Meredith's Husband | SEO for People Who Don't Like SEO
SEO for people who don't like SEO. I run an SEO agency. My wife Meredith is a family photographer. Our podcast explains how I got Meredith's website to the top of Google and answers questions from photographers about SEO and website marketing.
Meredith's Husband | SEO for People Who Don't Like SEO
ChatGPT vs. Google AI Mode {Head-to-Head Comparison}
Google has officially released its AI mode for search, transforming Google's functionality to more closely resemble ChatGPT. In this episode we test some results against each other
• Google's AI mode is now official and available to free Gmail accounts
• The new feature appears as an "AI mode" option at the top of Google search
• First test: Naming bite-sized learning content (neither excelled, Google slightly better)
• Second test: Blog topics for a children's photographer (Google provided more detail)
• Third test: SEO tips for local businesses (both accurate, ChatGPT friendlier, Google more comprehensive)
• Google's integration advantage: AI mode is just one click away in regular search
• Both platforms continue to evolve and improve their capabilities
The easiest way to eat healthy.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
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Meredith's Husband
https://www.meredithshusband.com
This week brought to you by Hungry. Root, hungry Root, yes, hungry Root.
Meredith:Our beloved Hungry Root.
Meredith's husband:All right, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum. And so let's do a little taste test. Okay, this week.
Meredith:Okay, not a taste test.
Meredith's husband:We're going to compare ChatGPT to the new Google AI model, which is Gemini GPT to the new Google AI model.
Meredith:Which is Gemini.
Meredith's husband:It's the new Google AI mode. Gemini is what powers it, but it's as I mentioned, I think, a couple weeks ago.
Meredith:Not that I was listening, yeah, or remember, I was listening.
Meredith's husband:Google has that generative search feature, where you do a search and it comes up and the first results are like generated by AI.
Meredith:Yes.
Meredith's husband:That was technically in beta or something. It was experimental mode, right, so it wasn't final. It has been released in. What is the final mode now to free Gmail accounts, not paid, like Google Workspace accounts? Yeah, so if you go to Google and you do a search, you know, up at the top it says like all images, videos, maps. It has that little option. There is now one called AI mode, oh, and if you click on that, it's much more similar to the functionality of chat, gpt. Oh, okay, so it's now very and it's now official.
Meredith:Oh, what is it called?
Meredith's husband:It's called AI mode. Yeah, it's actually, I think, in terms of like Google is. One thing they're really not good at is naming things.
Meredith:That's what you've mentioned.
Meredith's husband:I kind of like this. It's just very simple and direct and it doesn't leave you guessing. Clear, yeah. So anyway, since we have talked about this many times in the past ChatG, gpt versus Google and Gemini, and what are they doing? And chat GPT has an advantage, and blah, blah, blah.
Meredith:But you said Google is going to catch up.
Meredith's husband:That has been my argument, one of my arguments. That has been my argument.
Meredith:Just that.
Meredith's husband:Well, there's other reasons. There's reasons why I have sub arguments in there.
Meredith:Yeah, because you said they take everything from Google.
Meredith's husband:Well, yeah, because when people started saying, oh, when ChatGPT came out, it's the SEO killer, SEO is dead. And when my first response was well, where do you think ChatGPT is getting their information it's coming from?
Meredith's husband:a search engine. Now, technically they say it's coming only from the search engine Bing, bing, who. Technically, they say it's coming only from the search engine Bing, who knows? I kind of doubt that's true. I figure some of their information might be coming from Google, but it doesn't matter because Google is going to come out or they have come out now with their own AI search mode and it's going to be based on their search engine. So the whole AI interface is really just kind of accessing and digging through search engines for us. And another thing I said is that ChatGPT has an advantage. Definitely it's more user. They had a big head start on Google. I think it's probably still have an advantage. But my argument was that Google is going to catch up. Google is not just going to sit back and be like, oh well, somebody came up with a better idea than us. I guess we'll just go out of business. The underdog.
Meredith:Always root for the underdog.
Meredith's husband:I can't believe Google isn't ever the underdog.
Meredith:We all have to start somewhere.
