Table of Contents
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Traditional SEO isn’t dead. But Google is layering new signals, such as brand and business model, on top of existing ones.
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Successful affiliate sites now require original research, testing, and in-depth topical authority, rather than generic review content.
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Branded anchor text and unlinked brand mentions strongly correlate with post-HCU SEO winners.
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Link-building efforts should prioritize topical relevance and brand storytelling over broad, standalone campaigns.
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E-E-A-T signals, such as off-site reputation, author credentials, and entity alignment, now play a growing role in rankings.
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AI-generated answers often rely on entity associations and context, making narrative control and brand mentions crucial.
To kick off season 2 of the BuzzStream Digital PR and Link Building podcast, I wanted someone who could talk some sense into me.
With all of the crazy talk about how SEO is dead or AI is killing the industry, I needed someone to help talk me off the ledge.
It turns out Cyrus was just what the doctor ordered.
Cyrus Shepard has been one of the top SEO thought leaders as long as I’ve been in the game. His agency, Zyppy, publishes some fantastic studies, such as this one on how Google appears to penalize “good” SEO.
Or this study of 23 million internal links and how they impact your SEO efforts.
Cyrus also has a unique perspective on the industry, having revealed that he was a Google Quality Rater.
If you’re in SEO, PR, or digital marketing and don’t know what to make of the state of SEO, give this a listen.

Timestamps
00:00 – Introduction
01:00 – Cyrus’s Background in SEO
02:45 – Changes in Link Building and Ranking
05:30 – Impact of Google’s Helpful Content Update
09:25 – The State of Affiliate Sites
13:00 – The Importance of Brand and Reputation in SEO
17:40 – Effective Anchor Text Strategies
21:13 – Off-Page Reputation Management
24:40 – Quality Rater Insights on E-A-T
29:15 – Addressing Negative Reputation
32:10 – Role of Unlinked Mentions
35:55 – SEO and the Age of AI
41:00 – Final Thoughts and Future of SEO
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