E929: David Quaid joins the show to break down three link building techniques that still work today across local businesses, SaaS companies, and any other industry.
This is a practical conversation about how Google treats links, why many SEO "rules" don't exist, and how to build links without buying them or obsessing over domain authority.
If you work in SEO, run an agency, own a local business, or manage SaaS growth, this episode gives you frameworks you can apply immediately.
What you'll learn:
- Why reciprocal links are not inherently bad and when they make sense
- How Google evaluates links at the page level, not the domain level
- Why the sentence and anchor text around a link matters more than site-wide relevance
- How to build real partnerships that create links naturally
- The difference between authority and relevance and how they work together
- Why a linking page must rank for the link to pass value
- How many clicks a page actually needs to start passing authority
- How SaaS companies can use adjacent products and integrations to earn links
- How directories, profiles, and verified listings can help early-stage sites
- When indexing services make sense and when they don't
- How Reddit, social platforms, and link chains can help with discovery and crawling
- Why buying links often leads to diminishing returns
- How SEO fundamentals haven't really changed, despite constant noise
- Why creativity still matters more than tactics in link building
Topics covered:
- Local SEO link building
- SaaS partnerships and integrations
- Reciprocal links at scale
- Page-level authority vs domain authority
- Topical authority and anchor text
- Link decay and dampening effects
- Parasite SEO and indexing
- Reddit, Digg, and community-driven links
- SEO compounding effects
- Common myths that hold SEOs back
If you're tired of vague advice and want to understand why things work, this episode is for you.
⭐️ 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/
💎 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 Link Building Techniques
00:49 Debunking Link Building Myths
01:29 Local Link Building Strategies
02:41 Relevance and Authority in Link Building
03:30 Creative Link Building Approaches
08:16 Case Studies and Success Stories
16:49 Reciprocal Links and Partnerships
24:07 Verified Profiles and ORM
28:23 The Value of Manual Backlink Indexing
29:25 Using Reddit for SEO Link Building
30:22 Creating Link Chains and Indexing Strategies
32:34 Parasitic SEO and Domain Authority
34:30 Owning and Managing Subreddits for SEO
36:43 The Basics and Evolution of SEO
38:30 Compounding Effects in SEO
40:36 Listener Feedback and Success Stories
43:23 AI and Automation in SEO
45:46 Concluding Remarks and Episode Wrap-Up
The Edward Show. Your daily generative engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/
#linkbuilding #backlinks #searchengineoptimization #seo