Build a Reputation Search Engines Can Trust with Credibility Signals

Megan Yelaney:

Hello and welcome back to Business Not As Usual. We have an awesome expert guest today, Laura Jawad. She is an SEO strategist who helps mission-driven service providers and small business owners build a stronger online reputation and grow their audience and connect with clients who are actively searching for their services. She has such a cool background. She was a PhD-trained scientist and brings a research-minded, evidence-based approach to SEO, which is so freaking cool. And she really pairs that with reputation-driven strategies that put your work in front of the right people at the right moment across both traditional and AI-driven search, which is so freaking cool and timely. I actually got found in AI search last month, and I’m like, oh my gosh, now I can’t stop thinking about it. I want to keep upping that, and I want people to just be able to find me through AI search, right? Isn’t that the dream? And so in today’s episode, we really dive into building a reputation that search engines can trust and why credibility signals matter more than ever, what credibility signals means, how you can start bolstering those and getting that out there so that your SEO can start feeding you to people who are actively searching for you.

Megan Yelaney:

That’s the goal, right? We don’t want to just rely on social media. We want to start being found because the beautiful part about that is these people who are finding you through search are actively searching to solve a problem. You’re not trying to stop their scroll and interrupt them. They are actively searching. So if you have not already expanded out of social media, I cannot recommend it enough. Start now. It takes time to build, and Laura explains that really beautifully in this episode. So get ready.

Megan Yelaney:

You’re gonna wanna take notes. Enjoy this interview with Laura Jawad.

Megan Yelaney:

Welcome back to Business Not As Usual, Expert Voices Unfiltered. I am so excited to have an incredible guest on today, Laura Jawad. Laura is an SEO strategist who helps mission-driven service providers and small business owners build a stronger online reputation, grow their audience, and connect with clients who are actively searching for their services. And that last sentence is like music to my ears. People who are actively searching, we’re not trying to pattern interrupt, but they want what we have. So I’m really, really excited to talk to you today, Laura. Thank you so much for being on the podcast.

Laura Jawad:

Thank you for the invitation. I’m really looking forward to talking with you.

Megan Yelaney:

Yeah. So let’s dive into the, the typical question in a podcast. Who are you? Where did you come from? What was your start to this world? And specifically SEO, I think it’s such a unique and really, you know, niche down topic. So just take us back a little bit and how you kind of got into this field.

Laura Jawad:

Sure. And, um, I’ll just warn you that question is a can of worms. Um, because I’m, I’m kind of like a cat, like I’ve lived many, many lives and I, and I love it. This is, this has been the destination. So, so I’m an SEO strategist. Um, and that means I help people show up in search engines when people are looking for their services, right? And specifically focused on the website. I did not set out to be any type of marketer. So I’m a PhD trained scientist.

Laura Jawad:

I have a background in oceanography and I spent almost 2 years or sorry, 2 decades, not 2 years, um, in academia. At a lab bench. Wow. And in 2017, um, I was pregnant with my first baby and found that there were services and support that were lacking. And as I did my research, as I got versed in those, um, long story short, I decided to leave my academic position and start a business. And I started a pregnancy and postpartum personal training business and later a birth doula practice. And both of those businesses I grew organically, um, through SEO. And when it comes to personal training in particular, I would say SEO is not the most common path for growing a business.

Laura Jawad:

And so over time, I had colleagues coming to me to help with their websites. Um, in 2023, I decided to productize that. And so in 2023, I made sort of a hard pivot in the business and went from B2C to more B2B and helping service providers, service-based businesses with their SEO. Um, The reason I started with my background all the way back to the science days is cuz I think it informs my approach. So, you know, very heavily evidence-backed, data-driven approach to SEO. Um, and I like to say I’m a professional problem solver. Like that’s what my credential gives me and that’s what a lot of SEO is. Mm-hmm.

Megan Yelaney:

So.

Laura Jawad:

That’s what I do these days. It’s been a long and windy road to get here.

