

The Simple and Smart SEO Show
Crystal Waddell
The best SEO podcast for entrepreneurs and creative small business owners who want to build a better website to grow their business!✨This SEO-focused podcast combines brand strategies mixed with fresh ideas for websites, digital marketing, and customer experience.✨WHY SEO?✨SEO is important because it can help a business be found by people searching for what they sell. In 2025, SEO for LLMs and AI-powered search engines will grow in importance. But don't feel overwhelmed: SEO can be simple and elevate your websites visibility with small changes over time.✨Listen to this podcast every week to learn how you can make your website rank higher without spending thousands of dollars per month!
Episodes
Mentioned books

Aug 31, 2022 • 32min
Use SEO & Ads Like the Experts w/ Ashleigh Chanél (Pt. 2)
Welcome to the Simple and Smart SEO Show!Apply for your own $99 SEO Site Audit!Leave a text or voice note here.What's in our 14th episode?We are chatting PART 2 with social media ads expert Ashleigh Chanél about words that sell ... and of course, SEO! About Ashleigh Chanél:A world travelling lover of charcuterie boards, expert Digital Marketer & the CEO of Make Your Mark Digital Marketing Agency. Ashleigh Chanél helps profit-driven business owners transform their businesses into revenue-generating and impact-creating machines without the extra time and stress. I position my clients as authorities in their industries with tailored organic and paid marketing and advertising strategies.Ashleigh on Marketing Mindset:People are scared to spend money on ads because they don't want to waste it, but ROI is not always monetary.You can validate your funnel by asking people in your ideal audience their thoughts on it before you put it out there publicly.Ask your audience what they want and what they hate about your industry before you start marketing to them.When selling something, it is important to be able to explain how it will benefit the buyer; if you can't do this, then it will be difficult to make the sale.Ashleigh on Ads Mindset: Ads don't have to be hard, but you need a strategy behind them.If people aren't clicking on your ad, there's an issue with the targeting, creative, or copy. If Text me your questions or comments!Hey creative entrepreneur—does SEO feel confusing, overwhelming, or just plain impossible to figure out? You’re not alone. That’s why I created the AI SEO Foundations course, powered by CrystalGPT: your personal AI SEO coach designed for busy, creative business owners like you.Crystal GPT walks you through what matters most for your website. Head to SEOin7days.com (with a 7!) and get started today—let’s make your brand easy to find and impossible to ignore. Does SEO feel confusing, overwhelming, or just plain impossible to figure out? You’re not alone. That’s why I created the AI SEO Foundations course, powered by Crystal GPT: your personal AI SEO coach designed for busy, creative business owners like you.Ditch the overwhelm and discover what SEO can do for your business! Head to SEOin7days.com (with the number 7!) and get started today—let’s make your brand easy to find and impossible to ignore.Support the showBook a Shopify Store Strategy Call With Crystal! Want to follow up on what you've heard? Search the podcast! AFFILIATE LINKS:Start your Shopify Store!Get SurferSEO! Metricool (to be everywhere online, you NEED a social media scheduler!) Grid and Pixel Note: If you make a purchase using some of my links, I make a little money. But I only ever share products, people, & offers I trust & use myself!

