[00:00:00] Crystal Ortiz: I think SEO is in a good place right now.

We have a lot of questions coming our way. 'cause a lot of changes are happening.

A lot of people want to know what we're thinking.

And so we're in a really good position right now to help be part of that 

[00:00:14] Welcome to the Simple and Smart SEO Show

[00:00:14] Crystal Ortiz: conversation. 

Welcome to the simple and smart SEO show podcast!

I'm your host, Crystal Waddell, here to bridge the gap between SEO strategy and real world business success. By bringing you insights, stories, and conversations from the SEO community and beyond.

Grab a coffee. Or your favorite tea. And let's dive into Smarter SEO for your business.

[00:00:34] Crystal: I think my favorite thing is creating what I guess are essentially, contextual GPTs. Because I love giving lots of information and then

[00:00:43] Crystal Ortiz: Mm-hmm.

[00:00:44] Crystal: saying synthesize this in this meaningful way.

But again, I feel like I've always infused a little bit too much creativity. Like even when I was doing content writing, I remember I was writing for an apartment. Building or apartment complex of some kind.

And my mindset was like, [00:01:00] okay, I'm gonna write this from the perspective that someone is going to be reading this and wants to live here. So I'm gonna be saying like, how great it is, what it's like walking here or there,

like these benefits of being close.

And I remember getting the feedback from the person who wanted the writing done.

And they said something along the line like, this would be really good for the person reading it. Who wants to live here?

But it was supposed to be a very dry, here are the stats.

[00:01:29] Crystal Ortiz: Mm-hmm.

[00:01:29] Crystal: like, why?

Why wouldn't you want somebody to want to live there?

But that just wasn't their formula. I've always wondered why that was? Maybe you could enlighten me?

But I feel like there's data right there in front of people sometimes that they don't see. And I wondered if you have seen that as well?

You said earlier, you put in data. And ask for these meaningful outputs and bullet

[00:01:53] Crystal Ortiz: I see.

[00:01:53] Crystal: whatever. So it's

[00:01:54] Crystal Ortiz: Mm-hmm.

[00:01:55] Crystal: how can people do that? Like how do they know what data is important and [00:02:00] what would be meaningful to get out of it?

[00:02:02] Crystal Ortiz: Sure. 

[00:02:03] Understanding Data and Business Goals

[00:02:03] Crystal Ortiz: So I think you have to go back to your business goals, right? And let's say for example, optimizing for SEO on a product page basis rolls up into your business goals.

Because you are hoping to increase your revenue from directly attributed to SEO by 20% this year. Let's just say.

And you know that one of those activities is optimizing your product pages.

Well, now you know that that's the input that you're working with. You're working with product descriptions. You're working with specific products.

What it is they solve for, maybe some of the features.

And so you kind of have that data to use. And then you'll use data from external sources.

So maybe it's reviews on Reddit, maybe it's reviews on Google.

Maybe it's SEO research that you've done on different keywords that you think are gonna be relevant.

And now all of those are your data points.

Now I will say, what I do for me [00:03:00] is I do like a restraint for myself.

Because what can happen is you can start to get really excited about all the AI tools.

And you can just kind of like go down the rabbit hole of all the different AI tools.

And so what you wanna do is you wanna be like, I'm gonna stick all of this in one Google document.

And that's where all of this stuff is going to live and that's it.

I'm not gonna get crazy over here and over here and over here, right?

Because then it winds up taking you three hours when you could have just done it in 25 minutes to optimize the page, right? 

[00:03:33] Optimizing Product Pages with AI

[00:03:33] Crystal Ortiz: a good example is taking some of those SEO things and your product description going in, kind of seeing, okay, maybe we're missing, you know, the features.

We're missing a features outline, right? So what you can do is you can use Chat GPT, you can say, Hey, Chat GPT, I'm really trying to optimize for this keyword.

Here's the product description. I really wanna create some bullet point features about this product that's gonna take you like five [00:04:00] minutes to do. Right? And so that's a good use of your time.

Versus, trying to get it to do everything for you. You're going here and there and everywhere, right? So it'll come up with a good like five to six bullet points for you.

Feature driven. They're connecting to the customer. You know, maybe you make a couple of your edits. And that's one of the aspects of the optimization that you just did for your product description.

So those are some examples of data points that you can use.

And a use case of how you can do that as long as it's rolling up into your overall business goals.

And SEO is a part of that.

[00:04:33] Crystal: Yeah, that's such a

good thing of 

[00:04:35] Balancing AI Tools and Efficiency

[00:04:35] Crystal: About having the restraints.

It made me immediately jump to mentally in my brain: once you ask chat for that output, and no matter which LLM it is, it's always the last sentence.

Would you like me to do the 15 things that you never even thought about doing?

