Content effort: an LLM-measured metric

E906: I sit down with Shaun Anderson (Hobo Web), one of the most respected SEOs in the industry - someone who has been working in search since the early 2000s and has firsthand experience with every major Google shift, from early link-based ranking to AI-driven systems.

We look at what the Google API Leak actually showed, what Google has been consistent about for years, and where SEO narratives have gone wrong. This is a technical, honest conversation focused on how Google really evaluates websites today.

Topics covered: - Why Google wasn't lying about how rankings work - What the Google API Leak confirmed about ranking systems - How Google evaluates trust at the site level - Why trust can override traditional authority metrics - How links still matter and what they actually represent - How Google determines who owns and operates a website - Why responsibility and transparency matter for rankings - How E-E-A-T works in practice, not theory - Why monetization changes how a page is evaluated - When affiliate sites can rank successfully - Why some affiliate sites collapse while others grow - The difference between informational intent and commercial intent - What "helpful content" actually means to Google - Why some pages never get indexed - How site-wide quality issues block indexing - How to quickly identify technical vs content vs authority problems - Why publishing velocity can trigger ranking corrections - Why removing low-quality pages still works - Lessons from major updates like Google Penguin - What the Helpful Content Update changed long term - What "content effort" means and how it's evaluated - Why AI-generated content often fails - How AI should be used responsibly in SEO - What SEO tasks should never be handed fully to AI - Why SEO strategy still requires human judgment - Why entity SEO matters more than most people realize - The role of Google Business Profiles for trust - Why authorship, policies, and disclosures matter - How domain-wide signals are applied across pages

Who this episode is for: - SEOs working on long-term, legitimate businesses - Founders who rely on organic search - Affiliate site owners navigating post-HCU SEO - Anyone confused by recent Google updates - Anyone whose "good content" isn't ranking

This episode is not about tricks or shortcuts.

It's about how Google actually evaluates websites based on trust, responsibility, and real-world experience.

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⭐️ Shaun Anderson at Hobo SEO blog - https://www.hobo-web.co.uk/shaun-anderson/ ⭐️ Shaun Anderson on 𝕏 - https://x.com/hobo_web ⭐️ Shaun Anderson on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@hobo_web ⭐️ Shaun Anderson on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaun-anderson-hobo/

⭐️ Shout out to Metehan Yesilyurt on 𝕏 - https://x.com/metehan777 ⭐️ Shout out to Koray Tuğberk GÜBÜR on 𝕏 - https://x.com/KorayGubur

💎 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 and Guest Background 02:01 Journey into SEO: Early Days and Achievements 09:54 SEO Challenges and Overcoming Penalties 30:03 Understanding E-EA-T and Its Importance 58:00 AI in SEO: Tools and Techniques 01:03:57 SEO Tasks AI Shouldn't Handle 01:04:48 Creative Backlink Strategies 01:08:38 Controlling a Niche with Exact Match Domains 01:13:57 Diagnosing SEO Traffic Problems 01:18:35 Entity SEO and Google Business Profiles 01:37:07 More Insights from the Google API Leak 02:03:49 Final Thoughts and Reflections

The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/

#searchengineoptimization #eeatseo #seotips #googleapileak