Best Linkbuilding Podcasts (2026)

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Tough Questions CEOs are Asking About AI SEO (and How To Answer Them) w/ Gaetano DiNardi 1:10:18

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1M ago1:10:18

1:10:18

Ross welcomes Gaetano DiNardi, growth advisor and B2B SaaS strategist, to unpack the brutal questions CEOs are suddenly firing at their SEO teams in the AI era: traffic is flat or down, attribution is messy, LLM dashboards look scary, and everyone wants to know if SEO is still “working.” They dig into why traffic is no longer the primary health met…

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Update and December Plans 6:24

1M ago6:24

6:24

Send us a text Ever wondered why people in Glasgow ask different questions than people in London about the same service? We pull back the curtain on a major update: city-level People Also Ask targeting that lets you research real local queries and build content that matches each neighbourhood’s language, concerns, and intent. It’s a simple shift wi…

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Link Building SEO Megapod! 1:49:20

1M ago1:49:20

1:49:20

Send us a text Links still move the needle, but the way we earn them has changed. We pull together the best of our link building series and lay out a clear, low-risk path to stronger rankings and lasting authority. No gimmicks, no cloak-and-dagger—just assets people want to cite. We start by cleaning up the language of links: what “good, bad, and u…

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Link Building ep 10 : Promoting your content to get links 11:03

1M ago11:03

11:03

Send us a text Want links without cold emails or sketchy deals? We dive into a practical system for earning citations by putting useful work in front of the right people, then letting trust and timing do the heavy lifting. Ed Dawson, founder of Keywords People Use, unpacks why links still drive rankings and why they matter even more as AI search su…

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Link Building ep 9 : Link Building with Ego Bait 11:25

2M ago11:25

11:25

Send us a text Want links people actually want to share? We unpack ego bait link building and show how to turn recognition into rankings, authority, and AI-era citations. Instead of waiting for links, we create reasons for people and brands to amplify our work by featuring their expertise fairly and visibly. We start with the foundations: why links…

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Link Building ep 8 : Building versus Buying Backlinks 14:22

2M ago14:22

14:22

Send us a text If your backlink comes with a receipt, it’s probably a liability. We break down the crucial difference between buying placements and earning genuine editorial links, tracing the story from PageRank to Penguin to today’s AI-driven search where citations and trust decide who gets surfaced. Along the way, we show how to avoid risky shor…

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Link Building ep 7 : Engineering as Marketing 11:00

2M ago11:00

11:00

Send us a text What if one small, free tool could earn you more backlinks, leads, and trust than months of blogging? We dive into engineering as marketing, a strategy that turns lightweight, useful tools into link magnets and lead engines, especially powerful as AI search surfaces cited, authoritative resources. I walk through the core idea: build …

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Link Building ep 6 : Link Building Using Awards 11:07

2M ago11:07

11:07

Send us a text Want more high‑quality links without playing whack‑a‑mole with paid placements or low‑value directories? We walk through a strategy that flips the usual script: stop entering awards and start running them. By becoming the awarding body in your niche, you can earn relevant backlinks from major brands, spark press coverage, and build d…

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Link Building ep 5 : When Guest Posting Goes Wrong 12:03

2M ago12:03

12:03

Send us a text Guest posting sounds harmless: write for a reputable site, add a link, meet a new audience. But when that link is part of the deal—and it passes PageRank—you could be stepping straight into “unnatural links” territory. We break down a real manual action that cited a guest article as the example, then map a clear path to promote your …

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Do You Need a Content Engineer? w/ AirOps’ Josh Spilker 38:03

2M ago38:03

38:03

Ross sits down with Josh Spilker, Content Marketing & SEO Lead at AirOps, to unpack the rise of the content engineer — what it means, why it matters, and how it’s reshaping SEO and content operations.They dive into Ryan Law’s critique, hybrid-AI workflows, org-chart ownership, automation opportunities, and why Josh believes AI doesn’t kill content …

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Link Building ep 4 : Linkbuilding with Digital PR 9:35

2M ago9:35

9:35

Send us a text Want links that don’t vanish with the next algorithm update? We dive into digital PR and show how to earn authoritative coverage that boosts rankings, brand searches, and even AI search citations. Instead of paying for links, we focus on creative stories and credible data that journalists choose to share. We start with why links stil…

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Link Building ep 3 : Content That People Link To: Tools 14:50

2M ago14:50

14:50

Send us a text Want links that arrive without endless cold emails or paid placements? We make the case for building interactive tools that solve real problems, create a defensible moat, and keep earning citations for years. From consumer broadband to B2B keyword research, we unpack why tools outperform blog posts when your goal is authority, rankin…

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Link Building ep 2 : Understanding Blackhat - PBN's 6:37

