Did you know the benefits of SEO expand beyond your website? Brittany Herzberg joins us to share how you can optimize for search across multiple platforms and content types! Listen in as she defines SEO, walks us through optimizing our content, and shares how to be intentional with your optimization!
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Guest Bio:
Brittany Herzberg is the copywriter service providers call when they want to show up as the answer to a Googled question. After test driving her skills with a variety of projects, it dawned on her—her superpower lies in social proof.
That ^^ combined with her 15+ years in the healthcare field, has shown her that clients search for—and book with—people they connect with & TRUST. She believes your #1 business building task should be to create a powerful human connection with strangers—using SEO & story.
As an SEO + Case Study Copywriter, she knows how important it is to:
- craft messaging with intention
- highlight the client experience &
- strategically use your clients’ words
You can usually find her sitting on the floor—parked next to her almost-16-year-old-dog, Jac—with an iced oat milk latte in-hand.
Today’s episode is brought to you by my Love Your Leads private audio training! Are you providing an experience for your leads that sets an expectation on when they’ll hear from you, provides them with tools that will help them easily say yes and book you, while also making them feel seen and heard? In my private audio training, you’ll learn how to love your leads and get more booked clients through an automated booking process.
Find it Quickly:
02:34 – Understanding SEO Basics
06:34 – Optimizing Your Website Pages
19:30 – The Importance of Blogging for SEO
24:11 – Starting with a Blank Page: Overcoming Writer’s Block
24:16 – SEO Strategy: From Keywords to Content
25:23 – Engaging with Leads: Setting Expectations
25:59 – Blogging Frequency and Content Opportunities
26:54 – Optimizing Blog Posts for Client Engagement
30:11 – SEO Tips: Intention and Technicalities
32:13 – Podcast SEO: Show Notes and Descriptions
40:16 – Optimizing Social Media Profiles for SEO
Mentioned in this Episode
SEO through Case Studies | Simple SEO Series with Brittany Herzberg
Embracing Workflows & Automations in Your CRM: HoneyBook Case Study with Brittany Herzberg
Google Search Console Resource Video
Digital Communications Etiquette w/ Michelle A. Whyte
Connect with Brittany
Website: brittanyherzberg.com
Instagram: @brittany_herzberg
Podcast: The Basic B Podcast
Private Podcast: SEO & Grow
Review the Transcript:
Colie: Hello, hello, and welcome back to another amazing episode of Business First Creatives podcast. You see what I did there? I said, it’s going to be amazing so that it plants that little idea in your head because y’all the one and only Brittany Herzberg is back on the podcast.
Brittany: Hello,
Colie: Hello.
Brittany: I’m thrilled to be back.
Colie: So guys, I talk to Brittany all the time, mostly in Boxer, and I feel like she and I schedule these actual podcast episodes so that we can see each other on a computer. I literally think that is the only reason that we interview each other for our podcast.
Brittany: I was telling myself I’m not gonna laugh and then it just happened, so yeah. No, I’m here for a good excuse to talk with you. And it’s also cool because we have so many really great conversations in Voxer, so why not pull that out and make a podcast episode out of
Colie: mean, true enough. And I mean, we’re going to see each other at almost the same time tomorrow so that you can interview me for your podcast. So it’s all good. You know what? If this ends up being trash, we can just take the interview from tomorrow and put it on both episodes and it’ll all be good.
Brittany: I don’t think it’s gonna be trash, but we could.
Colie: All right, guys. So just in case you need a reminder of what Brittany Herzberg does for a living and why she is so amazing is she does all of the things SEO. And the cool thing I think about having her back this time is that she has done what a lot of us do. And she is kind of like, I don’t want to say full on transit transitioning her business because that would be a lie.
But. She has taken her offers and kind of decided that one offer is going to be like front and center. This is what she wants everybody to book. And then the other ones will kind of be backend offers. And the cool thing is that it’s not the offer that she talked about the first time she was ever on my podcast.
Brittany: Yay us. I
Colie: hey, I like it when people have transitions. I mean, I’m having, you know what, and I’m being very gracious. I’m calling Brittany’s a transition because she is still in her 30s. I’m going to call mine a midlife crisis because I’m in my 40s. Let’s go with that.
Brittany: We could do that. I mean, this works.
Colie: I mean, I think it’s my goal to just make Brittany laugh the whole episode,
Brittany: It’s not hard.
Colie: I mean,
Brittany: You know this.
Colie: Today we are going to be talking about all things SEO. And the first time that she was on the podcast, it will be linked in the show notes. Sorry. I usually look up what episode it was and guess what?
I just didn’t. So the first time that she was on the podcast, she was talking about how to effectively write case studies for SEO for your business. And so that was episode number one. And then I had Brittany on the podcast the second time. And what do you know?
I interviewed her about me setting up her honey book account and we turned it into a case study. I mean, who would have thunk it? But this time I don’t think we’re really going to talk about case studies. We are going to be talking about the order in which you should address SEO for your business. Does that sound like fun?
Brittany: I think so.
Colie: Yeah. Let’s go. So Brittany, let’s say that I have never heard of SEO, which I mean, people must be listening to like Taylor Swift on repeat and headphones at this point if they don’t know what SEO is. But let’s start with just what is your definition of SEO?
