Google Took WPBeginner From 2.6M Clicks to 27K - Here's Why

E1084: Should you avoid 301 redirects because they reduce link equity? A lot of SEOs still believe that 301 redirects cause a loss in PageRank. That belief made sense years ago. In 2013, Matt Cutts said 301 redirects could result in a PageRank loss. But in 2016, Gary Illyes from Google said redirects no longer lose PageRank. And Google's own documentation still says that 301 and other permanent redirects do not cause a loss in PageRank. In this episode, I break down why the old 301 redirect fear is outdated, when redirects are safe to use, and what you still need to watch out for when redirecting URLs. Covered in this episode: - Why SEOs still worry about 301 redirects losing link equity - The old 2013 Google statement that created the misconception - What Gary Illyes said in 2016 about redirects and PageRank - What Google's current documentation says about 301 redirects - Why 301 redirects are still useful for site migrations, URL cleanup, and domain moves - Why redirect chains are still worth avoiding - Why server-side redirects are better for Googlebot than client-side redirects - Why redirect relevance still matters - How anchor text and link signals can pass through redirects - Why redirecting irrelevant backlinks to unrelated pages is not a magic fix - The Cyrus Shepard case study where a redirected site migration saw traffic increase instead of drop - Why the best redirect is usually one where the URL changes, but the content stays mostly the same The main point: If you have a real reason to use a 301 redirect, do not avoid it because of outdated PageRank fears. Use redirects when they make sense. Use them for: - Proper site migrations - Better URL structure - Consolidating pages - Moving from HTTP to HTTPS - Moving content to a new domain - Sending users to the right destination - Cleaning up old or unnecessary URLs But do not use them carelessly. Avoid: - Long redirect chains - Redirects to irrelevant pages - Client-side redirects - Redirects that confuse users - Redirects where the destination does not match the original intent of the page 301 redirects are not something to fear. They are a normal part of technical SEO when used properly. ⭐️ 301 Redirects for SEO: Google Removes the Penalty (And Cyrus Shepard Case Study) - https://moz.com/blog/301-redirection-rules-for-seo  ⭐️ Gary Illyes statement - https://x.com/methode/status/757923179641839616  ⭐️ Google documentation saying 301s don't lose PageRank - https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/site-move-with-url-changes  💎 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/  00:00 301 Redirect Myth 00:27 Google PageRank Updates 00:55 What 301 Redirects Do 01:32 Official Google Guidance 01:55 Redirect Best Practices 02:28 Relevance Still Matters 03:04 Cyrus Shepard Case Study 04:16 Wrap Up The Edward Show. The #1 search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/  #301redirect #pagerank #searchengineoptimization #linkequity 

E1083: Google researchers published a paper showing how coordinated AI spam can be detected at scale. The research focuses on video spam, but the methods are highly relevant to SEO because they show how Google may think about mass AI content, repeated templates, automated publishing patterns, and networks of accounts or sites using similar generative systems. The key idea is simple: instead of judging one piece of content at a time, Google can look for patterns across a whole cluster. That matters for anyone using AI to publish SEO content at scale. In this episode, I break down the Search Engine Journal article from Roger Montti, Glenn Gabe's comments on the research, and why this could become a major risk for mass AI SEO strategies. Topics covered: - Why Google's research is focused on coordinated AI spam, not all AI content - What the Scalable Cluster Termination System, or S-CTS, is designed to do - Why Google may look beyond individual pages or videos and evaluate whole clusters - How repeated semantic templates can leave detectable patterns - Why AI-generated content can be "unique" while still being functionally identical - How text embeddings and Sentence-BERT can help identify similar AI-generated narratives - Why traditional content-level quality filters may not be enough anymore - How coordinated accounts, botnets, scripts, and publishing behavior can expose spam networks - Why LoRA and Automatic Prompt Optimization