The Edward Show

How to create research-based linkable assets using other studies and a clear point of view. Why niche targeting beats mass outreach and how to find reporters who already agree. Ways to use ChatGPT to gather studies responsibly and turn them into a single compelling narrative. Tips on writing in a human, reverent voice and crafting hooks that make people want to share.

They unpack why Google can crawl a URL but choose not to index it. The conversation highlights how authority, competition, and topical relevance influence indexing. A surprising culprit is generic or near‑duplicate page titles. A simple title formula is shared to help pages stand out and earn indexing.

David Quaid, SEO practitioner and founder of Primary Position, returns with a bold experiment. He explains how he coined the term 'funfluencer' with a two-sentence post and watched Google and AI systems treat it as real. Short, surprising lessons on inventing keywords, minimal content ranking, and how AI expands tiny sources into definitions and citations.

A step-by-step look at the backlink tactic that yields about 20 journalist links a month. It breaks down how to spot the angle journalists want and craft replies that fit their prewritten pieces. Real query examples show what answers win and which get ignored. It also covers when a link is not worth the cost and ethical boundaries to protect your brand.

A case study shows how many small, real blogs outperformed a few high-authority backlinks for a national brand. An audit revealed an overly clean link profile and a strategic shift added roughly 200 niche links in four months. The conversation highlights why variety, realistic signals, and mixed link tactics beat one-size-fits-all SEO approaches.

They argue most backlinks are built for rankings instead of credibility, referral traffic, and conversions. A Reddit B2B SaaS case shows why features and high-authority placements convert better than brief mentions. Practical tactics include using Product Hunt, viral linkable assets, and publicity-aware link building. Advice covers spotting bad PR deals and choosing links that actually drive trust and clicks.

Google appears to be targeting self‑promotional "best of" listicles that prioritize SEO over usefulness. The conversation highlights how SaaS blogs and resource centers are losing massive visibility. It covers rapid AI scaling, programmatic templates, fake freshness signals, and salesy content disguised as information. The focus is on why overused SEO shortcuts trigger penalties and what durable content strategies avoid that fate.

Matt Diamante, agency founder and SEO creator on TikTok/Instagram, and Jake Tlapek, multi‑million dollar agency builder and senior SEO practitioner, join to talk agency scaling and social SEO. They discuss turning attention into durable businesses. Topics include removing founders from delivery, making videos searchable, content workflows, AI agents for SEO, and when to bundle SEO with paid media.

E944: Google has introduced the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), a system that allows merchants to send product data directly to Google so users can discover and buy products inside search, AI Mode, and Gemini - without ever visiting a website. In this episode, we break down what UCP actually is, how agentic commerce works, and what this shift means for e-commerce SEO, CRO, brand authority, and margins. Joining the discussion are Harpreet Singh, Gagan Ghotra, and David Quaid, three experienced SEOs with deep backgrounds in e-commerce, SaaS, B2B, and technical SEO. Together, we unpack what's real, what's overhyped, and what businesses should actually prepare for. Topics covered in this episode: - What Google's Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) really does - Buying products directly inside Google search, AI Mode, and Gemini - Whether product pages, collection pages, and CRO still matter - How rankings work when everyone submits the same product feed - Trust issues with AI checkout and agent-driven purchasing - Why average order value (AOV) may drop in an AI commerce world - The impact on email capture, upsells, and owned customer relationships - Margins, platform fees, and why merchants may opt out of agentic commerce - Google vs OpenAI vs Shopify: who benefits financially - Why brand authority may matter more than ever - Backlinks, internal links, and how AI agents explore the web - Discovery vs brand-aware searches in an AI-first environment - The difference between "AI SEO" and actual SEO - What CMOs are getting wrong about generative search - Whether e-commerce SEO is ending - or just changing shape This episode is essential listening for: - E-commerce founders and operators - SEOs and digital marketers - CMOs evaluating "AI SEO" strategies - Anyone trying to understand where search and commerce are heading If you're thinking seriously about the future of search, AI shopping, and how people will buy online over the next decade, this conversation will help ground you in reality. ⭐️ David Quaid on 𝕏 - https://x.com/DavidGQuaid ⭐️ David Quaid on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidquaid/ ⭐️ David Quaid's agency - https://primaryposition.com/ ⭐️ 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 💎 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 Guest Introductions 01:06 Google's Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) Explained 02:05 Impact of UCP on E-commerce SEO 03:55 Historical Context and Future Predictions 07:10 Financial Implications of AI and E-commerce 10:02 Trust and Consumer Behavior in AI-Driven Commerce 11:46 Challenges and Opportunities in Agentic E-commerce 16:11 The Role of Brand Marketing in AI E-commerce 25:49 Backlinks and Authority in the Age of AI 42:41 The Efficiency of ASCII Content 42:55 Challenges in Detecting AI Content 44:42 The Role of Thoughtful Prompts in AI 46:19 The Hype Around AI Tools 46:26 Google's Investment in AI and Data Centers 47:56 Authority and SEO Strategies 53:39 The Myth of Chunk Optimization 01:00:04 OpenAI's Advertising Strategy 01:07:18 Black Hat SEO Tactics for Valentine's Day 01:15:08 Networking for Initial Clients 01:16:13 AI SEO vs Traditional SEO for CMOs 01:19:09 The CMO's Dilemma: Allocating Budget to AI SEO 01:21:55 Understanding Query Fanout and Its Impact on SEO 01:25:02 The Relaunch of Digg and Its Implications for SEOs 01:36:16 The Rise of Grokipedia: A Competitor to Wikipedia 01:49:47 The Future of User-Generated Content and SEO 01:52:11 Conclusion and Final Thoughts The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/ #searchengineoptimization #generativeengineoptimization #ecommerceseo #shopifyseo

A practical dive into extracting high-quality backlinks from podcast appearances. He explains how syndication, show notes, transcripts and YouTube links create SEO value. The conversation covers branded searches, knowledge panels and a real recovery case study. Actionable tactics for consistently booking and trading spots and using your own podcast for reciprocal links are highlighted.