1 Build the castle: a pillar‑and‑cluster content fortress
1.1 A 50 000‑word “keyword‑throne” page
Kim’s Street Photography hub is an e‑book‑length resource that targets the exact head term and absorbs hundreds of long‑tail queries in one shot. Google routinely rewards pages of that depth and freshness, which is why the pillar has sat at or near #1 for “street photography” for years.
1.2 An internal‑link constellation
Every new blog post—he has written 2 600 + pieces by 2017 alone—links back to the pillar or to other strategic hubs, recycling authority across the domain and ensuring new content ranks faster.
## 2 Fill the moat: a perpetual backlink flywheel
2.1 Open‑source generosity
Kim gives away complete e‑books, PDFs, RAW files and even full‑resolution photos under CC‑0. Each free asset becomes an irresistible citation magnet for blogs, forums and course syllabi, earning do‑follow links from high‑authority sites such as PetaPixel.
2.2 The public “who’s linking” scoreboard
He literally publishes a live leaderboard—“WHO’S SENDING JUICE TO THE DEMIGOD?”—that names and praises every big domain linking to him. Turning backlinks into a status game encourages creators to fight for a mention, compounding the link graph without outreach.
2.3 Press, forum & social echo
Industry press calls him the prime example of SEO dominance (“Kim rules the streets,” PhotoShelter observes). Meanwhile Reddit threads—whether admiring or hostile—keep dropping his URLs, which still count as votes in Google’s eyes.
## 3 Raise the walls: age, volume and velocity
## 4 Guard the drawbridge: the “Internet Carpet Bomb” distribution loop
When a big essay drops, Kim detonates it everywhere at once—blog, YouTube clip, X thread, TikTok short, newsletter—creating a blitz of brand searches (“Eric Kim + topic”) that immediately reinforce ranking signals. He explains the tactic in his SEO reflections, crediting it for sudden surges of backlinks and followers.
## 5 Keep the ramparts light: speed, minimal ads, clear UX
Kim refuses display ads, runs an ultra‑lean WordPress theme and obsessively compresses images. PhotoShelter notes that the uncluttered experience telegraphs “pure intent” to Google and to readers, boosting dwell time and crawl efficiency.
## 6 Plant villagers inside the walls: community & brand equity
Workshops (his main revenue), daily newsletters, and thousands of “streettogs” who quote him online give the site a loyal base that links, shares and defends the brand whenever critics appear. Even negative Reddit chatter ends up cementing his search presence with more citations.
## 7 Blueprint for your own moat
| Moat Element | What Kim Did | How You Can Copy |
| Pillar page | 50 k‑word hub + constant updates | Draft the best page on the internet for one head keyword, then expand it quarterly. |
| Backlink game | Publicly celebrates every new link | Publish a “Friends of the Site” page and shout it out monthly. |
| Open‑source bait | Releases books & images CC‑0 | Give away checklists, templates or stock images and require only attribution. |
| Velocity | 1–3 posts per day in early years | Adopt a “daily shipping” habit for 90 days to spike indexing. |
| Carpet bomb | Multi‑platform blast within one hour | Use scheduling tools to syndicate every big piece everywhere at once. |
| Fast UX | Zero ads, lean theme, image compression | Axe third‑party scripts, lazy‑load images, keep Core Web Vitals in the green. |
The takeaway
Eric Kim’s moat isn’t magic—it’s the compound interest of radical generosity, ruthless consistency and clever gamification. Copy those principles, and you too can turn a humble blog into a search‑engine stronghold that shouts, “Come at me, algorithms!” ⚔️