may help Google adapt faster to new spam patterns - What this means for AI SEO tools and sites publishing large amounts of AI content - Why using AI is not automatically the same as spam - Where the real risk begins: thin content, low-quality output, repeated templates, and scaled content abuse The important distinction is that Google is not saying all AI content is spam. The problem is mass-produced AI content that is low quality, repetitive, automated, or built mainly to exploit search systems. If you are using AI to help create genuinely useful content, that is a different situation. But if you are relying on AI tools to publish large volumes of similar SEO pages across one site or many sites, this research is worth paying attention to. Google appears to be moving toward systems that can detect the structure behind the spam, not just the content itself. That means the risk is no longer only whether one page looks low quality. The bigger risk may be whether your publishing patterns, templates, infrastructure, and content similarities make you look like part of a coordinated spam operation. I also talk about why I am not taking this approach with my own SEO strategy. My preference is still to build a strong brand, publish content that serves real search intent, and play the long game on a single domain. ⭐️ Search Engine Journal: Google Research Shows How AI Spam Can Be Detected - https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-generated-ai-detected/579987/  ⭐️ Glenn Gabe commentary on 𝕏 - https://x.com/glenngabe/status/2067951984187949532  ⭐️ Lily Ray's post - https://x.com/lilyraynyc/status/2067975986893709496  💎 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 Spam Warning 01:09 Google Paper Overview 02:10 Cluster Detection System 02:44 LoRA and Prompt Adaptation 03:36 Embeddings and S-BERT Signals 04:16 Why Spam Is Exploding 05:33 Networks and Botnets 06:36 AI Content vs Spam Debate 07:55 Scaling Risks and Fine Line 08:39 Mass Site Operators Tease 10:45 Episode Wrap Up The Edward Show. The #1 search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #searchengineoptimization #seo #googlealgorithmupdate #generativeengineoptimization

E1082: WPBeginner used to be one of the biggest WordPress educational blogs on the internet. According to Semrush, WPBeginner was getting around 2.6 million monthly clicks from Google at its peak in May 2021. Now it appears to be down to roughly 27,000 monthly clicks. That is not a small decline. That is a near-total collapse in Google traffic for a site that many WordPress users have relied on for years. In this episode, I break down what may have happened, what probably did not cause it, and what WPBeginner could do if they want to recover. I cover: - Why WPBeginner's traffic decline is so unusual - How Google algorithm updates appear to line up with the drop - Why AI stealing clicks probably does not explain the whole collapse - Why "Google hates independent publishers" is too simple of an explanation - Whether content decay or keyword cannibalization could have played a role - The problem with overly promotional top-of-funnel content - Why self-promotional listicles can work until they stop working - How bad user signals may have hurt the brand over time - Why long, fluffy blog posts with delayed answers may no longer work - Why Google may be rewarding shorter, faster, less promotional answers - What Lars Lofgren said about pruning and cutting down the site - Why WPBeginner may need to consolidate, rewrite, and remove a large amount of content - How WPBeginner could shift from bloated blog content to shorter conversion-focused SEO pages - What other SEOs and publishers should learn from this case My take: WPBeginner probably did not lose nearly all of its Google traffic because of one single issue. The more likely explanation is a combination of: - Too much cannibalization - Too much promotion in informational articles - Too much fluff before the answer - Incomplete answers - Searchers losing trust in the brand - Google updates rewarding more-trusted pages that answers the query faster If your SEO strategy depends on long informational posts that exist mainly to push products, plugins, affiliates, or internal offers, this case is worth paying attention to. It will still work in small amounts. But when an entire site starts to feel like that, Google and users will eventually stop rewarding it. ⭐️ Lars Lofgren's post on 𝕏 - https://x.com/larslofgren/status/2066581447373394325?s=46 ⭐️ Lars Lofgren's post on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7472346782119866369/ ⭐️ WPBeginner - https://www.wpbeginner.com/ ⭐️ Episode 898 - How NapLab Built an SEO Moat (103,000 Keywords, No Shortcuts) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9vzdovTfmw ⭐️ Episode 989 - Google's Helpful Content Update DESTROYED the Internet (What Actually Happened) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YLUFjYrIEA 💎 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 WPBeginner Traffic Collapse 01:27 Lars Lofgren Flags 03:07 Possible Causes Rundown 05:48 Promotion Backlash 09:23 Fluff Content Problem 11:15 Can They Rebound 13:13 Prune Rewrite Refocus 15:08 Wrap Up And Farewell The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #searchengineoptimization #seo #wordpress #blogging

E1081: Google Merchant Center can make or break ecommerce revenue. Gagan Ghotra and Harpreet Singh join the show to break down how Google Merchant Center works, why it matters for ecommerce SEO, and the common mistakes that cause products to lose visibility, get disapproved, or underperform in Google Shopping and free product listings. We cover how product feeds influence visibility across Google, what separates strong feeds from weak ones, and why Merchant Center is not just an SEO task. It touches inventory, pricing, product pages, reviews, shipping, return policies, merchandising, email marketing, and the wider ecommerce operation. Topics covered: - What Google Merchant Center is and why ecommerce brands need it - How Merchant Center differs from Google Search Console - Why product feeds matter for Google Shopping, free listings, AI Mode, Gemini, and future agentic commerce - How Google decides which products show up in product grids - Why brand authority still plays a major role in ecommerce visibility - How smaller ecommerce stores can compete with larger brands - The importance of accurate pricing, inventory, shipping, and product availability - Why mismatches between your website, schema, and Merchant Center feed can lead to product disapprovals or account suspension - How checkout experience and deceptive cart behavior can hurt Merchant Center performance - Why local inventory, in-store pickup, and nearby availability can help smaller retailers stand out - What "investing in Merchant Center" actually means - Why Merchant Center should involve SEO, inventory, merchandising, operations, email marketing, and customer service - How delayed inventory syncing can create major problems - Why reviews matter for Merchant Center, ecommerce SEO, and AI visibility - How to improve product titles, descriptions, and images - Why copying manufacturer descriptions or Amazon descriptions is a mistake - How to differentiate products when competitors sell the same items - Why GTINs, MPNs, and brand data matter - What to audit first when inheriting a new Merchant Center account - How to approach large catalogs with thousands of SKUs - When AI can and cannot be used for product images - Why heavily AI-generated product images can create trust and legal risks - The biggest Merchant Center mistakes new ecommerce marketers make - Why rejected products can affect the performance of accepted products - How Merchant Center supports Performance Max campaigns - The key Merchant Center metrics ecommerce teams should monitor - What causes Merchant Center suspensions most often - Why there is less misinformation around Merchant Center than other areas of SEO - The fastest Merchant Center quick wins ecommerce teams can implement this week A major theme in this conversation is that Merchant Center performance depends on consistency. Your product page, product schema, product feed, pricing, availability, shipping promises, return policies, and customer experience all need to line up. If they do not, Google can reject products, reduce visibility, or suspend the account. We also talk about why Merchant Center is becoming more important as Google adds more product-led search experiences and AI-driven shopping features. Even if Google Shopping is not a major traffic source in your country today, having clean, accurate, complete product data is likely to become more important over time. ⭐️ 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 00:00 Merchant Center Basics 02:38 Why It Matters 05:42 Ranking Factors 11:12 Feed Accuracy Risks 13:41 Team Investment 21:02 Building Brand Authority 25:34 Feed Optimization 32:19 Identifiers And Audits 38:03 Scaling With AI 43:55 Mistakes And Suspensions 48:30 Metrics And Quick Wins 58:40 Wrap Up The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/  #searchengineoptimization #ecommerceseo #ecommerce #seo

