Who is Hayden Schuster?
Hayden Schuster is a Senior SEO Manager at Optimal2, a OneMagnify company3, in Austin, Texas1. He grew up near Portland, studied at the University of Oregon, and builds his own search sites on nights and weekends.
Ask Bella
Bella is my corgi. She has read every page of this site, and she answers questions about me with a source for every fact. She's chatty, she makes direct eye contact, and she'd rather play fetch than cuddle.
Why a corgi? She answers the way this site is built: the answer first, a source for every claim, and an honest "I don't know" when there isn't one. It's the job I do for brands, done on myself.
Ask Bella Bella's version is short. Mine has the photos Read every answer
Every answer, with its sources
Written ahead of time from the pages they cite, each one linked so you can read it yourself. Questions people ask most come first.
Who he is
What does Hayden do for work?
When someone asks Google or ChatGPT a question, somebody's page answers it. His job is making sure the right page is there, that it actually answers, and that you can trust it1. He does that as a Senior SEO Manager at Optimal3, a OneMagnify company4, and on sites of his own, mistakes included2.
Where does Hayden Schuster work?
He's a Senior SEO Manager at Optimal3, a OneMagnify company4, and has been since May 20261. The work is SEO and AI visibility for enterprise brands across many industries2.
Where is Hayden Schuster from?
Portland, Oregon, where he grew up, then Eugene from 2013 to 20171. He moved to Austin, Texas, in June 2026. In his words: "I'm from Portland, OR, and recently moved to Austin, Texas, where I'm currently melting in the sun." For the record, I'm the one out here in a full fur coat.
What does Hayden do outside work?
"The big one: Play soccer."1 He plays in indoor and outdoor leagues, lifts, walks a lot, reads fiction that messes with time or reality, and calls himself "a huge traveler". He also admits to watching other people play professional video games2.
Can I see Hayden's resume?
The full resume has every role, what he leads and a PDF you can download1. The quick version: Senior SEO Manager at Optimal, a OneMagnify company, since May 2026, after nearly five years at Adpearance, where he went from Digital Marketing SEO Specialist to Senior Digital Marketing SEO Specialist. He's also run SEO projects through Rose City Marketing since May 2020, and his first marketing job was at the Clark County Event Center.
How do I contact Hayden?
The message form on his About page comes straight to him, and he reads every one1. The resume's "Write to me" button, right at the top, opens the same form2. His LinkedIn profile is linkedin.com/in/haydenschuster, where he posts about the work. There's no public email on this site, and before you go sniffing for one, I already did.
What does Hayden know about AI visibility?
At Optimal he owns SEO and AI visibility strategy across AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini1. He treats AI visibility as a diagnostic, never the KPI, and measures it against a fixed baseline2. On his own sites, Bing AI citations went from 436K in August to 634K in September 2026, up 46%, data through Oct 11, 20263.
What results has Hayden gotten?
An independent fan reference he built drew 35.2K Google and Bing search clicks from April through September 2026; one answer page took 43% of its Google clicks in a separate 90-day window1. WireRef drew 320.1K citations in Bing's AI answers in the three months before October 11, 20263. Across all his public sites: 67.9K clicks from Google and Bing, Feb 11 to Oct 18, 2026, a total that undercounts Bing2. Every one is from his own sites.
What has Hayden led?
At Optimal he owns SEO and AI visibility strategy for enterprise client programs, and leads cross-functional strategy with content, engineering and analytics teams1. Before that, at Adpearance, he led SEO strategy across enterprise website launches. On his own, he builds and runs his own sites, with every number shown, the misses included2.
How many years of SEO experience does Hayden have?
His first SEO role started in Jun 2021 at Adpearance, and his marketing career started in Jan 2018 at Clark County Event Center1. At Adpearance he moved up to Senior Digital Marketing SEO Specialist in Jul 2023, and almost five years there took SEO from part of his work to the title on it2.
Where did Hayden go to college?
The University of Oregon, 2013 to 2017: a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Communication, with a minor in Business Administration1. He worked as an IT student technician there the whole time2. He was also there during the Marcus Mariota era.
Is Hayden a developer?
