E891: One of the wildest SEO journeys you'll ever hear. Tryggvi Rafn went from running a portfolio of sites that were absolutely crushing it… to waking up one morning and seeing every single one wiped out by Google. From there, he rebuilt, reinvented, and eventually scaled 1,000+ profitable sites across multiple industries.

We break down the real truths about SEO that no one talks about - what actually moves revenue, why most AI SEO is doomed, how link building really works going into 2026, and the exact strategies he uses with his e-commerce clients today.

If you care about SEO, AI content, link building, or building real online businesses, this is a must-listen.

You'll hear:
- The morning Google wiped out his entire income
- Panda, Penguin, and how those updates mirror what's happening right now
- Why AI spam and auto-posting will get sites clapped
- Buyer-intent SEO vs. topical authority nonsense
- The truth about scaling pages (and how many you can publish at once)
- The link building shortcuts that kill sites
- Parasite SEO, Reddit domination, and modern tiered linking
- Why most agencies drive traffic that never converts
- How to build an e-commerce SEO system that prints revenue for years
- The future of SEO with AI - what's real and what's hype

If you run an e-commerce brand or do SEO, don't miss this one.

⭐️ Tryggvi Rafn on 𝕏 - https://x.com/ecomtryggvi
⭐️ Tryggvi Rafn on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tryggvi-rafn/
⭐️ Tryggvi Rafn on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@Ecomtryggvi
⭐️ Tryggvi Rafn's agency - https://www.nordicamarketing.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 The 2012 SEO Apocalypse: Losing Everything Overnight
00:37 Early SEO Tactics: Niche Sites and Keyword Stuffing
03:04 The Rise and Fall of Spun Content and Link Networks
04:37 The Impact of Google's Panda and Penguin Updates
09:07 The Shift to Quality Content and User Engagement
10:53 Modern SEO Challenges: AI Content and Link Building
14:25 Building Effective SEO Strategies for E-commerce
18:37 The Importance of Context and Brand Story in SEO
28:09 Common SEO Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
32:01 Scaling SEO with Domain Authority
32:24 Programmatic SEO: Launch Strategies
33:42 Content Velocity and Quality
35:14 Effective Keyword Clustering
39:24 Natural vs. Unnatural SEO Practices
41:59 Link Building: Do's and Don'ts
49:51 The Future of AI in SEO and Marketing
01:02:18 Concluding Thoughts and Future Plans

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

#searchengineoptimization #generativeengineoptimization #answerengineoptimization #digitalmarketing

E890: One of the most debated SEO tactics today: companies publishing "Best X in Y" listicles and ranking themselves #1.

For years, this has been a common SEO strategy, but in 2025-2026 it has become far more powerful. These listicles are now being ingested by AI systems like ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, and Grok, and are influencing the rankings these models generate.

A single self-promotional page can now push a brand to the top across multiple AI platforms. This raises a major question for the industry: will Google allow this, or will these pages get devalued or penalized?

Gagan Ghotra returns to discuss how Google will treat these listicles in the future, how AI models decide which brands to surface, and the role of reputation signals, UGC, reviews, achievements, and entity data. We also explore why AI Overviews may eventually replace listicle-style pages entirely, and how brands need to adapt their content strategies going into 2026.

This is a deep conversation about the evolving relationship between SEO, AI search experiences, and brand authority. We cover technical SEO factors, ethical concerns, programmatic list creation, Google's knowledge graph, and how brands can influence AI through strategic content creation across the web.

Topics discussed:

- Why self-ranking "Best X for Y" listicles suddenly influence AI results
- Whether this tactic is deceptive or simply smart SEO
- How Google might detect and penalize manipulative listicle strategies
- Why some sites get hit while others remain unaffected
- How AI Overviews generate their own lists using entity and knowledge-graph data
- Why achievements, awards, team announcements, and reviews now matter more
- How user-generated content on platforms like Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, and X can affect AI rankings
- The rise of reputation-focused SEO copywriting
- The impact of hidden content, accordions, and rendering issues on AI understanding
- Trustpilot, marketplaces, and how programmatic SEO could change the landscape
- How Google's future search experience may rely less on listicles and more on AI-generated recommendations
- Why brands need to create public, verifiable content about their wins
- The future of bottom-of-funnel content across both websites and social platforms

⭐️ 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/

💎 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 Introduction to Blog Listicles
00:34 The Ethics of Self-Promotion in SEO
01:14 Historical Context of SEO Tactics
01:53 The Impact of Blog Listicles on Search Rankings
04:11 Debate on the Future of Self-Promotional Pages
11:03 The Role of User-Generated Content in SEO
12:24 AI Overviews and Their Influence on Rankings
16:30 Strategies for Influencing AI Rankings
23:09 Google's Future in AI-Generated Rankings
23:34 Google's New Recommendation System
24:46 AI Mode and Business Profiles
26:25 SEO Copywriting Trends for 2026
30:05 Importance of Reputation Management in SEO
31:14 Creating Effective Best-of Lists
33:22 Trustpilot's Missed Opportunities
35:04 Programmatic SEO and AI
36:25 Challenges and Solutions in Programmatic Content
37:55 The Future of Content and SEO
40:53 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

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

#searchengineoptimization #answerengineoptimization #generativeengineoptimization #digitalmarketing

889: We break down image SEO, visual search, AI-generated alt text at scale using Gemini, and Easter Eggs in alt text!

The timeless SEO sage, Gagan Ghotra returns to the podcast for this once-in-a-lifetime episode.

If your website has product images, blog images, ecommerce listings, or ANY visual content, this episode will show you how Google actually understands those images - and how to use AI to massively improve your rankings.

Don't. Miss. This. One.

We cover:
- Why visual search is exploding across Google, Gemini, and mobile search
- How Google matches an uploaded photo to real products
- Why most alt text on the internet is completely useless
- How to generate perfect, descriptive alt text using Gemini (including the exact prompt)
- Scaling alt text updates for 10K-50K+ images
- Common image SEO mistakes that hurt your rankings
- Why AI-generated product images can destroy your business
- Real examples from ecommerce sites, marketplaces, and content sites
- Bonus: how screenshots, YouTube thumbnails, and social images rank so well

We also share insights on:
- Using Gemini API + Python for large-scale automation
- Why real photos always outperform AI-generated ones
- How to future-proof for 2026's incoming visual search wave
- What Google really wants from your product images

Whether you run an SEO agency, ecommerce brand, SaaS company, or content site - this episode will give you a huge advantage.

If you miss this one, your websites will tank in rankings - so DON'T. MISS. THIS!

This episode was sponsored by the Edward Sturm for Better SEO Rankings Global Initiative, thank you for watching and your continued patronage 🙏

⭐️ Gagan Ghotra's Alt Text Generator (live for a limited time) - https://nanobanana-alt-text-generator-289265803456.us-west1.run.app/
⭐️ 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/

💎 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 Introduction and Gagan's Travel Lifestyle
00:52 Challenges of Constant Travel
01:45 Networking for SEO and Business Strategies
04:02 Importance of In-Person Events
06:58 AI and Image SEO
08:29 SEO Techniques
09:54 Advanced Image SEO Strategies
11:20 Generating Alt Text with AI
13:26 Using AI for Image SEO at Scale
19:47 Real-World Applications and Best Practices
21:58 Technical Challenges in Image SEO
23:56 Google's Image Matching Process
27:04 Real vs. AI-Generated Images
28:26 Conclusion and Future Topics

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

#imageseo #searchengineoptimization #technicalseo #generativeengineoptimization