E1080: Sarvesh Shrivastava grew a new Instagram account from zero to almost 300,000 followers using AI videos of himself. He has not recorded a single video for that account. The face is AI. The voice is AI. The scripts come from his existing ideas, Loom videos, 𝕏 posts, and team research. The editing is handled by his team. And the account has reached millions of views per month. Sarvesh breaks down exactly how the system works. We talk about: - How Sarvesh grew to almost 300,000 Instagram followers with AI videos - Why he started with a new account instead of using his personal Instagram - How he uses HeyGen to create an AI avatar of himself - How he uses ElevenLabs to clone his voice - Why he still uses human editors instead of trying to automate everything - How his team hides imperfect AI moments with B-roll, screen recordings, and fast edits - The three-second rule his editors use for short-form videos - Why most viewers do not notice or care that the videos are AI-generated - How he structures the team behind the account - How he uses Claude to turn Loom videos, Twitter threads, and past content into new video scripts - Why generic AI scripts usually fail - How to make AI scripts sound more like you - Why he recommends using your own past content as the source material - How he is testing long-form AI videos - Why editing is still the hardest part to automate - How often he posts - Why he does not use a VPN to post - What changed when he shifted from general business content to SEO content - How YouTube Shorts helped grow his YouTube channel - Why YouTube videos can also rank on Google - How descriptions and keywords help videos show up in search - Why local business owners, agency owners, and camera-shy founders should pay attention The main workflow: - Record a short training video of yourself for HeyGen - Record voice samples for ElevenLabs - Write or generate a script from your own ideas - Create the voiceover in ElevenLabs - Upload the voiceover into HeyGen - Generate the AI avatar video - Send the raw video to an editor - Add B-roll, screen recordings, captions, sound effects, and music - Hide the moments where the avatar looks unnatural - Post manually to Instagram, YouTube Shorts, TikTok, LinkedIn, or other platforms Sarvesh explains why this works especially well for people who know they should be making video content but never actually do it. This includes: - Founders who are too busy to record - Clients who refuse to get on camera - Local business owners who want more content - Agency owners who want a repeatable content system - Creators who are camera shy - People with useful ideas but no time to film daily We also talk about the risks. If you already have an audience that knows you personally, posting AI videos of yourself without testing first could feel strange or inauthentic. Sarvesh and I discuss why starting with a separate account can be a safer way to test the idea before using it on your main profile. Resources: - Sarvesh got his first editor from Fiverr and his second one through his first editor's referral - For more editors and thumbnail designers - https://ytjobs.co/  - HeyGen - https://www.heygen.com  - ElevenLabs - https://elevenlabs.io  - Descript - https://www.descript.com  - Reuse Video - https://reusevideo.com  - Exactly how to post across social platforms - https://edwardsturm.com/articles/social-media-posting-strategy/  - How to get video ideas - https://edwardsturm.com/articles/content-creation-ideas/  - How to edit with Descript - https://edwardsturm.com/articles/15-minute-no-thinking-video-system-500k-views/  ⭐️ Sarvesh on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/marketingwithsarvesh/  ⭐️ Sarvesh on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@bloggersarvesh/  ⭐️ Sarvesh on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/bloggersarveshseo/  ⭐️ Sarvesh on 𝕏 - https://x.com/bloggersarvesh ⭐️ Sarvesh on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarvesh-shrivastava-blogger/  ⭐️ Sarvesh's agency, Alventra Marketing - https://alventramarketing.