Designing with EQ: Jamie Matheson, Senior Director of SEO

It’s a new year and we’re back with our content series, Designing with EQ by Carat. In this series we take  a closer look at the unique backgrounds, passions, and talents that make up the agency team, and how  they come together to design for people and brands.  

For February’s edition, we sat down with senior director of SEO, Jamie Matheson. Read on to learn  more about her 2023 trend prediction and the industry jargon she is happy to leave in 2022.  

Q> What is one media trend you think will have a huge impact on 2023? 

Jamie> I'm sure everyone's saying this, but ChatGPT. It is a huge disrupter for all channels. I specifically work in SEO, and there are so many ways that we could use it. But on the other hand, just as many ways that it could go wrong. Right now, we are trying to determine how we can use it, and  how we might be able to utilise it for our agency and our clients in the best ways possible. 

Q> Is there a certain morning ritual you have to set yourself up for a successful day? 

Jamie> I have several Google alerts set up on my computer for things that I think are interesting such as media, SEO, and ChatGPT news. I also look for my clients in the news, so I have Google alerts set up for them as well. I subscribe to different industry publications and save them for first thing in the morning so I can drink my coffee and read about what's going on in the industry, and discover any other channels that I could be impacting, or how they could impact what I am doing. 

Q> What was your first job and is there a lesson you learned from that experience? 

Jamie> My first job was working at Burger King, where I learned to be open to trying new things. I worked upfront taking the orders and handling money. I had always thought that the kitchen work was something big and scary, yet one day I asked to try it out, and it turned out that I liked it better. If I hadn't asked and been open and willing to go out of my comfort zone, I never would have known. This experience taught me to be open to trying new things. 

Q> How would you describe your current job to a child?  

Jamie> When kids or grandparents ask me, what I typically say is, “its my job to make sure my clients  show up in Google when you're searching for something they sell or when you're searching for them specifically.” I usually continue by saying, “what you'll see at the top are sponsored ads. That's not what I do. I'm responsible for what is underneath that.” That is the most simplistic way that I can think to explain SEO to kids or somebody who isn't savvy in that area.

Q> What is one piece of industry jargon that you want to leave in 2022? 

Jamie> Synergies. We should definitely be working together, but the word synergies is vague. I would rather call it scaled collaboration. 

Q> At Carat, I'm designing for ______? 

Jamie> I'm designing for client success. I want to make sure that everything that we do makes our clients more successful and gets them more online notice. 

Carat is uniquely positioned to design for people on behalf of brands. Our people are our greatest asset,  bringing diverse backgrounds together to bring insight and emotion to marketing. Interested in learning more? Check out the Carat LinkedIn page here.