4 cases where people say they can rank without backlinks. Is this correct?

Do you actually need backlinks?

Penalty episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElGAxpB8q1A

Please help keep this podcast free: https://www.patreon.com/grumpyseoguy

Please help keep this podcast free: https://www.patreon.com/grumpyseoguy

It's not "what can I do to my website?" It's "how does my SEO compare to my competitors?"

There is very little you can do to your new websites to improve your SEO. Because that's not how SEO works. Luckily for you, we explain what that is in this episode.

Learn how to identify linkfarms and why they are bad.

Please help keep this podcast free: https://www.patreon.com/grumpyseoguy

We might do a part 2.

Patreon

What is negative SEO?

What is the purpose of negative SEO?

Referenced Episodes:

The Difference Between Good Backlinks And Bad Backlinks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFHg6XwPha4

The Difference Between Good Backlinks And Bad Backlinks Part 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dZSbWKJlJ0

Spammy Marketing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFv70Um0gik

SEO Penalties https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElGAxpB8q1A

SERP Charts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01am10-OwDY

Questions:

Do PBN sites need traffic?

Topical authority?

Local SEO clicks without links?

Is YMYL different than regular?

Have you seen Google penalize a site for paid links?

How do you find good link sellers?

How do you know which PBN sites are working better?

Parked domains reset authority?

New update to impression tracking?

How do you deal with competitors who sell AIO and GEO?

New local algorithm

Do websites only have a limited amount of linkjuice to offer?

Adult

Do backlinks to a certain page affect the rest of the site?

What is anchortext?

Do I have to know how to code?

What do you do to keep traffic from nonexistent traffic?

Best backlink metrics

Besides GMB what is the difference between local SEO and regular SEO?

How many links do I need?

Why can't we see a good example of a good PBN site?

Can you give examples of how to make PBN sites?

Do 301 reduce DR?

Is reusing code a footprint?

Should I use GSC on a private blog portfolio?

Hacks to find expired domains.

Ways to rank without using a PBN?

Keyword research?

Thoughts on a specific backlink method?

How to evaluate SEO providers?

Traffic drops vs. SEO problems

Favorite Wordpress Plugins?

New rules for expired domains?

How to build PBNs naturally?

Many weaker domains vs less stronger ones?

Recovering from content quality updates using new domains?

Is a well-known SEO marketplace legit? And one time payments?

Avoiding footprints via themes or builders?

Backlink decay on expired domains

Referenced episodes.

132 SEO Topical Authority, Content Structure, and Cannibalization https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkFLjYto1wY

30 What is the Difference Between Topical Authority (Relevancy) and Authority? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErBbW69GYYs

128 Local SEO vs. Regular SEO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_aTU1a62wo

131 The Dangers of Public Blog Networks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1BNS-OQMNw

35 If Your Not Tracking Your SERPs You're Not Doing SEO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01am10-OwDY

59 Traffic Is Not an SEO Metric (and What You Should Use Instead) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytNeZMCfXGU&pp=0gcJCZEKAYcqIYzv

115 SEO, AI, and LLMS.txt Part 1 Probably https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WflCZyBnj8&pp=0gcJCZEKAYcqIYzv

139 Why Are There No Good Examples Of PBN Sites? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5i8j4DSVRU

3 How to Build a Private Blog Portfolio Part 1: Domain Acquisition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ez24lr3G_Mc

Episode list too long, too much text.

Please help keep this podcast free: https://www.patreon.com/grumpyseoguy

Concepts covered:

Why I don't share our sites

Why I don't share a generic site

How to make your site

Why number of words in the excerpt doesn't matter, etc.

Referenced episodes:

How to Build a PBN Part 1 Domain Acquisition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ez24lr3G_Mc

How to Build a PBN Part 2 Hosting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stMe4nMrem4&pp=0gcJCZEKAYcqIYzv

How to Build a PBN Part 3 Website Management: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AguAeXhEBwI

Sorry the mic sounds weird. No idea what's transpiring.

Please help keep this podcast free: https://www.patreon.com/grumpyseoguy

Principles covered:

Beginners don't understand that a big part of SEO has nothing to do with YOUR website.

SEO is not something YOU do to YOUR website.

SEO is not a checklist.

The 4 things you need to rank.

When two websites have perfect on page, who ranks? The one with greater authority.

Website attributes are the MINIMUM to even be considered to rank.

There are very few things you can do to your website to make you rank higher.

PROBABLY the reason you are not ranking is because you do not have enough authority compared to your competition (assuming everything else on your site is correct).

SEO is like a race.

Just because you improve doesn't mean you're going to rank higher.

Things that won't help you: dwell time, site loading speed, good content.

Mentioned episodes:

SEO Is a Competition, Not a Checklist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZo8Cdt3PnI

4 Things You Need to Rank: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3L7tAil0Bg

Is This Lower Authority Website Actually Outranking This Higher Authority Website?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWgsq9UgYBY&pp=0gcJCXwKAYcqIYzv

4 Reasons Backlinks You Built Didn't Work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_6viPUeUW4

EEAT, Content, Dwell Time - not ranking factors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9EzrCZ94NE

Please help keep this podcast free: https://www.patreon.com/grumpyseoguy

The 4 reasons you build backlinks and they do not help:

1. You have too little authority
2. You built bad backlinks
3. You have a problem with your site
4. You are not relevant

Mentioned episodes:

the 4 Ways to Get Backlinks - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-r_Bi3FBt8

the 4 Things You Need to Rank - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3L7tAil0Bg

You MIGHT Get a Penalty. Maybe - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thcGIEPiN6I