Podcast · Business

The Edward Show

by Edward Sturm · English · Business

Daily SEO advice, hacks, and interviews with some of the top voices in search engine optimization, as well as sit-downs with many undiscovered talents.

New episodes: Daily
Typical length: 33 min
Latest: 11 Oct 2026
Language: English

Latest episode

11 Oct 2026 · 13 minNew

6,337 Cold Emails Reveal What Actually Gets Replies (And Backlinks)

E1194: Cold outreach is one of the most effective ways to build backlinks, earn media coverage, and get your content in front of the right people. But most outreach emails get ignored. A Reddit user analyzed 6,337 cold emails and uncovered striking differences in reply rates based on email length, subject lines, follow-ups, and who receives the message. I break down these findings, share advice from experienced link builders, and explain the cold outreach strategies I've personally used to get viral videos onto national television, earn coverage from major publications, and promote…

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Earlier episodes 29 most recent

S1 · E1192 · 9 Oct 2026 · 9 minNew
How Long Does SEO Take? Google Finally Shares the Real Numbers
E1192: How long does SEO actually take? Google's Gary Illyes shared specific timeframes for crawling, indexing, title changes, canonicalization, site migrations, manual action removals, and recovery from core updates. Some changes take hours. Others take months. And in certain cases, Google never processes them. Google's reported typical SEO timeframes: - New URL discovery: 20 hours. At the slowest, weeks or never. - Recrawling an existing URL: 1 month. At the slowest, weeks or never. - Sitemap processing: 1 day. At the slowest, 14 days or never, depending on quality. - Indexing: 1.5 hours.…
S1 · E1193 · 9 Oct 2026 · 1 hr 14 minNew
Parasite SEO: How Charles Floate Ranks Pages on Google.com Itself
E1193: Charles Floate shares how he ranks parasite SEO pages on Google.com itself, gets those pages cited in Google's AI Overviews, and builds campaigns that generate thousands of dollars in revenue. With a full presentation, Charles breaks down his parasite SEO strategy, including the exact process he uses to find profitable keywords, identify powerful third-party domains, publish pages, get them indexed, and turn rankings into affiliate commissions. He also demonstrates how he automates parasite SEO with AI agents, including a system that published 10 pages in roughly 60 seconds and…
S1 · E1191 · 8 Oct 2026 · 15 min
9,249 SEO Case Studies Reveal the Weirdest Tactics That Work
E1191: One SEO spent the summer going through more than 30,000 documents and narrowing them down to 9,249 SEO case studies, tests, and papers with measurable results. The final dataset covered 552 cited sources and 182 SEO tactics. I go through some of the weirdest findings, the tests I agree with, the ones I question, and the tactics worth experimenting with on your own sites. Some of the findings: - Writing title tags entirely in capital letters increased organic traffic 17.5% across two independent tests - Removing synonym keywords from title tags reduced organic traffic 27% - Removing…
S1 · E1190 · 6 Oct 2026 · 1 hr 1 min
Barry Schwartz: Google's War on AI Scrapers Is Breaking SEO Tools
E1190: Google is making it harder to scrape its search results, and SEO tools are getting caught in the middle. Barry Schwartz, founder of Search Engine Roundtable and one of the longest-running reporters in the search industry, joins me to break down what Google is doing, why rank-tracking data has become less reliable, and what happens next. Barry has covered Google and search every day since 2003. In this episode, we go deep on Google's fight against AI scrapers, the September 2026 spam update, scaled AI content, Google losing trust in entire websites, and the future of SEO. We cover: -…
S1 · E1188 · 5 Oct 2026 · 12 min
Blog Post, Landing Page, or Category Page? (Search Intent Quiz)
E1188: Your page might target a keyword properly and still lose rankings because you chose the wrong type of page for the search. I turn search intent into a quiz: for each keyword, predict whether searchers want a blog post, landing page, or category page - before I reveal the answer. I recently consulted a site with thousands of pages that had steadily lost SEO traffic for years. They blamed negative SEO and bad backlinks. But new pages still ranked within two weeks, then lost their positions. The bigger problem was mismatched search intent: the site frequently used the wrong page type and…
S1 · E1189 · 5 Oct 2026 · 33 min
Exact Match Domains Still Rank in Local SEO - David Quaid Explains How
E1189: Exact match domains still rank in local SEO, and David Quaid explains where they still give businesses an advantage. David breaks down how to use exact match domains for local businesses, how they interact with Google Business Profiles, why branded domains and EMDs serve different purposes, and where people go wrong when they expect the domain alone to do all the work. David also explains why EMDs work especially well in competitive cities, how he thinks about topical authority, and why a local business should build around one valuable root keyword instead of trying to rank for…
S1 · E1187 · 4 Oct 2026 · 13 min
Google Just Changed Its AI Content Guidelines (Unreviewed AI Is Now a Liability)