Megan Yelaney:

Yeah, you’re right. You have lived like many lives, just like your cat, which we were talking about before we started recording. Um, I love that, and that’s, that’s so cool because I didn’t know that about your background until— well, the oceanography part— until I was reading your bio. I was like, wait, what? This is so cool. And I’m glad you mentioned that because something that I’m always encouraging clients to do is share your background and like something, what informed your lived experience that makes you better at what you do because of your past, either job or upbringing or something. It’s not just what are we doing right now, but why are we really good and unique at what we do right now? And so that’s such a great example of like this really data-driven search-based job that you already had and those skills that you had, you just applied to a new, you know, platform and a new., niche and industry. So I love it. It’s so cool.

Megan Yelaney:

And I love the— I had a doula, so I’m like, the second you said it, I was like, ah, that saved my life postpartum.

Laura Jawad:

So they’re so good. They’re so important.

Megan Yelaney:

Anyone who asks me, what’s your number one suggestion for postpartum? I’m like, get a postpartum doula. That’s my number one suggestion. So love that you got to do that. And just, um, it’s pretty cool that like SEO is kind of, sounds like it was a, a thread through some of this and like the data and seeing, you know, what’s being searched. So, um, since you started the SEO business, I know you’ve obviously had many iterations and programs and all that jazz. But what would you say is like, this is kind of a little bit of a broader question, but what do you think is the most common misconception of SEO? And the reason I ask that is because I come from, a lot of people who are gonna be listening to this, I come from a very social media background-based business. So short form, interrupting the scroll, all that kind of jazz. And what I love about SEO and what I love about talking to people about this is it’s It’s the opposite.

Megan Yelaney:

It’s like people are actively searching for you, which is amazing. So, and I, I hear so many people put off SEO and put off things like this because they think it’s going to take too long and all that jazz. So what are some of those common misconceptions that you, you see people have around SEO?

Laura Jawad:

Oh my gosh, there’s so many things I want to say here. Um, but I want to, I want to address the one that you just said, which is that it’s going to take so long. And in some respects, that’s true, right? The actual SEO, your website’s turning up in, let’s say, a Google search for some particular word or phrase, that can take some time. Um, and it depends on so many things. It depends on the competitiveness of your niche. It depends on the starting point of your website, how new you are. It depends on your brand reputation. It depends on so many things.

Laura Jawad:

But I like to say that SEO is the bow we tie on all of our marketing activities. So I’ll explain that a little bit. Once upon a time, you really could have, like, your website could be a full funnel marketing program, right? You really could just get by with a really strong website that had great top of funnel content, great bottom of funnel service pages. You could really run a business that way. These days, not so much because Google’s not. Ranking pages, it’s ranking websites, and part of ranking websites is verifying the source of information, right? It’s— they’re ranking the author, so to speak, or the brand. And so it’s looking at what are you doing off your website? Where else are you showing up? Right? Are you on other platforms? Are you guesting on podcasts? Are you writing guest features? Are you getting mentioned places? So part of SEO these days is that brand reputation work. Mm-hmm.

Laura Jawad:

Mm-hmm. It’s actively acquiring those third-party verification signals, and a lot of the work that you do towards that has short-term gains.

Megan Yelaney:

Mm-hmm.

Laura Jawad:

What are some of those? Getting in front, I mean, it’s immediate brand awareness. Mm-hmm. Right? For example, right here, right now, this is part of my SEO strategy. Being on your podcast is part of my SEO strategy, and it does a lot of things for me besides just getting me a link. Mm-hmm. Your audience is getting to know me right now. Yeah. I’m getting to know you.

Laura Jawad:

Mm-hmm. Right. There’s a brand awareness aspect, like I’m getting a warm introduction to your audience. I’m building a relationship with a podcast host that could lead to additional collaborations. Down the line, or, you know, in, in some cases even services. Um, and of course then there’s the, there’s the SEO aspect in, in a technical sense of acquiring a backlink, associating, you know, another opportunity to put my name next to my expertise. But a lot of the things that you do for your SEO do have short-term ROI. And so if you’re doing it right, you shouldn’t be waiting 12 months to see a return.

