Meredith's Husband | SEO for People Who Don't Like SEO

Document. Don't Create. (more AI advice)

• A professional photographer and her SEO husband • Episode 143

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In this episode, Meredith’s husband explains how to strategically use AI to support—not replace—your content creation for SEO. Instead of relying on generic AI tools that promise top rankings, he advocates for a smarter, more personal approach: creating helpful blog content by documenting what you do. By targeting less competitive, specific SEO issues that real users search for (like SEMrush errors), website owners can provide valuable resources and build long-term traffic.

Chapter Markers

[0:24] Why “document, don’t create” isn’t a full SEO strategy
[1:49] The toughest SEO question: What should you blog about?
[2:30] Common mistake: Choosing the wrong keyword target
[3:39] My high-traffic keywords: SEMrush technical issues
[4:31] Example: Unminified JavaScript and CSS files
[5:22] The power of specific problem-solving blog posts
[6:29] Applying Gary Vee’s concept to SEO blogging
[7:23] Case study: 100 SEMrush blogs that brought 5,000 monthly visits
[8:51] Use AI to support your content process, not do it for you
[9:45] Funny transcript fail and a theory about AI-powered tools

Resources Mentioned

Semrush Issues: Javascript & CSS files (solved)

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Meredith's Husband
https://www.meredithshusband.com

Meredith's husband:

So last episode we talked about, if you remember, using AI to help you create content rather than to create content for you. Yes, for SEO, because there's so many tools out there. They're like with our new AI tool yes, just enter your keyword and we'll blog and you'll be at the top of Google. Blah, blah, blah, and we'll do it in your voice and it'll be perfect and nobody will know. Okay, so I talked about that a little bit and how you want to use AI to help you create content, but you have to be the author. You are the expert Right In the content that you are creating. That's super important for SEO. Yes, and I talked about the concept of document don't create, remember. Yes, because coming up with things to blog about and write about is tricky a lot of times. It's not second nature. No, and the concept that Gary Vaynerchuk used to say document don't create kind of helps hopefully helps give you some ideas of what you can create. Yes, now, that's a good start. Yes, but it's not that strategic. No, because what do you start with? What do you start with? That's a good start. Yes, but it's not that strategic. No, because what do you start with? What do you start with. It's also not that comprehensive, because you probably want to rank for some keywords, right, right, so if you're documenting and using that to create content, that content's probably not going to be that specific, okay, like this podcast, for example, to talk about a bunch of different stuff. It's not really that specific. Well, it's all under the exact exactly, but it's, but on its own it's not really going to get me to the top of Google for anyone keyword Right. So it's not really a comprehensive strategy. It's a good start. It's a really great start to help you and it's a good way to easily create some content. But it's not the full strategy.

Meredith's husband:

And this is the tough part of creating content, tough part of SEO what do you write about? What do you blog about? Now, I can't tell you exactly what you. I can't tell you Really Doing a podcast. I can probably tell you, but I'll do that later. I can't tell listeners one thing and they all go out because the goal is to be the author themselves, right, so I can't. I can't do that. What I can do is I can use what I have done as an example to help hopefully help illustrate that. So I need to create content. Also, right, I need to create resources. I've talked many, many times about how your blog should be a resource.

Meredith's husband:

Now, top level, let me ask you what do you think? My keywords, my keyword targets, are just off the top of your head, because this is where a lot of people begin. They go wrong in the very beginning. So I'm counting on you to get this wrong. I am looking forward to it. I I actually like being wrong.

Meredith's husband:

Um, I would think it would be SEO teaching that's exactly what I would think you would think and what most people would think and to be a resource. Seo for, in this case, photographers. But SEO, to be honest, everything that we're talking about here really applies to local business owners. There are some specifics to photographers, but really all these concepts would apply to almost any website outside of e-commerce websites, correct, and especially local business. We talk about that a lot, and even more so photographers. So SEO for photographers is what I was expecting you to say. No, I think just SEO because it could be applicable to anybody. Secretly, I think just SEO as because it could be applicable to anybody.

Meredith's husband:

So when I look at my analytics and what keywords are bringing me the most traffic, none of those are anywhere near the top. Nor are they my objectives Really. So, see, it's good being wrong this time. Yeah, because now we learn. Yeah, because now we learn. Yeah. So to create a resource and again, this is the tough part I need to go outside of. I need to think about the people who need SEO for photography or SEO for local business. What are they likely doing? What resource can I provide to them? Then they can find me. That is a much less competitive. I can get to the top of Google more easily for something like that. That's going to be less competitive. So how would you describe that in keyword-y? I'm going to show you, or I'm going to tell you in just a second.

Meredith's husband:

My top keywords are things like pages with unminified JavaScript and CSS files. It's one of my top keywords. What Exactly? What Exactly that specifically is unminified? I also have uncached JavaScript and CSS files. These are blogs that I have created to help fix specific SEMrush issues. Okay, do you know how many people are searching for that in particular? No, unminified JavaScript and CSS files. I do not Thousands per month. I get thousands of impressions. I get hundreds, if not thousands, of visitors for just that keyword and I have a hundred of those blogs for all different SEMrush issues Issues. That's one way I create a hundred of those blogs for all different SEMrush issues Issues. That's one way I create a resource.

