E1217: Craig Campbell has spent 25 years testing what works in SEO, including tactics Google says shouldn't work.
In this interview, he explains how SEOs manipulate Google rankings and ChatGPT answers, which older link-building methods still have uses, and why he now avoids many of those tactics on businesses he wants to keep for years.
We discuss real tests, specific tools, and the difference between a tactic that gets results for a few months and a strategy that can support a business long-term.
In this episode:
- How a Chinese restaurant website can rank for online casino searches through canonical abuse, and why Craig won't reveal the full process.
- How an expired French aquapony domain was used to convince ChatGPT and other AI tools that Craig coached an Olympic aquapony team.
- Why press releases and mentions on trusted publications can influence what ChatGPT says about a business.
- Craig's preferred press release services, including The News Guy, Magic PR, and Press Advantage, and how Yahoo Finance placements matter to him.
- Why he uses Scrapebox, blog comments, and automated links to try to keep press releases and other pages in Google's index.
- What separates a useful private blog network (PBN) from one with obvious footprints, including hosting, IP addresses, content quality, and outbound links.
- How Backrefs automates lower-tier link building, and what Craig says those links can and cannot accomplish.
- How Craig bought an affiliate website for £10,000, spent another £4,000 improving it, and sold it for £48,000 four months later.
- The experiment where Craig published 1,200 unedited AI articles, watched traffic rise, then saw the site lose its rankings after about six months. He says replacing the content did not restore the site.
- How he used an expired domain from a bankrupt hotel chain to create a new affiliate site.
- Why he wouldn't use many of those tactics on a long-term business today, even when he thinks they might work.
- How Craig uses interviews with football players to develop news stories, pitch journalists, and earn links to his own website.
- Why a podcast can become a way to build relationships with bloggers, journalists, and future link partners.
- How he's building a sports trading card business using live streams, marketplaces, and SEO rather than relying on Google alone.
- Why Craig believes brand searches matter and says he wouldn't trust AI to run SEO tasks without human review.
- What 25 years in SEO changed about how much Craig trusts Google's public guidance.
Craig also shares why his priorities have moved from finding every possible ranking loophole to building businesses that generate revenue without depending on one search algorithm.
⭐️ Craig Campbell's website - https://craigcampbellseo.com/
⭐️ Craig Campbell on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@CraigcampbellseoUk
⭐️ Craig Campbell on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/craigcampbellseo
⭐️ Craig Campbell on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@craigcampbellseo
⭐️ Craig Campbell on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigcampbell0302
⭐️ Craig Campbell on 𝕏 - https://x.com/craigcampbell03
⭐️ Craig Campbell on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/craigcampbellseo03
💎 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 Craig Campbell Joins
00:24 Google Lies And Tactics
02:40 Canonical Abuse
06:10 LLM Manipulation Tactics
10:27 SEO Testing Competitions
17:11 Aquapony LLM Prank
22:40 Press Releases For ChatGPT
25:55 Indexing With Spam Links
30:49 Nofollow Links Still Work
33:36 Kyle Roof Lorem Ipsum
35:25 Building Undetectable PBNs
38:09 PBN Upkeep Reality
40:22 Modern PBN Tools
41:51 White Hat Wins
44:32 Clean Niches Strategy
46:00 Programmatic Cards SEO
53:12 Marketplaces vs Search
58:36 PR Link Building Playbook
01:07:54 Automated Tiered Links
01:12:43 Affiliate Site Flip Lessons
01:17:22 Seasonal Site Flip
01:19:24 AI Slop Penalty
01:22:35 Churn and Burn Debate
01:23:04 Expired Domain Leverage
01:27:47 Diversify Traffic Sources
01:30:56 Agency Advice Reality
01:35:40 Journalist Connections
01:38:27 AI Needs Supervision
01:40:51 Google Trust Shift
01:45:45 Quiet Life Wrap Up
The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/
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