Local SEO, Keyword Research & SEO Tools with Katie Stone

0:00Crystal WaddellWelcome back to the simple and smart SEO show podcast. I'm your host, Crystal Waddell. And I am here with a new friend, Katie Stone, who is an SEO lead over at LeadHub.

0:11And Katie and I met at Brighton SEO in San Diego.

0:14Katie gave an amazing talk all about local SEO. And so she's here today to share more of that knowledge with us. So Katie, thank you so much for being here. Welcome to the Simple and Smart SEO Show Podcast.

0:27Katie StoneHi Crystal. Thank you so much for having me.

0:30I'm super excited to be on a podcast and continue our conversation from Brighton.

0:35Had a great time.

0:36Crystal WaddellYeah, it was fun.

0:37What was your favorite part of the whole conference experience? Ooh

0:41Katie Stonedefinitely the networking, parties and events and stuff.

0:45I think where we met was the karaoke party. So what a first impression of me singing Mamma Mia and dancing around. But it was really fun before all of that happened.

0:57We got to talk and I got to talk to you and like several other greats in the industry.

1:02Just getting to share that SEO knowledge that I don't really get to share with a lot of people, on the day to day. It's really great.

1:10Crystal WaddellYeah. It's fun to be in an atmosphere where everybody's really excited about talking about search. And it's like everywhere you turn, it's yes, you want to have a conversation about SEO.

1:20Me too.

1:21So yeah, that was really cool and fun.

1:24When you talk about some of the more famous faces that you saw there.

1:28Was there anybody that you were surprised to see and actually get to chat with?

1:33Katie StoneDana, and I'm not sure how to pronounce her name because I've only ever read it like twice.

1:37DiTomaso. Yes, Dana DiTomaso, who I've just been following for ages.

1:42And she was a moderator for one of the sessions and tracks that I went to. And I got to talk to her very briefly and I was like, Oh my God, you're amazing. Like all of your analytics work and stuff.

1:54So I felt really starstruck and then, briefly got to talk to Darren Shaw.

1:59And, just so many faces there that I was like, wow, oh my gosh. I've only been following you on social media forever. It's fine. So yeah, definitely great to see her and so many others.

2:12Crystal WaddellYeah, that's really cool.

2:13And then this was your first time as a speaker at Brighton SEO. Is that right?

2:17Katie StoneSure was. Yeah.

2:19Oh my gosh. Yeah, it was wild because I was just such a sweet summer child before this.

2:25Because I got an email from brightness, because I was like subscribed to the mail list or whatever, and it said, you could be a speaker. And I'm like, I don't know, but I, I think I was feeling extra confidence that day.

2:35I was just having a good time. Day and I was like, you know what I have something to say And I was reading about like qualifications and it was like we're looking for New voices and I was like i'm a new voice.

2:47So I just submitted a pitch And I think it was like six to nine months later I got an email.

2:55And I was like, Is this real? And I like showed it to my co workers and they were Looks pretty real.

2:59There was like this first, best day ever. I am so excited. And then it, then came the imposter syndrome.

3:06I'm talking at this conference with so many people who I've been following like their stuff for ages.

3:13And I just, I was like, why did they pick me?

3:15But I quickly got over that. And I was like, okay, I do know what I'm talking about. I made my presentation.

3:22And I was really proud of it. I was really talking about utilizing gsc for Your local seo and for content creation and strategy.

3:32Which is something i'm super passionate about. i'm Super passionate about content marketing. And I work very closely with our content marketing team here at Lead Hub.

3:39They're fantastic. I was really excited to share some of that work and some of what has worked for me because a lot of time, when you're alone in your agency and you're like, you're in a bubble, but getting to share it with the other people. It was great.

3:53Crystal WaddellSince most of people who are listening, probably weren't at Brighton SEO, could you give us maybe like a top takeaway from what you were speaking about with Google search console and content ideas?

4:03Katie StoneYeah, so I talked a lot about Google search console. Specifically how to use the enhanced analytics tool, which I know we're going to be talking about tools later.

4:13So I will definitely be bringing that one up. But specifically how to use that tool to get. The nitty gritty of your information from Google Search Console.