Laura Jawad:

And I think that’s where we get really reductionist with things. And, you know, we look at SEO and how are we measuring the impact of that, right? If you’re really just looking to say, how long is it taking me to rank for a keyword? That can take some time. If you’re looking at how long are the things that I’m doing for my SEO taking to provider a turn, that happens, that can happen quickly if you’re doing it well.

Megan Yelaney:

Yeah, that makes sense.

Laura Jawad:

And so I think we forget, I think that’s a misconception, right? That SEO is just about like technical tuning of the website or putting a keyword in the right place. It’s not, it’s about building an audience. It’s about building a reputation. It’s about getting known for something. Yeah. And those things have short-term ROI.

Megan Yelaney:

I love that perspective shift because it’s so much bigger than people think it can be.

Laura Jawad:

So much, so much bigger.

Megan Yelaney:

Yeah. From what you’re saying there, you said reputation a couple of times. And then also, I know something that we were discussing before we started recording was a term you use, credibility signals, and how building that reputation search engines can trust and what and why those credibility signals really matter. Can you explain what you mean by credibility signals and maybe a couple examples of those?

Laura Jawad:

Yeah. So a credibility signal from this perspective we’re talking about are essentially these— well, I’m going to define a word with a word, you know, signals that Google or other search engines use to determine whether or not you’re a trustworthy source. Okay. One of those signals is your website.

Megan Yelaney:

Right?

Laura Jawad:

What is on it? Right? These are the things you say about yourself. And some of that, like, technical SEO tuning goes into that. But then beyond that, there’s reviews and testimonials. And again, not just the ones that you post on your website, but ones that end up on third-party platforms. So your Google Business Profile, if you’re on Yelp, if you’re on any of these other, um, platforms. This also includes guest features and mentions. So they’re looking to see, do other people trust you enough to feature you on their platform? So this is a credibility signal right here, right? Um, getting mentioned in an article on a reputable news website or industry website, that’s a credibility signal, right? Because the author trusted you enough to put you there. Mm-hmm.

Laura Jawad:

Yep. You know, like Google, other search engines, they don’t know how to trust. Mm-hmm. And so they’re looking for signals that other people trust you as well. Mm-hmm. Um, the last one’s gonna be professional profiles. So, you know, do you have a LinkedIn? Are you in professional directories? Are there other places that you’re showing up that signal that you’re not just a hobbyist, but you are really owning your professionalism and showing up in spaces where they’d expect to see you?

Megan Yelaney:

That makes sense.

Laura Jawad:

Can I deal with this? Yeah. Okay. Sorry, it was really cloudy when we started this.

Megan Yelaney:

No, you’re good. You’re good.

Laura Jawad:

I apologize. That was like really distracting me. Was that coherent enough with the sun shining in my eyes?

Megan Yelaney:

No, it was very— I’m just gonna mark this down.

Laura Jawad:

So do I need to re-record that answer? Was that okay? No, that was great. All right.

Megan Yelaney:

I was like, it’s the, the sun was illuminating what you were saying.

Laura Jawad:

I sit in front of a window and It’s, yeah, it can be hard sometimes with the, the light balance.

Megan Yelaney:

Yeah. I have one on like to the left of me, so I totally get it. Sometimes you’re like, ah, we do have a little, um, what’s it called? Blinds though, which is nice.

Laura Jawad:

Yeah. So my blinds were up. Yep. Oh, perfect.

Megan Yelaney:

That looks great.

Laura Jawad:

Yay.

Megan Yelaney:

Okay. So yeah, no, that was perfect. Um, I think the next thing, so from the credibility signals, um, how to like start building those, any suggestions on that? Does that feel like a good place to go for you with that? Or what’s kind of like the next step? Usually talk about after that?