And it's yes, I would!

So like you said, now you're two hours later: what was I even doing here?

I love

Yes.

Starting with a plan and saying, this is what I'm trying to do. And i'm gonna stay in this [00:05:00] lane until this particular job is done.

That is such great advice.

[00:05:03] Crystal Ortiz: Yes, because I can totally be that person that is just like, oh, this is cool.

And this is cool and this is cool.

And oh, I'm gonna do this. And then it's like two hours later. And I'm like, wow, I hate all of this. I can't use any of it. I don't even know where to begin, you know?

Sometimes you can save stuff like that for later.

But really, once you have your plan, you wanna kind of stick to your tactical execution, right?

Like just getting stuff done, getting stuff on the board.

Getting movement, getting momentum.

It's really important to certain types of businesses, like startup businesses for example.

They needed, you know, revenue six months ago.

Before they even started. And so they wanna roll right now.

So it's kind of like once you get into that kind of business and that kind of energy, it's like, okay, we need to optimize the product pages.

Okay, let's make this fast. Okay, now we've done it once. Let's use that as our formula and just, Hey, chat. GPT. I need another one. I need another one. I need another one.[00:06:00] 

There's different tools that also kind of like automate that for you. I think Air Table is an example of one.

It'll use AI to kind of fill in the blanks.

A good example of getting lost in AI is: I made a meal planner with Airtable. This past weekend.

And it took me like so long to do. But. But! It was really cool.

I learned a lot, right? And it's gonna save me time next week because I already set up the infrastructure.

So that's a good example of like, if it's taking you a long time. Is it worth it in the long run?

Because now you've created infrastructure for yourself that the AI is going to make your life easier and faster in the future.

So in the future, all I'll have to do is add the recipes to my meal plan.

And then it'll automatically do my ingredients and I own all the information.

It's my recipes that I use with my family.

I can change this and this and that with it, and, and it's done. That's a really easy use case for ai.

Where it's like, [00:07:00] yeah, I spent two and a half hours on it. On a Saturday.

But it's gonna be worth it next Saturday, when I only spend 30 minutes on meal planning, you know?

[00:07:08] Crystal: I absolutely agree. I'm just thinking,

[00:07:10] Crystal Ortiz: Mm-hmm.

[00:07:11] Crystal: me, I would forget that I made the meal planner and then probably make it again. But I love that for you, that

[00:07:17] Crystal Ortiz: Yeah.

[00:07:17] Crystal: save you time next week.

[00:07:18] Crystal Ortiz: Yeah. You know what, I might forget too. Maybe remind me, if you don't mind, just send me a little

[00:07:22] Crystal: No

[00:07:23] Crystal Ortiz: crystal. Remember your meal planner?

[00:07:24] Crystal: Yes. And then put it on Etsy and then I can buy it. Okay,

[00:07:27] Crystal Ortiz: idea.

[00:07:28] Crystal: I wanted to ask you about defining success, now that traffic isn't this main. 

[00:07:34] Defining Success Beyond Traffic

[00:07:34] Crystal: KPI anymore, like

[00:07:36] Crystal Ortiz: Mm-hmm.

[00:07:37] Crystal: success and define success with your clients when you can't say, traffic is X, Y, Z. And this is how we're gonna say, everything's going great.

[00:07:46] Crystal Ortiz: Yeah, that has been a challenge at times. I think ultimately though, my goal is to help clients increase their revenue.

And make their business function better.

And so if I'm contributing to that, then that's a success.[00:08:00] 

I always give credit where credit is due.

You know, some businesses really do rely more on social media presence.

More on, you know, different areas of the business. Paid ads that I am not a part of, but that SEO does contribute to in some ways.

Especially, you know, my voice in, in the room supporting those teams. And really saying like, Hey, we're going to see.

Success if we, you know, follow the advice of X, Y, Z, even though they're not the channel that I'm focusing on.

Really being a champion for the client and the business. And everybody in the room who's trying to help hit those goals. That's where value is.

I am seeing a lot of success for SEO for different businesses.

But there's definitely been a shift in visibility. In conversion rates. In all of those things.

And so it's, it's more conversation of what can we see in the future?

I've worked in different industries where this has happened before where all of a sudden traffic just [00:09:00] changed completely overnight.

And so using that experience to really say like, this is how that has happened before.

This is where we're gonna see changes.

I think there's a lot of value in 

[00:09:12] SEO's Role in Business Growth

[00:09:12] Crystal Ortiz: SEO in terms of people are looking for this. And we're gonna provide those answers for them.

And it's not only because we want Google traffic or chat visibility.

But it's also by the time someone lands on the site, do we know what they're looking for?

And have we given them a way to understand better? Have we built that relationship with them?