Meredith's husband:Earlier this week I was working on my platform, SEIQ, and there's a section, there's a couple of sections, where I have little lessons like just how to do X, Y, Z tutorials. I didn't I didn't know exactly what to call them. I still don't know what to call them. I just call them lessons right now. But I kind of wanted a better. Yeah, perhaps we'll get to that in a second. I kind of wanted a better. I just wanted something a little like cute, friendly, kind of memorable, but still obvious what it was. And I thought, well, I'm just let me see what chat GPT says, and also, because Google has the new AI mode, let's let me see what they both say. Let's do the same query and both of them do the same prompt and see what they come back as. So I did that.
Meredith's husband:I then thought, oh hey, people seem to really like the episodes that we do on AI. I don't know if they like them or if they just download, because they get more downloads. That's the only thing I can tell, but they do get more downloads. So I figure, oh, let's do this. And so I did this. I did three little tests. Because this first one, I'll go through the results. Second, Okay.
Meredith's husband:And you can kind of make up your own mind.
Meredith:Oh, I will. Are any as good as snacks? You'll see in a second Okay.
Meredith's husband:So then I thought, okay, well, that's not that you know that single test is. Once I did, I'm like okay, well, that's not really very definitive, as we'll see in a second. So I did a couple more. I did one thinking about what you, as a photographer, might use AI for, and so that I typed in a question about blogging for children's photographers what should you blog about? And then I did one about well, I should probably have something where I really have. If I'm going to evaluate the answers, I should do something that I know about. So I typed in how do you become a totally awesome person? I'm just kidding. I asked it something about SEO. Okay, so let's go through these. So I'm going to go through each of them and just kind of read through what they gave me as results.
Meredith:That sounds good, Kind of quickly. So the first one the first one.
Meredith's husband:I just said what is a cute name for a bite-sized piece of learning content. So that's my lesson, right? Those are my lessons, and ChatGPT initially came back with just one suggestion. I said please expand upon that.
Meredith:What was that one suggestion?
Meredith's husband:That was Brain Snack.
Meredith:Interesting.
Meredith's husband:Yeah, yeah, yeah, I asked to expand that a little bit, Okay, because what I had gotten? I first tried the Google AI mode and it came back with a longer list, so I now have a list from both, and each of the lists are in three categories. In ChatGPT, the categories are food-themed, plant-nature-themed, and magic and fantasy.
Meredith:Wow, you're just talking my language. Yeah, all three.
Meredith's husband:Yeah, so let's go through the chat GPT In the food themes. Here are their ideas Brain snack, knowledge crumb, learning morsel, thought popcorn and idea slice. Not amazing, I'm not blown away by those. But to be honest, or to be fair, I should say that prompt that I gave it is pretty vague. You can get better responses if you make your prompts more detailed. Okay, the next section, the plant and nature, themed from ChatGPT. The ideas were idea sprout, brain bloom, learning leaf, seed and Thought Twig. Equally not really impressive there, although I did kind of like the idea of the seed.
Meredith:It's quite visual. They've done quite a lot with that.
Meredith's husband:Because there are two sections where I have lessons and one of those sections is just more concept-based, like explaining concepts, and then the other section is more like over-the-shoulder demo, tutorial type stuff. So for those conceptual lessons the idea of a seed seemed appropriate, although I don't love knowledge seed. Okay, the final category here magic and fantasy, and the suggestions here are ThoughtSpark, idea Potion, wisdom Wand, learning, charm and Brain blink.
Meredith:Rain blink.
Meredith's husband:Brain, brain, brain blink, brain blink.
Meredith:Raindrops.
Meredith's husband:Okay, so yeah Me, not crazy about them. Okay, Same Did the same thing in Google's new AI mode, and it came back also in three different categories. The first is general and playful, the second category is emphasizing ease and speed, and the third category is metaphorical and whimsical.
Meredith:Oh, I like the first and third.
Meredith's husband:Okay, so let's go through these. In the first one, the first category, general and playful, the ideas were learn bites, knowledge nibblers, brain snacks, mind munchies, smarty bits hey, Mind munchies, smarty bits. And info morsels.
Meredith:I actually like smarty bits. Smarty bits is so hilarious, it's almost smarty pants.