Brittany: Oh, I love this question. So I like to think of and explain SEO as how you show up as the answer to a Googled question. But with today’s episode, it’s just anytime someone can find you by searching in any search bar, anywhere. I’m
Colie: taking the search bar approach now, guys, because guess what? Yes, Google and Bing, and I mean, are there any other search engines at this point? I don’t know. But we’re all familiar with SEO related to our web browsers. But what we’re going to be like, Also discussing today is anything that has a search bar, which is what Brittany just said.
So Pinterest has a search bar. Instagram has a search bar. LinkedIn has a search bar. So there are all YouTube. How can I forget YouTube? All of these places have search bars. And so now we really have to expand our view of what it means to do search optimization beyond a browser. But Brittany, before we jump in, I’m going to turn the table on you because I am going to ask Brittany the question that she asks every single one of her guests on her podcast, which is called the basic beat podcast.
If you’re not listening, it will also be linked in the show notes. But Brittany, what is most important for sales in your business? Is it SEO, storytelling or social proof?
Brittany: I love this. I did actually go on a very long winded tangent about this on my podcast because I was like, I should answer too. So, I like to think of it as all three, because you need to get found, you need people to trust you, you need them to see how you can help them and feel like you’re their guide, and then like, get in your world, whatever that looks like, joining your email list, buying from you, hiring you for a done for you project, whatever that looks like, but I think it’s all three.
Colie: An excellent answer and that’s what I knew that you were going to say, but I don’t know if you paid attention to the order that I asked you that I said SEO 1st. Then I said storytelling. Then I said social proof, and I did it in that order because if we are going to talk about the order in which you should address, I feel like I’m teaching algebra order of operations right now.
But if we are going to talk about the order in which you should address search optimization in your business. I mean, we’re starting with the SEO. And so that was why I asked you in that particular order.
Brittany: I mean, I’ve told you this on Voxer, but I love your brain. I just love how your brain works.
Colie: So let’s get to it.
Brittany: Mm-hmm
Colie: You already said what SEO was, and you said basically anything that someone can Google to find you, and now we’re expanding that to, you know, typing in any search bar. But as a business owner, and you know, I guess we can get nitty gritty, you can choose specific examples if you’d like, but where would the average business owner start in the world of SEO?
Brittany: I need you to start with your home base, which are going to be your main website pages. That’s gonna look like your homepage about services, contact, blog, podcast, any of those main website pages that you’ve got, like in your navigation park. We want those optimized, and we need them optimized not for the same keyword, please don’t do that.
We need them optimized for different keywords. The reason being, I like to think of this as such like, it’ll stick in your brain, but it is such a weird example. So you can think of the different pages on your website as different windows and doors in the house of your business. So there are all these different entry points, which people are welcome to come through, weirdly enough.
Counter to real life, but they’re all places that people are welcome to come in and explore your world. So we want to have a different keyword, a key phrase, for those different pages because we want to optimize every single thing that we can so that we can show up when and where people are looking for us.
Colie: And while I love your example of like doors and windows, because I think that we can all understand that like most people need to come to the front door, they need to ring my doorbell. And then I decide if I’m going to let them in. But then, of course, there are the windows. And of course, on the first floor, if there are windows, I some people might be bold and climb through them. I don’t know that in like, actual reality, anybody should do that. But
Brittany: no.
Colie: that I feel like is missing from that part of the conversation is the competition part. And I feel like when I hear someone talk about SEO and each one of your main pages needing a separate set of keywords that you’re optimizing it for, it is For the reason that if someone Googles that important keyword that you’re trying to rank for, you don’t want Google trying to make the decision of which page is most important to show them or which door window.
You want it to be super clear to Google which one they should show that person first. And I mean, maybe that’s because I think about client experience and customer journey all the time. But like, My main keyword, I want you to come through the front door because then as I’m walking you down the hallway in my house, I’m going to show you other rooms that would be most important.
But like, you’re not going to be able to get to those rooms if you don’t walk through my front door as the first place that you enter.
Brittany: I like how you’re taking this metaphor and bringing it even more to life because really truly yes, that’s why my work and your work works really well together because I’m being over here like, Hey, Koli’s amazing. Go hire her. You need her for this thing. And then they come to your website and then that’s where your expertise shines of like, this is how we’re going to have them navigate these different things and actually get into your world and the automations that are going to help them and communicate with them via email about like, here’s where you start.
Here’s where you go next. So, yeah, I just really like that. Okay.
Colie: are building and optimizing their website, maybe not for search, but in terms of like the journey, it’s like, Oh, they get on this page. You want them to consume this information and then you get bonus points. If you make it clear as day where someone is supposed to go next, they shouldn’t be trying to figure out.
from 20 different options that you’ve given them where they should go. I mean, you are trying to lead them down a path that is going to make it most likely that they end up on your contacts page, end up, you know, finding out more information about you and your services, raising their hand and saying, Hey, you seem pretty cool.
Let’s work together. but. Let’s get back to the keywords for these main pages, because I feel like I’m like, but I don’t know what words I should do for each of my main pages. How does that come into play for you as the SEO expert?
