E898: I sit down with Derek, founder of NapLab, to break down how he built one of the strongest authority sites in a hyper-competitive affiliate niche - without gray-hat tactics, automation spam, or short-term SEO plays.

NapLab ranks for over 103,000 keywords, earns hundreds of thousands of organic clicks per month, and consistently wins Google core updates in a space where most sites get wiped out.

This is a deep, tactical conversation about long-term SEO, brand trust, content systems, information architecture, and link building that actually holds up over time.

Topics covered:
- How NapLab grew from early traction to dominating mattress SERPs
- Why most affiliate review sites fail after Google updates
- The exact content system NapLab uses (data-driven testing, long-form reviews, reuse loops)
- How information architecture and subfolders were planned from day one
- Why "best of" pages became NapLab's strongest traffic drivers
- How NapLab approaches internal linking at scale
- What changed after the March Google Core Algorithm Update
- How brand searches and trust factor into modern rankings
- Link building strategies that still work (and what NapLab avoids entirely)
- Why disavowing bad links was the right call in one specific case
- How NapLab thinks about LLMs, AI search, and future visibility
- The role of transparency, disclosures, and user trust in SEO
- Why slow, brick-by-brick SEO compounds while shortcuts collapse

Who this episode is for:

- SEO professionals building authority sites
- Affiliate SEOs tired of volatility and churn-and-burn tactics
- Founders who want durable organic traffic, not spikes
- Anyone trying to survive (and win) Google core updates

⭐️ Derek Hales on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dhales/
⭐️ NapLab - https://naplab.com/
⭐️ NapLab's Best Mattress List - https://naplab.com/best-mattress/
⭐️ NapLab's Mattress Finder Quiz - https://naplab.com/mattress-quiz/ (answer a few questions, get a personalized recommendation back within 24 hours)
⭐️ NapLab's Mattress Comparison Tool - https://naplab.com/mattress-comparisons/ (filter, sort, and compare all mattresses they've tested to date in a single place)

💎 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 NapLab's Insane SEO Success
01:08 Derek's Journey into SEO
03:04 Founding and Growing NapLab
06:20 SEO Strategies and Success
08:49 Challenges and Setbacks
11:06 NapLab's Content and Testing Process
25:47 Monetization and Transparency
31:22 Information Architecture and Best Practices
41:18 Ahrefs and Keyword Strategies
42:42 WordPress Plugins and Custom Code
45:21 The Importance of the Mattress Quiz
46:08 Team Growth and Roles
47:37 Social Media and Content Strategy
54:52 Link Building and SEO Tactics
01:14:42 AI and Automation in Content Creation
01:16:11 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

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

#searchengineoptimization #affiliateseo #blogging #marketingsuccess