Meredith's husband:And it says and one thing, a difference here is the list in Google's AI mode, each of those comes with a kind of explanation. So, like it says, smarty bits and then a playful name, using a candy reference for a sweet learning experience Ah, you know. The value of that definition is, you know, tbd.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but you know it's there, it's kind of nice to have Okay. So those are not bad. I mean one of them is the exact same Brain.
Meredith's husband:Snacks, yeah, okay. Second, those are not bad. I mean, one of them is the exact same brain snacks, but okay. Second category, emphasizing ease and speed. The ideas are quick learn, swift study, snap insights and flash facts. All right. You know, yeah, and the final category metaphorical and whimsical Learning nuggets. Wisdom drops, insight sprouts curio capsules. Insight, insight, insight sprouts Curio capsules Insight insight, insight sprouts. Oh, I see what you're saying. Yes, an insight, insight. That's cute, that is cute and skill sprinkles yeah.
Meredith:Okay, that's a lot of crunch.
Meredith's husband:Comparing those two, I kind of like what Google came back with a little more, I would say by a thin thread. Yes, it's not definitive, but no they're both mediocre. I'm really not that impressed with either one.
Meredith:See my problem with AI. It's not original that everything they say has been said before. Yeah, of course.
Meredith's husband:So I decided let's try another question. Yes, that might help distinguish the two. So I try to think of something like you might actually, or a photographer and a question that you might have for AI. So I type in what should I blog about as a professional children's photographer in Brooklyn, new York?
Meredith:Very nice.
Meredith's husband:Type that into both. Okay, so let's go over which one do you want to do first?
Meredith:Oh, I think we should stay with the routine.
Meredith's husband:Okay, chat GPT.
Meredith:Yeah, and again three categories.
Meredith's husband:Oh, actually no more than three. I'm going to just try to summarize these as best I can. So, first of five categories is called Brooklyn focused guides and lists, and it gives some examples best places for a family and children's photo shoot in Brooklyn. Top five parks in Brooklyn for a magical outdoor kids' photos. Okay, you get the idea. Not bad, not bad. Yeah, not bad. People do these.
Meredith's husband:And I feel like it comes up with these ideas because people do these, because these are pretty common. Yeah, category number two tips for parents and families yes. Tip number one how to prepare your child for a stress-free photo shoot. Number two what to wear for a Brooklyn family photo shoot. Styling tips for kids and parents. Number three how to get natural smiles from shy or energetic kids. Okay, we get the idea that one actually is not bad. That's especially for you. Yeah, that's kind of one of your secret sauces, I would say.
Meredith's husband:Yeah the third category, storytelling and showcasing your work. Tips are behind the scenes of a typical children's photographer everyone wants bts everyone wants what behind the scenes? Yeah uh. Second tip how I capture the magic of childhood in every frame. Third idea the client story. A magical fall session at Prospect Park. Another one favorite moments sweetest kids reactions I've ever photographed. That's actually not.
Meredith:That's very nice. That could be cute. That's sweet. I like the sweetness yeah.
Meredith's husband:Actually, I really kind of like that. One Good job ChatGPT yeah, okay. Fifth and final category expertise building and SEO boosters Ooh, okay. Tip number one how to choose the right children's photographer in Brooklyn Wow, everybody's done that, yeah. Tip number two why professional children's photography is worth the investment yes, the psychology behind capturing genuine expressions in kids.
Meredith:Ooh, I'm interested in that.
Meredith's husband:Yeah, that's kind of the well, maybe not the same, but it's the one. Yeah, same boat and five signs. You've picked the perfect photo shoot location. Okay, yeah, all right, whatever. Not bad, honestly not bad. A couple good ideas in there, a few gems. Let's jump over to the Google AI mode. Good ideas in there. Yeah, let's jump over to the Google AI mode. Same same question Categories.
Meredith:Oh, actually there's a whole bunch of things here, yeah.