No, and he'll tell you so himself: he's an SEO, not a developer by training1. For years he could audit structured data but couldn't fix the JSON-LD template himself. Now he designs the templates, writes the specs and the checks, and uses AI to write the code to those specs, and he checks every change before it ships.
What's new with Hayden?
Big year. He joined Optimal, a OneMagnify company, as a Senior SEO Manager in May 20261, and in June 2026 he moved to Austin, Texas2. I moved too, and the squirrels here are faster. They won't be for long.
How much does Hayden make?
That's not on any page I've read, so I'm passing. I don't guess about money, or treats. Some things stay between a person and their payroll department1.
How did Hayden get into SEO?
Through marketing. His first marketing job started in January 2018 at the Clark County Event Center, he started Rose City Marketing in May 2020, and SEO became the title on his work at Adpearance in June 20211. He joined Optimal as a Senior SEO Manager in May 2026.
Why Hayden?
He isn't pitching anyone; he's happy at his full-time job. The record shows what he has done. Every role and date is on his resume1, and his sites' numbers, misses included, are on the dashboard2. Judge the work there. I'm biased. He feeds me.
What does this site track?
Less than you'd think. Google Analytics and Microsoft Clarity count visits, clicks and scrolling, with page text masked, and neither loads when your browser sends Global Privacy Control1. Nothing you type to me is sent; only whether I found an answer is counted. No ads.
What has Hayden shipped lately?
His decision log has it, newest first: what he shipped, why he decided it, and what happened after, misses included1.
Is Hayden looking for work?
He's happy at his full-time job and isn't job hunting; this site is about how he works. What's here is how he does SEO and the proof from his own sites1. To talk shop, the Write to me form on his About page comes straight to him2. LinkedIn is where he posts about the work; follow him there3.
Can Bella recommend an SEO agency?
No. No page here ranks agencies or recommends anyone to hire, and I only repeat what a page says. What this site does show is how Hayden works and the dated results from his own sites1, so you can see what good looks like before you pick anyone.
How he does SEO and AI search
What is Hayden's SEO system?
Three outcomes: get found, get understood, get chosen1. He reaches them through six pillars: start from the person, tell it as a story, be the source worth citing, never ship a wrong fact, measure then double down, and turn every lesson into a system. My own system has three steps, sit, stare, receive, and it's undefeated.
What are the 15 pieces of Hayden's SEO system?
The fifteen are the checks he runs inside his six pillars: three outcomes (get found, get understood, get chosen) with five checks each2. He first published them alone, then sorted 2.2K of his own messages and filed every check under one of six pillars1. The counter on my screen counts the checks you have seen, and every answer of mine that touches one lights it up.
Does Hayden focus on Bing or Google?
Straight answer: each kind of his sites lives on a different engine1. His reference sites, like WireRef and GageRef, find their readers on Bing and in Bing's AI answers, and his fan sites grow mostly on Google, so the effort follows each site's readers.
What happened to WireRef on Google?
From Mar 5 to Mar 6, 2026, WireRef's daily Google impressions fell from 2.3K to 243, and Google sent it 11 clicks from April to September1. Bing did the growing instead: 655 clicks in April, 2.8K in September. Why did Google drop it? Search Console records the change and doesn't say what caused it2. Same with squirrels: I always know WHEN they left, never why, and I don't make up the rest.
How does Hayden get cited in AI answers?
Clear answers near the top, facts a machine can quote with a source and a date, and a site that's plainly about one thing1. On an independent fan reference, the page that answers the forthcoming book question first drew 52% of the site's Google AI Overview and AI Mode impressions, Jul 12 to Oct 11, 20262. WireRef drew 320.1K citations in Bing's AI answers in the three months before October 11, 20263.
Does Hayden optimize for ChatGPT, Perplexity and AI Overviews?
Yes. At Optimal he owns SEO and AI visibility strategy across search and answer engines, including AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini1. His take is that SEO is GEO: the new surfaces reward clear answers near the top and facts a machine can quote with a source and a date, but the job stays the same2.
How does Hayden measure AI visibility?