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 AI Avatar Goes Viral 01:46 Why This Matters 02:28 YouTube Shorts Expansion 03:07 AI Labels and Disclosure 03:49 Next Step Long Form 07:08 Origin Story and Audience Reaction 09:10 Team Roles and Workflow 15:47 Posting Strategy and Geo Reach 18:32 Tool Stack HeyGen ElevenLabs 24:36 Who Notices AI Videos 25:08 Getting Fooled by B Roll 26:22 Scripts from Looms and Threads 30:33 Editing Captions Tools 32:19 Ranking on Google SEO 33:06 Descriptions Keywords Strategy 34:33 New IG Account Viral 35:16 Retention Three Second Rule 36:25 Music Workflow Reposting 38:41 Posting Frequency Growth 41:03 Authenticity New Accounts 44:05 Manual Posting Crosspost 44:49 Thanks and Outro The Edward Show. The #1 digital marketing podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/  #artificialintelligence #digitalmarketing #socialmediamarketing #viralmarketing

E1079: David Quaid returns to the podcast to talk through SEO myths that refuse to die, and why a lot of the current advice around SEO, GEO, AI search, backlinks, content, and LLMs is either incomplete or flat-out misleading. We start with the SEO vs. GEO debate and why treating them like two separate worlds can lead to bad strategy. David argues that if your site cannot rank, cannot get crawled properly, and cannot build authority in search, you should not assume AI systems are going to magically find and trust you. From there, we get into the myths people keep repeating about content, backlinks, EEAT, Gemini, toxic links, parasite SEO, expired domains, HTML sitemaps, and what helps a site rank in 2026. Topics we cover: - Why "just build a good brand and AI will find you" is not a real SEO strategy - Why GEO does not let you bypass Google, backlinks, rankings, or authority - The problem with treating SEO and GEO as separate disciplines - Why "good content" alone is usually not enough to rank - Why overproducing content and landing pages can waste time and money - How Microsoft Clarity can show what users actually do on a landing page - Why people often misunderstand thin content, duplicate content, and information gain - The problem with surface-level EEAT advice like author bios, outbound links, and forced credibility signals - What David thinks people get wrong about the Google API leak - Why Google may have author-related and site-related variables without those variables meaning what SEOs assume they mean - Why backlinks still matter in 2026 - Why you do not need backlinks to every page - Why constantly buying more links may not help if you are losing or devaluing links at the same time - How to think about link quality beyond domain-level relevance - Why relationships, partner content, and real pages with traffic can still matter for authority - What David would do in the first 30 days of SEO for a new SaaS site - Why he recommends publishing low-difficulty pages early and seeing what gets indexed - Why he thinks an HTML sitemap matters more than most people realize - How an HTML sitemap can help both search engines and AI systems understand a site - Why toxic backlink reports are often more harmful than helpful - When disavowing links might make sense, and why that is rare for most sites - Why Moz spam score and similar third-party metrics can create unnecessary fear - How David thinks about expired domains and when they might be useful - Why expired domains are risky as a primary domain - How PBNs and link farms have changed as Google has changed how it handles link spam - Why "link echoes" may be explained by user signals and ranking history - Why a page can keep ranking after a backlink disappears - How relevance and authority work together in competitive search results - Why long-tail keywords can still work extremely well - Why the idea that "keywords do not matter anymore" usually comes from people who have worked on very high-authority sites - Why Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, and other LLMs can give bad SEO advice - Why knowing what advice to ignore is the difference between an expert using AI and a beginner being misled by it - Why LLMs often repeat popular SEO myths because those myths rank on high-authority websites - Why technical SEO advice is often overstated for new sites - Why crawlability is usually more binary than people make it sound - Why XML sitemaps do not solve the authority problem for new websites - Why parasite SEO is not an automatic ranking shortcut - What people misunderstand about using Medium, Reddit, and other high-authority platforms - Why some SERPs are much harder to enter