E1207: An SEO spent his summer collecting more than 30,000 documents to find which SEO tactics work. That SEO, Krešimir Ćorluka, narrowed them to 9,249 studies, tests, and papers, then ranked the strongest evidence.
I covered some of his most surprising findings in an earlier episode. This time, Krešimir joins me to explain how he built the research, which results he trusts, which ones he questions, and which tactics he prioritizes in his own SEO work.
We dig into:
- How he used Ahrefs, Screaming Frog, two AI models, and manual checks to sort thousands of SEO studies.
- Why so many SEO case studies fail to prove causation: no control group, multiple changes at once, seasonality, and agencies rarely publishing failed experiments.
- Why adding "Just Updated" to a title tag beats putting the current year in it.
- What the tests found about exact-match internal link anchor text versus using lots of variations.
- Why dynamic and static prices in title tags produced different traffic outcomes.
- The Google Lens test that reported a 90% increase after adding EXIF location data and ImageObject schema, and how other EXIF tests found no benefit.
- How removing review-related schema coincided with rankings recovering for two of Krešimir's clients.
- Why he questions many AI search optimization studies, especially those measuring ChatGPT mentions from a handful of prompts.
- What the evidence says about LLMs.txt, expert quotes, statistics, and tables for AI citations.
- Why disavowing backlinks without a manual action generally doesn't improve rankings.
- His theory that Open Graph images influence which thumbnail Google shows in search results.
- Why digital PR, original company data, and useful calculators earn backlinks and brand mentions.
- How clearer product descriptions and more prominent calls to action affect ecommerce traffic and conversions.
- Why big technical SEO questions, including pagination and content pruning, still need better research.
- How to keep an SEO change log so you can revisit each change and judge its effect months later.
We also discuss a critical distinction: a study can report a large traffic increase without proving which change caused it. Krešimir explains why controlled tests deserve more weight and why you need to think through the implications before trying an unusual tactic on a client site.
Near the end, I ask what he would tell an SEO to do tomorrow. His answers include investing in digital PR and making sure your website clearly answers the questions customers ask about your products and services.
⭐️ My earlier episode breaking down the research: https://youtu.be/q3zknvoFuNc
⭐️ The SEO Meta Study - https://ovisy.hr/blog/seo-meta-study
⭐️ Krešimir Ćorluka on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kresimir-corluka/
⭐️ SEO Evidence Checklist - https://ovisy.hr/seo-checklist
⭐️ Krešimir Ćorluka's agency, Ovisy - https://ovisy.hr/
⭐️ Croatia SEO Summit - https://croatiaseosummit.com/
⭐️ Zagreb SEO Day - https://croatiaseosummit.com/zagreb-seo-day/
💎 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 Meta Study Setup
00:59 Building the Research Pipeline
03:57 Free PDF and Why
07:39 What Makes a Tactic Best
10:03 AEO and GEO Reality Check
15:24 Anchor Text and Disavow Surprises
20:32 Title Tag Experiments
25:11 EXIF and Schema Debate
28:08 Footer Links and SEO Risks
31:29 Product Pages That Convert
37:40 Using Proprietary Data for PR
42:36 Linkable Assets
43:25 Calculator SEO Case Study
44:10 Programmatic SEO Pitfalls
45:03 Linkable Assets Still Win
48:34 Meta Study Takeaways
50:34 Unanswered SEO Questions
52:53 Keep an SEO Changelog
56:40 What Makes Tests Shareable
01:00:55 Tell Tests as Stories
01:03:42 OG Images for CTR
01:08:27 Schema Risks and Penalties
01:13:38 Running SEO Conferences
01:19:10 Final Advice and Wrap-Up
The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/
#searchengineoptimization #seo #generativeengineoptimization #answerengineoptimization