The Edward Show Inside the Search Engine Black Box: Query Fan-Outs, CTR, and Indexing Myths Debunked
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Dec 14, 2025 David Quaid, an expert in SEO and founder of Primary Position, dives into the intricate workings of search engines. He explains the concept of Query Fan-Out and how it influences retrieval in LLMs. David debunks myths surrounding indexing, PageRank, and the misconceptions about CTR and dwell time as ranking factors. He discusses the differences in indexing between Google and Bing and offers strategies for content updates versus new pages. Plus, he shares valuable SEO tips for SaaS founders and solopreneurs, making this a must-listen for anyone in digital marketing.
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Query Fan-Out Explains LLM Retrieval
- LLMs break prompts into multiple web queries called a Query Fan-Out to retrieve real-time web content.
- The fan-out helps LLMs overcome SEO and surface different result sets than a single search query.
Handle Adjectives By Editing Titles Or Sections
- If a user intent is an adjective (e.g., "best"), add that word to your page title or H2 rather than immediately creating a new page.
- Build a new page only if competition is high or your topical authority is weak.
Skip Indexing Services — Build Authority Instead
- Avoid using manual indexing services; they signal a deeper SEO problem and may trigger spam scrutiny.
- Instead, focus on earning backlinks and building topical authority so crawlers naturally index your pages.