And SEO was one of those channels that kind of connects with a lot of the other channels.

It connects with website health. Connects with content. Connects with paid ads. Connects with everybody.

And so, that's where value is right now.

I think SEO is in a good place right now.

We have a lot of questions coming our way. 'cause a lot of changes are happening.

A lot of people want to know what we're [00:10:00] thinking.

And so we're in a really good position right now to help be part of that conversation.

And I think that that's what we need to keep focusing on. And thinking about. Is like we're in the conversation. And we're having these conversations.

And so how can those conversations help shape, you know, this year, next year, how everything continues to grow.

[00:10:19] Crystal: Yeah, for sure. And even reflecting on our own search behavior should be

[00:10:24] Crystal Ortiz: Mm-hmm.

[00:10:25] Crystal: reassuring for everyone.

Even if you do take a detour and search, let's say on TikTok or somewhere else.

A lot of times when you're wanting to actually buy that thing or do the thing, you go back to your traditional search engines to get you there.

And like you said, we're in a great spot. So.

Let's talk about some rapid fire. Number one.

[00:10:47] Crystal Ortiz: Okay.

[00:10:48] Crystal: All right. 

[00:10:49] Rapid Fire Questions: SEO Myths and Tools

[00:10:49] Crystal: One SEO myth that you wish would finally die.

[00:10:52] Crystal Ortiz: That SEO is dead. That's a myth. It needs to die.

[00:10:55] Crystal: this future of SEO. Do you call it? [00:11:00] S-E-O-G-E-O-A-I-O or something else?

[00:11:01] Crystal Ortiz: Right now I'm calling it AI search. I think that's the easiest way for me to communicate that we're using AI in search. So right now, that's the easiest for me.

But I will go with whatever anyone wants to go with. It doesn't matter to me.

[00:11:14] Crystal: Okay. How about your favorite underrated marketing tool or platform right now?

[00:11:19] Crystal Ortiz: Google Docs.

A classic Google Doc is all you need.

[00:11:23] Crystal: Going back to the basics. I love it.

What about one person in marketing or tech that everybody should be following?

[00:11:29] Crystal Ortiz: I mean, there's so many. Women in tech SEO.

Everyone and anyone from women in Tech SEO.

[00:11:35] Creative Inspiration and Future of Search

[00:11:35] Crystal: What's your go-to source for creative inspiration outside of SEO?

[00:11:40] Crystal Ortiz: I would say following like graphic designers and brand designers. That has helped me a lot in terms of getting me out of kind of like the same old, same old pot of people.

So anything like creative. And, and anything in the music field, as well. I have a music background, so just anyone kind of doing [00:12:00] new art, new music.

Like that just kind of keeps things grounded, right?

When you sort of start to feel like imposter syndrome come in is kind of like, you know, there's so many different ways to express your life. And yourself.

And to do it professionally.

Kind of gives you some perspective. And new ways of thinking about things.

[00:12:19] Crystal: Awesome. And then if you could finish this sentence for me: in five years, search will be.

[00:12:26] Crystal Ortiz: In five years, search will be even more AI heavy.

[00:12:31] Crystal: Because it's gonna be that much more AI heavy. If someone listening could change one thing this week to make their AI content feel more human. Or just keep their content filling human? What would you tell them to do?

[00:12:44] Crystal Ortiz: Start first in your brain. And then use an AI tool.

To help you further that idea along. So your ideas, your thinking first.

And then moving into an AI tool.

[00:12:56] Crystal: Awesome. And then if someone's listening right now, and they could [00:13:00] self-identify as a company that could potentially apply to work with you.

How does one apply to work with Crystal Ortiz? And know that they would be a good fit?

[00:13:11] Final Thoughts and Contact Information

[00:13:11] Crystal Ortiz: So yeah, thanks for asking. If you wanted to work together, I would say that right now I work with basically health, health tech. Wellness, fitness. Skincare, beauty, supplements.

Anything in that kind of genre. So those are typically the clients that I work with. But if there's something adjacent, you know, feel free to get in touch with me.

My email is crystal@socialhart.com. Hart is HAR t.com.

Or you can just go on the website and fill out the form. Yeah. Really, I just help companies understand what their business and their revenue how it can grow with SEO and content.

[00:13:50] Crystal: Awesome. And I of course will put all of that information linked in the show notes. So Crystal, thank you so much for joining me this crystal [00:14:00] Squared episode.

[00:14:00] Crystal Ortiz: Crystal squared. Yes.

[00:14:02] Crystal: I,

[00:14:02] Crystal Ortiz: so fun. Yes. Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it.

[00:14:05] Crystal: yep. And for you on the other side of the earphones, thank you for being here, and I will catch you next time. 

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