Aug 24, 2022 • 40min
Use SEO & Ads Like the Experts w/ Ashleigh Chanél (Pt. 1)
Welcome to the Simple and Smart SEO Show!Apply for your own $99 SEO Site Audit!We chat w/ social media ads expert Ashleigh Chanél about words that sell ... and of course, SEO! Ashleigh Chanél has 2 first names and 2 middle names. Also, 1 last name! 🤣🤣🤣Join the ads convo here!About Ashleigh Chanél:A world travelling lover of charcuterie boards, expert Digital Marketer & the CEO of Make Your Mark Digital Marketing Agency. Ashleigh Chanél helps profit-driven business owners transform their businesses into revenue-generating & impact-creating machines without the extra time and stress. I position my clients as authorities in their industries with tailored organic & paid marketing and advertising strategies.On SEO:SEO is important for EVERY business.It can take some time to see results from SEO.SEO is a great way to get in front of people who know what they want or need.On Ads:Ads are a great way to market: they are easy to set up & don't require a lot of effort.Ads can be used to target people who have visited your website before.The 4 main types of ads: personality, credibility, vulnerability, & feel-good.Ads can work if you have a plan & know what your audience wants.Most effective when your messaging is on point.Can be used to target people who have visited your site before.On Connecting With Your Audience:Voice notes are a great way to connectText me your questions or comments!Hey creative entrepreneur—does SEO feel confusing, overwhelming, or just plain impossible to figure out? You’re not alone. That’s why I created the AI SEO Foundations course, powered by CrystalGPT: your personal AI SEO coach designed for busy, creative business owners like you.Crystal GPT walks you through what matters most for your website. Head to SEOin7days.com (with a 7!) and get started today—let’s make your brand easy to find and impossible to ignore. Does SEO feel confusing, overwhelming, or just plain impossible to figure out? You’re not alone. That’s why I created the AI SEO Foundations course, powered by Crystal GPT: your personal AI SEO coach designed for busy, creative business owners like you.Ditch the overwhelm and discover what SEO can do for your business! Head to SEOin7days.com (with the number 7!) and get started today—let’s make your brand easy to find and impossible to ignore.Support the showBook a Shopify Store Strategy Call With Crystal! Want to follow up on what you've heard? Search the podcast! AFFILIATE LINKS:Start your Shopify Store!Get SurferSEO! Metricool (to be everywhere online, you NEED a social media scheduler!) Grid and Pixel Note: If you make a purchase using some of my links, I make a little money. But I only ever share products, people, & offers I trust & use myself!

Aug 17, 2022 • 34min
The SEO Dictionary Episode (Part 1)
Welcome to the Simple and Smart SEO Show!Apply for your own $99 SEO Site Audit!Leave a text or voice note here.What's inside this episode?Google and other search engines use algorithms to determine where a given piece of content should rank in the search results.One important factor is domain authority: a measure of how much "authority" or trustworthiness a website has. Domain authority can be thought of as a vote from other websites; the more votes (or links) a website has from high-quality websites, the higher its domain authority will be.There are four types of search intent: informational, navigational, commercial, and transactional.Internal linking is when you link to other pages on your website, and external linking is when you link to pages on other websites.Page depth is the number of clicks it takes to get from the homepage to a certain page on the website. The ideal number of clicks is three or less.SEO title and meta-description are pieces that you see on the backend of your website for each page. The SEO title should be no more than 67 characters (B) 55-60 characters (Crystal), and the meta-description should be no more than 155 characters.On-page SEO is about making individual pages show up in search results. This can be done by focusing on things like the URL, slug, headlines, button copy and images.Off-page SEO is about building relationships and getting links from other websites. This can help improve your website's rankText me your questions or comments!Hey creative entrepreneur—does SEO feel confusing, overwhelming, or just plain impossible to figure out? You’re not alone. That’s why I created the AI SEO Foundations course, powered by CrystalGPT: your personal AI SEO coach designed for busy, creative business owners like you.Crystal GPT walks you through what matters most for your website. Head to SEOin7days.com (with a 7!) and get started today—let’s make your brand easy to find and impossible to ignore. Does SEO feel confusing, overwhelming, or just plain impossible to figure out? You’re not alone. That’s why I created the AI SEO Foundations course, powered by Crystal GPT: your personal AI SEO coach designed for busy, creative business owners like you.Ditch the overwhelm and discover what SEO can do for your business! Head to SEOin7days.com (with the number 7!) and get started today—let’s make your brand easy to find and impossible to ignore.Support the showBook a Shopify Store Strategy Call With Crystal! Want to follow up on what you've heard? Search the podcast! AFFILIATE LINKS:Start your Shopify Store!Get SurferSEO! Metricool (to be everywhere online, you NEED a social media scheduler!) Grid and Pixel Note: If you make a purchase using some of my links, I make a little money. But I only ever share products, people, & offers I trust & use myself!

