Hayden Schuster · Senior SEO Manager at Optimal · Austin
I build the systems that make complex sites visible
So the right people find you, trust you, and choose you.
- 20,447search clicks in September across my sites, up from 1,256 in April
- 592,483Copilot citations of my sites, Mar 28, 2026 to Aug 26, 2026
- 10sites I build and run on my own time, where I can show every number
Clear a line, unlock a real result
Every line you clear unlocks a dated result from one of my sites. Press Play, or just watch it run.
How to play: arrow keys move, up rotates, space drops. On a phone, use the buttons under the board.
92 days in a row with 100+ Google clicks, The Crawler's Cookbook, and still going. See every high score
My full-time job
What I do for enterprise brands
At Optimal, a OneMagnify company, I work on SEO and AI visibility for enterprise brands across many industries. Every account starts from the same place: who is searching, what they typed and what they need to do next. How I work
- 01Strategy for search and AI answers Where a brand should show up, in Google and in the answers AI tools give, and what it takes to earn that.
- 02Roadmaps built around how customers search No two brands share priorities. Each gets a plan that fits how its customers decide, built from who is searching and what they need next.
- 03Programs that hold up at scale Templates, content programs and structured data that have to stay right across hundreds of pages, because one bad template repeats everywhere. I fix the source, never the output.
- 04Measuring AI visibility How AI tools mention, cite and describe a brand, against its competitors, so the work is judged on what searchers did, not on what we shipped.
- 05Getting the right people in early Developers, design, data, PR and paid search in the room before anything is built, so good ideas don't die in a ticket queue.
- 06Checks that keep the work right A wrong fact or a broken page gets stopped before anyone sees it, so the same mistake doesn't happen twice and the next project starts ahead.
How I work
One system: get found, get understood, get chosen
Everything I do on a site serves one of three outcomes. Miss the first and nobody sees the page; miss the second and nobody trusts it; miss the third and they pick someone else.
- 1 Get found Can the person with this need find the right answer?
- 2 Get understood Can they quickly tell what the answer means for their situation?
- 3 Get chosen What makes this answer worth trusting and acting on?
Why it adds up: when something goes wrong, I fix the process, not just the page. Each lesson stays learned, so every project starts where the last one finished. Search changes every week, so the system does too: what I've changed my mind about.
The results so far
Search clicks across my sites went from 1,256 in April to 20,447 in September, Google and Bing together. The last 28 days: Google +17%, Bing -8%.
September 2026: The Crawler's Cookbook's best Google month yet (13,755 clicks), WireRef's best Bing month yet (2,828 clicks), and 92 days in a row with 100+ Google clicks, still going.
- September vs August+31%20,447 search clicks, from 15,603
- Last 28 days vs the 28 before+9%19,105 search clicks, from 17,588
- Jul to Sep vs Apr to Jun+374%47,445 search clicks, from 10,009
- 1.3KApr
- 3.3KMay
- 5.5KJun
- 11.4KJul
- 15.6KAug
- 20.4KSep
Public sites only. These compare periods; they don't prove what caused a change. Sites under 50 clicks are too small to read much into.
Lately
What I'm writing about
The recommendation layer in AI searchHow AI answers pick which brands to name, the three tests content has to pass, and the receipts from a fan site that wins.I post what I learn on LinkedIn first, usually right after I've learned it the hard way.
Follow on LinkedInLately on LinkedIn
- The Quack Report“Live and breathe Oregon Duck Football? Cool, same.”
- Poll: where people start a major purchase“My research habits have changed a lot recently, so curious where everyone is starting the process these days.”
- The recommendation layer“Like it or not, there’s a new decision-maker in town.”
The rest are on my profileFollow on LinkedIn
Off the clock
I'm from Portland, OR, and recently moved to Austin, Texas, where I'm currently melting in the sun.
I was going to Autzen Stadium before I could walk. Add the Seahawks, the Blazers and the Timbers, and you've got most of my personality. The rest is Bella, my corgi.
- Ducks
- Seahawks
- Blazers
- Timbers
- DCC
- Portland, home