SEO and AI Search Tips for Wedding Pros
SEO and AI search tips are everywhere right now, and for many wedding and event pros, they bring up more questions than answers. Do you still need to worry about Google, or is everyone using ChatGPT now? Should you be adding special code to your website? Is it too late to catch up? With so many new acronyms and so much conflicting advice, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed before you even begin.
In this episode of Engage Your Brand®, I’m joined by my friend Britt Spradlin, SEO specialist and co-owner of Growing Your Traffic, a global award-winning SEO and AI optimization agency. Britt has more than a decade of SEO experience, and her team helps businesses get found in both traditional search and AI search through done-for-you services and mentorship for business owners who prefer to DIY.
🎧 Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or play it directly below.
The good news? Getting found online is far less mysterious than it might seem. Britt broke it down into a few clear, practical steps that any wedding pro can start working on today.
From Nursing Student to SEO Expert
Britt’s path into SEO started almost by accident. In 2013, while studying nursing in college, she started a free blog as an online diary. She shared everyday stories, including some embarrassing ones, until a few people on campus mentioned they’d read it. That moment made her realize real people were finding and reading her content.
She started writing helpful posts, like dorm room craft ideas and tips for taking better notes in class. Soon, strangers were discovering her blog through search engines. That curiosity led her to SEO, then brand partnerships and affiliate marketing. At 19, she was paid $1,000 just to publish a single blog post on her site.
Britt went on to become a nurse, but after experiencing burnout while working in a hospital during COVID, she turned her side work into a full-time agency. Her husband, who helped name the business, eventually joined her full time. The name Growing Your Traffic came from Britt’s love of plants and the idea of helping businesses grow their traffic the same way she grows her plants.
Like many marketers, Britt admits her biggest branding challenge has been finding time to market her own business. As her team has grown, she now has more space to focus on her own brand strategy.
Secret One: Teach Your Website to Talk to Search Platforms
Britt’s first secret is that social media alone isn’t enough. Your website needs to clearly communicate with Google and AI platforms.
Start by figuring out what you want to be found for. In SEO, these are called keywords. Think about what your ideal clients type into Google, ChatGPT, or Claude when they’re ready to hire someone like you. If your business appeared as the answer, would they book your venue, order your stationery, or hire you as their planner?
Once you know your keywords, place them strategically on your website. Britt recommends these steps:
- Focus on one keyword per page. Experienced SEO professionals may target several keywords on one page, but one keyword per page is the simplest and most effective approach when you’re doing it yourself.
- Use your keyword in your H1 heading. Your H1 is essentially the main title of the page.
- Use only one H1 per page. Multiple H1s can confuse search platforms.
- Add your keyword to your meta title and meta description. These help search engines understand what the page is about.
Any web page counts, whether it’s a service page, blog post, or product page. For less competitive keywords, these steps alone can sometimes help your page show up on the first page of Google or be recommended by AI platforms.
Secret Two: Publish Fresh Content on Your Website
Britt’s second secret is consistency. Search platforms want to know your business is active and relevant.
That means regularly publishing new content on your website, not just on Instagram, LinkedIn, or Facebook. Blog posts are an easy way to do this, but new service pages, product pages, and podcast show notes count too. Even publishing once a month shows Google and AI tools that your business is current.
I asked Britt whether you should show the publish date on blog posts. I’ve often wondered whether removing dates helps posts feel less outdated. Britt said she now recommends keeping them. Search engines can typically see when content was published anyway, and readers trust content more when they know when it was written. As she put it, we’re in a trust recession, and transparency matters more than ever.
Secret Three: Build Trust Beyond Your Website
Britt calls her third secret her number one traffic hack. Once your website is set up and you’re publishing consistently, the next step is building trust.
One of the strongest trust signals is a backlink, when another website links to yours. If a respected wedding website links to your venue, search engines see that as a vote of confidence.
AI platforms take this even further. For tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini, being mentioned online can help build trust even without a direct link. The more your brand is talked about, the more likely AI is to recommend you.
Reviews also matter. Britt shared something that may be a relief for many wedding pros. Even one-star reviews can help build trust, because they show you’re actively serving real clients. What matters most is how you respond. A thoughtful, professional reply that addresses the issue can actually build more confidence with future clients than another five-star review.
Of course, the goal is still to create great experiences. But if a difficult client leaves a negative review, it doesn’t have to define your business.
What to Know About Schema Markup
Schema markup comes up often in SEO conversations. It’s code that helps search engines understand what’s on your website. If you’ve never heard of it, Britt says not to worry.
Search technology is getting much better at understanding websites without that extra code, and Google has said FAQ schema no longer matters. Britt’s team still adds LLM schema markup for clients because it’s lightweight and may still help some AI platforms. If AI visibility is a priority, she suggests searching for a tutorial on adding LLM schema markup to your website. It usually takes about 20 minutes.
Still, schema isn’t where most wedding pros should start. Focusing on Britt’s three secrets will make a much bigger difference.
Should You Spend Time on Substack?
I’ve been curious about Substack, especially since many business owners are pouring time into it. Britt’s advice was clear. Start with your website.
Your website is like a snowball. The more keywords you rank for, the more trust you build and the more searches you’ll appear in. Once your content is published on your website, you can repurpose it in other places:
- Substack. Share the same content with your newsletter audience.