4:23And identify what your users are asking. And how your users are getting to your site so you can identify what you have topical authority in already.

4:33And then answer those questions, create the solutions to those problems for your users.

4:39That way your website is dialed in with your target audience. And you're just overall improving the user experience, which will, in turn, raise your rankings.

4:50Crystal WaddellYeah. So many times, I feel like the first question is just What do I even put on my website?

4:54People just got to get stuck right there. So I thought that's really neat that, you can use Google search console. And not have to pay for it.

5:01You could just take a look at the data that you already have and build on it. So I thought it was really cool topic.

5:06Okay.

5:06So let's talk a little bit about your position and experience as an SEO lead.

5:13I'm an SEO as an entrepreneur.

5:15I'm an SEO for myself and then I help other small business owners with their SEO. But what does it mean to be an SEO lead at a company?

5:23Katie StoneYeah. It's, a lot of moving pieces.

5:26Tell you that, so basically just a little bit of background on me and like my journey through lead hub and through my career really is I did start in public relations. That was my background, what I majored in.

5:38But that didn't really work out for me. I ended up I was freelance writing for lead hub.

5:43I was just writing SEO driven content. I happen to know what the basics of SEO were. And so I was. I actually got connected with my professor, Dale Blasingame, who was, I think, one of the original founders or employees at LeadHub.

5:57And he was my professor. And he was the one that recruited me to do the writing.

6:01And so I was just writing SEO driven content like, I think 2018 or 20, no, 2017.

6:09And, after I left the PR field, I talked to Dale and I was like, Hey, if you have any more content work for me. I really like content. Send it my way.

6:18And he was like, I'll do you one better.

6:20He encouraged me to apply for a full time position at LeadHub. And I started as an account coordinator.

6:27So I was just working with the account executive at the time.

6:30I was in the meantime executing SEO strategies and learning all about SEO. And all of our clients are local clients.

6:38They're in the home services, HVAC, plumbing, the works. And so I was learning all about that industry. And The essential services of it all. And then the pandemic hit and.

6:49The same week that the pandemic hit, I got promoted to an account executive. And my manager had left the company. And so I inherited all of her clients the same week as the pandemic. And so I had to very quickly figure out what was going on and also convince all of these strangers to trust me. With their strategy.

7:12So it was a trying time, but I think it's probably one of the better moments of my career because I really was able to establish myself as a trustworthy, like steward of their accounts and their businesses.

7:23Even in a unprecedented time.

7:26And then I think my employers realized like, I'm better suited in a more of a subject matter expert role. And so I became an SEO specialist. I was already doing a ton of SEO, so I just specialized further.

7:38And then, a year after that, I became the team lead. And I had a team of SEO coordinators.

7:45And so I was a people manager, still am a people manager, but I am still also overseeing the overall, strategy for everything in one of our SEO accounts.

7:54Crystal WaddellInteresting day to day schedule for sure. Yeah. Okay.

8:00So most of the people who listen to the podcast, most of my audience, they are entrepreneurs.

8:06Or in some capacity, either learning or growing their SEO skills. And this whole topic of SEO tools is so interesting, because it's what SEO tools are still relevant?

8:18What are the most important ones? And then it's okay, which ones are the most beginner friendly?

8:24So instead of jumping to the one that's the most robust. And can do so many different things.

8:29What do you think is like the best beginner tool? Or, a couple of the best beginner tools for people who are just starting out in SEO?

8:37Katie StoneYeah. I'm trying to think back to what I was first learning on. So definitely taking any sort of free course for a specific tool.

8:45If there's a Google search or Google Analytics, they have their own courses and stuff. Google Analytics, I would say, is not beginner friendly. I don't think it's even intermediate friendly.

8:57These days. Now that it's on Google Analytics 4 that is, It was universal analytics when I was first learning. That's what I started out with.

9:04But nowadays for beginners I would really push them more towards a SEMrush, Ahrefs, Moz, look at their courses.

9:12And then learn how to use those platforms.

9:15And I will say, like, all three of those platforms are somewhat interchangeable. Sorry if you're from those platforms.