than others - How click history, backlinks, and relevance can make rankings harder to disrupt - Why "we know nothing about SEO" is also a myth - How reverse engineering search behavior can still teach SEOs a lot - What David changed his mind about after seeing how video content performed - The decline of WPBeginner and what its traffic graph may suggest about backlinks, content quality, and site direction This conversation is for SEOs, founders, content marketers, SaaS teams, and anyone trying to understand what still works in organic search while AI search changes how people discover information. ⭐️ 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 Legendary Guest Return 01:15 GEO vs SEO Risks 04:01 Bing AI Share Voice 06:55 Stop Content Overproduction 08:29 EEAT and Thin Content Myth 12:36 API Leak Explained 16:57 Backlinks Still Matter 20:27 New Site First 30 Days 28:16 Toxic Backlinks Myth 31:37 Expired Domains PBNs 34:59 Link Echoes User Signals 38:44 Relevance Beats Authority 40:06 Keywords Still Matter 41:26 Broad Match Rankings Fade 42:23 Myth LLMs Know SEO 44:10 Tech Stack Myth 46:30 Content EEAT Schema Myths 48:12 Parasite SEO Reality 49:48 Breaking Into Locked SERPs 51:56 Reddit Medium Parasite SEO Tactics 55:24 Myth We Know Nothing 58:00 Changing Minds On Content 01:02:22 WPBeginner Traffic Collapse 01:07:59 Google Infrastructure Moat 01:11:44 One Thing To Focus 01:14:15 Wrap Up and Next Debate The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/  #searchengineoptimization #seo #webdevelopment #digitalmarketing

E1078: Charles Floate joins the show to talk about where SEO is going as Google, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and other AI systems change how people find information. The main question: if brand mentions are becoming more important, do backlinks still matter? Charles argues that backlinks still have value, but mentions are becoming much more important because AI systems do not only look at links. They also look at where a brand is mentioned, which sources mention it, how often it appears near certain topics, and whether those sources are trusted in a specific niche. We also talk about why Charles stepped back from his day-to-day role at PressWhiz, what he thinks is happening to link building, why small teams may have an advantage right now, and how SEO work is changing as search becomes more personalized and answer-based. Topics covered: - Why brand mentions are becoming more valuable in SEO - How to acquire brand mentions - Whether backlinks still matter for AI Overviews, AI Mode, and ChatGPT - How AI systems may evaluate trust, authority, and source quality - Why different niches may have different ranking and citation signals - Why Reddit, YouTube, podcasts, reviews, PR, and community signals can matter - The difference between links, mentions, co-occurrence, and trusted sources - Why mass AI content can hurt a site long term - How small technical teams can compete with larger companies - Why Charles left the day-to-day work of a major link building marketplace - What he is building next - Why video is becoming more important for SEO - Why customer support and product quality can affect brand mentions - Why automating marketing before understanding it is usually a mistake - How AI may change SEO teams, agencies, and software companies We also discuss Google I/O, AI Mode, AI Overviews, multimodal search, query fanout, personalization, digital PR, Reddit manipulation, link building marketplaces, indie hackers, AI startups, and why SEO interest is higher than ever. ⭐️ Charles Floate on 𝕏 - https://x.com/Charles_SEO  ⭐️ Charles Floate on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlesfloate/  ⭐️ Charles Floate on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@CharlesFloate  ⭐️ Charles Floate on Facebook - https://facebook.com/thecharlesfloate  ⭐️ Charles Floate Training - https://charlesfloatetraining.com/  ⭐️ Charles Floate's PressWhizz - https://presswhizz.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 Charles Floate 00:13 Newlywed Europe Plans 01:09 Why Shift From PressWhizz 02:24 Google IO Fallout 04:14 Multimodal Search Future 06:09 Trust Signals And EEAT 08:04 Adult And iGaming SEO 12:08 AI Search Centralization 14:37 GEO Versus SEO Debate 18:37 Indie Hacker Beats Brands 22:25 Leaving PressWhizz Explained 26:13 Backlinks Versus Mentions 27:38 Getting Brand Mentions 29:30 Unbundling Tool Suites 31:12 Three Startups In Motion 33:53 Team And Marketing Setup 34:47 Hiring Video Editors 36:26 Why SEO Marketing Sucks 36:43 Avoiding Tough Niches 37:35 Hiring Editors With AI 39:21 SEO Interest Surging 41:55 Optimism About Grounded AI 45:07 Businesses Struggling With Change 49:48 What Not To Automate 54:16 Video Workflow And Descript 01:00:26 Email And Social Strategy 01:05:43 Best Next Step CRO 01:08:22 Closing And Wrap Up The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/  #backlinks #linkbuilding #searchengineoptimization #seo