- LinkedIn articles. Publish it for a professional audience.
- Short videos. Turn key points into reels or other quick videos.
- Text-based social posts. Break it into smaller posts for platforms like Threads or Bluesky.
Google generally doesn’t penalize you for republishing your own content when it originally lives on your website. Copying someone else’s content, however, is a different story. That can lead to copyright issues and won’t help your visibility.
Britt also reminded us that you don’t own social platforms. Accounts can be hacked, groups can be shut down, and platforms can disappear. Your website is the foundation you control.
How AI Is Changing Search
AI is changing how people research and make buying decisions. Britt and her husband even used AI to help decide what clothing to buy for an upcoming trip.
Still, Britt emphasized that Google remains a massive part of search. She shared that Google handles more than 100,000 searches every second, with billions of users. Many people also trust traditional search results that appear alongside AI answers.
The encouraging part is that much of what helps you rank in Google also helps you show up in Google’s AI features and in tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity. You’ll hear many names for AI optimization, including GEO, AEO, AI SEO, and AIO. Britt explained that they all describe the same goal: helping AI recommend your business when people search for what you offer.
Small Changes That Help AI Cite You
One of Britt’s most practical tips was about how you structure your content. AI tools love clear, concise answers.
If you use subheadings that ask a question or introduce a specific topic, answer it in the very first sentence below the heading. People often build context before getting to the point, but AI is more likely to cite content that answers right away.
FAQs are another great opportunity. Adding a frequently asked questions section to service pages, core pages, or blog posts gives AI more direct answers to pull from. I’ll admit I loved hearing this, since I often encourage clients to include FAQs in their website copy.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Britt shared two big mistakes she sees businesses make when trying to show up in AI search.
Publishing inaccurate content. AI can be a helpful writing tool, and AI-assisted content can rank well. But it isn’t always accurate. Britt’s team even has an English teacher on staff who reviews content for grammar and accuracy. If you use AI to draft content for your website, always review it carefully before publishing.
Using unclear language. Creative, poetic wording can feel on-brand, but it doesn’t help people or search engines understand what you do. Instead of saying you help couples “bring their love story to life,” be clear about the service you provide. Use the words your clients actually search for, especially in your headings. You can still add personality in the supporting copy.
Make Your Website Fast and Functional
Website speed is another trust signal. If your site takes too long to load, visitors leave, and search platforms are less likely to recommend you.
Britt also sees many websites with broken buttons, links that go to the wrong pages, or navigation that doesn’t work. Test your site regularly to make sure everything functions properly.
How you speed up your site depends on your platform. Britt finds WordPress the easiest to speed up, while Squarespace can be more challenging. If you use WordPress, remove plugins you don’t need, since too many can slow things down. For any platform, a quick search for speed tips specific to your website builder is a great place to start.
Spend One Hour a Month on Backlinks
If you only commit to one ongoing SEO task, Britt recommends spending about an hour a month getting other websites to mention or link to yours.
That might sound like a lot for a busy business owner, but it can make a meaningful difference. Backlinks don’t have to come from awkward cold outreach. Here are a few ways to build them naturally:
- Podcast interviews. Appearing as a guest often comes with a link in the show notes.
- Awards and features. Industry recognition can bring valuable mentions.
- Blog post swaps. Collaborate with other businesses that serve similar clients.
- Thoughtful partnerships. Relationships with vendors and peers can naturally lead to links.
Britt does caution against paying for backlinks, since low-quality or spammy links can hurt more than help.
Where to Start If You’re New to SEO
If you haven’t done anything with SEO yet, Britt recommends starting with a list of at least ten things your clients search for. Longer, more specific phrases, called long-tail keywords, are usually less competitive and easier to rank for.
For example, “wedding cake bakery” is broad and competitive. A more specific phrase, like “LGBTQ wedding cake bakery,” narrows the search and may help you reach the clients you’re best suited to serve.
For local businesses, Britt shared a bonus tip. Put your town name before your keyword, such as “Nashville LGBTQ wedding cake bakery.” Use your town, not your county, state, or region. Smaller nearby towns can be less competitive than major cities, so creating pages for surrounding areas can help you show up in more local searches.
When you create pages for multiple locations, make sure each page makes sense for the people searching there. In competitive markets, it’s also worth researching what others are doing so your content stands out.
Don’t Wait to Start
Britt’s biggest piece of advice is not to put off SEO until you have a big budget or a perfect plan. SEO grows over time, much like investing. Small steps you take now can compound into much bigger results later.
That’s also why I always recommend connecting Google Analytics as early as possible. Britt added Google Search Console too, which is free. The sooner you connect these tools, the sooner you start collecting data you can’t go back and recover later.
If you want your website to be designed with SEO and AI visibility in mind from the start, Emily Foster Creative can help. We build brands and websites that look beautiful and are set up to help the right clients find you. Reach out to us to talk about your next project.
Start Small, but Start Now
The best SEO and AI search tips aren’t about chasing every new trend. They’re about building a clear, consistent, trustworthy website that helps both people and search platforms understand what you do. When you know your keywords, publish fresh content, and build trust over time, your visibility can grow in ways that keep paying off.
As Britt said at the end of our conversation, even if you only have 15 minutes today, start working on your website. You won’t regret the time you invest in it.
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