Craig Campbell’s 22 Years of SEO Lessons: AI Content, Expired Domains & Diversifying Income 💡

“You do not know when this is going to stop.” After 22 years in SEO, Craig Campbell’s top advice is to diversify your income. 💡

In Dubai, I sat down with Craig Campbell, the SEO “ninja” who speaks at top conferences around the world. 🎙️

We talked about AI content, the advice that took him from client work to affiliate, expired domains, and what it really takes to get on stage. 🎤

📊 In this episode, we unpacked:

• 🤖 His 4-step AI content process
• 💡 Best and worst SEO advice
• 🌐 Expired domains still work
• 💰 Diversify your income
• 🎤 From paying to speak to being invited
• 🙏 Life, family and gratitude

🎥 Watch the full episode:

🤖 His 4-Step AI Content Process

Craig has seen sites with raw AI content rise and then fall off a cliff, so he won’t just paste ChatGPT content onto a site without more conclusive evidence. 🤖

His process at the time:

• 1️⃣ Generate a draft with ChatGPT
• 2️⃣ Run it through QuillBot to paraphrase
• 3️⃣ Tidy it up with Grammarly
• 4️⃣ Add the human touches, with a human editor

He doesn’t trust AI detection tools to be accurate, but Google may use something similar, so edit as much as you can. For more on AI content, read Amit Tiwari’s ChatGPT SEO hack. 🔗

💡 Best and Worst SEO Advice

Best: stop working with (the wrong) clients. He realized he was good at ranking sites, so why make someone else a millionaire? That’s why he moved from client work to affiliate marketing. 💡

Worst: that Google will naturally reward great content with natural links. He spent five years going round in circles over misinformation. You need backlinks. 🔗

His fix: narrow down to two or three people you trust and shut out the noise. His advice for beginners: “Be careful who you follow.” 🧭

🌐 Expired Domains Still Work

Craig says expired domains with strong backlinks have worked very well for years. An expired domain with 10 years of backlinks saves you a lot of time and effort. 🌐

For more, read Kalin Karakehayov on buying expired domains. 🔗

💰 Diversify Your Income

Most of his revenue comes from a big ecom store, plus good affiliate income and some properties. 🏠

“I don’t know if SEO is going to stop tomorrow.” He wants money from ecom, affiliate, buying and selling websites, and property, and he points to top SEOs investing in SaaS, tools and agencies. 💰

His focus: less speaking, more website flipping and a better work-life balance. With a lottery win, he’d invest in a SaaS tool, the one box he hasn’t ticked yet. For a diversified SEO business, read Navneet Kaushal on building an SEO agency. 🔗

🎤 From Paying to Speak to Being Invited

Craig started speaking seven or eight years earlier. It’s hard to get on stage when you’re unknown, and at one point he even paid to speak. 🎤

Podcasts, content and pitching built his reputation until conferences started inviting him. Working with SEMrush on webinars and events early on helped massively. 🚀

He used to do 15–20 events a year and planned to cut to about five. People respect him for being honest about strategies and mistakes. 🗣️

🙏 Life, Family and Gratitude

• 👦 Proudest accomplishment: his son, then four years old
• 🙏 Grateful for: finding SEO around 2000, after a lot of bad jobs
• 🏙️ Favorite city: Barcelona, two hours from Glasgow, where he lives
• 🥊 Hobbies: boxing and football
• 🍟 Favorite food: chips

Is SEO dead because of AI? “No, it’s still there.” He finds AI exciting but doesn’t think it will be as big as people expect. For his strategies, read Craig Campbell’s top SEO strategies. 🔗

📝 Key Takeaways From the Craig Campbell Interview

• 🤖 Don’t publish raw AI content; edit it heavily
• 💡 Rank your own sites instead of making clients rich
• 🧭 Follow two or three trusted people and ignore the noise
• 🌐 Expired domains still save time and effort
• 💰 Diversify beyond SEO
• 🎤 Build a speaking career with content and pitching

❓ FAQs About Craig Campbell

How does Craig Campbell use AI content?

A four-step process: ChatGPT draft, QuillBot paraphrase, Grammarly tidy-up, then human editing.

What is Craig Campbell’s best SEO advice?

Stop working with the wrong clients and rank your own sites, and be careful who you follow.

Where does Craig Campbell make most of his money?

Mostly from a big ecom store, plus affiliate income and property. He advises diversifying income streams.

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• Cyrus Shepard Spills Secret SEO Hacks to Rank #1 on Google 🚀
• Jono Alderson Explains Why Yoast SEO is better Than RankMath?

How diversified is your income? Share this with an SEO who relies on one site. 💬

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