Cornerstone SEO and Topical Authority

E982: I talk with Bas de Goei (Head of Marketing at Orb) about the SEO strategy that helped Orb rank #1 on Google for competitive keywords like "usage-based billing" - without relying on a large backlink profile.

Orb competes against companies like Stripe and other well-funded SaaS platforms. Despite this, their marketing team built strong organic traffic by focusing on topical authority, structured content clusters, and a highly iterative marketing approach.

Bas explains how Orb built an SEO system around cornerstone topics, how they identify high-value keywords before competitors do, and how SEO fits into a broader marketing engine that includes brand, paid acquisition, and data-driven customer journey analysis.

This conversation also explores how modern marketing teams are combining SEO with automation, AI agents, and signal-based marketing to identify buyers and move them through the funnel.

Topics covered: - How Orb built SEO traffic after starting with almost no marketing infrastructure - The cornerstone strategy used to build topical authority in a niche SaaS category - Why many companies focus too much on backlinks instead of content depth - How Orb identifies new keywords by listening to customers and watching market trends - The role of "pricing content" in driving unexpected organic conversions - Why informational traffic can still lead to high-value sales opportunities - How multi-touch attribution reveals the real path customers take before converting - How brand investments (billboards, PR, media appearances) influence organic rankings - The strategy behind launching an exact-match domain to capture additional search traffic - How Orb built a signal-based marketing engine using tools like Clay and Dreamdata - Why Bas believes marketers should test aggressively and iterate quickly - What the first 90-180 days of marketing would look like for a new startup today

Bas also discusses how the rise of AI pricing models is changing the SaaS industry and why pricing strategy is becoming one of the most important areas for software companies to invest in.

This episode is useful for: - Founders building early SEO traction - Marketing leaders responsible for growth and demand generation - SaaS companies operating in competitive niches - Anyone interested in topical authority and modern SEO strategy

Orb builds infrastructure for usage-based billing and pricing for modern software companies.

⭐️ Orb - https://www.withorb.com/ ⭐️ Bas de Goei on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/bastiaandegoei/

💰 Edward's SEO Articles - https://edwardsturm.com/articles/search-engine-optimization/

💎 Compact Keywords - My SEO Course - Get paying customers through SEO - Clear step-by-step video breakdowns - SEO templates to be copied and adapted for your products and services: https://compactkeywords.com/

00:00 SEO Killer Intro 00:06 From Strategy to InsureTech 02:39 Joining Orb and SEO Spike 06:20 What Orb Does 09:41 Cornerstone SEO Basics 11:46 Clusters and AI Pricing 24:15 Exact Match Domain Play 27:24 Intent and Funnel Scoring 32:28 Pricing Pages That Convert 36:52 Common Marketing Mistakes 41:41 Brand Drives Rankings 45:53 X Ray Pricing Easter Egg 48:31 Measuring Pricing Experiments 55:17 Automation With Clay and Claude 01:01:45 First 90 Days Marketing Plan 01:05:18 Email Domains and Link Building 01:09:33 2026 Marketing Bets 01:14:12 Dream Data Explained 01:16:24 Wrap Up and Where to Find

The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/

#searchengineoptimization #growthmarketing #chiefmarketingofficer #growthhacking