Laura Jawad:

Yeah, let’s, let’s talk about things you can do. I mean, I, I think you can reverse engineer, right? So, you know, thinking about your website, right? That’s the one, that’s the first thing you can control. And when I think about an authority website, one that looks professional, one that has a clear message, one that hosts your authority content, your long-form expert content, and makes it really easy for people to work with you. That’s the first thing everyone can control. And of course, that’s the stuff you say about yourself. So then the next thing is to look at the things that other people are saying about you. And that’s where cultivating or curating reviews and testimonials pitching podcasts or other guest features, cleaning up your external profiles. Those become really important.

Laura Jawad:

And then making sure that all of these things are internally consistent, especially with the introduction of AI into search technology consistency. Becomes really, really important. Hmm. It’s looking for consistency of signals between platforms. Yeah. So what you say on your website, what other people are saying about you, and what you’re saying on other people’s platforms, the messaging should be consistent. The language to some extent should be consistent.

Megan Yelaney:

Mm-hmm. I love that you’re mentioning this because one of the biggest things that we talk about on this podcast and just in my world a lot is becoming known for one main thing, having one main message that you can go on so many podcasts, um, at different times of the year, and someone comes back to your page and they’re not like, oh wait, they’re not doing that, what are they doing now, I’m confused, you know. And so it’s not that we can’t pivot and change and evolve, of course, but you’re— like you said, you can really hone in on that one thing that you want to really be known for. And behind the scenes and in like your world, yes, you can dive into other things and expand, of course, but on the front face, it— like that, like you said, that consistency, it’s so much easier to have that consistency when you are really known for that thing. So very in line with what we talk about here. So I’m very excited that you said that.

Laura Jawad:

Yeah. And reinforces it. It’s the first step of SEO. Yeah. Again, SEO, it’s the bow we tie on all of our marketing. Mm-hmm. And the very first thing I do with clients is to talk about what you wanna be known for.

Megan Yelaney:

Hmm.

Laura Jawad:

How do you want people to find you? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Like what words are you popping up for? Yeah. And, and then it becomes that delicate balance of what do you want to be known for and how are your potential clients searching for that thing? Because those two things have to be aligned as well, but everything else gets built around that, right? What do you want to be known for? Okay. Next, like what are your expert topics? Okay, next, let’s tune the website around that. Let’s create your authority content around that. Let’s start to build a reputation around those things. Mm-hmm.

Laura Jawad:

Those are the things that are gonna get you discovered. Yeah. Which is the goal of SEO, but it all starts with what do you wanna be known for?

Megan Yelaney:

I love that. I love that. I’m just curious, this is me just being like nosy with the different types of clients you’ve had. What’s kind of the, um, maybe not even the quickest transformation, but one of your favorite transformations that from someone who like didn’t use SEO SEO who, to who really dove in? And you don’t have to give specifics, names or anything, but just maybe industry. I love hearing about like those kind of stories.

Laura Jawad:

Um, it’s hard to think of one person who like really dove in, cuz I think, I think when people come to me, like they’re ready, they’re ready for that. They’re ready to start. Yeah. Yeah, but certainly I have people who come to me who haven’t invested yet into their authority content, their blog. And so I love seeing, so my favorite people to work for, work with, and maybe this is helpful cuz it’s not just one industry, but it’s people who are really, really good at what they do. They are truly experts in that thing that they do and they know that they deserve to be bigger than they are. Right. And those are the people that are hungriest and most willing to do the work.

Laura Jawad:

And so it’s really fun with those folks, especially if they’re coming and they haven’t really invested in that content yet, to really see them take off with their blog and learn how to use it as not just an encyclopedia, but truly like a thought leadership platform, like learning the difference between just encyclopedic content and content that really highlights experience and expertise. Yeah.

Megan Yelaney:

Right.

Laura Jawad:

That makes sense. Mm-hmm. And so seeing people go to having just kind of this, you know, 5-page website to something that really speaks for them and creates all these opportunities to get found. Mm-hmm. Is really, really cool. And I’ve seen people in a variety of. I mean, everyone I work with is service-based, so that ranges from, you know, the personal trainers, the physical therapists, to, you know, the Facebook ads managers, um, the business coaches, right? Yeah. But seeing people take that expertise and translate it into their authority content is really, really satisfying for me and is what really starts to open up those like doors for discoverability.