9:22And using the basic like keyword research features. You got to know how to do keyword research. Any sort of keyword magic tool, like what they have with Semrush.

9:31I'm not sure what they call them for Moz.

9:33But I have used both before.

9:35And they all provide great data through that information. I would say that those three tools are all more the intermediate to advanced depending on how you use them. But just having the basic account. With the basic features is a really great way to get started and to have an overarching strategy built out. Because there are a lot of tools within that.

9:56Crystal WaddellOkay. So what about like simplifying keyword research? Because, that seems like it's still. Important in SEO, but it also, trips up beginners with, like how to even get started.

10:09What do you think is the best way to simplify keyword research?

10:12Katie StoneSimplifying keyword research?

10:14It always comes back to intent. So I think this is where a lot of people get messed up. And this is something where I, when I'm training my team members on keyword research, I'm always like, Think about how you would use this keyword in a search.

10:28So for example, my clients are the home services. So a lot of 'em, plumbing companies, they sell water heater installation services.

10:38But if you Google the word water heater, what comes up? It's gonna be Google Shopping. It's gonna be actual water heater product.

10:46We have to coach our team and our clients to we don't want to rank for the word water heater because we can't.

10:53We want to rank for water heater installation.

10:55We want to think about water heater repair, not specifically the product. Same like with specific AC units. We don't want to rank for the word ductless AC. Again, because we really can't.

11:06We want to rank for ductless AC installation or maintenance. For so always going back and thinking about, like, how would you, as your own target audience member.

11:16Utilize this keyword and, a really good simple way to look at a lot of these keywords is to compare them in Google trends.

11:25Google trends is free. And I would really recommend the Glimpse Chrome extension. So Glimpse is something that you can add to Google Trends.

11:35And it allows you to see a, an even deeper view of the keyword or keywords you are comparing.

11:42You get 10 free searches a month. I'm not in Google Trends as much, so that's fine with me, but I think their paid accounts are pretty, affordable.

11:49So focusing on the keywords that are specific to your clients and your business and your target audience is going to be the biggest thing.

12:00Crystal WaddellSo like the insights from Glimpse. What are we looking for with that?

12:05Katie StoneYeah. It helps me see more of the related keywords. More than just a normal, Google trend search. And the related keywords are really what is going to help us build out like those clusters of keywords that we're searching for, or researching.

12:21I don't personally use it as much because I'm not, doing as much of that kind of search, but I've always found it helpful for related topics.

12:29Crystal WaddellAwesome. And then I'm wondering if maybe those words that you're talking about, like installation versus just the thing, if that's something that pops up.

12:37Katie StoneYeah. I don't know. I would have

12:39to, I would have to look at it because I'm usually using SEMrush.

12:42Crystal WaddellOkay, so what about advanced features?

12:44What kind of advanced features do you look for in tools like Ahrefs, SemRush, Moz. any of them? Even DragonMetrics, that's my favorite one.

12:54But what are some of the advanced tools and features, that people can use within those tools?

12:58Katie StoneYeah I'm looking for competitor research capability.

13:03Rand Fishkin often talks about his 10x theory. Of your content has to be 10 times better than what's in first place right now.

13:13And so using our competitor research tools like keyword gap analysis and backlink competitor analysis, will really help me the most.

13:24Identifying how much visibility our competitors have in comparison to our clients. Really helped me a lot. Figure out like what areas we have to grow and I'm really able to focus on more like offensive strategies I think a lot of people go into SEO on the defensive like you're constantly reacting to algorithm updates and Changes and policies. But it doesn't always have to be that way Like there is always going to be that element of reactivity like that's just the nature of it.

13:53But you can go after who's in number one, like you, you can't just be like, I'm going to do my best here.

13:59I have to see what my competitors are doing.

14:03And see if I can do it better. Because if they're succeeding, then they figured something out that we haven't yet. And we can usually find it using those tools, like the competitor analysis, the keyword gap analysis.

14:14Crystal WaddellSo can you explain like the keyword gap analysis?