E1076: Do lost backlinks still help your SEO after they disappear? We look at the "link echo" effect: the idea that Google may continue to carry value from backlinks even after those links are removed. This came up again after a recent Google Search Console bug made many SEOs think they had lost a large number of backlinks. Some people saw link counts drop or even go to zero, which caused a lot of panic. But lost links do not always mean lost rankings. I break down an old Moz experiment, written up by SEO Sherpa, where pages gained rankings after backlinks were added, then kept most of those rankings even after the backlinks were removed. We cover: - What link echoes (or link ghosts) are - Why lost backlinks may not always hurt rankings - What happened in the Moz link echo experiment - Why rankings stayed high after the links were removed - Why SEOs often overreact to lost backlinks - The difference between losing a backlink and losing ranking value - Possible explanations for the link echo effect - Why click-through rate and user behavior may explain this - Why bad links, penalties, and link echoes are not the same thing - What this means for link reclamation - Why you should not panic every time a backlink disappears The main idea: if you lose a backlink, it does not automatically mean you lose all of the benefit from that backlink. The ranking gains may continue for weeks or months or years. For SEOs, founders, and marketers, this is a useful reminder: focus on building pages that deserve to rank and pay attention to what happens after a page gets visibility. ⭐️ Link Echoes (a.k.a. Link Ghosts): Why Rankings Remain Even After Links Disappear - https://moz.com/blog/link-echoes-ghosts-whiteboard-friday  ⭐️ 21 SEO Experiments That Will Change The Way You Think About SEO (Forever) - https://seosherpa.com/seo-experiments/  ⭐️ Google Search Console Links Report Is Broken - https://www.seroundtable.com/google-search-console-links-report-broke-41371.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 Search Console Link Bug 00:44 What Are Link Echoes 01:39 Moz Link Echo Experiment 02:35 Results After Link Removal 03:13 Rand Fishkin Confirms 04:31 Key Takeaways for SEOs 05:35 Other Explanations 07:03 Link Echoes vs Penalties 07:37 Practical Advice and Wrap 09:01 Episode Closing The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #searchengineoptimization #seo #linkbuilding #backlinks

E1077: Ash Nallawalla has been doing SEO for more than 25 years, mostly inside or alongside large companies. In this episode, we talk about why SEO so often gets ignored inside big organizations, even when leadership says organic search matters. Ash explains his idea of visibility governance: the rules, documentation, ownership, approvals, and accountability needed to make sure SEO recommendations actually get implemented. We get into why enterprise SEO is not just about knowing what to do. It is about getting the work through product, engineering, marketing, legal, content, analytics, and leadership. Topics covered: - Why SEO gets deprioritized inside big companies - What agencies often miss about enterprise SEO - Why in-house SEOs understand internal politics better than outside consultants - How SEO recommendations die in Jira, meetings, and approval chains - Why documentation matters so much for SEO - What visibility governance means - How Ash's Visibility Governance Maturity Model works - The role of ownership, accountability, and single points of failure - Why companies need clear owners for robots.txt, structured data, Search Console access, redirects, site performance, and content workflows - What small businesses can learn from enterprise SEO governance - Why SEO keeps changing, but the need for brand visibility does not - How AI search, LLMs, Reddit, YouTube, TikTok, and other platforms fit into organic visibility - Why many AI visibility tools miss basic SEO fundamentals - What Ash would do in the first 90 