Laura Jawad:

Mm.

Megan Yelaney:

I love that. And I think too, like you said, it’s not just, oh, it’s, you know, their 5-page website, but they could start to become like, I almost think of it like a, an appointment kind of show that, that you watch. Like there’s certain shows that I’ll make sure I watch every week, or, ooh, whenever a new season is there, I’m gonna watch. When I love someone’s podcast or I love their blog, and blogs are not dead at all for anyone who thinks that. I will go back and make sure what was their blog this week. Like I will go to their website to read their blog because it’s so, it’s so pointed. It’s so specific. It’s on that one topic.

Megan Yelaney:

And so it’s like the same kind of thing. If you, I think just at least my audience doesn’t see blogging and SEO in, in the same way they see maybe podcasting or even having like a broadcast channel on Instagram. It’s not only is it the same thing, but it’s times 10 because of SEO and because of the discoverability. So I think it’s so great you talked about that because it can be so much more than just, oh yeah, I wanna be found. It’s also, I wanna be found and people to go, whoa, look at all of this information and this expert expertise that this person has. They know what they’re talking about. And you really just, they can kind of like binge read all of these incredible blogs once they find you too. I really.

Megan Yelaney:

I just like, that clicked in my head when you said that. I was like, ooh, another step back into blogging.

Laura Jawad:

We’ve gotta create bingeable content there. There was a study that Google did years ago and I think the numbers are out of date and I’m gonna get, I, my brain is a sieve for details, but mm-hmm. Um, I wanna say it was, it’s like 7 hours, like you need 7 hours of content. Mm-hmm. There’s like a certain number of touchpoints, a certain number of platforms and a certain Um, so it was touchpoints, platforms, and hours of content, right? That people need in order to be able to consume, in order to be able to know, like, and trust you. And it’s definitely 7 hours of consumable content is like that number I feel confident in. Um, it’s hard to do that with short-form content. Yeah.

Laura Jawad:

Yeah. It’s hard. It’s hard to do that. Having a bingeable podcast, having a bingeable blog, it lets people get to know your brain, your work in a completely different way. And it’s something people will bookmark. Yeah, for sure. If you’re creating something truly useful and they’ll come back to it and then they’ll come back to you when they need another answer.

Megan Yelaney:

Mm-hmm.

Laura Jawad:

Yeah.

Megan Yelaney:

You’re their, their, you’re their go-to like, oh, you know, Laura must know this thing. Megan must know, know this because I associate them with that topic for sure. And when I think back to the majority of the clients I’ve had, they all say I, or the, the large majority say that I’ve binged your podcast. I listened to well over 7 hours of content on your podcast, right? Not to count the emails and all that. And so I can imagine with a blog multiplied, you know, and so I think sometimes these things don’t give us that immediate dopamine hit that like a viral reel will give you. And so we kind of discount it. And I was talking to my husband about this the other day because we’re going to be starting Facebook ads and we’re definitely going to be running ads to the podcast. One of the main reasons is that’s where my buyers— they listen, they listen, they make sure they listen, they make sure they binge listen to everything before.

Megan Yelaney:

So even though, you know, it might have not have the most downloads as like a number one podcast in the business industry, for me it’s a buyer’s platform. Like, my buyers listen. And so It’s such a good reminder and I’m so glad you said that cuz there people are used to hearing the, they need X amount of touchpoints, but I think the 7 hours, that really puts that into perspective. Like that’s a lot of time, but it’s, it’s not when you think about it, but it is, it is in one fell swoop and you can’t get that from a 15-second reel. So yeah. Um, love that you said that. Just more of a nudge for people to do this long-form authority-building type of content if you’re not for sure. I love that.