14:18Katie StoneYeah, so typically, at least on Semrush, and I believe it's on other tools as well, you can pull multiple domains and it will share it will basically identify all of the keywords, but each Domain is ranking for. So for, it will share what our shared keywords are, what we are both ranking for, and like how well we're ranking for each, what keywords that our competitors are ranking for that we're not ranking for, keywords that we have a chance to beat them in if we just aim for them.

14:48Improve our content a little bit more. Or improve our backlink a little bit more. It also helps me identify pages.

14:55For instance, I had a, a foundation repair company that. Was trying to build out their content.

15:02Trying to beat their competitors and I did a keyword gap analysis and I found that their big competitor was doing sinkhole remediation pages.

15:11I had never even heard of this, so I asked our client do y'all repair sinkholes and stuff? And they were like, oh, yeah, we do. So I added. Or I had our, I worked with our content team and we added some sinkhole remediation pages. And now we're outranking that competitor because they were really the only ones ranking for it.

15:31And so really all we had to do was outrank one person. And just make our content better than theirs. And that's what we did. And now we're number one for it.

15:40Crystal WaddellThat's a really great example. I love examples because I'm like, okay, how could you apply this to your business? So it's like, how do you identify opportunities?

15:49I understand that. Okay. They had sinkhole, stuff on the competitor website. And then you realize you didn't have it on. This particular company's.

15:56Is there anything else that you can look for besides just like a topic that they're not covering?

16:01Cause I think sometimes for businesses they assume that people know what they do.

16:04Oh yeah, of course we do sinkholes, everybody is actually the internet doesn't know because you didn't tell the internet.

16:10So is there any other example like that, that you have in mind?

16:14Katie StoneYeah. And it's not just going after what's missing. Going after what our competitors are doing better is really going to be, what's super important.

16:23So I'm focused on a lot of local SEO. And so we're focused on ranking in specific areas. And if we see that our competitors are outranking us in a specific town.

16:33We want to make sure that we have the hyperlocal content that can really put us over the edge.

16:39And what I mean by hyperlocal is anything that kind of satisfies the EEAT guidelines.

16:45Sets us apart as a local authority.

16:47Connecting, the owner of the website to the community.

16:51This is the, philanthropic work they've done.

16:54These are the licenses they have to perform work in this area. Here's their LinkedIn with all of their work history. And just sharing that authority. But then also tuning into what is local to the area. For example, for.

17:09San Antonio, we have really hard water.

17:12One of our clients was trying to rank their water heater keywords more, and that's the most important keyword for many plumbers. So every plumber in San Antonio is trying to rank their water heater keywords more.

17:25But a lot of them are not going after the local issues that are affecting the community and our water is so hard that it does have a negative impact on plumbing. And pipes and appliance performance.

17:40And so we've included that information into our water heater page.

17:44We included, water softeners will help maintain your water heater for longer. If you work with us, we'll help you make sure your water heater outlasts everyone else's in San Antonio because we know how to do the right setup. All this stuff.

17:58And we were able to cross promote water heaters and water softens, which are 2 of the highest value items. And key into the local pain point our community members are facing. Just making sure that we're going after what our competitors are not. And that is our audience's pain point.

18:16Crystal WaddellSo when local companies do SEO, like what kind of, I don't know, ROI is the best acronym for that, but like what kind of impact does it make on their business to do these local SEO strategies?

18:29Katie StoneYeah I find for most of my local clients that organics is their biggest conversion, section.

18:37Like we do paid, we do social media, we do everything.

18:42And 9 times out of 10, their biggest converter is going to be organic.

18:47Different revenue numbers are going to depend from industry to industry. And it wouldn't be an SEO podcast if I didn't say it depends.

18:54But, yeah, the, it's going to depend industry to industry location to location, but usually I do see more than 60 percent of conversions coming in directly from organics.

19:07So everybody's always talking about like SEO dead this year? I'm finding that's not true. We're still seeing so much. Of our audiences coming in through organic channels.

19:17And even like direct channels as well, which we know are influencing organics as well.

19:23Crystal WaddellOkay.

19:23So speaking of what people think is going to happen, SEO dying out in the future, it's what kind of trends are you noticing in the development of SEO tools, like for 2025 and like the way that things are measured? Have you seen any shifts in that capacity.