Meredith's husband:

Okay, and how I get to the top of Google? I would never get to the top of Google for SEO or SEO for local business owners, but unminified JavaScript and CSS files. And now guess what? Those are people who are using SEMrush and don't know what they're. They don't know what this means, so they Google it, they look it up. They are already using SEMrush and they don't know how to do things. That is my prime audience. Of course, it is because you can help them. That's not really that competitive a term. I mean, think about it, only SEMrush. Semrush is going to probably rank above me, although sometimes I rank above SEMrush, there is no real incentive, or people don't think about it this way. They don't think there is an incentive for ranking number one for terms like that. But that's exactly when I want to get myself in front of people. When do you want to get yourself in front of people, right? Oh, you're asking me when people? Oh, no, I'm. I'm asking, uh, the listener, the listener, that's what you want to blog about. That's how you can create a resource and this.

Meredith's husband:

How I came up with this idea is from listening to Gary Vaynerchuk when he said document don't create. I'm like this took me a long time to figure out, to be honest. Well, of course, I'm still trying to figure out unminified Java script. You don't have to. You see, I have a blog that if you were to Google it, you would end up on my blog and I would explain it to you in a short little video and what to do about it. Are you going to include that link? I so it took me a while to figure out what like document? Don't like I get it, but what does it mean? Yeah, yeah, like what do document? What my walk to work? Right, like what am I documenting? And then it started to click as I was just working throughout the day the things that I do I'm fixing SEMrush issues for clients. What I'm doing is I'm fixing issues like unminified JavaScript and CSS files.

Meredith's husband:

So I just you remember, during COVID and I kept when we were at home for like a year and a half and I would shout down to you I'm like I'm making a video. This was what I was doing. I was blogging about 100 different SEMrush issues and I put that on a blog, on a new blog, just as a test, right right, right. And I launched a new website, just a blog. I didn't do any SEO, I didn't try to do any promotion of any sort. 12 months later, that blog was getting almost 5,000 visitors a month without doing anything. You're so smart, anyway, that's just to help illustrate You're so smart. You're so smart, anyway, that's just to help illustrate You're so smart. And I got nothing from it.

Meredith's husband:

I ended up taking that blog down and then creating it in my new one. And so, in doing that, exactly how did I do that? Well, I kind of used the method that we talked about last week. I used AI. I did a screen recording. I had a transcript generated using AI During COVID Not during COVID, but when I re-released that blog, oh, when you re-re-re-re-did it. Yeah, so that initial blog was just a video. Wait a minute. There was AI during COVID, chat GPT. There was, but we didn't know about it. We didn't know yet. When I incorporated that blog onto my actual website is when I started using AI. Give me a blog, create, you know, take the transcript, create a blog, create a bullet list key points to remember, et cetera, et cetera, and so I used AI to help with that content, but not create the content for me.

Meredith's husband:

Okay, now, I'm not saying you've got to go out and blog about minifying JavaScript, but what is it that you do during the day that your target audience might find helpful? Look at elephants, that might make a good resource. Oh, you want to hear a funny story? Yes, it's not that funny. I thought it was funny.

Meredith's husband:

I was doing something like this earlier in the week, and part of what I do is I use the tool that I use to shoot videos. It also generates a transcript, oh wow. And all of a sudden, for one of my videos, it also generates a transcript, oh wow. And all of a sudden, for one of my videos it didn't work and I was like okay, but I have other. I mean, there's so many tools out there that automatically generate transcripts, I'll just use another one. I used another one. It didn't work. I'm like, well, that's funny.

Meredith's husband:

So I went out, found some other tools that I could use.

Meredith's husband:

Didn work, didn't work. I took it out, I put it straight into chat GPT Didn't work. Nothing worked for that day. Every single tool out there that I could, not every single tool, but all the tools that I could find that would automatically generate a transcript from a video. None of them work and it made me think that all those tools are using the same source, probably chat GPT, to generate transcripts.

Meredith's husband:

And if chat GPT wasn't working, for some reason none of them were working. I don't know. Just my theory. It's a nice theory. It was very interesting, like cause it's never happened before. Anyway, isn't that a fun story? I wouldn't say funny, but I would say interesting. So the thing to remember here, like this, is still tough, in that you got to, you know, crack the code of how do you use the concept of document? Don't create Right, at least for me anyway, it was difficult to put that into practice and because I think, like, is anybody really going to care about this? But you figure, if you care about it, someone else is going to care. I mean, I can't tell you how many people around the world are using SEMrush, like I get visitors from all countries around the world, so there's a bunch of people out there searching for those things and I kind of, to be honest, I kind of stumbled across this by accident. That's a cool idea. Does that help illustrate the concept for you? Yes, then I'm hopeful that it also helps other people Well.

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