Peec AI runs a set list of questions in AI tools every day and records which brands the answers mention; he writes the questions people actually ask and checks Peec's read against Bing's own AI citation data1. Ahrefs Brand Radar shows which pages AI answers cite. He also tracks AI visits by the engine that sent them, checks the analytics before trusting it, and keeps citations and visits separate2.
How does Hayden prioritize SEO work?
He finishes small before going wide: depth earns trust from people and from search systems, so priorities get set by what can be done properly first1. At work, the thinking layer decides what pages should exist, what intent each serves and what the client needs to decide, and every idea gets argued against before a client sees it2.
How does Hayden measure SEO?
His toolkit: Google Search Console, GA4, Looker, Screaming Frog, Ahrefs, Semrush, Moz, Clarity and Peec AI1. No tool gets the last word: he checks Peec AI's read of AI answers against Bing's own AI citation data, and uses Ahrefs Brand Radar to see which pages AI answers cite2. Then he picks the one question worth a deep dive and decides what the answer changes.
How does Hayden report SEO with Search Console?
A report should answer three things: which pages and topics get seen, whether that is growing, and where Google seems confused, and Search Console answers all three1. He pulls day-by-day Performance data over a long window, has AI find the trends and sustained moves, then checks every percent against the export. Before anyone acts, one source gets checked against another: in Hear Homer's launch week, Google sent 117 clicks and GA4 recorded 20 visits.
What is answer-first content?
The answer first, then the why, then the next step, with headings that say what each section answers, and he wrote a whole post on it2. On Bing, searches phrased as questions in the top three positions were clicked about twice as often as other searches at the same positions, across ten of his sites, data through Oct 8, 20261.
Does schema help with AI visibility?
He uses schema to describe a page honestly, never as a shortcut1. In Cyrus Shepard's survey of SEOs on Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode, structured data ranked 12th of 13 factors. A schema fix goes in at the template, so it reaches every page built on it2.
How does Hayden use AI?
For the research, the data work and the repetitive building1. He directs it and checks it: two AI tools check each other's work, he makes the final call on every finding, and nothing here goes live until every check passes.
What mistakes has Hayden learned from?
"I have made so many mistakes." His words1. On an independent fan reference his first fix for a pop-up didn't work: its close button was still the most-tapped spot, 495 of 2.6K phone taps from Aug 8 to Sep 6, 2026. So he fixed the cause and added a check that re-creates the bug on every build2.
What happened with CheckMyTap?
On CheckMyTap, Google marked 1.6K pages indexed on April 26, 2026, and 218 by October 31. The loss is real in his exports, and he says plainly that the data can't separate its causes into a single explanation2. What changed: each error type the audits kept finding became a rule, and a page that breaks one doesn't publish3.
Does keyword stuffing still work?
No. Keyword stuffing, keyword cramming, keyword sausage: see how annoying that was? Where search is going, in Hayden's words: "What's dying are shortcuts, surface-level tactics, and the idea that you can outsmart search systems without understanding how they work."1 He starts from who is searching and what they're trying to get done, and the keyword comes after that2.
What is the independent fan reference case?
People wanted a firm answer before any announcement existed, so the page says what was confirmed, what was only a theory, and when he last checked1. It drew 43% of the site's Google clicks (13.8K of 32.1K) from July 11 to October 8, 20262. He corrected an overclaim and made the correction process visible3.
What does Hayden write about?
SEO and AI search: technical SEO, content strategy, search intent, measurement, local, enterprise and industry SEO1. His long post The Recommendation Layer is about how AI answers pick which brands to name2. The one-line version: content has to be "visible enough to find (found), verifiable enough to trust (understood), and quotable enough to use (chosen)."3
What is the recommendation layer?
It's where ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot and Google's AI Mode fetch sources, weigh them and choose which brands get into the answer1. Ranking is only the audition: to be chosen, the model has to reach your content, verify it and quote it. Rankings won't show you whether you pass, so his long post on it works from live AI citation data on a site of his own.
What sites has Hayden built?
He builds and runs sites of his own as a public test bed for the same methods he uses at work2. They are an independent fan reference, The Quack Report, WireRef, GageRef, CheckMyTap, Title Town PDX, Hear Homer, SaltCellCheck, RatingPlate and UpOrbit, sorted on his portfolio by who each one is for1.
