Bonus Episode · with Chris Williams & Trip Joe
Chris Williams returns for a check-in on Google's algorithm, AI-driven ad campaigns, content loops between social and web, and why organic search matters more in a downturn.
The episode
This one is another SEO and digital check-in with Chris Williams of Elite Web Professionals, who by this point handles the SEO for Marketing MadMen's own web presence, which Nick Constantino says is coming full circle. The conversation opens on the plainest version of Google's incentive: the algorithm rewards whatever keeps a visitor on Google longer, so a page that keeps a visitor engaged, through video, strong articles, or a clear next step, gets treated as worth showing to the next searcher. Constantino pushes on what conversion actually means for a high-consideration purchase. You do not buy an engagement ring online, so a conversion on that kind of page is not a sale, it's getting the visitor to the natural next step in a longer journey, whether that's clicking through to pricing or filling out a form.
They move into where AI is pulling the big platforms. Williams sees Microsoft carving out the office and productivity side through Copilot and LinkedIn integration, Google chasing creators and mobile, and everyone racing to close the gap on model quality since the underlying tech has largely leveled out. Constantino raises a real worry: if Facebook's automated ad tools let anyone just say what they want to accomplish and let the platform run the whole campaign, doesn't that flatten the playing field and just bid prices up? Williams argues it opens the field to anyone bold enough to commit a budget, and that agencies keep their edge because they have the same access to those tools plus the strategic read most advertisers don't have time to develop themselves.
The back half turns to a content loop Williams has been testing: post on social, drive it to a blog article on the website that expands the message, and let organic search pick up the website version, which he says converts noticeably better than content that only lives on one channel. They close on the recession question directly, with Constantino describing his own move to redirect a slice of Solomon Brothers Jewelers' brand budget toward bottom-of-funnel, near-me and comparison searches, because a strong brand alone doesn't convert when consumer demand tightens.
“If you haven't talked about it on your website, it hasn't been talked about enough. Take the time to create that article, connect with your user. Free traffic is worth more.”
Chris Williams
What to take from it
In their words
“A lot of people out there are applying tactics and not strategy. They're not building strategy around your business, they're using tactics they have to do, and I don't think that's the best way to do it.”
Nick Constantino
“If you don't have that exact content on your website, create those pages so that now you can actually start targeting that traffic to your site organically.”
Chris Williams
“We've done such a good job with the brand. Now I'm converting twenty percent of my brand dollars to bottom-of-the-funnel calls to action.”
Nick Constantino
Questions this episode answers
Welcome to the Marketing Mad Men. Another one of our SEO and digital check-ins with our boy Chris Williams from Elite Web Professionals, and ironically, Chris and I were just working on our own SEO, so this has come full circle. What I've figured out is Google's job is to see if you're worth a damn or not, and they want to make sure people focus their attention on Google. Is that fair?
That's absolutely fair. In 2025 everyone is trying to figure out how to keep users on their web page, by any means necessary. If you have great video content, great articles, anything you can do to keep the user on the page increases your discoverability and helps you convert better.
Conversion is the name of the game, but conversion is not necessarily e-commerce. You're not going to buy an engagement ring online. A lot of people out there are applying tactics and not strategy, so they're not building strategy around your business.
So the conversion many times when it comes to a website related to SEO is making sure the person gets to the next step. If you have the diamonds and you're showing all the information but not the price, clicking to find the price is still a natural journey for that user, and that's still demonstrating to Google that the person is doing exactly what you want them to do.
So you have a three-tier strategy: your most common users get long-form content, mid-form for people who know of you but aren't ready to buy, and short-form for customer acquisition. What are you seeing with the AI platforms racing each other?
ChatGPT is leaps and bounds ahead in what I use it for, and I'm taking data from a CRM system, exporting it, and having it sort through it for content writing and understanding general searches to optimize a website.
I saw a post that Facebook's intention is to have you say what you want to accomplish, who the people are, what the budget is, and it does everything. Doesn't that just level the playing field and bid the prices up more?
It opens up the playing field. If you're bold enough to put a budget out, you have an opportunity to win too. But the agency has the same access to the same button, so they can make adjustments and see the shortcomings and optimize further.
Let's end with this: the dreaded R-word. Consumer demand has slowed because people are uncertain of the future. Why is organic search so much more important right now, and what tactics can businesses use? I'll give an example: we've done such a good job of brand marketing that everyone searches our name, but I need bottom-of-the-funnel conversion too. I'm converting twenty percent of my brand dollars to bottom-of-the-funnel calls to action.
First, if you're not using AI, start right away. Ask it what you can post on social media, and it will give you a thirty day content plan. If you don't have that exact content on your website, create those pages so you can start targeting that traffic to your site organically. A lot of people still have ten or fifteen page websites. If you have a hundred or two hundred posts on Instagram, take that content and create a blog article for it. If you haven't talked about it on your website, it hasn't been talked about enough.
Give me a prediction, as outlandish as you want, for something that's going to catch the digital world off guard in the next nine months to a year.
I think live shopping is going to make a major push here in America, and a lot of people are going to be selling live.
My concern is it seems like people are selling cheap stuff on live shopping, not a six thousand dollar ring because of a TikTok video. Be careful, because if you're a brand with real reputation, a bad impulse purchase and a return can tarnish that equity in a way that's hard to earn back.
You can find me at Chris Williams Inc on Instagram, or through my website, advertisingbusiness.org. Feel free to reach out anytime, love to help.
Thank you, my man. Easy breezy.
From the show to your numbers
It is free and ends with a written, ranked list of what to fix first. Ask for the channel read: what each channel you buy actually returns, organic search included.