Interview with SEO wine expert – or the changes in the e-commerce market over the last 10 years
Interview with Krisztián Száraz (ChrisDry)
Made by Károly Guttmann
Hello Krisz, thank you for agreeing to this interview! It might not be a big secret, but we’ve known each other for 10 years and have been working together in various setups for 9 years. So, this will be a professional interview, but in a relaxed style, as it should be between colleagues.
Tell me, where could we have seen you over the past year? And what conferences or presentations can we expect to see you at in the near future?
This year, I have presented at E ecommerce Expo, Whitepress SEO Tour, MI Expo, Digital Cube Conference and the University of Warsaw in Hungary, mainly on SEO, SEO and AI, CRO, UX, or even comparing CMS systems from an SEO perspective. Next year I will be presenting in these venues as well, on similar topics.
How do you find time to indulge your passion for wine in the rush of work and lectures?
Yes, it’s not easy at the end of the year, this week (25.11.2024 – the time of the interview – the editor) I’m going to three places, two of which I’ll be judging the different wines. This passion was born out of my burnout and I have now taken it to a high level: I am a WSET Level 3 Higher Level Wine Expert. I’m not a sommelier – they are specialists in wine and food pairing, but I’m only good with wine. So far this year, I have tasted and judged 3100 wines according to my app.
We work together on many projects, but please tell our readers what you can do to help e-tailers. Why, is it good for them to involve you in the design and operation of their webshop?
Nowadays, people are increasingly interested in CMS selection advice: which system to choose, the advantages of each platform and which is the best for their specific needs – especially from an SEO perspective. This is of paramount importance, as a wrong decision can cost years and millions of dollars. For the client, the key is to get a system that works for them, not just what the developer knows how to do.
Currently we have 4 colleagues and in addition to CMS consulting we also do SEO, CRO, UX optimization, A/B testing and heatmap analysis. Any CMS can be used, whether it’s custom development, Shoprenter, Unas, Magento or WordPress/WooCommerce – the latter being particularly popular. For WordPress, for example, we have published a regularly updated list of the best plugins on our website, because there is a huge demand for it.
We work on a monthly fee plan, where you can request anything in the time frame: keyword research, position analysis, competitor analysis, SEO training, blogging tips or even advice on how to write AI-acceptable articles. The best results are achieved when you get involved in the process at the outline design stage, so you avoid having to rework the finished design to meet SEO and Google expectations.
Are you also working on international projects?
Most of our work is domestic, about 95% of it is domestic, but we also work on international projects. For example, we currently have two clients in Switzerland.
Basically, my SEO knowledge is something I learned from you a long time ago, but it’s very irrelevant in my opinion, what has changed in the last 10 years in this area that you would highlight?
I work primarily with technical SEO, and I’m pleased to see that the basic factors that I might have trivially emphasised in the past – such as file names, image format or the correct use of H tags – have now really come into their own.
I gave a presentation on AI back in 2019, although many people blinked when I talked about automation and machine learning. Now, however, AI modules can be used to do a wide range of tasks, from category and meta descriptions to writing blog posts – the key to success is asking the right questions at the right prompt.
Technical SEO is still an important area: domain, server and speed are still important, even if not as dominant as before. However, it is still worth getting the basics right.
This year, for example, I produced a total of 95 training videos for different companies, giving SEO advice. These tips have resulted in a 115-650% improvement in results for clients – and the year is not over yet, with Black Friday and Christmas still to come!
Thank you Krisz for this short interview, see you at our next project.
