30 What High Quality Means 03:46 Pattern is Low Competition Queries 05:47 My Take is Build Some Links 06:17 Easy Link Building Tactics 07:24 Apples Case Study 08:33 Internal Links Boost Money Pages 10:37 Kyle Roof Internal Links Math 11:56 Wrap Up And Goodbye The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/  #searchengineoptimization #seo #linkbuilding #digitalmarketing

E1219: In this Microsoft Clarity tutorial, you'll learn how to find out why your SEO traffic isn't converting into leads, bookings, or sales. Josh Silverbauer, Head of Analytics at Intrepid Digital and an early contributor to Microsoft Clarity, shares his screen to show how he investigates conversion problems using Microsoft's free website analytics tool. We walk through heatmaps, session recordings, conversion funnels, and filters you can use to understand what visitors do on your website, including visitors from organic search. You'll learn: - How to use Clarity's dashboard, heatmaps, and session recordings. - How to filter for organic traffic and examine visitors who reached a specific SEO landing page but didn't convert. - How to build funnels that track steps such as landing page → booking page → form submission. - How to watch recordings of visitors who reached a particular step but didn't finish the process. - How to identify rage clicks and distinguish them from dead clicks. - How click heatmaps reveal which links, buttons, and page sections get the most attention. - How first-click and last-click data change your understanding of visitor behavior. - How to use scroll and attention heatmaps to decide which page elements to move higher. - How to compare new and returning visitors, or desktop and mobile visitors, side by side. - How to find where people abandon lead-generation forms and e-commerce checkouts. - How to investigate whether visitors are reading an article, skimming it, or leaving early. - Creating Smart Events, funnels, and saved segments for repeat analysis. - Sending custom data through Google Tag Manager to filter users by role or sign-in status. - Using Clarity alongside Google Analytics 4 to investigate conversion problems. - Prioritizing page changes by potential impact, audience size, and ease of implementation. Josh also shares an example of a shopping-cart recommendation that was displayed more prominently than the product the customer had actually selected, creating confusion at checkout. I share how Clarity showed me that visitors were spending time reading testimonials on my Compact Keywords sales page. I moved those testimonials higher on the page, and that change made a meaningful difference. The central lesson: Don't make website changes based solely on assumptions. Find where visitors struggle, form a hypothesis, and test the change. Want Josh to review your website on a future episode? We're looking at doing a live Clarity analysis of a listener's site, particularly an SEO page that gets traffic but doesn't convert. Leave a comment with the problem you want diagnosed. ⭐️ Josh on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsilverbauer/  ⭐️ Josh's website - https://joshsilverbauer.com/  ⭐️ Josh's agency (Intrepid Digital) - https://www.gointrepid.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 Meet Josh and Clarity 01:36 What Is Microsoft Clarity 03:37 Core Tabs Tour 06:22 Filtering and Funnels 10:39 Finding Friction Fast 17:47 Heatmaps Compare Mode 21:19 Scroll and Attention 25:26 Heatmap Refresh and AI 30:11 Intent and Reading Signals 34:36 Recordings Done Right 41:58 Funnels for Form Dropoff 47:51 Mobile vs Desktop Insights 53:55 Advanced Custom Filters 56:27 Wrap Up and Next Steps The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/  #microsoftclarity #conversionrateoptimization #searchengineoptimization #seo

E1218: How do you build local backlinks with a $500 monthly budget? What changes when you can spend $5,000? I cover practical local link-building tactics for both budgets, with examples for local companies. Learn how to get backlinks from partners, nonprofits, journalists, directories, and trade associations. LOCAL LINK BUILDING: UNDER $500/MONTH - Business partnerships: Partner with complementary companies. A plumber and electrician who refer customers to each other can link through partner pages, articles, or case studies. - Donate services: Offer free work to local nonprofits, schools, or charities and request a backlink acknowledging your contribution. - Community projects: A landscaping company can clean up a park, document before-and-after results, and invite residents and local press. - Sponsorships: Sponsor a youth sports team, nonprofit, or local event. Ask for a linked logo or listing on the organization's website. - Pitch journalists: Offer useful advice tied to current events. A roofer can explain storm preparation; a locksmith can share home security tips following local burglaries. - Unlinked mentions: Contact organizations you've previously helped and ask them to link existing mentions of your business. - Directories: Find relevant local directories and trade associations. Use Claude deep research to organize opportunities by price. - Social profiles: Set up accounts and publish a few posts to establish an active online presence. LOCAL LINK BUILDING: UNDER $5,000/MONTH - More sponsorships: Sponsor five to eight local nonprofits, youth sports teams, charities, or community events. - Higher-value donations: A South Florida roofer donated a free roof through Habitat for Humanity. The charity linked to his business, local news covered the story, and his Facebook post was shared over 200 times. - Chambers of commerce: Join organizations with member directories and opportunities to contribute articles or participate in events. - Trade associations: Consider more expensive memberships with relevant business listings and backlink opportunities. - Video production: Hire an editor through YTJobs.co to turn footage from jobs into daily videos targeting keywords your website already targets. - Journalist relationships: Share local journalists' work, credit them, and build familiarity before pitching your own stories. MORE SEO LESSONS IN THIS EPISODE - Why links from pages that rank in Google and receive clicks are especially valuable. - Why even nofollow backlinks can pass authority. - How sponsorships can build trust, referrals, and brand recognition. - Why you can build links gradually instead of pursuing every tactic at once. - Why bottom-of-funnel local keywords may be less competitive than you think. - How to use your target keyword in the page title, URL, H1, and opening sentence. ⭐️ Ep 1109 - How Local Businesses Build Powerful Backlinks Through Community Sponsorships - https://youtu.be/RBuVt8mqD7U  ⭐️ Ep 1155 - He Donated a Free Roof and Got Links You Can't Buy - https://youtu.be/0aZi6sdOD-M  ⭐️ Ep 936 - How to Build Local Backlinks That Actually Increase Local Rankings - https://youtu.be/Z0Iq0yG2sIk  💎 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 Budget Link Building Plan 00:07 Partner With Businesses 00:44 Nonprofit Service Donations 01:15 Foundational Social Profiles 01:27 Small Local Sponsorships 02:21 Pitch Local Journalists 02:45 Turn Mentions Into Links 03:22 Directories And Associations 03:53 Stay Consistent Weekly 04:11 Scaling Under Five Thousand 04:20 Bigger Sponsorship Portfolio 04:44 Viral Donation Case Study 05:32 Chamber And Trade Groups 05:54 Content To Win Journalists 07:15 What Makes Links Valuable 07:45 Ranking With Few Links 08:25 More Resources And Wrap Up The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/  #localseo #searchengineoptimization #linkbuilding #seo