Aug 10, 2022 • 44min
What's with the Google Analytics-4 [aka GA-4] Update?
Welcome to the Simple and Smart SEO Show!Apply for your own $99 SEO Site Audit!What's in our 11th Episode?We are talking all about Google Analytics 4, aka GA-4What are your thoughts on GA-4? (⬅️ leave a comment)Google is sunsetting universal analytics (UA)If you don't have GA for turned on, you're not going to have any data next year.In Crystal's opinion, GA-4 is more e-commerce friendly than the Universal Analytics. GA4 focuses on engagement metrics vs. negative analytics.Create audiences based on predictive behaviors, such as purchase and churn probability.Make sure your Google ads account is connected to your GA4 account.Brittany has a Squarespace website and wants to set up GA-4.To do this, she needs to create a GA-4 Property. Then she can follow the Squarespace tutorial to install the GA-4 code on her site.Neil Patel article on Google Analytics 4.Crystal's linksWebsites:crystalwaddell.com and collageandwood.comInstagramJasper.ai Start Your Shopify StoreText me your questions or comments!Hey creative entrepreneur—does SEO feel confusing, overwhelming, or just plain impossible to figure out? You’re not alone. That’s why I created the AI SEO Foundations course, powered by CrystalGPT: your personal AI SEO coach designed for busy, creative business owners like you.Crystal GPT walks you through what matters most for your website. Head to SEOin7days.com (with a 7!) and get started today—let’s make your brand easy to find and impossible to ignore. Does SEO feel confusing, overwhelming, or just plain impossible to figure out? You’re not alone. That’s why I created the AI SEO Foundations course, powered by Crystal GPT: your personal AI SEO coach designed for busy, creative business owners like you.Ditch the overwhelm and discover what SEO can do for your business! Head to SEOin7days.com (with the number 7!) and get started today—let’s make your brand easy to find and impossible to ignore.Support the showBook a Shopify Store Strategy Call With Crystal! Want to follow up on what you've heard? Search the podcast! AFFILIATE LINKS:Start your Shopify Store!Get SurferSEO! Metricool (to be everywhere online, you NEED a social media scheduler!) Grid and Pixel Note: If you make a purchase using some of my links, I make a little money. But I only ever share products, people, & offers I trust & use myself!

Aug 3, 2022 • 50min
Yes, You Can Improve SEO on Your Own! (Guest: Erin Ollila)
Welcome to the Simple and Smart SEO Show!Apply for your own $99 SEO Site Audit!Leave a text or voice note here.What's in our 10th SEO-focused episode?Erin Ollila is an SEO copywriter who helps business owners communicate the value of their products and services.Erin started her career writing for an agency that worked with medium-sized businesses, before transitioning to working with larger brands.Erin now writes website copy for small businesses, in addition to staying on with her big brands clients.It depends on the business whether the URL slug for an about page should end in a focus keyword phrase. The decision should be based on long-term business growth.If you need to make an adjustment, it is suggested to keep the old page as a hidden page on your website with decreased priority. Write a new page for your change and prioritize that in navigation so you won't lose all of the traffic from the old page gradually decreases. Hidden pages can be used to target local SEO without overwhelming the navigation bar Creating creative navigation terms can be an effective SEO tactic, but it is important to make sure that the terms are clear and not confusing.What did you love learning in this episode? Leave a voice memo or text right here!Connect with Erin O!Website: https://erinollila.comPodcast: "Talk Copy to Me"Text me your questions or comments!Hey creative entrepreneur—does SEO feel confusing, overwhelming, or just plain impossible to figure out? You’re not alone. That’s why I created the AI SEO Foundations course, powered by CrystalGPT: your personal AI SEO coach designed for busy, creative business owners like you.Crystal GPT walks you through what matters most for your website. Head to SEOin7days.com (with a 7!) and get started today—let’s make your brand easy to find and impossible to ignore. Does SEO feel confusing, overwhelming, or just plain impossible to figure out? You’re not alone. That’s why I created the AI SEO Foundations course, powered by Crystal GPT: your personal AI SEO coach designed for busy, creative business owners like you.Ditch the overwhelm and discover what SEO can do for your business! Head to SEOin7days.com (with the number 7!) and get started today—let’s make your brand easy to find and impossible to ignore.Support the showBook a Shopify Store Strategy Call With Crystal! Want to follow up on what you've heard? Search the podcast! AFFILIATE LINKS:Start your Shopify Store!Get SurferSEO! Metricool (to be everywhere online, you NEED a social media scheduler!) Grid and Pixel Note: If you make a purchase using some of my links, I make a little money. But I only ever share products, people, & offers I trust & use myself!