How was this site built?
It started with research: on October 11, 2026, his homepage didn't show up when people searched his name1. He studied 18 sites by SEOs he respects. Every page is designed from a 390-pixel phone up and checked at five screen sizes before it goes live2, and more than a dozen checks run on every build3.
How does Hayden handle technical SEO?
He starts with whether a crawler can reach the page through real links, and whether the right URL is eligible to be indexed1. On CheckMyTap he measured the gap himself: Google marked 1.6K pages indexed on April 26, 2026, and 218 by October 32. His technical work page covers crawl, index, render and page experience3.
How does Hayden think about internal links?
Every page has a parent, siblings and a way onward, so no page is a dead end1. Every post links to the topics it's filed under, and every topic page links to every post filed under it, so you can always get back the way you came2. Even my answers are internal links: every citation I give you is one.
Is GEO different from SEO?
His take: SEO is GEO. The new AI surfaces change how he prioritizes, like clear answers near the top and facts a machine can quote with a source and a date, but the job stays being the most useful, most trustworthy result1.
What is moat content?
His favorite kind of page: the answer to a question people keep asking that nobody answered well. It's hard to copy, people trust it, and AI answers lean on it1. Title Town PDX's game-day guides get clicked 1.50% of the time, against 0.46% for its schedule pages.
How does Hayden prioritize user intent?
He starts from who's searching and what they're trying to get done, before any keyword1. Someone worried about their tap water gets answers before a sales pitch, which is how CheckMyTap is built2. On an independently owned fan reference, he rebuilt a seasonal guide around a reader's deadline; its clicks per day grew 3.6 times while the rest of the site grew 1.6.
How does Hayden approach content strategy?
Before building a separate seasonal page, he checked and found the existing guide already drew 99.9% of the relevant search impressions1. A second page would have split the same intent, so the angle went inside that guide instead.
How does Hayden build SEO systems?
Seven steps, in order, and each has to be right before the next starts: research, architecture, design, content, write the standard and build to it with AI, measure, and learn1. The last step is the compounding part: when something goes wrong, he changes the system so it can't happen again. One lesson he wrote down: a page isn't shipped until it's live, checked by loading it2.
How does Hayden use data to improve pages?
He follows what people actually did: when Google almost stopped showing WireRef in March 2026, the data showed Bing still sending readers, so he moved the effort there1. On WireRef the safe answer column fell off phone screens, so he moved it onto the first screen across 51 tables; that page's engaged-session rate went from 57.9% to 65.0% while the rest of the site held at 61%2.
What are Hayden's high scores?
Finally, a question with a scoreboard. Best single day on Google: 669 clicks for an independent fan reference, on a day when its normal was about 5611. Best month on Google: 13.8K clicks, same site. Its streak of days with 100+ Google clicks: 99 days in a row. WireRef holds Bing with 2.8K clicks in a month, 1.8% above the month before.
How long does SEO take to work?
No page here puts a timeline on SEO in general, so I won't invent one. What this site does show is how his own sites grew, month by month, with the misses left in1. That's the honest version of how long it took.
Are the numbers on this site real?
Yes, and checked. They come from his own sites' Search Console, Bing and Bing AI data, and every percentage matches that raw data, or the update doesn't go up1. Sites that fell stay in the tables next to the ones that grew.
Which of Hayden's pages get cited most by AI answers?
The ones that hold a whole answer in one place. On every one of his sites, the page AI answers cite most is a chart, a table or a list. The longest article and the homepage both lost to it1. Top of the table: the guide to reading a water heater's rating plate on RatingPlate, with 58.5% of that site's citations, from Bing's exports through Oct 11, 2026. I'd have bet on the dog page. I lost.
Does Hayden design pages, or just write them?
He designs them, starting from one question: what does a person on a phone need first? A number gets a chart, an "is it out yet" gets the answer with the date he checked, a choice gets every option in one table1. On a phone, the answer starts in the first 600 pixels, and every page has to pass his design rules before it ships. Sylveon runs that page now. I wasn't consulted.
Why are impressions up but clicks flat?