Brittany: Okay, so this is where I go in my little hidey hole cave. And I think about. I, 1st of all, I’m looking at the questionnaire that people have filled out. What have they told me? Are there answers to the 3 big questions that I always ask people? So, if you’re listening to this. Take a beat, write down these questions, think about them if you haven’t.
Please, I beg of you, thank you. You just need like 10 minutes. So the questions are, who do you help, how do you help them, and what do you want to be known for or as? When we can get crystal clear, to your point, with clarity, on these three answers. It’s going to help us know what we need to say in the different places for SEO.
But when it comes to looking at those keywords, I go there first. I look at the answers to those questions that my clients have given me. I’m going through and I’m like highlighting or bolding different things that they’ve shared with me. Like if it’s a therapist in Las Vegas, if it’s someone that’s only doing in person visits, or if they’re doing in person and virtual, are they helping, you know, is it like a marriage and family therapist?
Are they working only with teenagers? What is that thing that they’re doing? And we can get really specific with it, but I’m, I’m highlighting, you know, from their answers that they’ve given me. And then I’m taking an additional five or 10 minutes to brainstorm. Okay, if I’m putting myself in their client’s shoes, this gets very meta, but if I’m putting myself in their client’s shoes and I’m struggling with these things, or I’m looking for help or advice or strategies for these things, What might I be looking for?
So then I go through and I literally, you know, pen to paper, I’m brainstorming for like 10 minutes, and then I’m plugging in those individual words into some of the tools that I use to help me find really valuable keywords for them to use. Once I have that big long list, I have them look at it, and then from there I’m like, okay, I have these five pages.
Let’s say it’s home, about, services, contact, and a blog. What words do I need to put in these different pages so that it makes sense for that page to show up in search for someone to then click on it so they feel like they’re getting the help or advice or guide that they’re looking for. So a lot of times, like, let’s just take contact.
A lot of times with contact, I’m putting hire a Whatever, find a whatever. Um, so, you know, with the therapist, I’ve done a lot of therapist websites recently, and it’s been, that’s why it’s top of mind. They do. So that’s why I’m usually using that so much higher, but find a couples therapist in Las Vegas, for example.
Um, so that’s how I go about identifying the keywords using that filter. First of all, identifying the keywords and then figuring out what page to put them on. But I know that that can be kind of still like out there for people. So let me know if I need to clarify anything.
Colie: No, I completely understood. And I think the thing that I want to highlight from all of this is it doesn’t seem like you’re just guessing Brittany. It doesn’t seem like you’re looking at what they say on a paper. And if I tell you, I want to be known for family photography in Boulder, Colorado, it doesn’t seem like you’re just like, Oh, that sounds cool.
And you’re just assigning it to one of my five pages. It seems like it is a very thoughtful process that comes from your brain. Who knows SEO and knows humans, but you’re also looking at what the tools, which, I mean, there’s a slew of tools, guys, we are not going to go through all of these while we are live, but I will put Brittany’s, let’s say, favorite three in the show notes for you to go look at, but it seems like you are doing what I would call meticulous research that is literally giving me like the heebie jeebies from when I was in grad school and writing papers, but it doesn’t seem like it’s guesswork.
Brittany: No, not at all. Absolutely not at all. And you bring up a really good point because a lot of my clients feel like they need, and just people, business owners, feel like they need to come in with what you said, family photographer in Boulder, Colorado. No, I don’t need you to do the work. I love you. Thank you for trying to help me.
But like, I’m not expecting that from anyone. I just need those answers to those 3 questions. And yes, I will repeat that until the cows come home because those 3 things. I don’t really need to look at your competitors. I need to understand why you, why your business, why your services. I really don’t give a crap about what your competitors are doing.
We’re not there yet. Not, not when we’re at the beginning of just optimizing your main website pages. So yeah, I’ll just, I’ll hop off my soapbox with that one
Colie: Well, I’m gonna, I’m gonna add one more thing before we move on, Brittany. I do feel like that is something that I try to highlight in every one of these conversations because you just said, I don’t expect you to bring your keywords with me. For me, when it’s setting people’s process up or their workflows, I don’t expect you to tell me what needs to be done.
Like that’s my job. And I do feel like people delay hiring professionals to do things because they think that they have to have all of the answers before they hire you. But. Getting the answers is part of the process. And so this is not like about hiring me to do setups or hiring Brittany to do your SEO.
I really want everyone to think long and hard about anything that you’re trying to do in your business. You do not need to have the answers. That is what the professional is going to help you do. So just keep that in mind. Next time you are trying to outsource something in your business, you don’t need the answers.
You just need to answer the questions that the professional asks you.
Brittany: and make sure that you’re finding someone that you really get along with, that you feel like does a good job explaining something in the way that you need. So if you’ve made it this far in the podcast and you’re like, I don’t understand what’s written, what Brittany is saying, I’m not the girl for you.
And that’s okay because there are plenty of other people out there.
Colie: Yes. All right. So you’ve got my five main pages and they are now optimized, which honestly, before we move on to the second one, maybe we should actually say like the key things that go into optimization. You don’t need to list all of them. Maybe just give me the top three of what you actually do on a page in order to optimize it.
