By John H. Corcoran | Smart Business Revolution | Last updated: October 2026 · 6-minute read
To get traffic from SEO, create useful content, earn natural backlinks, and avoid shortcuts Google penalizes. In 2026, that same trust helps AI tools cite you too.
Stephan Spencer is an author, speaker, podcast host, consultant for large retailers and brands, and an expert in SEO.
According to www.SmartWhistleMarketing.com, Search Engine Optimization (SEO, or for some instance, seo) is a big black box. Most people know it’s important, but they just don’t know how to do it properly. And that’s exactly what we’ll be diving into today.
- How Stephan Became an Early Internet Visionary by Starting a Web Marketing Firm in 1995
- The Development of Stephan’s Speaking Career
- When Stephan Began Focusing on SEO
- Stephan’s Free SEO B.S. Detector That Helps Those Hiring Someone to Help with SEO
- How Stephan Ensures His Book Remains Relevant Even with How Quickly SEO Changes
- Stephan’s Two Cents on SEO Best Practices
- Famous SEO companies and how you can get everything SEO-realted on their website
- What is Google’s Quality Rater’s Guideline and Why Should Every Website Owner Read It?
- How to Use Backlinks Appropriately
- The Dangers of Negative SEO and What You Can Do About It
- SEO Practices That Could Cause Google to Penalize Your Website
- Why You Should Monitor Your Link Profile and How to Do That
- Why You Shouldn’t Pay Someone to Link to Your Website
- Stephan’s Predictions for SEO in the Next Five to Ten Years
- Who Stephan Thanks for His Success
About Stephan Spencer
Stephan Spencer started a web marketing firm, Netconcepts, in 1995, making him one of the early internet marketing pioneers. He is the co-author of The Art of SEO, a widely used guide to search engine optimization, and he hosts podcasts on marketing and personal optimization. He has advised large retailers and well-known brands on how to grow their organic search traffic.
Key SEO Lessons From This Conversation
Read Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines
Google publishes the guidelines its human reviewers use to judge search results. They explain what Google sees as high-quality, trustworthy content, including the experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) behind a page. If you want to know what Google rewards, it’s one of the most useful documents you can read.
Earn Backlinks Instead of Buying Them
Links from other reputable sites still signal that your content is worth trusting. But paying for links, or joining link schemes, can trigger a Google penalty that wipes out your traffic. The safer path is creating content other sites genuinely want to reference, such as original research, useful guides, and expert interviews.
Watch Your Link Profile
Spammy links pointing to your site, whether accidental or from a competitor’s negative SEO, can hurt your rankings. Review your backlinks regularly in Google Search Console or an SEO tool, and act on anything that looks suspicious.
Be Skeptical When Hiring SEO Help
Anyone who guarantees first-page rankings, promises instant results, or won’t explain their methods is a red flag. Ask how they build links, what they’ll change on your site, and how they’ll measure success.
How SEO Has Changed Since This Episode (2026 Update)
When this episode was recorded, SEO was mostly about ranking on Google’s blue links. Today, buyers also ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews for answers and recommendations. Getting cited inside those answers is called generative engine optimization (GEO).
The good news is that Stephan’s core advice still applies. AI tools lean on the same trust signals Google does: helpful content, real expertise, and a clean, credible reputation across the web. The difference is that it’s no longer enough to rank. You also need AI visibility, meaning AI tools understand your business well enough to recommend it.
Turn SEO Traffic Into AI Visibility
The fundamentals Stephan shared still hold: earn trust, avoid shortcuts, and create content people genuinely want to read. What’s changed is where buyers search, and businesses now need to show up in both Google results and AI-generated answers.
Smart Business Revolution helps businesses get found, cited, and recommended in AI search through its GEO and AI search visibility services, combining technical optimization with authority content and tracking how ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Claude describe each brand.
Ready to get your business recommended by AI? Book a free 30-minute strategy call or contact Smart Business Revolution today.
Sponsor: Smart Business Revolution
Today’s episode is sponsored by Rise25 Media, the done-for-you lead generation service to get you a steady flow of new leads, prospects, referral partners and strategic partners coming in the door every month, month after month.
Rise25 Media was created by myself and my business partner, Dr. Jeremy Weisz, and is part of our mission to help connect more entrepreneurs with their ideal prospects and referral partners.
We do this through lead generation and proactive outreach, and we do this through our done for you podcast service, which is the #1 thing I’ve done in my business and life.
To learn more, book a call with us here.
Check out Rise25 to learn more about our done-for-you lead generation and podcast services.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take to get traffic from SEO?
Most sites start seeing meaningful SEO traffic within several months of consistent work, though competitive topics can take longer. Strong content and earned links compound over time.
Is it safe to buy backlinks?
No. Buying links violates Google’s spam policies and can lead to ranking penalties. Earning links through useful content is slower but much safer.
What is negative SEO?
Negative SEO is when someone points spammy or harmful links at another site to try to damage its rankings. Monitoring your link profile helps you spot it early.
Does SEO still matter now that AI tools answer questions directly?
Yes. AI tools draw on the same trusted sources that rank well in search, so strong SEO is a foundation for showing up in AI answers too.