19:40Katie StoneYeah, I think I don't think enough have shifted to this yet, but I think they're going to need to. Shift more to visibility when it comes to zero click search.

19:49For those who don't know, zero search is basically when anyone comes to a SERP and they get their answer directly from the SERP. They do not have to click on a website.

19:59We're finding a lot of that with AI overviews. We saw that increase with featured snippets. People also ask the answers, all that stuff.

20:06Google wants to keep people on their platform.

20:09And they will do that by taking away our clicks. Whether it's malicious or not.

20:14We're going to have to switch back more to vanity metric. When we're reporting.

20:18So I like up until about this year has really been like impressions are not it.

20:23Impressions are not. What we want to go off of impressions are just a vanity metric that, nobody's converting off of an impression.

20:29But with more people coming in, or not coming in, because they found our answer directly on the SERP.

20:37Impressions are going to matter a lot more. So any software or tool that can report more on brand awareness or even just like those vanity metrics, our visibility from zero quick search, anything that can report on that, I think it's going to have a leading edge as we enter like this new ecosystem in Google SERPs.

20:59Crystal WaddellWow, that is such a spicy take. I have never heard anybody say that, or at least not that I remember.

21:05That thing that you said about brand visibility, that is really interesting to me because where can you find that metric? Who measures it? How do they measure it?

21:15Where can you find that so that you can have a baseline and then start comparing?

21:19Katie StoneYeah I know that there are others, but again, I'm going to, I'm going to circle back to Semrush.

21:23I use their position tracking tool and I use, the competitor research tool just to make sure like how we have visibility over everyone else. Like what piece of the pie do we have for the keywords that we're tracking?

21:35But right now, outside of the keywords we're tracking, it's hard to say. Who?

21:40I'm sure there's someone out there, but if there is, I don't know anyone who's just tracking just straight up brand awareness.

21:47I'm sure there's PR tools out there Probably Meltwater or something like that.

21:51Maybe I'm not sure.

21:52Crystal WaddellI'm so glad that you said that because I have 2 different things set up in Semrush.

21:58And I thought this, but until you said this, I didn't really fully understand it.

22:03If you're tracking different keywords, and obviously your visibility is going to be different.

22:07When do you start adding more keywords to track? Because I would get 2 different visibility reports. And it's like, what in the world?

22:14Katie StoneYeah, that's something I always have to reconcile with my clients.

22:17Because a lot of them also have Semrush or a version of it. And they're like my visibility says this. And your visibility says this.

22:25And I'm like, it's going to wildly depend on what keywords you're tracking.

22:29So we tend not to track like branded keywords just to keep it more honest. Because if you're, ranking number one for your brand name.

22:38You're obviously going to have a much better looking visibility and that's fine.

22:43A lot of clients do want to track like how they are visibility wise with their brands. That's okay. But if I'm like looking straight up.

22:50It's easier for me to see how we're doing with our competitors if we're just doing our services and not our brands. Because our brands are gonna weigh how we do it.

22:59And a lot of our clients will, they try their best. They do. But a lot of them just don't have the experience with keyword research. So they put what they think people are searching and usually not backed by data.

23:11And so I usually work with coaching our clients a little bit more on, Hey, these are the keywords that we have done enormous amounts of research on. And we find are the highest, value for you and for your business.

23:24And so we usually work together on that.

23:26Crystal WaddellSo when you do like a keyword gap analysis and say you and your competitors have, X number of keywords in common. Are those keywords that you track in a brand visibility report?

23:38Katie StoneSometimes, yeah, depending. So it's, they're like a high value.

23:42So it's just like a branded keyword. I'm not going to track it. But if it's something Like what I was talking about earlier, like sinkhole remediation.

23:48And now we're actually going after it, then yes, I will track it. But if it's keywords that we're not actively going after with our content, then I don't really want to track it.

23:56Not just because it would look bad on us, but because like, why? It's if we're not actively going after something, why would I track it? So yeah, that's how I determine it.

24:06Crystal WaddellOkay. Yeah. Cause I was trying to figure out, I was like, okay, what would be the best keywords to track, especially in.