Jul 20, 2022 • 29min
5 On-Page SEO Mistakes to Avoid
Welcome to the Simple and Smart SEO Show!Apply for your own $99 SEO Site Audit!Leave a text or voice note here.What's in our 9th SEO Episode, all about about on-page SEO mistakes?• Mistakes include using generic headlines that don't help with ranking or conversions, and having buttons that say "learn more" without being specific about where the link goes.• You can improve your website by being more intentional with your headlines and button text, and by using keyword-rich anchor text.•It is important to have headlines, buttons, and texts on images for SEO purposes.• Follow your instincts and be available in a way that people need you.• Creating services and packages can be challenging, but it is worth it.What on-page SEO nuggets are going on your to-do list? Tell us here! B's linksWebsite: brittanyherzberg.comInstagram:Brittany’s One-Stop SEO cheat sheetCrystal's linksWebsites:crystalwaddell.com and collageandwood.comInstagramJasper.ai SText me your questions or comments!Hey creative entrepreneur—does SEO feel confusing, overwhelming, or just plain impossible to figure out? You’re not alone. That’s why I created the AI SEO Foundations course, powered by CrystalGPT: your personal AI SEO coach designed for busy, creative business owners like you.Crystal GPT walks you through what matters most for your website. Head to SEOin7days.com (with a 7!) and get started today—let’s make your brand easy to find and impossible to ignore. Does SEO feel confusing, overwhelming, or just plain impossible to figure out? You’re not alone. That’s why I created the AI SEO Foundations course, powered by Crystal GPT: your personal AI SEO coach designed for busy, creative business owners like you.Ditch the overwhelm and discover what SEO can do for your business! Head to SEOin7days.com (with the number 7!) and get started today—let’s make your brand easy to find and impossible to ignore.Support the showBook a Shopify Store Strategy Call With Crystal! Want to follow up on what you've heard? Search the podcast! AFFILIATE LINKS:Start your Shopify Store!Get SurferSEO! Metricool (to be everywhere online, you NEED a social media scheduler!) Grid and Pixel Note: If you make a purchase using some of my links, I make a little money. But I only ever share products, people, & offers I trust & use myself!