Brittany: Oh, for sure. I can even talk you through, maybe I can mention this at this point, the one page SEO situation that I have. So it’s kind of like an audit. Koli helped me come up with.
Colie: We’re gonna call it a mini SEO audit from now on. Guys.
Brittany: I love this. I need to go rebrand it. I just do a high level overview. I don’t even have people fill out the question the answers to those questions because I’m gonna go in, I make sure with you, I confirm with you that that page is accurate, up to date, the copy is, like, good, you feel good about all of it because I’m just going to go through and look at those Pages and the words that you have on there and I’m optimizing it based on what you have.
So when I do that What am I doing? I’m giving you suggestions for the h1 heading the big headline at the top of the page in case you’re not familiar and also You know, I’ll just throw myself under the bus at the very beginning before I knew SEO I was like these h1 headings are really cute I think I had like seven you can only have one and that is why Koli is laughing So h1 heading one of them Your SEO title and your meta description because your SEO title is that blue headline that you’ll see on Google search results pages And it needs to grab people’s attention and communicate very quickly in a few characters What the heck is going on over there and then your meta description because that gives a summary of what someone’s gonna find over there So if you do nothing else h1 heading SEO title meta description if you’re not sure what those are come find me
Colie: And I’m just gonna jump in and say that I think a lot of the time people are like, oh, but isn’t your H one and your SEO title the same? you know what? I could give you my opinion, but I have an expert here. So Brittany, why, why do you want to make those different? Why don’t you want to make those the same thing?
Brittany: Well, I do actually most of the time have them read the same because Google thinks it’s like real cute sometimes and it’s like, Oh, this is the SEO title you wanted to use. Yeah, no, I’m not going to use that. I’m going to use your H1 instead. So that is why. And I learned that after a while of doing SEO. So now that I know that, you know, you do better, you know, better, you do better.
But, and. If I am writing something and I feel like I’m cutting words and not saying the sentence as full as I really want to be, I will use more characters in the H1 heading
Colie: Okay,
Brittany: because I really want that to be the thing that drives it home and is clear to people. It, you know, we can go with shorter, more high level, maybe a little bit clunkier in the SEO title, but, but I want to know, I want to know your thoughts though.
Colie: I honestly, I thought it was going to be like a door in a window situation. I thought that, I mean, basically you want the same keyword. And again, I am not an SEO expert for everybody listening out there. I just love SEO and I try to learn as much as possible. I mean, the words can be similar, but I always felt like people made them slightly different so that Google would read them in a different way and wouldn’t identify them as identical.
And then you kind of have, you know, two different ways that Google might hit you versus not hit you. But I mean, again, I’m not the SEL expert. Okay,
Brittany: and your H1 heading. But there are times where I have people where they’re like, I love my H1. I really don’t want to change it. So that’s fine. We can make that choice. We can make that calculated decision, but you are changing your SEO title.
We are making sure that that is clear.
Colie: so five main pages done. What comes next? Okay.
Brittany: and if you don’t have a blog, that is okay. We can start today. Yeah,
Colie: you an out. She’s not saying it’s okay that you continue without a blog. She’s saying today is as good a day as any to like start blogging. So let’s get to it.
Brittany: because what I’m seeing, and even I’ve been creating some SEO reports today for clients. It’s very, very top of mind because I’m seeing clients where we did do their main website pages and they had that spike, but then we’re starting to see a little bit of a dip because there’s nothing happening over there.
Whether that’s adding a service, promoting a workshop, creating a product, nothing, and there’s no blog. So the thing that I’m putting it under opportunities is, hey, you can start your blog. Remember we talked about that? You want a little help?
Colie: Now, I will say, I mean, here’s the thing. I used to do a lot of audits of photography websites way back in the day when I was still coaching people in that manner. And the one thing that I would always come across is that they had a blog. But it wasn’t active. And how did I know that it wasn’t active?
Because they were showing the dates and I could see that the last time that they blogged anything was like 2022. And it’s like, um, what happened to the last 3 years? Like you haven’t had anything to say. So I would usually start with, okay, let’s take those dates off. So no one knows how outdated your website is, but then you just need to figure out something to say in a consistent manner going forward.
Now I personally have, uh, what is it? Four to seven blogs a month, but I cheat because of this podcast. I mean, there’s automatically a blog post that comes out every single week for the podcast. So I feel like that’s kind of cheating, but maybe not really. But the average person who doesn’t have a podcast is not going to have that many blog posts.
So Brittany, if you are someone, if you are coaching, if you are helping someone who doesn’t currently have a blog and they’re like, Oh my gosh, but like, it seems impossible to start writing a blog post a week. What’s your advice to them?
Brittany: with once a month. At least have once a month. And I say this and people just immediately like the bricks fall off their shoulders, so prepare yourself my friend. 500 words. Write a blog that is a minimum of 500 words. You do not need to be cranking out these 5, 000 word masterpieces. If you do, good for you.