Megan Yelaney:

There was something that, um, we briefly were chatting about before we started recording that I’ve been super interested in. Um, is AI search. So people showing up in AI, it’s been really cool as just diving into AI a little bit more, I’ve seen some of my good friends pop in as recommended. I’m like, oh my gosh, look, you’re recommended on, on AI. This is so awesome. So what is your like thought process on that? How do people start to even try to get found on AI search and how like reputable do you think that’s going to become?

Laura Jawad:

As we move forward? Obviously a very important question right now. So, it’s such a complicated, it’s such a complicated answer. Okay, the first thing that I want to just make really clear is that the foundation of, um, optimizing to show up in an AI search is this, is good SEO. Good, regular, old-fashioned SEO. And so this is one thing where I have people coming to me and specifically saying, I want to, like, people I haven’t worked with yet who come to me and say, I want to get found in AI search. And I’m looking at their website and I’m like, but you don’t even say what you do on your website yet. Right? Those SEO foundations aren’t there yet. And if those SEO foundations aren’t, if you can’t get found in Google, you will not get found in AI.

Laura Jawad:

Okay. So that’s something I want to make super, super clear is that the foundation of any kind of answer engine optimization, generative engine optimization, whatever you want to call it, is the traditional SEO foundations. Yeah. Okay. Those haven’t gone anywhere with, like, with specifically with respect to AI answer engines. Um, brand reputation is really, really important. Mm-hmm. And, and this is something I’ve said over and over during this conversation, but as AI becomes a bigger player, that brand reputation becomes more and more important.

Laura Jawad:

And a lot of that is because they’re, it’s by nature of how they work. They are language prediction systems, right? Things they see over and over again are more likely to show up in their answers. So all the things we talked about earlier in terms of building that brand reputation, showing up on social media platforms, showing up on podcasts, getting yourself mentioned in magazines and newspapers, um, pitching a guest blog post, right? These things are really, really important if you wanna get found via AI search.

Megan Yelaney:

Mm-hmm. So what I’m hearing too is it’s not, which is I think nice for people to hear, it’s not very different than, like you said, regular SEO.

Laura Jawad:

It really, it really isn’t. And a, and particularly particularly for smaller business owners. So I think that when you’re running a big organization, a big company, and you have invested a lot into SEO and you really can’t afford to be operating at that pointy end of the stick, there are specific small details you can do to improve your AI optimization. For small businesses, the first step is still get those fundamentals. In place. And then it’s build that brand reputation. And then the next layer that most, um, small businesses can benefit from is a little bit of thinking about how they’re formatting their content, like some better content structuring to optimize for extractability. Because AI engines, they don’t, they don’t rank pages like traditional search does.

Laura Jawad:

They are ranking answers. And so like if you can format your content well, you can improve your chances of showing up in an AI result. That’s interesting. But it’s all, it’s all gonna start with foundations. Yeah. Regular old SEO before anything else.

Megan Yelaney:

Which is great cuz it’s like a one-two punch. You get that done and you have—

Laura Jawad:

and so it’s, it’s definitely not two different things. Right. And so for people who are thinking like, oh, I have to do this and then do that.

Megan Yelaney:

No.

Laura Jawad:

Yeah. Like this is the first step to that. I love that. You can’t do this without doing that. Mm-hmm. So like, this is, we’re gonna start here and then you can climb the ladder to here.

Megan Yelaney:

Have you had a lot of clients come to you who have used, heavily used organic social media and they’re like, okay, I’ve got that going, but I’m tired. Maybe I don’t wanna show up as much or have to be on. Um, and if so. About, I know this is like a very, like probably broad, it depends kind of answer, but on average, how long do you, do you see it takes most people to start seeing more traffic come in and more leads come in from optimizing SEO?

Laura Jawad:

It depends on so many things. Mm-hmm. Competitiveness of niche. Mm-hmm.

Megan Yelaney:

So.