Jul 13, 2022 • 35min
Solopreneur SEO for 2023 (part 2) with Laura Jawad
Welcome to the Simple and Smart SEO Show!Apply for your own $99 SEO Site Audit!Leave a text or voice note here.What's in our 8th Episode? It's Part 2 with Laura Jawad!•Brittany, Crystal and guest Laura Jawad chat about how SEO enabled Laura to fill her client roster (Part 2).• They discussed the importance of using Google as a keyword exploration tool.• Calls to action and internal linking are important in keeping people engaged with your website.•Google recently released a core update which has caused some SEOs to see a decline in traffic or ranking.• Google's goal is to serve up the best answers to questions that are Googled, so if content is expert, trustworthy, and relevant, rankings may shift but will not be taken away entirely.• Google's algorithm prioritizes three things: expert content, trustworthiness, and relevance.• Conversion is key - make sure you're clear about what services you offer and how to contact you.• Instagram success may come down to whether or not someone has "it" - i.e., the ability to produce performative content that will engage an audience.• SEO has been a business lifeline for Laura, allowing her to continue driving traffic to her website even when she was unable to post regularly due to health challenges.• By sharing her personal story, Laura has been able to attract compassionate people into her universe and create deeper connections with them.Leave a text or voice memo with your thoughts on this episode Text me your questions or comments!Hey creative entrepreneur—does SEO feel confusing, overwhelming, or just plain impossible to figure out? You’re not alone. That’s why I created the AI SEO Foundations course, powered by CrystalGPT: your personal AI SEO coach designed for busy, creative business owners like you.Crystal GPT walks you through what matters most for your website. Head to SEOin7days.com (with a 7!) and get started today—let’s make your brand easy to find and impossible to ignore. Does SEO feel confusing, overwhelming, or just plain impossible to figure out? You’re not alone. That’s why I created the AI SEO Foundations course, powered by Crystal GPT: your personal AI SEO coach designed for busy, creative business owners like you.Ditch the overwhelm and discover what SEO can do for your business! Head to SEOin7days.com (with the number 7!) and get started today—let’s make your brand easy to find and impossible to ignore.Support the showBook a Shopify Store Strategy Call With Crystal! Want to follow up on what you've heard? Search the podcast! AFFILIATE LINKS:Start your Shopify Store!Get SurferSEO! Metricool (to be everywhere online, you NEED a social media scheduler!) Grid and Pixel Note: If you make a purchase using some of my links, I make a little money. But I only ever share products, people, & offers I trust & use myself!

Jun 29, 2022 • 30min
What is SEO in 2023? (The Solopreneur Guide w/ Laura Jawad - Pt. 1)
Welcome to the Simple and Smart SEO Show!Apply for your own $99 SEO Site Audit!Leave a text or voice note here.What's in our 7th Episode? It's Part 1 with Laura Jawad!Laura Hmelo Jawad, Ph.d joins B and Crystal to talk Local SEO from the solopreneur perspective.Laura is a pregnancy and postpartum personal trainer and birth doula who helps people stay strong and active during their pregnancy, have a powerful birthing experience, and recover afterwards.Laura has a PhD in oceanography and was a research scientist for two decades before pivoting to her current line of work.She shares her start with SEO when she couldn't find her business in a Google search.Laura defines SEO as the art of getting Google to serve you up in search results.To build domain authority, Laura writes long form content with keyword research.Laura's SEO process includes Googling the seed keyword and then looking at the related queries, people also ask, and Google suggestions. Tell us about your story with SEO here!Follow Laura on Instagram: instagram.com/laurajawadfitnessVisit her website and blog: https://laurajawad.comCrystal's linksWebsites:Text me your questions or comments!Hey creative entrepreneur—does SEO feel confusing, overwhelming, or just plain impossible to figure out? You’re not alone. That’s why I created the AI SEO Foundations course, powered by CrystalGPT: your personal AI SEO coach designed for busy, creative business owners like you.Crystal GPT walks you through what matters most for your website. Head to SEOin7days.com (with a 7!) and get started today—let’s make your brand easy to find and impossible to ignore. Does SEO feel confusing, overwhelming, or just plain impossible to figure out? You’re not alone. That’s why I created the AI SEO Foundations course, powered by Crystal GPT: your personal AI SEO coach designed for busy, creative business owners like you.Ditch the overwhelm and discover what SEO can do for your business! Head to SEOin7days.com (with the number 7!) and get started today—let’s make your brand easy to find and impossible to ignore.Support the showBook a Shopify Store Strategy Call With Crystal! Want to follow up on what you've heard? Search the podcast! AFFILIATE LINKS:Start your Shopify Store!Get SurferSEO! Metricool (to be everywhere online, you NEED a social media scheduler!) Grid and Pixel Note: If you make a purchase using some of my links, I make a little money. But I only ever share products, people, & offers I trust & use myself!