E1187: Google changed its guidance on AI-generated content on October 1, and the new language makes one thing very clear: publishing unchecked AI content creates real SEO risk. Google now explicitly says publishers must manually fact-check and review AI-generated content for accuracy and trustworthiness before publishing. That review doesn't stop with the body copy. Google says it also applies to page titles, meta descriptions, structured data, and image alt text. I break down exactly what Google changed, what it means for SEOs using AI at scale, and how I use AI without handing an entire…
S1 · E1186 · 3 Oct 2026 · 1 hr 17 min
Google's AI Overviews Now Tell Customers Why to Avoid Your Brand (w/ Ann Smarty)
E1186: Google is now showing AI Overviews for simple brand-name searches, and those summaries sometimes tell customers why they should avoid the company they just searched for. Ann Smarty joins to break down what this means for SEO, branded search, online reputation management, Reddit, reviews, and the way businesses control what people see before they ever reach their website. We look at real examples including GoDaddy, JustAnswer, and Bluehost. Someone searches a company name, and Google immediately surfaces complaints, controversies, cancellation information, outdated pricing, old Reddit…
S1 · E1185 · 2 Oct 2026 · 17 min
Google's September 2026 Spam Update Phase 2 Hits (And Reddit's AI Translations Are Winning Again)
E1185: Google's September 2026 spam update just entered what looks like phase two. Google launched the update on September 24. The first major wave hit around September 25-27. Things cooled down, then volatility exploded again on September 30. This rollout looks very different from Google's recent spam updates. Instead of finishing in roughly two days, Google says this one will run for around two weeks, which means we're seeing separate waves of sites drop, recover, and move throughout the rollout. I break down what changed during the September 30 wave, what types of sites are getting hit,…
S1 · E1184 · 30 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 21 min
Jacky Chou: Clone Indie Hacker Apps, Then Outrank Them on Google
E1184: Jacky Chou and David Quaid sit down for a wide-ranging conversation about where SEO still makes money in 2026, what Jacky would build today, and why he thinks most indie hackers leave huge opportunities on the table. Jacky's opening argument is simple: find SaaS products already making money, build a competing product, then use SEO and paid distribution to beat founders who know how to code but do not know how to market. From there, the conversation goes deep into SaaS, affiliate SEO, parasite SEO, Reddit, ChatGPT, listicles, backlinks, partial-match domains, offsite SEO, and what…
S1 · E1183 · 30 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 2 min
ChatGPT Is Building Its Own Search Index. Here's How to Rank in It
E1183: ChatGPT is building more of its own search index, and that changes where SEO goes next. David G. Quaid joins me to break down what OpenAI appears to be doing, how its cached web content starts to function like an index, and what SEOs need to understand if ChatGPT relies less on Google and Bing over time. OpenAI has already discussed a long-term goal of serving most search traffic from its own first-party index. David explains why the change may already be happening: repeatedly fetching the same pages in real time costs too much, takes too long, and creates unnecessary dependence on…
S1 · E1182 · 29 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 31 min
AEO Companies Are Selling You 2016 SEO
E1182: AEO companies keep presenting old SEO tactics as if AI search invented them. Harpreet Singh joins me to break down what is actually different about AEO/GEO, what is simply traditional SEO with new terminology, and where companies are wasting time because they do not understand the history of search. We start with the tactics now getting promoted on AI search conference stages: keywords in URLs, FAQs, meta descriptions, paragraphs, press releases, solution pages, listicles, and other concepts SEOs have used for years. Harpreet explains why removing the historical context around these…
S1 · E1181 · 28 Sep 2026 · 11 min
6 Boring SEO Habits That Actually Grow Your Traffic
E1181: I break down six SEO habits that marketers and site owners use to grow traffic without chasing a new tactic every week. These came from a popular SEO Growth subreddit thread where people shared the habits that made the biggest difference for them. I go through the best responses, explain why they work, and show you how to take each one further. In this episode: - Export Google Search Console data every month and study what Google tells you. Look at which queries generate impressions, where your pages rank, which pages get clicks, and where the gaps are. - Separate keywords into…
S1 · E1180 · 27 Sep 2026 · 14 min
Google's September 2026 Spam Update Is Here (And It Came With a Secret AI Spam Detector)
E1180: Google's September 2026 spam update is rolling out, and this one looks very different from the last few. The update started September 24 and is registering a 9.4/10 on Semrush's volatility tracker. Google Search Advocate John Mueller also confirmed that this spam update is expected to take longer than recent spam updates, with volatility potentially continuing for roughly two weeks. At the same time, a Google research paper about a system called SAFE started circulating across the SEO industry. SAFE stands for Scaled Abuse Forensic Examiner. Google describes it as an AI-driven…
S1 · E1179 · 25 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 26 min
Black Hat SEO in 2026 Why PBNs Still Work (With the Guy Who Owns 200,000 Domains)