Meredith's husband:It's a pretty big list. I'm going to summarize a couple major category, three major categories, and then those are broken down. Number one showcase your work and expertise. The first point in this category is recent session spotlights, and then it gives a couple examples. So this is like a bullet list with lots of bullets indent. It's actually formatted quite nicely, I think. So recent session spotlights and then it gives examples. Quote a fun family session at Prospect Park. End quote I guess that's the name of the blog. And then it says share photos and stories from a recent shoot, emphasizing the fun and unique aspects of photographing kids. Okay, kind of generic, but I do like the. It's very detailed.
Meredith:It's kind of similar to the last thing on ChatGPT.
Meredith's husband:Anyway, let me go to the next one. Next example in this recent session spotlight. It says quote the name of the blog would be Newborn Magic in a Brooklyn Home End. Quote Showcase a newborn session discussing the challenges and joys of capturing those early moments. Okay, two examples of basically the same thing. Then, category number two behind the scenes A day in the life of a Brooklyn kids photographer. Give readers a peek into your process from preparation to post-processing.
Meredith:I don't I think that's I think it's great. Yeah, I'm just. All I'm thinking is oh my God, that's so time consuming.
Meredith's husband:Yeah, that, yeah, that would be a time, but, but also it is a not just, I think, a blot. That's something that people who are interested in hiring you would love to look at.
Meredith:It's quite a valuable nutritious nugget.
Meredith's husband:Yeah, the second one in this category of behind the scenes is tips for keeping kids happy during photo shoots. Share practical advice for parents and maybe even fun activities you use to engage children. Okay, similar, similar to something that ChatGPT. This seems a little more human, yeah but it's more it is more detailed. It's more fleshed out. Third category technical tips and advice. An example here choosing the best time of day for outdoor photo shoots in Brooklyn. Discuss how lighting affects photography and the best times for outdoor shoots in your area. That's a good one.
Meredith's husband:Yeah, I like it. Second tip here what to wear for your family shoot. I feel like everybody's done that. That's good advice too, yeah, people always want to know. Like if not for SEO, then it's something you could send to your clients right before their shoot, right, you know, a couple days before, so they have time to do laundry.
Meredith:Mm-hmm or shop.
Meredith's husband:Fourth category favorite sports and local focus. Fourth category favorite sports and local focus. What Favorite sports and local focus?
Meredith:No, I heard it, I just sports.
Meredith's husband:Okay, first tip my favorite Brooklyn locations for children's photo shoots and highlight visually appealing spots like Brooklyn Bridge Park, dumbo or Prospect Park with tips for shooting there. Okay, now that's pretty specific. The second tip here capturing the charm of Brooklyn kids, local inspiration. Share photos that capture the unique personality and style of children in your community. I'm not crazy about that one at all.
Meredith:I like that one. Oh really, yeah, I like that one because that gives you an opportunity to showcase different kids in different places. I like that one.
Meredith's husband:Okay, Well if you like it, then yeah, okay. The second major category here is attract clients and build community. And then there are three subtopics here. Number one, faq and client guides, and it has examples preparing your child's milestone photo shoot, address common questions and provide a checklist Again good to have, probably even just for people who have already booked with you. Oh, 100%.
Meredith's husband:Not necessarily for SEO. I'm going to skip over down to the final category here Boost your blog and online presence, and this is for what they call SEO optimization, which I always kind of think is funny when people say SEO optimization, because SEO stands for search engine optimization, and so what you are saying is search engine optimization optimization. Okay, seo optimization incorporate relevant keywords like Brooklyn children's photographer, family photographer, brooklyn, newborn photography, nyc, et cetera.
Meredith:Okay, yeah, it's not basic.
Meredith's husband:Yeah, that's super basic.
Meredith:Almost too basic.
Meredith's husband:Very very basic.
Meredith:Oh my God, you're so basic.
Meredith's husband:The second example here is optimize blog posts. Titles, meta descriptions and image alt text. Okay, yeah, like super, super vague. Verging on not good advice, like optimize your meta descriptions yeah, verging on not good advice, like optimize your meta descriptions? Yeah, you don't. You don't really need to do that, you just got to make sure you have them, okay. Second category underneath boost your blog and online presence. Engage with your audience. Examples encourage comments and questions in your blog posts, share your blog posts on social media and invite engagement. So I like the idea of share your blog posts on social media. I'm not crazy about encouraging comments and questions on your blog posts. That's can become a nightmare.