24:11Like comparison with competitors. And so I was just like, not that there's an easy button for it. But like just trying to find the easiest way to get a group of keywords that made the most sense to track.

24:22Not just for e commerce or not just for local or not just for whatever. But just like a general rule of thumb of how to track certain keywords.

24:30Katie StoneYeah, I have a combination of methods, but I typically in a. Keyword report for my home service clients.

24:38And they're a bit small. I usually don't have more than 100 keywords, but I'm keeping track of.

24:44I'm usually doing based off of the highest level volume, keywords that are going to matter to our clients.

24:51I'm not really doing any long tail keywords. I'm keeping it to the short tail. And geospecific. Because they are local businesses.

24:59So I'm going to do " plumbing repair. San Antonio." or I'm just going to do plumbing repair. But I'm not going to do who has plumbing repair in my area.

25:08So just keeping track of what is the most valuable? What are people actually searching? And are these the keywords that we think our audience is going to convert on?

25:18Crystal WaddellThat is awesome. Those are really great questions to ask. So I thank you for that because I'm going to share that with my group.

25:24I have a small group of entrepreneurs that I help.

25:27And we meet together every week for about an hour and a half to talk about our websites and different problems.

25:33So shout out to the SCO squad and you can absolutely join.

25:36I was like, this is a great time to promote the SEO squad. But yeah, so we can definitely talk about those things and how they pertain to the types of businesses that are in the squad.

25:45Going back to like trends and stuffhow do you think that AI and large language models specifically.

25:54How do you think they're influencing the capability of SEO tools?

25:57Katie StoneIt's definitely disrupting. Or at least shaking things up.

26:01Semrush just released their forecasting tool. I think it's a little, lacking, a little bit.

26:07I think they just wanted to throw AI something.

26:10It was like, it predicts like where you could be. But it doesn't give you any actionable items to go after. It's this is where you could be if you improve your content. No kidding. That's what we're trying to do. Always. So I, it just doesn't feel very actionable yet.

26:26Everybody for some reason uses like the star emoji.

26:29With their, aI tools, they're like, check out our AI. Here's a star. And they're like, everybody has to have AI now.

26:37And I don't think a lot of companies are taking the time, really. To come up with a product or solution. That is helpful or impactful in a lot of ways.

26:47I think they're just throwing AI out there just to throw AI out there. And, I think we will get to a point, where it will be like survival of the fittest.

26:55Like what AI tools do work and what ones don't.

26:58And we'll see a lot of rollbacks on. AI tools. And then we'll see, improvements on the new ones.

27:04And that with any sort of major disruption in the market a little before my time, but like the invention of the Internet and like, when that exploded dot com bubble, like the survival of the fittest. Obviously, Google is where we stand today. It's will they stand in 20 years? Who knows?

27:21We'll see what AI platforms and tools are going to last.

27:24Crystal WaddellYeah, I think that point about just understanding the how and why of what the tool is capable of? Is so important. You know what I mean? Because like you said, it's yeah, you can do this general thing, but why is it going to have the impact?

27:40Those are the unanswered questions.

27:42And I feel like the tools and businesses could do a little bit better job of actually talking to the people who are using them. Because they might actually find out that people are using them in a different way, that is helpful.

27:57I don't know if you've experienced that, but I've used a tool and I'm like, Oh, it works way better for me to do this specific task. Than the one it was actually intended to do.

28:05Katie StoneYeah. 100 percent definitely have had that experience. And I think that kind of just comes back to we as marketers and SEOs also just need to be asking Those questions.

28:16And identifying where our searchers are. That was the whole point of my talk that I gave at Brighton. And the tool that I wanted to shout out was Google search console, enhanced Analytics.

28:26It's a Chrome extension. It's absolutely free. Not sponsored.

28:29But they, really do help you give a more like nitty gritty view of like how. Pages and keywords and queries are like performing for your website.

28:39And it really helps you get a better view of your own like topical authority, on certain topics. And helps you steer the direction of your content strategy. Or help you figure out where you need to spend a little more time.

28:52Back to your beginner question. I think that one would be a really good tool to get. If you're a beginner and you are looking to decipher this data a little more.

29:01Like just a little more easily.