E1179: PBNs still work in 2026, and Kalin Karakehayov has the numbers to back up why he thinks they remain one of the most underrated strategies in SEO. I'm joined by Kalin Karakehayov, Charles Floate, and David Quaid for a deep discussion on black hat SEO, private blog networks, aged domains, backlinks, AI search, parasite SEO, and where search is heading next. Kalin owns more than 200,000 domains and operates a PBN of roughly 30,000 websites. He explains why PBNs have become easier to operate than they were a decade ago, why his network doesn't need organic traffic to pass value, and how…
S1 · E1178 · 24 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 36 min
Ross Hudgens: The Page Type That Drives the Most AI Search Traffic
E1177: Ross Hudgens of Siege Media breaks down the page type driving the most AI search traffic across his clients: versus pages. Ross says Siege Media's correlation analysis found that clients with the most AI traffic also had the most comparison and versus content. We get into why these pages perform so well across ChatGPT, Gemini, Google, and traditional search, how to structure them, and why most companies still execute them poorly. We also go deep on branded subreddits, Reddit SEO, AI search measurement, link building, digital PR, keyword research, content refreshes, publisher traffic…
S1 · E1177 · 24 Sep 2026 · 10 min
Google Just Dropped the Parasite SEO Penalty in Europe. Here's the Catch
E1177: Google just changed how its parasite SEO penalty works across Europe, but the headline leaves out the most important part. I break down Google's change to its Site Reputation Abuse Policy inside the European Economic Area and explain what it means for parasite SEO, publishers, affiliate sites, and SEOs trying to rank through high-authority domains. The European Commission challenged Google over its treatment of publisher sections containing sponsored, commercial, and third-party content. Google responded by changing how its manual site reputation abuse actions affect searchers inside…
S1 · E1176 · 22 Sep 2026 · 58 min
Legal SEO: How Personal Injury Lawyers Turn Google Searches Into Signed Cases
E1176: Breaking down legal SEO - specifically search engine optimization that makes money for personal injury law firms. I talk with Lindsey Busfield of Optimize My Firm about how her team approaches SEO exclusively for personal injury law firms. We get into the pages that make money, how to structure a legal website, how law firms build authority, what drives Google Maps rankings, and why reviews matter so much for personal injury firms. We also break down how Lindsey's team earns backlinks through scholarships, local organizations, news coverage, original studies, and even a $75,000…
S1 · E1175 · 22 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 22 min
How to Sell SEO Without Ever Saying "SEO"
E1175: Most SEOs know how to rank websites. Far fewer know how to sell that skill. Blair Witkowski joins to break down how he sells SEO services without leading with the word "SEO." Instead, he talks about phone calls, missed leads, competitors showing up in ChatGPT, and money the business owner leaves on the table. Blair walks through his sales process from the first cold call to the signed client, including the exact research he does before calling, how he gets prospects to agree to a Loom audit, how he follows up, and what he sells once the prospect says yes. We cover: - Why Blair avoids…
S1 · E1174 · 21 Sep 2026 · 13 min
Google's Leaked Internal Presentation: "Don't Talk About Clicks"
E1174: Google has told employees not to discuss how clicks are used in Search outside of a need-to-know basis. That comes directly from an internal Google presentation from around the end of 2018 that surfaced during discovery in Google's antitrust trial. The presentation gives a rare look at how Google talks internally about Search, SEOs, leaks, ranking information, clicks, and the risks of explaining too much about how the algorithm works. I break down the most important slides and what they mean for SEOs. I cover: - Google's warning to employees to "be careful in discussing Search" - Why…
S1 · E1173 · 20 Sep 2026 · 12 min
The Internal Linking Trick That Uses Topical Authority You Already Have
E1173: Internal linking is one of the fastest SEO improvements you can make, and this episode breaks down a simple method for using topical authority you already have to rank new pages and push existing pages higher. The method starts with a Google search: [your website] "keyword you want to rank for" Google will show you which pages on your site it already sees as relevant to that keyword. From there, you take the most relevant text on those indexed pages and internally link it to the page you actually want ranking. I cover: - How to find pages Google already associates with your target…
S1 · E1172 · 18 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 12 min
How He Ranks #1 in Google Maps From 53 Miles Away | Mike Martin
E1172: Mike Martin ranks #1 in Google Maps for "business coaching" from 53 miles away from his Google Business Profile. In this episode, Mike breaks down the Google Business Profile strategy he uses across his own businesses, clients, and agencies. The core is what he calls the GBP Loop: profile completeness, pictures, posts, and praise, multiplied by consistency. Mike started in SEO after teaching himself to become a locksmith and building one of the largest independently owned locksmith companies in the UK. He used mass page websites, local lead generation, expired domains, and…