2M ago6:37

6:37

Send us a text Ever wondered why PBNs still tempt smart SEOs? We pull back the curtain on private blog networks—how they’re built on expired domains, why they deliver short bursts of rankings, and where the true costs and risks hide. From anchor text control and link velocity to detection patterns, manual actions, and painful clean-ups, we map the …

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How Angi Uses AI to Power Better Content w/ Caroline Gilbert 32:32

2M ago32:32

32:32

Caroline Gilbert — Director of Content & Editorial at Angi — joins Ross Hudgens to explore how one of the largest home-services brands is using AI to scale, transform, and optimize content operations.They discuss how Caroline’s team doubled Angi’s content library to 12,000+ articles, how AI helps maintain top-funnel visibility amid shifting search …

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Link Building ep 1 : Backlinks - the Good, the Bad & the Ugly 11:59

2M ago11:59

11:59

Send us a text Want search visibility that survives the next update and shows up in AI answers? We dive straight into the real calculus of link building: what still works, what crumbles under scrutiny, and how to build a backlink profile that compounds rather than collapses. Drawing on two decades of building, buying, and selling sites, Ed breaks d…

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The Complete Entity Series Megapod 2:04:30

2M ago2:04:30

2:04:30

Send us a text What if your site could be read like a map of meaning instead of a pile of keywords? Edd walks through a complete reframe of SEO around entities — the people, organisations, products, places, and ideas that define your niche — and shows how to turn that model into durable authority across search and AI. We start with how modern searc…

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Entities Part 12 : Beyond Your Website: Building Off-Page Authority 12:28

2M ago12:28

12:28

Send us a text Authority doesn’t live on your site alone—it’s earned in public, where other trusted names choose to cite, invite, and stand beside you. We wrap our entities series by moving beyond links-as-votes and into the richer world of entity association: the patterns of mentions, partnerships, and consistent identity signals that teach search…

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Entities Part 11 : Future-Proofing for Answer Engines 11:34

2M ago11:34

11:34

Send us a text Search is quietly rewiring how people find answers, and the biggest shift isn’t on the results page—it’s inside the models that compose those answers. We dig into a practical playbook for turning your content into the source that ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Perplexity cite, so your brand earns authority even when no click happens. F…

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Entities Part 10 : Speaking Machine - Your Practical Guide to Schema Markup 10:38

2M ago10:38

10:38

Send us a text Tool mentioned in the podcast: https://validator.schema.org/ Machines don’t reward guesses; they reward clarity. We walk through a practical, four‑step framework to make search engines and LLMs understand your brand, your people, and your offers without ambiguity. The focus is on schema markup that scales: JSON‑LD for clean implement…

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Entities Part 9 : Content That Builds Authority 12:19

3M ago12:19

12:19

Send us a text Ready to stop sprinkling keywords and start building authority that lasts? We take one neglected concept in your niche and turn it into a structured topic cluster that both readers and search engines recognise as a trusted resource. From mapping entities to designing a pillar page and the right cluster coverage, we show how to move b…

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Entities Part 8: Your Competitors Entities 11:11

3M ago11:11

11:11

Send us a text The prompt mentioned in the episode is: You are an expert SEO analyst specializing in Natural Language Processing and entity-based optimization. I will provide you with the text from a competitor's webpage. Your task is to perform a Named Entity Recognition (NER) analysis on this text. Please identify all the significant entities men…

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Entities Part 7 : The Audit - Identifying Your Core Entities 13:30

3M ago13:30

13:30

Send us a text Search engines understand the world through entities, not just keywords, and that changes how we plan, write, and structure content. We take the entity conversation out of theory and into practice by building a simple, durable audit you can complete today. The result is a living blueprint that gives your brand a clear centre of gravi…

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Entities Part 6 : Fighting AI Fiction: Grounding Your Brand in Reality 12:13

3M ago12:13

12:13

Send us a text Tired of confident AI answers that crumble under scrutiny? We pull back the curtain on why large language models hallucinate—and how to stop the damage by turning your website into a source AIs can safely cite. Instead of treating models like fact vaults, we treat them like brilliant writers who need trustworthy notes. That shift unl…

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Programmatic SEO in the Age of AI w/ Ex-Zapier Head of SEO 51:09

3M ago51:09

51:09

Matt Bowers — SEO and LLM consultant, formerly of Zapier and Zillow — joins Ross Hudgens for a deep dive into how AI is transforming programmatic SEO.They explore what’s working and what’s not for large-scale, AI-assisted content strategies — from full-AI “use-case” pages to hybrid human workflows. Matt breaks down examples of successful AI program…

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Entities Part 5: How ChatGPT Really Thinks About Your Brand 12:57