Laura Jawad:

It’s how niched you are, how competitive your niche is, how much content is already on your website and whether or not you’ve optimized anything before. And then again, this brand reputation piece, right? Like if you, again, just extrapolating out to the end member here, you know, you take a big corporation who’s already done some optimization, they can publish a blog post, it’s going to start ranking the next day. Because all those pieces are in place. So if it’s, if it’s someone who has been really active on social media and that’s been their main platform and they’ve got kind of this like 5-page website that they really haven’t done anything with and it’s not already showing up in search for anything, that can take some time. That can take some time. That can take, you know, I like to give like a 6-month like on average, let’s say 6 months. Mm-hmm. Generally SEO matures by about a year.

Laura Jawad:

So between 6 months and a year are where you’ll see the maximum result for any change you’ve made. Mm-hmm. Or if you haven’t seen a change and you have to do something different, but there are also things that can be really impactful on a shorter timescale. I’m working with a business that has a very strong social media presence, has a really strong podcast. Um, really had not invested in the website at all to the point where the website was, um, inadvertently switched to being like not indexed. Like it was literally invisible. We turned that back on. So it is now visible, but still has no sort of established SEO cred.

Laura Jawad:

Yeah, for lack of a better term there. And we, we have seen really fast changes in specific keyword rankings just by improving things like SEO titles, meta descriptions, right? And so, you know, going from like not ranked for anything to, you know, now ranking on page 1, not necessarily ranking top 3, but ranking top 10. So first page in traditional Google results for their main transactional keyword. And that can happen within weeks. Um, you don’t necessarily get a lot of clicks for that if you’re not in the top 3. So getting into that top 3 takes more time. Um, but this is, this is where I said it was going to be a complicated answer, right? Because certainly like you can see some changes, you can see some very positive indicators very early, but then it can take, you know, some time to actually see like the ultimate KPI, which is leads coming in from the website. For sure.

Megan Yelaney:

I think the great thing though about it, no matter, you know, if it, like you said, if it’s a quick return or a 6-month-plus return, is it lives on. So it’s not like an Instagram post or a story, for example, an Instagram story that disappears after 24 hours. You can optimize things, you can tweak things. And I remember back in the day I used to do, um, when I was a fitness coach, I really dove into SEO actually, and I kind of neglected it after that for some reason, but I had a blog and a, um, and Pinterest strategy, and I started getting 10 to 15 email options a day from my blogs that were popping off from a year ago. It was like a year later, the same pins, the same blogs. And I was like, this is so beautiful and such a great reminder of once you have it and you, like you said, you optimize it, you get everything set up, it can really like be the gift that keeps on giving.

Laura Jawad:

And I just, I have. I have a very similar story in that, you know, I have a background as a personal trainer and I still have that website. I can’t, I still take a few clients. Um, I can’t bring myself to take the website down. Like I just love, I love the blog too much, but I haven’t touched the website in like 2 years, which is embarrassing to say as an SEO, because this is, this is not best practice.

Megan Yelaney:

Do as I say, not as I do.

Laura Jawad:

Underline that, like this is not best practice. Don’t neglect your website for 2 years. But I still get a couple inquiries a week and I’m still getting people sign up to this dead email list that I need to do something with. I have to decide what I’m gonna do with it.

Megan Yelaney:

Um, that’s amazing though.

Laura Jawad:

It is like once the flywheel is turning. Yeah. It, it’s hard to stop it.

Megan Yelaney:

Yeah.

Laura Jawad:

Mm-hmm. It’s actually hard to stop it and I. I like to think of SEO like a stock portfolio, right? So you start investing when you’re young, when you still have a day job, so that someday you can quit the day job and live off of your dividends, right? I love that. And I think of SEO in a very similar light, especially now, especially during a time when it really— it is not a full funnel marketing situation, but to start your SEO while you do have a strong social media presence, that’s excellent, right? Because that’s your day job. Yeah. Right. SEO is your investment portfolio. You start it now while you’re still getting your money from your social media, and eventually you can dial that back and you’re going to start collecting dividends from this website.

Laura Jawad:

And it doesn’t take as long as saving for retirement, folks. Like, that’s not what I’m saying. That’s where the analogy breaks down because it’s like we’re talking about like 6 months to a year. Yeah. But, um, much quicker. I think especially for people who do have a really strong social media presence and want to be able to dial it back, now’s the time to start investing in the SEO so you can do that.