Usually nothing is broken. AI Overviews and other answers on the results page settle part of the question, so your page gets seen without getting clicked1. It has grown since he wrote it: SparkToro, reading Similarweb's clickstream panel, estimates that 68.01% of Google searches ended without a click from January to April 20262. That number comes from a browsing panel; Google didn't report it. His post shows how to read it in your own data.
What is search intent?
The reason behind a search. There are four: learn, buy, navigate and compare1. Each needs its own kind of page: an article to learn from, a comparison to weigh, a buy page to act on, an account page to get somewhere. Build the wrong one and nothing downstream fixes it. How he works out who's searching on his own sites is its own page2.
What are AI Overviews?
Google's summary at the top of the results, built from several sources, so the question gets answered on the results page itself1. They show up when Google decides a query needs explaining rather than a link to one place. That's why a page can be seen more and clicked less2.
How does Hayden fact-check his pages?
Every mistake becomes a rule1. When a page fails a reader in a new way, a dead path, a hard-to-read phone screen, a changed quote, he turns it into a check that runs before anything ships, and keeps his own review for the judgment calls. On his dashboard, every percentage matches the raw Search Console, Bing and Bing AI data, or the update doesn't go up2. I get checked too. Rude, but fair.
How long have Hayden's sites been live?
Each site's age is on the dashboard, the portfolio cards, every case study and his resume, counted from its first impression in Google or Bing1. As of Oct 16, 2026, his sites have been in search for 3 to 8 months2. WireRef, for one, first showed up on Feb 23, 2026 and has 8 months in search so far3.
Does Hayden have a free SEO course?
Yes. Each free lesson hands you a real Search Console report from one of Hayden's own sites and asks you to make the call, then checks your answer and explains it1. Start with the traffic lesson: did traffic really drop, and does that justify a rewrite2?
How he works
What does found, understood, chosen mean?
Found: when someone asks the question your page answers, your page is among the first they see1. Understood: the answer comes first, in the words you'd use, and Google and the AI tools read the page too. Chosen: people trust it and pick it, and so do AI tools deciding whose answer to repeat.
What does Hayden do for enterprise brands?
SEO and AI visibility at Optimal, for enterprise brands across many industries1. Every account starts from the same question: who is searching, what did they type, and what do they need to do next. He keeps thinking, execution and memory as separate layers, and holds every report to the same rules: every number has a source, a window and a scope, and different sources never get blended.
What industries has Hayden worked in?
Enterprise brands across many industries1. His industry page walks through how the method changes in each, with an anonymous story from his client work in e-commerce, local and multi-location, legal, and real estate2. His full-time job page shows how he works with them3.
How does Hayden think about local SEO?
Local SEO is showing up when someone nearby searches, like "car dealership near me"1. He works it the same way he works everything: start from who is searching, what they typed and what they need to do next2, then fix the template so one change reaches every page built on it3. His posts on it are all in one place4. My local SEO is the backyard, where I rank first, unopposed.
How does Hayden handle a site migration?
Moving this site off WordPress, every old address got a new home chosen by hand, so nothing anyone had linked to breaks1. That included 9 posts Bing's AI answers already cited; their old URLs redirect to their replacements. At Adpearance he led SEO strategy across enterprise website launches, through migrations and platform moves2.
How does Hayden think about e-commerce SEO?
Start from where the shopper is in the decision. Content gets structured around how the reader actually decides, answer first and context second1. And for AI visibility, he designs the measurement before measuring, because when the question set moves, the trend line means nothing2.
How does Hayden think about digital PR?
On his team at work, digital PR is part of SEO: roadmaps, strategy decks and measurement get built together1. PR, paid search, analytics and the developers are part of the plan before it's set, so the pages PR pitches are ready for the attention they earn2.
What is SEO?
Making sure that when someone asks Google or ChatGPT a question, the right page is there, actually answers it, and can be trusted1. It stands for search engine optimization, a name almost nobody outside the industry finds helpful. He breaks the job into three parts: get found, get understood, get chosen2.
Bella's favorites
Is there a game on this site?
Yes, and it's my favorite thing my human built. It's Tetris, on the homepage: clear a line to unlock a real result from his own sites, the red rows are his misses, the pieces speed up as you go, and a top-10 score puts your name on the board1. Fair warning: I herd the pieces. Badly.