3M ago12:57

12:57

Send us a text Forget neat rows of facts—your brand lives inside AI as a point on a vast map of meaning. We unpack how large language models like ChatGPT convert words into vectors, arrange them in a multi‑dimensional latent space, and “reason” by navigating probabilistic paths rather than retrieving certified entries from a knowledge graph. That s…

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Entities Part 4 : Beyond 10 Blue Links 9:17

3M ago9:17

9:17

Send us a text The search results page is no longer a tidy list of links—it’s a dynamic canvas where knowledge panels, rich snippets, featured snippets, and AI Overviews signal who Google trusts. We dig into how entities underpin every one of these features and why your real goal isn’t just ranking higher, but earning eligibility across the SERP. B…

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Entities Part 3 : The Knowledge Graph 10:06

3M ago10:06

10:06

Send us a text Most brands still try to “tell” Google who they are. We show how Google actually decides: by stitching together a ledger of facts from your site, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, news articles, and structured data—then trusting only what aligns. This is the Knowledge Graph at work, and it’s quietly steering whether you earn a knowledge panel, si…

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Should You Create “Best X” Articles? A Debate w/ Nick LeRoy 39:52

3M ago39:52

39:52

Nick LeRoy, Enterprise SEO Consultant and author of *SEO For Lunch*, joins Ross Hudgens to debate a hot topic in SEO right now — the rise of “Best X” listicles and the emergence of what Nick calls **LLM PBNs**.They unpack the ethics, brand risk, and strategic value of publishing your own “best” lists to capture AI-era visibility and how tactics onc…

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Entities Part 2 : How Machines Learn To Read 11:07

3M ago11:07

11:07

By Edd Dawson

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Entities Part 1 : Things not Strings 11:29

3M ago11:29

11:29

Send us a text Most of us were trained to think in keywords—count them, match them, stuff them. But Google no longer sees the web as a bag of words; it reads the world as a network of entities, relationships, and intent. We unpack the “things, not strings” shift and explore how Hummingbird, BERT, and advances in NLP turned SEO from phrase-matching …

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Best of : Engineering as Marketing 10:38

3M ago10:38

10:38

Send us a text Tired of churning out endless blog posts that barely move the needle? There's a powerful alternative that smart brands are using to generate leads, backlinks, and unmatched brand authority. In this eye-opening episode, I dive deep into "engineering as marketing" – the strategy of creating free, useful tools that attract and convert y…

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Best of : Search Intent 16:42

3M ago16:42

16:42

Send us a text Ever wondered why some websites rank well but fail to convert visitors? The missing piece is likely search intent—understanding not just what people search for, but why they're searching in the first place. Search intent is the compass that guides effective SEO and content strategy. In this classic episode from the SEO Is Not That Ha…

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Best of - The story of Broadband.co.uk 21:43

3M ago21:43

21:43

Send us a text Success stories in digital business rarely follow a straight line, and the 18-year journey of Broadband.co.uk perfectly illustrates the rollercoaster ride of building a sustainable online business. What began almost accidentally in 2004, when the term "broadband" suddenly became associated with home internet service, evolved into one…

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The Speed of Satisfaction: Mastering Time to Value 10:44

4M ago10:44

10:44

Send us a text The deceptively simple concept of Time to Value might be the most overlooked factor in your SEO strategy. In this eye-opening episode, I break down why the speed at which users experience the core benefit of your website directly impacts your search rankings. Time to Value (TTV) is that magical moment when a visitor says, "Ah, I get …

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Did Google Just End Rank Tracking? w/ Shannon Minkel 17:37

4M ago17:37

17:37

Shannon Minkel, Senior Director of Product SEO at Siege Media, joins Ross Hudgens to unpack one of the biggest questions in search right now: did Google just kill rank tracking beyond page two?They explore what this shift means for SEOs—whether it’s a sign to finally focus on input metrics, how declining referral traffic from ChatGPT impacts strate…

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Google Search Console data looking odd? Here's why.. 15:40

4M ago15:40

15:40

Send us a text A major shift has occurred in how Google Search Console reports your website's performance data, and it all stems from a quiet technical change few noticed. Google has removed the "num=100" parameter from search results—a seemingly minor adjustment with far-reaching consequences for SEO professionals and website owners alike. This pa…

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The Dowding System: Winning Your Business Battle with Data 13:34

4M ago13:34

13:34

Send us a text Have you ever found yourself drowning in a sea of marketing data, unsure which metrics actually matter? The solution might come from an unexpected source—a smoke-filled room beneath London during the Battle of Britain. In this fascinating episode, I draw surprising parallels between the RAF's revolutionary Dowding System—which helped…

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Best of : There are no quick fixes in SEO 8:19