Megan Yelaney:

I love that. That’s such a great, that is a great analogy.

Laura Jawad:

Like you said, besides that one part where it can be way quicker, that’s, as you said that, I was like, wait till you’re 65 to start cashing this in.

Megan Yelaney:

Yeah, exactly. As you said that, I’m like, oh my gosh, that makes so much sense. And I think for everyone listening, again, who have, want that quick dopamine hit of that viral thing, you could almost look at that as a viral post, right? You had this, you have these blogs and these pins doing so well years later that even though you aren’t actively pursuing that business, you’re still getting inquiries. I mean, that’s, that’s more of a guaranteed thing because eventually it’s going to happen. So I love that you, you shared that example. That’s pretty cool. Um, I love it. I know you have a special gift for everyone.

Megan Yelaney:

So I would love to hear about your CEO SEO scorecard. Yes.

Laura Jawad:

So I would love to share this with your audience. Um, it’s a 2-minute-ish self-assessment that is going to help you see where your website is really performing well and where you have opportunities to improve And so specifically it assesses 5 areas of your website. So looking at search visibility, technical setup, credibility signals, content clarity, and conversions. And it’s going to give you again, a snapshot of what’s working, but especially where the gaps are. And it’ll give you some very, um, concrete things to focus on so that you’re not looking at SEO as this giant overwhelming task, but instead it gives you a very clear starting point. Like here are the. Here’s 3 impactful things that you can do for your website today. Keep you very focused and keep it very manageable.

Megan Yelaney:

I love that. Oh, that’s great. Cause I think that’s another part of SEO. It can be very overwhelming for people to hear that. Yes. You’re like, complicate, you need to be a scientist.

Laura Jawad:

Which is why I put this together because I think a lot of times we just need someone to, to narrow it down and tell us what, no, you don’t have to do everything cause you’re already doing some things right. You don’t need to like reinvent those things. Love that. Where is the area where you’re gonna get the most impact, the most bang for your buck right now? That’s where you’re gonna start.

Megan Yelaney:

That’s great. Oh, that’s super helpful. We will pop that link in the show notes, uh, for everyone. So go check that out so you can get the SEO scorecard, the CEO SEO scorecard. We’ll also pop your Instagram and your LinkedIn down below. Anywhere else that you want us to have people connect with you?

Laura Jawad:

Well, my website is my favorite platform and my blog is where I post all of my authority content. So I would invite everyone to visit my website at laurajawadmarketing.com and check out the blog. Um, particularly if you have questions about SEO, about brand reputation, about the intersection of those things. And if you grab my scorecard, you’ll get a, um, You’re in my inbox and I welcome questions, comments, et cetera.

Megan Yelaney:

Love it. Amazing. We’ll put the website and the scorecard link down below. Everyone go check out Laura, message her, let her know how, what you loved about this episode. I know we love hearing that kind of stuff and just hearing what was helpful, what was, what questions do you still have about this? I’m sure you’re open to all of that.

Laura Jawad:

So, oh my gosh, I love, I love getting questions in my inbox. Um, not only because it’s It’s a great way to get to know an audience, but that becomes content too, you guys.

Megan Yelaney:

Yeah, there you go. That’s such— so true. Oh my gosh, so true. Little, little pro tip for everyone. Any question can literally become a piece of content. So yes, love that. Well, thank you, Laura. This has been amazing.

Megan Yelaney:

I’m just even more excited to really dive into blogging this year personally. So this was like a very confirmation kind of call for me selfishly.

Laura Jawad:

So amazing. I can’t wait to see it. Yeah, I’ve been like, list list. So I’ll look out for those emails.

Megan Yelaney:

It’s been on the list and I’m like, no, we’re doing it this year. So thank you for that nudge. Um, and for everyone listening, make sure you go say hi to Laura, get the scorecard, and of course we’ll see you in the next episode. Thanks for listening.