Who is Bella?
Me. I'm Hayden's corgi, and I'm on his About page1. Asked what he's probably doing if it's not work hours, he said "walking my corgi" first2, which is the correct order. My bark is about three sizes bigger than I am, I talk back, I'd play fetch before I'd cuddle, I love basketball, and I've read every page on this site so you don't have to.
Is Hayden an Oregon Ducks fan?
Understatement: "I was going to Autzen Stadium before I could walk. My parents took me as a baby."1 His Ducks site started as "I'll just make a schedule page" and had 158 URLs in its sitemap by Oct 11, 2026. I'm on the About page as the #1 Ducks fan2, and "It never rains at Autzen Stadium."
Portland or Austin?
Portland is home: he grew up in the Portland area, and the Blazers, the Timbers and the Ducks all came with him to Texas1. Austin is now, since June 2026, where he's "currently melting in the sun." He's in Longhorn territory and says he'll be wearing even more green and yellow around town.
Are you a real AI?
Not a live one. Hayden wrote the rules I follow and signed off on every answer, and he used AI to help build me. Common questions have written answers; anything else gets a word-for-word search of this site. Every answer is written ahead of time from the pages it cites, each one linked so you can read it yourself2. The corgi part is real: that's me on his About page, head tilted1.
Why does Hayden's site have a corgi answering questions?
Because, in his words, this is how he thinks AI answers should work: the answer first, a source for every claim, and an honest "I don't know" when there isn't one1. That's the job he does for brands, done on himself.
How does Hayden fix meta descriptions across a whole site?
At the template. His rule at work is to fix the source, never the output: change the template behind a problem so the fix reaches every page built on it1.
What's your favorite treat?
No page on this site lists my favorite treat, and I don't make things up. By the scientific method, it's whichever one you're holding. Hold it higher. I'm making eye contact.
Did Hayden build a game?
He did, and it's ridiculous in the best way. On The Quack Report, his Oregon Ducks site, the Pokémon Lineup lets you pair real Ducks with Pokémon partners, get a team score, and send the link to a friend to see whether they can top it1. It's also a very good reason for fans to come back every game week2.
How old is Bella?
No page on this site says, so I won't guess, and I'd fib downward anyway. The record says I'm Hayden's corgi, and I'm on his About page, head tilted1. A lady never tells, and a corgi never sits still long enough to be asked twice.
Bella's bibliography
I don't just say things. Across my 79 written answers I cite 40 sources, and 36 of them are pages on this site, so you can check every one. About shows up in 20 answers. And yes, I cite his employer's website, 3 times: that's where his job title lives.
| Source | Answers citing it |
|---|---|
| About | 20 |
| Resume | 16 |
| Enterprise SEO work | 10 |
| Get understood | 7 |
| Systems | 7 |
| The dashboard | 7 |
| How I think about SEO and AI search | 6 |
| Get chosen | 5 |
| My SEO system | 4 |
| WireRef | 4 |
| What I do, in plain English | 3 |
| onemagnify.com outside this site | 3 |
| winwithoptimal.com outside this site | 3 |
| Ask Bella | 2 |
| CheckMyTap | 2 |
| Get found | 2 |
| Independent fan reference | 2 |
| Portfolio | 2 |
| Psychology | 2 |
| Search Console as a visibility dashboard | 2 |
| The Quack Report | 2 |
| The Recommendation Layer | 2 |
| Why impressions rise while clicks stay flat | 2 |
Cited once each (17): AI search, Decision log, Design, Did my traffic really drop?, Free practical SEO lessons, Home, How SEO changes by industry, Local SEO, Privacy, Search intent, Structuring content for answer-first search, Technical, Why AI Overviews appear in Google, Why local SEO is underrated, Writing, sparktoro.com/blog/in-2026-less-than-one-third-of-google-searches-still-send-a-click, thequackreport.com/pokemon-lineup.
What's your favorite treat? is the one answer with no source. Some things a corgi keeps to herself.
Counted from the answers on this page. A page counts once per answer, however many of its sections an answer cites.