That’s amazing. You may even decide that you want to take the one big thing and split it off into two or three other posts, okay? So, know that. Once a month, 500 words minimum. You can do that. I have been paying attention to what I do with my emails and I even posted about it on threads yesterday and I’m like, I’m just gonna write a quick email.
My emails have turned into these, like, 900 word Like monologues, I guess, that I’m now learning and deciding, okay, I’m going to take this and I’m going to turn it into a blog post because I have this thing and it’s so robust and it’s something that I’m sharing with people anyway. And it makes sense to put that piece of content in the journey, in my client’s journey, in their experience of me and in warming them up to SEO and getting them used to the idea and having them also understand like how I teach, how I coach, you know, inform someone, guide them through things.
So. Trust me when I say that it’s so easy to come up with 500 words. Easier than you think.
Colie: I mean, and this is when I’m going to slip in my guys. If you have anxiety, like I did when I was still in grad school and undergrad about writing papers, I wish that I knew that I should just turn something on and talk
Brittany: Yeah.
Colie: and get the transcript and use that as the base of my blog post. Now, Brittany is probably going to shun me when I say and feed it into AI, but I’m going to say something is better than nothing.
And if you are someone. That doesn’t get the job done because the blank page or the blinking cursor is what prevents you from doing it. Talk out your ideas, throw it into ChatGPT, and get yourself a rough outline or a first draft. Because then, If you are like me and you are reading it, you are like, okay, no, that’s trash, I would have said this, and then you have something to go with, and then it’s the fun of taking whatever it was that it got you and making it into a masterpiece that, once again, only has to be 500 words.
Guys, 500 words is nothing when you start actually getting active and writing things.
Brittany: I could not agree more. And I’m not gonna shun you. AI is not my jam. AI works for other people. And it is so great with helping you crank out a shitty first draft. Like, just do that. Because then, to Koli’s point, you have something to work with. It’s really hard to work with a blank page. You kind of can’t, so start somewhere.
And this is even where I came up with one of the offer ideas that I have now, which is to give people the keyword research, come up with the 12 posts for them, and outline the first three with an SEO strategy. Because all you have to do at that point is write. You just need to start with something.
Colie: And that’s like the whole, like, you’re the horse and, well, you’re not the horse. The person is the horse and you’re walking them to the water and
Brittany: yeah.
Colie: Here is the water, drink. Once you drink, it gets a lot easier to do it again and again. And so, once again, if you are someone who is stuck by, Well, I don’t really know what my keywords should be.
Brittany has this offer where she will tell you where to start and even give you, like, a push into the deep end for the first three posts. I mean, I
Brittany: included, don’t
Colie: there you go, unicorn floaties. It’s gonna be a unicorn one, right? Okay.
Brittany: Yes, I love this. I also just, total sidebar, but I just watched the Lisa Frank documentary. So I’ve got unicorns on the brain. Like you would not believe. Highly recommend watching it. It’s very interesting.
Colie: I mean, I didn’t know that there was a Lisa Frank documentary. I think that is certainly up my alley that I should watch.
Brittany: yes. So one other thing I do want to mention with blog posts and with talking about frequency and that kind of thing. I mean, same where I, last year I had some months where I had eight blogs a month that were going out. But it was only my podcast because I had four solo episodes and four guest episodes and I was blogging every single one.
I would still go back and do the same thing again, but this year I’m doing something a little bit different where I have four podcast blogs, four episodes a month, and then I’m adding in, I’m telling myself at the bare minimum, I’m doing one normal blog post, air quotes for those of you who are listening and not watching, But doing one additional one, and to your point, it’s so easy because I’ve done one last month.
I was sick and I still managed to do like two or three extras. I was like, this is amazing because you get, you, you start to see the content opportunities everywhere and then you start to capitalize on it. So it sounds so intimidating until you start moving. So just get moving.
Colie: Yeah, and I feel like when Brittany comes in, she’s helping you, like, take the piece of content and optimize it to get found. But I think that the actual thing that you are writing about is, like, there. Every time you You talk to one of your clients every time you answer a question that they ask you because I guarantee you if you’ve never sat down and written all of the objections that someone gives you before they hire you, all of the problems that you’ve had to troubleshoot while working with someone or all of the questions that you’ve had to explain and respond to multiple times across multiple clients, uh, those are the things that need to be blog posts.
Because then once you’ve got the blog posts to help these strangers find you, those blog posts are double duty because you can share them with current clients in order to prepare them more for the service. My actual favorite blog post, and you know what, everybody should write this down. My favorite blog post for everybody to have is, What do you do when the service is done?
And I feel like that is the thing. That very few people have written and that is the thing that would really help you continue to nurture your clients after you have delivered the SEO strategy, the fully done systems, like whatever it is, if you tell them what they should do two weeks later, that is an excellent blog post, not only for the SEO gods.
I mean, are we still referring to Google as a God, but anyways, the people who are going to find you on search. And then also once you are off boarding your client and you have given them their deliverables, that is an email that I make two recommendations. You either send it a week before you give them the deliverables to prepare them.
For how to use them when they get them, or you send it a week after and be like, Hey, I know that I delivered all this goodness, and you are probably still in awe and wondering, you know, what to do with it. Here’s a blog post that you should read to figure out how you can continue whatever it is that you, that you provide as a service.