days if a CEO asked him to improve organic visibility Ash also shares stories from working with major Australian companies, including how he helped one large bank double organic traffic in eight months and triple it over time by getting the organization aligned around SEO. ⭐️ Ash Nallawalla on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashnallawalla/ ⭐️ Ash Nallawalla on 𝕏 - https://x.com/ashnallawalla ⭐️ Ash Nallawalla's books - https://www.managingseobooks.com/ ⭐️ Ash Nallawalla's business - https://crm911.com ⭐️ Shelley Walsh on Ash's work (Search Engine Journal) - https://www.searchenginejournal.com/how-to-avoid-top-down-seo-systems-failures-with-the-visibility-governance-maturity-model/570509/ ⭐️ Ash Nallawalla on Search Engine Land - https://searchengineland.com/your-seo-maturity-score-doesnt-measure-what-you-think-it-does-471922 💎 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 Ash Nallawalla 00:28 SEO Origin Story 04:30 Defining Visibility Governance 08:46 VGMM Workshop Overview 13:23 Agency vs In-House Reality 15:20 Why SEO Gets Ignored 22:45 Inside the Workshop Scoring 30:23 Best Case Outcomes 35:58 SEO Myths Repeat 36:39 Complacent Agency Playbooks 38:50 Where To Learn SEO 41:51 WebmasterWorld Reality Check 45:08 Following AI Thinkers 46:40 Small Business SEO Governance 48:57 From SEO To Brand Visibility 54:14 Skepticism About New Tools 01:01:12 90 Day Visibility Plan 01:04:51 Where To Find Ash 01:05:57 Episode Wrap Up The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #enterpriseseo #agencyseo #searchengineoptimization #seo

E1075: Google's May Core Update may be officially over, but many SEOs and site owners are still seeing major ranking volatility in June. We break down what people are reporting across the search results, why the update may still feel active, and what types of sites and pages appear to be gaining or losing visibility. We cover the ongoing chatter around traffic drops, sudden ranking swings, e-commerce changes, YMYL volatility, and the broader shift away from generic or aggregated content. Topics covered in this episode: - Why SEOs are still seeing volatility after the May Core Update - What site owners are reporting about June ranking changes - Why aggregated and derivative content may be losing visibility - How firsthand experience and original references are being rewarded - Why some forums and Q&A sites may be seeing pullbacks - What is happening with local domains in markets like the UK - Why YMYL niches such as gambling, finance, and health often see sharper movement - How Google may be refining intent for high-risk queries - Why unique media and custom images can help pages better satisfy search intent - Why templated SEO content can become a risk - What to focus on during volatility instead of guessing The main takeaway: if you are creating searcher-first content, adding original information, building real authority, and making pages that directly satisfy intent, you are much more likely to stay stable through algorithm updates. Through the volatility, keep focusing on: - Original content - Firsthand experience - Strong topical relevance - Better search intent matching - Useful media - Brand mentions - Natural backlinks - Branded searches - Pages that are genuinely worth referencing ⭐️ Google Search Ranking Volatility This Week: June 8-12 - https://www.seroundtable.com/google-search-ranking-volatility-mid-june-41496.html ⭐️ Aleyda Solis's breakdown - https://www.aleydasolis.com/en/ai-search/google-may-2026-core-update-analysis-intent-market-fit-and-source-type-drove-the-biggest-visibility-shifts/ ⭐️ Google Search Central Non-Commodity Content - https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/ai-optimization-guide ⭐️ Gagan Ghotra's post - https://x.com/gaganghotra_/status/2060942457039458439 ⭐️ Glenn Gabe's post - https://x.com/glenngabe/status/2061031181034905610 💎 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 May Update Still Shaking 00:23 Volatility Reports Roundup 01:49 Why This Update Feels Huge 02:24 Deprioritized Content Patterns 03:26 Forums And Aggregators Shift 04:42 Local Domains Winning 05:15 YMYL Intent Volatility 06:20 Search Intent Checklist 06:47 What Google Rewards Now 07:15 Unique Media And UX Signals 08:02 Avoid Templated SEO Pages 08:38 Stay Calm and Build Authority 09:41 Sign Off The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #searchengineoptimization #seo #googlealgorithmupdate #searchmarketing