S1 · E1171 · 17 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 4 min
Query Augmentation: How One Page Ranks for Thousands of Keywords | James Dooley
E1171: Query augmentation: how Google connects searches with related queries and why one page can end up ranking for hundreds or thousands of keywords that never even appear on the page. James Dooley returns to the show, bringing the goods. We get into the difference between lexical matching and query semantics, how Google interprets search intent, and why trusted sites with strong user and brand signals start ranking across much broader keyword buckets. James explains why a page targeting one keyword can eventually rank for entirely different phrases when Google decides those searches share…
S1 · E1169 · 16 Sep 2026 · 13 min
How SEOs Actually Find Keywords in 2026 (What Reddit Gets Right and Wrong)
E1169: How are SEOs doing keyword research in 2026? I break down a viral thread from the SEO subreddit where SEOs shared their real processes, tools, shortcuts, and ways of deciding which keywords deserve attention. Some of the advice is strong. Some of it misses the point. The biggest mistake is treating keyword research like a spreadsheet exercise instead of looking at search intent, business value, and what is really ranking in Google. In this episode: - Why I ignore keyword difficulty scores from SEO tools - Why looking at the actual Google SERP gives you better information than staring…
S1 · E1170 · 16 Sep 2026 · 28 min
Nike Has Infinite SEO Authority. Its Blog Gets 1,400 Clicks a Month.
E1170: Nike has one of the strongest brands and domains on the internet, yet its blog gets an estimated 1,400 organic clicks per month. That is an absurd amount of wasted SEO authority. I sit down with David Quaid to break down why enormous companies like Nike, GoPro, and Chewy leave so much organic traffic on the table, despite having domains that smaller companies would kill to own. Nike has decades of authority, massive amounts of branded search, famous athletes, globally recognized product lines, and enormous links and mentions across the web. Yet Nike Stories (its blog) barely takes…
S1 · E1167 · 14 Sep 2026 · 18 min
Claude Sites Have a Serious SEO Problem: Too Many Words
E1167: Claude-generated websites have a serious SEO problem: they use a lot of unnecessary words. Search intent is not only about covering the right topic. It is also about presenting the answer in a way that is fast and easy to consume. I break down three real AI-heavy websites and show how unnecessary copy, repeated headings, pointless "eyebrows," bloated introductions, and buried answers create a worse experience for searchers. I cover: - Why satisfying search intent includes how information is presented, not just whether the information exists - Why Claude-generated sites often add…
S1 · E1168 · 14 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 22 min
SaaS Link Building: Why One Listicle Placement Is Worth $1,000
E1168: SaaS link building gets expensive fast. In this episode, Kristiyan Yankov breaks down why a single placement in the right listicle can be worth $1,000+, how he decides which backlinks are worth paying for, and the link-building methods his team uses across more than 60 SaaS companies. We go deep into the actual process behind SaaS link building, from finding competitor backlink gaps to pitching publishers, negotiating paid placements, building relationships on LinkedIn, getting links from major publications, and using third-party mentions to increase visibility in both Google and AI…
S1 · E1166 · 13 Sep 2026 · 11 min
Google Can Lose Faith In Your Website (Here's How To Get It Back)
E1166: Google can lose faith in your website. That is the language Google's John Mueller used when discussing sites filled with large amounts of programmatic SEO content, low-quality pages, and generated content that fails to give users enough value. I break down what that means, why bad old pages continue to hurt a site, and what actual SEO recoveries look like. I cover: - John Mueller's warning that Google's systems can lose faith in a site based on its old pages - Why publishing hundreds or thousands of weak pages creates a sitewide problem - The danger of scaled AI content and…
S1 · E1165 · 11 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 29 min
Position #1 On Google Is Dead (8.1 Million Searches Prove It)
E1165: Position #1 on Google is dead, at least as a single, static ranking you can check once and trust. Joy Hawkins returns to break down a study of 8.1 million Google search results that found organic rankings became 48.7% more volatile after the May 2026 Core Update. 97% of the tracking reports analyzed started shuffling, and two people searching the same phrase at the same time now regularly see different rankings. The volatility didn't disappear after the update ended. It stayed elevated. We get into what this means for SEO, rank tracking, local search, AI Overviews, Google's new AI…

About The Edward Show

Daily SEO advice, hacks, and interviews with some of the top voices in search engine optimization, as well as sit-downs with many undiscovered talents.

The Edward Show is a English business podcast from Edward Sturm. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: Edward Sturm
Language: English
Category: Business
New episodes: Daily
Typical length: 33 min
Latest episode: 11 Oct 2026
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1700357503
Rights: 2026

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