Meredith:Oh really, it doesn't help, oh spam.
Meredith's husband:So it can help. Yeah, Engagement like Google will recognize engagement. But the problem is, when you open up your blogs to comments, you're going to get most. You're going to get like 99.9999999% spam. Of all the clients I've ever helped manage their websites and most of them were on WordPress I don't think I have ever once seen a legitimate comment. Okay, they started strong. Yeah, they did.
Meredith:But a little bit weak on the exit and I still kind of give the advantage there to Google. Yeah, yes, yes, but again it's like two soggy crackers.
Meredith's husband:Okay, so the third one, the third question, so those are two.
Meredith:We just covered two questions, yeah.
Meredith's husband:Hold on, I got to find it.
Meredith:Oh, please do Take your time.
Meredith's husband:Okay, so this one, this is the one where I thought, well, I should ask about something I know a lot about, yes, so I can really evaluate the quality.
Meredith:Yeah, yeah.
Meredith's husband:So I said what are some SEO tips for a local business owner there?
Meredith:we go.
Meredith's husband:Okay, chat GPT here, here, woo, holy cow, 10 different categories, whoa, I'm not going to go through all. I mean, I'm going to try to abbreviate this. Chat GPT. Number one claim and optimize your Google business profile. Yeah, please, definitely. Number two use local keywords naturally. Yeah, please, definitely. Number two use local keywords naturally. Yeah, I like that one too. Use keywords naturally, as it fits in, don't feel? That you have.
Meredith's husband:Yeah, exactly, there is one that has three bullet points. There is one thing here that I disagree with. It says place keywords in your page. Titles Meta descriptions doesn't matter. Meta descriptions does not matter at all Headers and homepage content. The rest of these are kind of basic. Number three optimize for mobile. Yeah, that's important, but if you're on WordPress or Squarespace or ShowIt, that's usually going to be done for the most part for you, except in my case Number four create location pages if relevant.
Meredith's husband:Is that yeah? So location pages if you live in a place where there are multiple neighborhoods. So if you were targeting, say, brooklyn, you would talk about Park Slope, you talk about Dumbo, you talk about Brooklyn Bridge Park, clinton Heights?
Meredith:Yeah.
Meredith's husband:I've had clients who do that. That's good advice if it's appropriate. Definitely for somebody like you, you would want to focus on Park Slope because that's where you are located. Yes.
Meredith's husband:Point number five get local backlinks and it says partner with other local businesses cafes, event planners, kids' clothing boutiques for cross-promotion In terms of SEO, yeah, that's super. Yeah, yeah, local backlinks very good. Number six use structured data. This is kind of technical, but that's, I'm not even going to get into it. It's fairly technical. Again, on platforms like Squarespace, should be done for you, although, to be honest, squarespace does it incorrectly, unfortunately, and it doesn't work but nothing you can do nothing you can do.
Meredith's husband:Point seven post localized content. So pretty similar. It's saying talk about your local areas, things that are local. Point number eight encourage and manage reviews everywhere. And then it says Google's number one, but also get reviews on Yelp, facebook, nextdoor, thumbtack or any other platform where locals might search. I actually like the fact that it came up with those suggestions like those, exact like Google, yelp, facebook, but, yes, get reviews Won't help with SEO so much, but it's good to have reviews. Actually, I take that back. It probably is good for your SEO to have reviews on Google. Yes.
Meredith's husband:Number nine of 10, consistency is critical. And then and this is for what we call your it says NAP, n-a-p, which stands for name, address and phone number. And, yeah, those need to be very consistent everywhere they're listed. So, on your, on your website, on your Google business profile, on your Yelp page everywhere needs to be identical. That is super important, so true, yes. And then number 10, monitor with tools. It says things like set up Google search console to track, use Google analytics. So that's all. That stuff is, to be honest, pretty good. Let's jump over to Google Now. I have high expectations here for Google, since it is Google Right.
Meredith:And considering chat, gpt mentioned them in at least two of their categories to Google.