Jun 22, 2022 • 33min
AI that helps your Etsy Shop & Shopify SEO
We're talking AI content creation tool Jasper.ai!Apply for your own $99 SEO Site Audit!Leave a text or voice note here.Show Highlights:Jasper.ai is a great tool that can help you be more prolific in your online content creation.Use Jasper.ai for things like creating meta descriptions, title tags, product descriptions, social media captions, or blogs.SEO tools like Ubersuggest, Keywords Everywhere, and Keyword Surfer help with prerequisite keyword research while creating content. Surfer SEO is also helpful for optimizing content for search engines and ranking purposes.Start Your Shopify StoreSEO WritinText me your questions or comments!Hey creative entrepreneur—does SEO feel confusing, overwhelming, or just plain impossible to figure out? You’re not alone. That’s why I created the AI SEO Foundations course, powered by CrystalGPT: your personal AI SEO coach designed for busy, creative business owners like you.Crystal GPT walks you through what matters most for your website. Head to SEOin7days.com (with a 7!) and get started today—let’s make your brand easy to find and impossible to ignore. Does SEO feel confusing, overwhelming, or just plain impossible to figure out? You’re not alone. That’s why I created the AI SEO Foundations course, powered by Crystal GPT: your personal AI SEO coach designed for busy, creative business owners like you.Ditch the overwhelm and discover what SEO can do for your business! Head to SEOin7days.com (with the number 7!) and get started today—let’s make your brand easy to find and impossible to ignore.Your website could be making you more $$Learn how to write content for your website that will help you rank better on search engines.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showBook a Shopify Store Strategy Call With Crystal! Want to follow up on what you've heard? Search the podcast! AFFILIATE LINKS:Start your Shopify Store!Get SurferSEO! Metricool (to be everywhere online, you NEED a social media scheduler!) Grid and Pixel Note: If you make a purchase using some of my links, I make a little money. But I only ever share products, people, & offers I trust & use myself!

Jun 15, 2022 • 42min
SEO Tools of Top Experts in 2023 (Easy for you to use too!)
Welcome to the Simple and Smart SEO Show!Apply for your own $99 SEO Site Audit!What's inside? • On today’s episode, we discuss their favorite SEO tools for Google. • Brittany’s top pick is Ubersuggest, which she uses for keyword research and site audits. • Crystal loves Surfer SEO, which can help you with things like adding missing keywords and adding internal links, as well as giving you ideas for new content.• Brittany's second pick is the Keywords Everywhere extension to download keywords and export them.• Crystal's second pick is Ahrefs, which has a free version that lets you utilize some of its features (broken links and other errors) for one website.• Brittany also touches on how Google's "people also ask" and "related searches" sections can give you content ideas and different keyword phrasings to consider.• Crystal's final pick is the Content king app. Content King provides SEO site health feedback in real time and gives you a list of tasks to improve your website's ranking.• Remember that it takes time for changes to show results- keep Text me your questions or comments!Hey creative entrepreneur—does SEO feel confusing, overwhelming, or just plain impossible to figure out? You’re not alone. That’s why I created the AI SEO Foundations course, powered by CrystalGPT: your personal AI SEO coach designed for busy, creative business owners like you.Crystal GPT walks you through what matters most for your website. Head to SEOin7days.com (with a 7!) and get started today—let’s make your brand easy to find and impossible to ignore. Does SEO feel confusing, overwhelming, or just plain impossible to figure out? You’re not alone. That’s why I created the AI SEO Foundations course, powered by Crystal GPT: your personal AI SEO coach designed for busy, creative business owners like you.Ditch the overwhelm and discover what SEO can do for your business! Head to SEOin7days.com (with the number 7!) and get started today—let’s make your brand easy to find and impossible to ignore.Your website could be making you more $$Learn how to write content for your website that will help you rank better on search engines.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showBook a Shopify Store Strategy Call With Crystal! Want to follow up on what you've heard? Search the podcast! AFFILIATE LINKS:Start your Shopify Store!Get SurferSEO! Metricool (to be everywhere online, you NEED a social media scheduler!) Grid and Pixel Note: If you make a purchase using some of my links, I make a little money. But I only ever share products, people, & offers I trust & use myself!