4M ago8:19

8:19

Send us a text Looking for the magic SEO shortcut that will skyrocket your rankings overnight? You won't find it here—or anywhere else legitimate. In this candid episode, I pull back the curtain on one of the most persistent myths in digital marketing: the idea that quick fixes can deliver sustainable SEO results. Drawing from over two decades of e…

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Best of : Study shows slow sites don't just affect Google 9:32

4M ago9:32

9:32

Send us a text Ever wondered if your website's loading speed really matters that much? The Financial Times conducted a bold experiment that answers this question with hard data—and the results should make every website owner pay attention. In this episode, I dive into FT.com's fascinating study where they deliberately slowed down their website for …

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Best of : Intent Shift vs Question Shift 11:16

4M ago11:16

11:16

Send us a text Search behavior is constantly evolving, and understanding those shifts is crucial for effective SEO. This episode dives into the fascinating distinction between "intent shift" and "question shift" – two concepts that significantly impact how we should approach content creation. The traditional view of intent shift focuses on how the …

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Best of : Own Your Branded Search 12:08

4M ago12:08

12:08

Send us a text Are affiliate websites stealing your hard-earned customers by ranking for your brand name plus "coupon code" searches? This eye-opening episode reveals a critical blind spot in many brands' SEO strategies. Drawing inspiration from SEO veteran Carl Hendy's expertise, Edd Dawson explains why controlling your branded search experience i…

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Best of : When is a zero volume keyword NOT a zero volume keyword? 9:03

4M ago9:03

9:03

Send us a text SEO Is Not That Hard is hosted by Edd Dawson and brought to you by KeywordsPeopleUse.com Help feed the algorithm and leave a review at ratethispodcast.com/seo You can get your free copy of my 101 Quick SEO Tips at: https://seotips.edddawson.com/101-quick-seo-tips To get a personal no-obligation demo of how KeywordsPeopleUse could hel…

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The Ranking Method That Prefers Being #5 Over #1 9:31

4M ago9:31

9:31

Send us a text The future of search has arrived, and it's not quite what many SEO professionals expected. In this eye-opening episode, we dive into a groundbreaking discovery about how AI search systems like ChatGPT determine which sources to trust and cite in their responses. A clever investigation has revealed that ChatGPT uses a method called Re…

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The Payout Mafia - book review 10:39

4M ago10:39

10:39

Send us a text What happens when a 20-year veteran of SEO and affiliate marketing picks up a fresh perspective? Unexpected revenue discoveries, that's what. In this episode, I share my honest review of "The Payout Mafia" by Neil C and James Dooley—a collection of insights from fifteen successful affiliate marketers. While I'm not typically drawn to…

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Finally, Some Data on AI vs Traditional Search 13:53

4M ago13:53

13:53

Send us a text Link to Sparktoro report: https://sparktoro.com/blog/new-research-20-of-americans-use-ai-tools-10x-month-but-growth-is-slowing-and-traditional-search-hasnt-dipped/ A digital revolution or much ado about nothing? The AI versus search debate has dominated SEO conversations lately, with doomsayers predicting the end of traditional searc…

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Best of : Breadcrumbs 8:05

4M ago8:05

8:05

Send us a text Navigating Google's algorithm updates can feel like wandering through a dense forest without a map. But what if there's a simple trail of breadcrumbs that could help guide both your users and search engines through your website? In this episode, I share a fascinating correlation I've noticed while analyzing sites affected by recent G…

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Best of : Managing Risk and Building for the Long Term 13:00

4M ago13:00

13:00

Send us a text Managing SEO risk isn't just about playing it safe—it's about building something that lasts. After two decades in the industry, I've watched countless "guaranteed" tactics rise and fall, leaving digital casualties in their wake. The March 2024 Google core update highlights a fundamental truth: while both white hat and black hat tacti…

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Best of : The Labour Illusion - show your working 10:29

4M ago10:29

10:29

Send us a text Conventional wisdom tells us faster is better in digital experiences, but what if slowing things down could actually increase user satisfaction and conversions? This episode explores the fascinating "Labor Illusion" concept – a psychological principle where users place higher value on services when they can see the work being done, e…

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Best of : How many questions should I answer per page? 9:08

5M ago9:08

9:08

Send us a text Wondering how many questions you should answer on each page of your website? The answer might surprise you. In this best-of episode from SEO Is Not That Hard, I dive into the strategic approach to organizing content based on user questions. Rather than guessing which questions to group together or creating endless single-question pag…

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Best of : Just read Google's Guidelines 9:57

5M ago9:57

9:57

Send us a text Ever wondered why some SEO professionals succeed while others struggle, despite seemingly similar strategies? The answer might lie in something surprisingly simple: reading Google's guidelines. In this illuminating episode of SEO Is Not That Hard, Edd Dawson breaks down why Google's Search Essentials (formerly Webmaster Guidelines) a…