So,
Brittany: I really, really, really love that. And actually that’s, I, I’m happy right now because the, the next few blog posts that I had in mind to write were actually this, really the conversation that we’re having about, you know, step one, step two, step three, because I realized I would have clients and they would go through this first level and then they’re like, okay, cool.
Bye. And that’s, that’s on me to be able to say, Hey, we’ve done this thing. Look at your SEO report. Here’s another opportunity. If you want to pursue this, you can do this DIY route, or I can help you with this done for you route
Colie: Yeah, I mean, I, I just, I feel like it’s an opportunity that a lot of us miss out on because especially when you’re doing a done for you service. I don’t think that there are very many done for you services where it doesn’t need something else tweaked down the line. And so, if you are able to prepare them for the tweaks, or bare minimum tell you when they should reach back out to you.
to pay you to do the tweaks. Um, we should all have a blog post that explains this because it is probably going to be key word rich for the strangers to find you and nurture the clients that you’ve already worked with.
Brittany: for sure. And something I like to remind people of with SEO and keywords. And I mean, again, it sounds very technical. That’s the entire reason why I went down this rabbit hole. It was like, okay, it sounds really costly and complicated and confusing. But is it really, though? And turns out it’s not. So, you know, I proved that wrong, and now I want to share the word with everyone.
Spread the word with everyone. One thing I like to remind people with all of the SEO stuff is that it comes down to intention. If you are being really intentional with what you’re writing, how you’re creating the blog post, what you’re sharing, it’s going to work for you.
You adding in the SEO spice is just going to kick it up a notch. But if you’re being thoughtful and intentional with what you’re putting together in the first place, Don’t worry, like you’re doing most of the SEO stuff just naturally.
Colie: so I’m going to kick one thing in because what I hear you saying is that even if you do it without an SEO strategy, eventually Google is going to find your stuff. But what if Google does not find your stuff? I feel like this is when we need to like highlight the fact that in one of your podcast episodes and guys, it will be linked in the show notes.
Brittany walks you through how to make sure that Google knows that you wrote a blog post after you wrote it. It’s Google console. It is not complicated. She even made a video. So it is going to be linked in the show notes for you because like it’s one thing for you to take the time to write it. And then if you don’t see any results, it could just be as easy as Google didn’t know that you wrote it.
And there is a very easy way to let Google know that you wrote something. So that’s in the show notes waiting for you.
Brittany: highly recommend because it’s the thing to your point of like telling people what they need to do next. That is the thing that you do after I give you the SEO strategy for your, you know, blog post or at least it’s the, it’s the final step and it does help so much and it works so fast. It takes like two minutes.
Colie: Okay, so just to recap, first, we’ve got working on your SEO for your top five pages. Then we’ve got working on your blog. What comes next?
Brittany: Then, if you have a podcast, I want you to focus on podcast SEO. If you are only a podcast guest, you can still optimize a lot of these things to make the most out of these visibility opportunities that you have going on.
Colie: Okay, so explain to me what the difference is between optimizing for your blog and optimizing for your podcast, because I think that you’re saying in the podcast host or there versus the blog posts where most of us are sharing our show notes. So, I just want you to clarify, because I’m pretty sure I know what you mean, but I want to make sure that the listening audience does.
Brittany: Now, I’m really glad you asked this question because this even came up this week when I was talking with a current client about going back and optimizing some of her previous podcast episodes. So yes, I want you to optimize your podcast show notes that you are putting on your blogs. If you’re not doing that, we can start today. But there’s also a way that you can optimize your podcast show description in your podcast player. So Buzzsprout, Libsyn, Acast, whatever the thing is. Like, you can go back in and optimize it in there. And it doesn’t take much. I mean, honestly, if you just focus on your episode title, and keeping that around 60 characters, and ensuring that you have a target keyword in there, that’s going to do a lot of heavy lifting for you.
Colie: I feel like it’s rare now, but I would say a year ago, maybe a year and a half ago, I would be searching for a podcast episode or a show on, you know, Apple podcasts. And I was just flabbergasted at the number of show notes. That was basically blank or it was, Hey, come read the show notes and it would just give a link.
And I was like, my God, what are you doing? You’re like missing all of the opportunity for that show description, that episode description to be set to like all of the different players. And I’m just like, what are you doing? So I think it’s, it’s more rare now, but I feel like 18 months ago, I would have happily given you some kind of sign to like walk around town and be like, yes.
Optimize your podcast description and your show notes that appear in the podcast player.
Brittany: Gosh, please don’t leave that blank. I didn’t even know that was happening. I’m
Colie: mean, it’s not even that it’s blank. It’s just like some people were just like, and if you want to hear more, go to the show notes. And it was just a link to their website, but like, there wasn’t like a description of what the podcast episode was about. There wasn’t any information about the guest. If it was a guest episode, I mean, and we can also talk about links because originally the links weren’t clickable.
Now they are, especially if you’re on mobile. So, I mean, things have changed a lot. And one of the things is. Making sure that those show notes are optimized in the player. I mean, I would even say it’s probably more important than the ones that end up on your podcast blogs, but that’s just me.