Meredith's husband:Now I have high expectations here for Google, since it is Google Right and, considering chat, gpt mentioned them in at least two of their categories. So let's see Number one hey, optimize your Google business profile, okay. And then it breaks that down into number one. It says claim and verify, gives a little explanation of how to do that. Fill out every section thoroughly and accurately, including business hours, services and contact details. And then the fourth point high quality photos. Then it says upload professional photos of your work, studio or equipment. And then the fifth point here encourage and response reviews. Okay, that's really good. Basically the same point that ChatGPT had in number one, but I think it is more helpful. Yeah, exactly Okay.
Meredith's husband:Number two from Google keyword research and implementation. What it's saying here is similar to ChatGPT's point number two ChatGPT, remember, said use local keywords. Naturally, this is kind of saying the same thing, but in a much drier format. Keyword research and implementation same type of stuff, though, yeah. Point number three on-page optimization Again a little dry and technical sounding, but yes, and the points here are location-specific landing pages, like the location pages we were talking about. Local content, nap, consistency, schema markup, which is the structured content. It's also called schema markup. So same things. There is more description here. I will say that is helpful, like when it's under NAP consistency. It says ensure your business name, address and phone number NAP are accurate and consistent across your website and all online listings.
Meredith's husband:Like yes, that is a very good tip. Schema markup yeah, I would get. Like, that's the one I said I wasn't going to get into because it's technical. Point number four link building and citations. Yeah, yeah, like absolutely, and it says citations here. We've talked about this before. Citations are a very specific type of link. Yes, and it's. Again, this is the language being used here is more. It's not as friendly and casual. It's more like link building and citations. Right, Whereas chat GPT said get local backlinks. Yeah.
Meredith's husband:But under in this category in Google it says local directories, local backlinks and guest blogging, and then it gives some explanation of each of those three. It is very good. Point number five mobile optimization, has a couple of points here, again, very good. Category number six track your progress. Again, google Analytics, google, search Console, local rank trackers. But, to be fair to Google, google is not endors Search Console, local rank trackers. But you know, to be fair to Google, like Google is not endorsing any of these answers, these things are just coming from a list of sources, but it's not like Google is actually suggesting these things.
Meredith:Right, can you hear Buster snoring?
Meredith's husband:I can always hear Buster snoring. I hear Buster snoring in my dreams. And then there's a final category here, key takeaways Local focus emphasize your presence and services within Brooklyn. Consistency some details. Quality content it gives some details. Engage with your community gives some details. Monitor and adapt it gives some details. Pretty good, I think that's pretty solid but a little dry. I think the chat GPT there wins for just being kind of friendly and casual. But again, I think in terms of the actual information. I want to give the nod to Google.
Meredith:Yeah, I feel the same.
Meredith's husband:I don't know what do you think between those two Me, or are you asking?
Meredith:a listener I kind of feel the same way. I feel that they both cover pretty much the same things.
Meredith's husband:Yes.
Meredith:And I think they're both helpful in their own way.
Meredith's husband:I agree I think Google is a bit more helpful here. And I will say remember when we were talking about ChatGPT and their search features, several episodes again and I said well, several episodes ago, and I said don't think that Google is not going to catch up, they are going to do something similar. Well, this is very, very similar.
Meredith:Very similar. It would be nice if they could take it and run with it.
Meredith's husband:Oh, I'm sure they are. Oh, absolutely, but for right now, I think this new AI mode has gone a long ways in catching up to what ChatGPT is doing In terms of you and I using it as consumers.
Meredith's husband:So one area that ChatGPT still has a, i'm'm sure, massive advantage is they are powering all these online tools where you sign up for some service and it's like in the has a. You know it says powered by AI or whatever. They're most likely using chat GPT. I don't think they're using Google, but for you and I, something else I really like about Google is its second nature. If you're used to going to Google, it is literally just one tiny click away, whereas at least for me, going to ChatGPT sometimes just logging into ChatGPT can take a couple minutes, it's just like four seconds.
Meredith's husband:So Google has the integration factor going forward.
Meredith:Yes, this is true.
Meredith's husband:They're making it very easy to use. Correct factor going forward. They're making it very easy to use, so maybe in an upcoming episode I'll do something about how I use AI for SEO purposes, for both myself and for your site.
Meredith:They would be bountiful bites.