29:03The enhanced analytics Chrome extension, for Google Search Console. I think I cannot recommend enough.

29:08Crystal WaddellThat is such a great way to kind of circle back to where we started.

29:12And then,= one of the things I also see with the business owners that I work with.

29:16Is that they just feel overwhelmed by the number of options out there.

29:21So it's like how do you manage that? Just getting overwhelmed with what you could be using versus what is actually necessary.

29:29Katie StoneOh yeah. That's a big question because I feel like every day I see like a new LinkedIn post. Or a new blue sky or X poster or whatever, saying check out my new tool.

29:39It's free or it's not just do a free trial, like all of this stuff. And it's there's always all these promises. And I think it's always good to keep an open mind.

29:49Test things. But try to consolidate as much as possible. I really do try to keep my tech stack, like very minimal. I'll tell you, my main are obviously.

30:00Semrush, Screaming Frog. We use Guido for reporting.

30:04And really just the regular GSC, GA4 those are our main.

30:09I try not to steer too far out of those, because I can get almost everything I need out of those five things.

30:16And I have the reporting, I have, my competitor research, I have my technical audits from Streaming Frog.

30:22Sightbulb is a good alternative to that as well. If you don't want to use Screaming Frog.

30:25They're both very powerful tools. I'm partial to Screaming Frog. I've just been using it for so long. But both are great. And I know there's others out there too. But those are the main ones that I use. And I'm able to do 99 percent of my work through those five tools.

30:40Crystal WaddellI love that. And I love Screaming Frog too. And one of the things I'm excited about is All of the integrations that Screaming Frog. Yeah. Okay.

30:49So before we end, tell me what's got you excited?

30:52Katie StoneYeah. When they released their open AI integration, I was like, ecstatic. I was like, I can do so much more now.

31:00But I also like their connection with lighthouse or Google page speed. I can do a huge technical audit so fast with it.

31:10And I'm able to see, because, with the page speed tester, you can do 1 page at a time. And you're not seeing overall data and that's not really telling me a story.

31:19I know. One page is going to perform very differently to the other. I would like to see an average. I want to see where we're really hurting. And where we're performing really well. Because that is going to tell me a lot more.

31:31And Screaming Frog just Really changed the game when they added those integrations.

31:35Crystal WaddellOh, I love that. And I think that's so cool how you described it as like data that tells a story. Because you're right. I just feel like so many things are just siloed. And unless you have an overall perspective or, knowledge base of those different things, you don't understand how they work together and therefore you can't tell the full story of what's happening in your business. And so that is just brilliant. I love that you shared that.

32:00If people would like to possibly, get access either to your slides. I don't know if they're still going to be available with Brighton or, just follow up with you, follow you, get in touch.

32:10How is the best way for them to do that?

32:13Katie StoneYeah, I am on LinkedIn, X, blue sky. @ KatieStoneSEO for all of them.

32:18I think I shared it in a post, but if you DM me, I'll share it with you there too. I put it on YouTube as well, like the recording of it. So if you wanna see the actual talk, I can share that as well.

32:28I just haven't shared that publicly, but I think I did share, publicly the deck on my LinkedIn. Definitely give me a follow there. I am always happy to chat SEO.

32:38Crystal WaddellSweet. I didn't know that about your YouTube. So I'll definitely have to follow up with that as well. Because, like, when you're at a conference, it is that fire hose when you first hear it, you're like, oh, that was so great.

32:48And then you forget the details. So I'm grateful for this opportunity to follow up with you. And then I'm also grateful to hear about those other ways to follow up as well.

32:57Katie StoneYeah, I'm around, I'm pretty active on all three platforms. Just give me a shout.

33:02Crystal WaddellThank you so much, Katie, for coming on the Simple And Smart SEO show podcast.

33:06It's been awesome talking to you and I hope that we can chat about these Screaming Frog integrations in the future as well, so

33:13Katie Stone100 percent. Always happy to geek out about screaming frog or technical SEO or anything,

33:19it's been great. It's been a delight.

33:20Crystal WaddellWe'll let you guys get back to your work on the other side of the headphones. But thank you for joining us today and I will see you next time.