The Ernesto Ortiz Show

David McSweeney cuts through the hype of ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and Perplexity. David reveals the exact mechanics LLMs use to retrieve data and explains why being recommended directly inside the answer is the ultimate goal. Tune in to learn how to reverse-engineer AI preferences, inject dense evidence blocks into your pages for fast inclusion, and use his tool, QueryBurst, to master semantic internal linking.

Ernesto Ortiz on Social Media:

Linkedin: / ernesto-ortiz-seo-expert

Youtube: / @ernestoortiz-seo

Instagram: / theernestoortiz

X: https://x.com/Ernesto58395599

Ernesto's SEO Agency, Structural SEO:

Website: https://structuralseo.com/

Linkedin: / 100778951

Youtube: / @structuralseo

X: https://x.com/StructuralSEO

David McSweeney:

David's Linkedin: / david-mcsweeney-79840154

David's X: https://x.com/top5seo

David's AI Optimization Tool: https://queryburst.com/

SEO for Big Websites: Handling Crawl Budget & Index Bloat w/ Patryk Wawok Ernesto Ortiz interviews technical SEO specialist Patryk Wawok about managing crawling and indexing for large websites. They stress that fundamentals (robots.txt, noindex, monitoring) matter at any size because even small sites can bloat via filters, parameters, and migrations. Patryk shares case studies reducing index bloat by removing or redirecting low-quality and out-of-stock product pages, weighing redirects vs 410s (backlinks, UX, and crawl budget impacts), and using robots.txt disallow after redirects to speed URL removal. They discuss handling Shopify limitations, product variants (index colors, consolidate sizes), and using Product Group structured data so many variants can share one URL while still working in Merchant Center. The conversation also covers internal linking pitfalls on mobile, site structure to avoid deep pagination, collection page content strategies for AI Overviews, branding as “entity” SEO, and KPIs focused on revenue/leads rather than vanity traffic.

Follow Ernesto Ortiz on Social Media:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ernesto-ortiz-seo-expert/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbhjjBiyM1RBS_GZcZx30gw

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theernestoortiz/

X: https://x.com/Ernesto58395599

Follow Ernesto's SEO Agency, Structural SEO:

Website: https://structuralseo.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/100778951/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCmJc1vbm1UnC9ACMPMuVFQg

X: https://x.com/StructuralSEO

Follow Patryk Wawok:

Patryk's Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wawok-patryk-seo/

Patryk's SEO agency: https://organichackers.com/

We Talk About:

00:43 Crawl Index Basics

03:00 Quality Density Wins

03:53 Out of Stock Cleanup

07:35 Redirects vs 410

10:41 410 vs 404 Explained

11:38 Disallow After Redirects

15:49 Redirect Timing Signals

20:00 Shopify Variants Strategy

26:42 Branding as Entity SEO

28:15 Building Brand Demand

34:52 Sitemaps for Stock Status

37:21 Out of Stock Edge Cases

39:29 Out of Stock SEO Dilemma

40:46 Merchant Center Compliance

42:41 Internal Linking Essentials

45:10 Pagination and Site Structure

47:29 Scaling Collection Pages

51:57 Writing Collection Page Content

58:53 Mega Menu Link Strategy

01:00:21 Why Content Wins Fast

01:06:10 AI Overviews and B2B SEO

01:08:54 KPIs Beyond Traffic

01:11:57 Back to SEO Basics

01:15:23 Cost of Retrieval Theory

Ex-Google Search Quality Insider: Why Sites Get Penalized, How to Recover, and Why Server Logs Matter with Kaspar Szymanski

Kaspar Szymanski, former Google Search Quality team member and now consultant at SearchBrothers, explains why established websites can suddenly lose rankings, often due to “perfect storm” signal combinations tied to scaled spam networks, reputation abuse from third-party “tenant” sections, cloaking, and legacy off-page issues. Kaspar also describes how reconsideration requests should be brief, factual, and submitted only after real cleanup, noting Google is increasingly thorough and that repeated premature requests dilute trust and prolong recovery with no guaranteed processing time.

Follow Ernesto Ortiz on Social Media:

Linkedin: / ernesto-ortiz-seo-expert

Youtube: / @ernestoortiz-seo

Instagram: / theernestoortiz

Follow Ernesto's SEO Agency, Structural SEO:

Website: https://structuralseo.com/

Linkedin: / 100778951

Youtube: / @structuralseo

X: https://x.com/StructuralSEO

Follow Kaspar Szymanski:

Linkedin: / kasparszymanski

SEO consultancy: https://www.searchbrothers.com/

Kyle Roof on How Google Detects AI Content & Wipes Out Entire Websites

In this episode, Kyle Roof discusses why Google’s core page understanding hasn’t changed much, arguing that ranking can still be modeled with term frequency in key on-page zones. He says word proximity and section order matter less than writing clearly on-topic, but emphasizes that above-the-fold content and limited initial crawl depth (often cited around 50KB of text) make early page clarity critical. Roof shares multi-run case studies testing LLM-generated articles, finding they often miss required contextual terms, produce dense college-level readability, and sometimes perform worse when asked to be “SEO optimized,” mainly improving headings while stripping key terms. He theorizes Google has dialed up weighting on contextual/LSI terms, contributing to sitewide drops when many AI pages dilute a site’s central concept, similar to centerpiece annotation. He also previews an “AI Kyle” assistant inside Page Optimizer Pro and describes automation of silo and internal linking workflows, plus tests showing descriptive TLDs can rank and may index faster than .com in some cases.