Brittany: No, I agree with you because, because again, again, with the search bar, people are going to the search bar in Spotify and Apple podcasts and YouTube, and they are trying to find help there. So if you have neglected your show description, shame on you you’re missing again, you’re missing out.
Colie: gosh. You said shame. And I, I was thinking of the woman from, Game of
Brittany: Game of Thrones.
Colie: Walking around with the, yeah, anyways. That’s really off topic, guys. what is number four, Brittany? Or are we done?
Brittany: Well, we can, we can, let’s hang out with podcasts for a little bit longer. So some, some unexpected things, I won’t throw the kitchen sink at you. Cause I’m kind of known for doing that, but I will give you some unexpected places that podcast SEO exists. So your image title for your thumbnail for your show.
So again, literally just before I got on this call with you had a client and they were like looking at all the suggestions that I shared with them for their podcast SEO, and they, their question was. Is it really all that important to optimize the image thumbnail? And I was like, you know what? Let me test my own, my own theory.
I had a few shows that I knew off the top of my head. I was like, okay, I talked about this with so and so. I talked about this with so and so. So I’m typing in the Google search bar. The, what I know for a fact without even checking is the image title. It shows up. It’s in row 2, it’s in row 3, it’s in row 5, but it’s there.
So some of the images were just linking back to my blog post, which is fine because I have the podcast player embedded right there. But some of them showed Spotify links or Apple Podcasts or Spotify for Creators or something like that. So it was very interesting. And then YouTube as well. And that was from the images tab of Google search.
So don’t sleep on that. Even if all you do is you keep the same image and you retitle. The image per episode, like if you want to keep your main, uh, what am I trying to say, like your podcast cover art, if you want to keep that the same, just re upload it with a, a new keyword rich title for that specific episode.
Colie: Okay, guys, um, making a little note if you’re watching YouTube, because I realized, uh, my image, my image title is optimized, but I’m not changing it for all the episodes. I mean, it, it says some variety of client experience, system strategist, Colie James, or if there’s a specific type, like, you know, building your workflows in Dubsado or whatever, but I don’t do it for every single episode.
And so that means that I’m missing out now. What do you do if you’re going to be a guest on someone’s podcast? Like, you don’t necessarily know what they are going to be optimizing your podcast episode for, so how do you make sure that you’re giving them an image title that is going to be good for when they end up putting your podcast out into the world?
Image
Brittany: you, I need you to optimize your headshot title. For the love of everything, I don’t want redheadshot40. I do not want img3452. I don’t want that.
Colie: No? Okay.
Brittany: please, please don’t do that. Or have like initials if it’s like jb4532. I don’t know who that is. I have, do you know how many people I’m talking to in a month for that podcast?
Like, please don’t do that. So, at the very least, put your name and put what you want to be known for or found for. So, a lot of mine, and I do have multiple headshots, and I am very strategic with what headshot I send to which person, what we’re talking about, that kind of thing. So, you know, I did a podcast with you where we were talking about case studies.
I would like to think
Colie: Oh, you did. Oh, and it was long. You did. Mm hmm. I remember that. It made it easy to find on my computer though, when I was uploading it. I’m just saying.
Brittany: Exactly. So, and I’m going to make sure that with this one, it says something like SEO strategist, SEO expert, something like that in the title, so you can, this is where I was going with that. You can have like headshots that you rotate and because I always like to try to see like, okay, what’s the theme that they usually do for their guest?
You know, um, artwork. If it’s colorful, I’ll try to send a picture that has like a white shirt, or if it’s like. You know, they go with colors too, I’ll try to match the color, whatever. Like, I’m trying, I’m trying to be a good podcast guest, you know? But you can have four or five headshots optimized for different things.
But have your name, have your name, and have whatever the thing is that you want to be found for. And, that’s likely going to go in a Canva image, where they’re going to say something about like, Episode 391 with Brittany Herzberg. That’s fine. Like, there’s still going to be some stuff in there. And you could also take it upon yourself, because Podcast hosts love, they love when people care, they love when people care about their show.
So you could also say, hey, I heard on this other podcast that you have podcast SEO, and I don’t know, like, maybe blah, blah, blah would be a good keyword to, to throw in here for this show. It’s just thinking, like, that could be really nice. Word it nicely, but like, it’s appreciated.
Colie: Word it nicely. Uh, you recently had Michelle White on your podcast. I chatted with her today. So if you don’t know how to word that nicely, she might be somebody, the etiquette empress. I’ll put her, I’ll put her in the show notes too.
Brittany: You should. No, that was a really fun conversation.
Colie: It was good.
Brittany: Yeah,
Colie: Brittany, are we done with podcasts?
Brittany: we can be.
Colie: optimization? What’s the, what’s the next one?
Brittany: We are going to go over to your social profiles your social media profiles and social SEO, again, it goes with you everywhere online, it goes everywhere there’s a search bar, everywhere that you have a profile or anything like that.
I cannot tell you, specifically with Instagram, how many people have found me in a search on Instagram, invited me to come talk in their communities, sometimes paid, sometimes free, connected me with a potential client because they found me on Instagram and I had in my profile what they were looking for, the help that they were looking for.
So, optimize that. At the very least, go figure out, and I, I know some things, so you’re welcome to, to DM me, but, you know, Pinterest, LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram, Threads, like, all of these different places, YouTube, they have certain spots that, similar to an H1, are, I like to explain it like they’re weighted a little bit heavier for SEO, so it, it counts more, it matters more that the keywords are in those places, so on Instagram, just as an easy example for all of us, it’s that bold text, That really matters.
So for mine, I think it says something like SEO consultant and strategist slash podcast host. It says something like that. You can have your name in there. Your name should always be somewhere in your profile. If it’s not in your handle, like mine is in my handle, you could have it in the bold text, but you don’t want your bold text to only be your name.
Because I love you, but not a lot of people are searching for just your name.
Colie: I mean,
Brittany: yet.
Colie: Yes, that is true. Um, just to put it out there, Brittany’s is SEO strategist and copywriter, and then she has a slash, and then it’s podcast host. So it’s exactly what she said it was. Um, I mean, I feel compelled to come and see what mine is, um, cause, I mean, hopefully I’m not going to shame myself.
I think that I’ve done it correctly, but let’s see. Okay. So mine says Colie dash, and then it says client experience system strategist and podcast host. So, I mean, maybe I should put the Colie at the end. I think I should probably do that, but I have all that goodness in there as well. So, once again, if you look at your Instagram profile and yours is just your name, um, immediately go update that.
Immediately.
Brittany: we need to add some words. I would actually say keep your name at the front of it at the beginning, because that’s the thing that shows up when someone DMs you. And it looks a little weird when it’s like, SEO message to you, Colie. But that’s what it will say.
Colie: Okay. So, I did something right.
Brittany: You did something
Colie: Do I get a gold star?
Brittany: Yeah, you do. I will go find one.
Colie: Brittany, is that our list, or is there anything else that we’re going to cover related to social search optimization?
Brittany: I will also say hashtags are not dead. Hashtags are a great source of keywords. Please use them at the number goes, you know, this way and that way, depending on what day of the week it is, like, whatever, but just include some go with whatever number you want to, but make sure that there are some keywords in there and you could do that trick that people were doing where they put like, you know, the, the line at the bottom of their caption.
And then they would just like, write some words. You could do that. You could also just write a really well written caption
Colie: Yeah, that has the words that you want to be found,
Brittany: Just an idea
Colie: search bar. That’s an idea.
Brittany: There are places to put alt text, um, I think like carousels, I can’t remember if you can do it with reels or not, but you can always look for those different places, not only for search optimization, but also for helping those who are visually impaired.
So, things to consider, but hashtags are not dead and they’re a great source of keywords. Writing a really well written caption is a great place to have keywords. And then, of course, your profile, if you do nothing else, do your profile.
Colie: Yeah. All of that. Okay, you know what, guys? Brittany might have some more things on her list, but she gave me things that I feel like I need to go do. And so if she, if she found something that I should do, I know that all of you probably had a couple of things from the things that she said. But Brittany, if the listening audience is like, Oh my God, that all sounds so cool.
But like, this is not in my ministry. I just need somebody to do it for me. Where can they find out more information about working with you and specifically starting with that, you know, easy button, one page SEO audit that we totally rebranded before we hit record.
Brittany: I love this so much. So go to my website, britneyherzberg. com. Of course on Instagram, since I mentioned it, you can find me over there. I hang out, I practically live in the DMs over there. It’s britney underscore herzberg. Don’t worry about spelling my name, we’re going to have the links below for
Colie: come up.
Brittany: I wish, I will come home. to the magic of SEO.
Colie: There you go.
Brittany: Um, and then the mini SEO audit that Koli and I have been hinting at is, it’s called like SEO one page thing right now on my website. But go to the SEO shop, you’ll find lots of different things. There’s even a podcast SEO download in there. And if you’re like, I don’t know, I’m still like dipping my baby toe in the waters, I have a private SEO podcast that you can like listen to the whole thing right now in 15 minutes where I just, you know, bust the myths and share the truth about SEO with you.
Colie: All of that sounds absolutely amazing. And guys, I mean, if you’re like, Oh my gosh, there’s so much more we could have talked about. She’ll be back soon. Don’t worry about it. Just as soon as she and I get together and we feel like we’ve had enough conversations in Boxer for her to come back.
Brittany: Exactly, I will be back. Thanks for having me though, I love getting a chance to talk with you.
Colie: Me too. I mean, it’s nice to see you.
We talk all the time. I hear your voice constantly, but it is nice when I get to actually see you on a screen.
Brittany: It is.
Colie: All right, everyone. I hope that you have taken something away from this episode, because even though I have probably, and I mean, I should make a list of them. I’ve probably had 13 episodes at this point on this podcast, specifically dedicated to SEO.
Those are not even the ones where we just tangentially mention SEO in the conversation. But I still feel like we talked about things today that we have not talked about in any of the other episodes. So I hope that you made a list. If you didn’t, it’s okay. Take out a new piece of paper and a pen and listen to this conversation again.
that’s it for this episode until next time. Bye.
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