Follow Ernesto Ortiz on Social Media:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ernesto-ortiz-seo-expert/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbhjjBiyM1RBS_GZcZx30gw

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theernestoortiz/

X: https://x.com/Ernesto58395599

Follow Ernesto's SEO Agency, Structural SEO:

Website: https://structuralseo.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/100778951/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCmJc1vbm1UnC9ACMPMuVFQg

X: https://x.com/StructuralSEO

Where to find Kyle:

Kyle's On Page SEO & Content Strategy Tool: https://www.pageoptimizer.pro/

Kyle's Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-roof-seo/

Highlights:

- Bag of Words Ranking

- Word Proximity Myth

- Headings and Order

- Above the Fold Crawl

- Navigation and Text

- LLM SEO Case Study

- Contextual Terms Dial

- Outline Guided AI

- EEAT Signals Checked

- Keyword Stuffing Reality

- Concepts Not Words

- Sitewide Centerpiece Annotation

- Expanding Topics Safely

- Related Searches Map

- AI Clusters Keywords

- AI Kyle Inside POP

- Guardrails Against Hallucinations

- One Click Silo Strategy

- Zero Volume Keyword Wins

- POP Data Study Findings

- Schema Myths And Reality

- New TLD Ranking Tests

In this episode, Germans Frolovs (Head of SEO and founder of GF Marketing) explains how he got into SEO, adopted Koray’s semantic SEO framework and operationalized it by turning its core pillars: topical maps and content briefs into SOPs. He outlines how he decides when a query deserves a page or a heading using SERP-based clustering, index distinctness, search demand, topical authority, and ROI context, including when consolidation or splitting pages makes sense. Germans details a content optimization workflow driven by Google Search Console impressions and query groupings, competitor vocabulary gaps, entities, passage-level formatting, and featured snippet considerations, recommending updates every 6–9 months. We also discuss common topical map and content brief mistakes, challenges in regulated industries requiring heavy review processes, a fitness-site experiment, and using AI via custom GPTs and systems with humans-in-the-loop.

Follow Ernesto Ortiz on Social Media:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ernesto-ortiz-seo-expert/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbhjjBiyM1RBS_GZcZx30gw

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theernestoortiz/

X: https://x.com/Ernesto58395599

Follow Ernesto's SEO Agency, Structural SEO:

Website: https://structuralseo.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/100778951/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCmJc1vbm1UnC9ACMPMuVFQg

X: https://x.com/StructuralSEO

Follow Germans Frolovs:

Personal website: https://germansfrolovs.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/germansfrolovs/

SEO for B2B SaaS Consultancy website: https://gfmarketing.co/

We talk about:

- What Separates Growing Businesses From Those That Don't

- Multi Channel Reality with an Enterprise Case Study

- Meta Prospecting Vs Retargeting

- Why Bid On Brand

- Merchant Center For SEOs

- Why Ads Teams Ignore It

- Feed SEO For Shopping

- Free Listings And SEO

- LLMs As Formula Copilot

- AI For Ads and SEO Reality Check

Follow Ernesto Ortiz on Social Media:

Linkedin: / ernesto-ortiz-seo-expert

Youtube: / @ernestoortiz-seo

Instagram: / theernestoortiz

X: https://x.com/Ernesto58395599

Follow Ernesto's SEO Agency, Structural SEO:

Website: https://structuralseo.com/

Linkedin: / 100778951

Youtube: / @structuralseo

X: https://x.com/StructuralSEO

Follow Michael Nadalin:

Linkedin: / michaelnadalin

Youtube: ‪@MarketLead‬

Michael's Google Ads Agency: https://www.marketlead.com.au/

20 Years of SEO with Jeremy Rivera: What Changed, What Didn’t, and his Podcast Link Building Strategy You Can't Fake or Buy

Jeremy Rivera discusses how SEO has shifted from a fringe tactic to a mainstream corporate budget line as Google became the dominant search engine, while the core fundamentals—site structure, content, and links—remain. He argues recent changes like Google’s Helpful Content Update were less about rewriting for “quality” and more about favoring real businesses with brand signals and authority, forcing many publishers to pivot to newsletters, subscriptions, and paid acquisition. Jeremy critiques declining search quality, the growth of paid SERP real estate, and rapid AI rollout, noting widespread overtrust in LLM outputs despite their probabilistic nature. He explains how AI has driven executive “shiny object” budgeting decisions. Finally, he outlines a podcast-based link-building approach that generates unique, trust-based links and a content engine for small businesses.

Follow Ernesto Ortiz on Social Media:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ernesto-ortiz-seo-expert/

Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbhjjBiyM1RBS_GZcZx30gw Instagram Profile: https://www.instagram.com/theernestoortiz/

X Profile: https://x.com/Ernesto58395599

Follow Ernesto's SEO Agency, Structural SEO:

Webesite: https://structuralseo.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/100778951/

Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@UCmJc1vbm1UnC9ACMPMuVFQg

X Profile: https://x.com/StructuralSEO

Jeremy Rivera's:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremyriveraseo/

X Profile: https://x.com/JeremyRiveraSEO Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@UC_2fXtRCq3z67WG14p8hYYg

SEO podcast: https://unscriptedseo.com/

White Label Link Building Service: https://seoarcade.com/

SEO Consulting Services: https://jeremyriveraseo.com/

Semantic SEO for E‑commerce: Product Pages, Topical Maps, Merchant Center & Popular Products with Pontus Vippelius & Ernesto Ortiz

In this episode, Pontus Vippelius & Ernesto Ortiz explain how SEO evolved from keyword-only tactics to a semantic seo framework focused on increasing the chances of success. We discuss how semantic SEO applies to e-commerce by building entity–attribute structures across category and product pages, using scalable templates for large catalogs and deeper content for small DTC assortments. The discussion covers what to add to PDPs (attributes, FAQs, unique brand information, reviews), how AI Overviews and “popular products” can drive PDP visibility, and findings from a Swedish study showing review volume and solid ratings as key correlates for popular product inclusion. They also discuss Merchant Center/feed completeness, title conventions, navigation and crawl-trap prevention, competitor analysis by business priorities, and why product data and free listings may be central for AI-driven shopping discovery.

Follow Ernesto Ortiz on Social Media:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ernesto-ortiz-seo-expert/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbhjjBiyM1RBS_GZcZx30gw https://www.instagram.com/theernestoortiz/

Follow Ernesto's SEO Agency, Structural SEO:

https://structuralseo.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/100778951/ https://www.youtube.com/@UCmJc1vbm1UnC9ACMPMuVFQg

https://x.com/StructuralSEO

Follow Pontus Vippelius:

https://vippelius.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/pontuskarlssons/

https://x.com/pontusvippelius

https://vippelius.se/

https://www.adrelevance.se/

Semantic SEO in 2026: Site Structure, Brand Signals, and Visual Semantics with Luis Salazar Jurado

Luis Salazar Jurado explains that semantic SEO is not dictionary meaning but structuring information so search engines and LLMs can understand pages faster and at lower “cost of retrieval,” creating an advantage over competitors with more content but worse structure. He contrasts old keyword-to-document SEO with today’s query-to-answer model, longer searches, multiple SERP interfaces, and AI layers, arguing SEO now requires holistic site, brand, and cross-platform consistency. They discuss entity disambiguation (e.g., a jewelry brand sharing a name with a butterfly), the importance of brand searches/mentions, and using targeted PR/ads and social profiles to drive “brand + product” searches (query augmentation). Salazar highlights visual semantics and UX details (H1 placement, e-commerce signals above the fold), warns about canonical confusion attacks, and suggests learning user language via real customer conversations and SERP patterns, while revisiting strategy regularly without changing URLs.

Follow Ernesto Ortiz on Social Media:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ernesto-ortiz-seo-expert/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbhjjBiyM1RBS_GZcZx30gw https://www.instagram.com/theernestoortiz/

Follow Ernesto's SEO Agency, Structural SEO:

https://structuralseo.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/100778951/ https://www.youtube.com/@UCmJc1vbm1UnC9ACMPMuVFQg

https://x.com/StructuralSEO

Follow Luis Salazar Jurado:

https://www.dailysemanticseo.com/

https://www.youtube.com/@luissalazarjurado-consulto5749

https://www.seotecnico.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/luis-salazar-jurado/

Former Google Search Quality Engineer Pedro Dias on Spam, Manual Actions, and SEO Strategy in the AI Era

Pedro Dias, a former Google Search Quality/spam-fighting team member explains how search quality work ranges from reviewing algorithmically flagged sites to investigating spam reports, link networks, and content farms, with decisions often made by committees and driven by market context and intent rather than single superficial factors. He describes clear spam signals like low-effort pages with heavy monetization, notes that techniques like cloaking can be legitimate depending on purpose (e.g., geolocation), and discusses how manual actions can be visible or silent, including cutting a site’s ability to pass PageRank. Dias outlines why Google prioritizes impactful spam, the tradeoffs in penalizing, and why SEO is fundamentally product and technical strategy focused on creating real value and aligning human and machine needs, including for AI retrieval, while cautioning against unchecked automation and overconfidence in AI-era measurement tools.

Follow Ernesto Ortiz on Social Media:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ernesto-ortiz-seo-expert/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbhjjBiyM1RBS_GZcZx30gw https://www.instagram.com/theernestoortiz/

Follow Ernesto's SEO Agency, Structural SEO:

https://structuralseo.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/100778951/ https://www.youtube.com/@UCmJc1vbm1UnC9ACMPMuVFQg

https://x.com/StructuralSEO

Follow Pedro Dias:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/pedrodias/

https://x.com/pedrodias

https://theinference.io/

https://visively.com/