Carolyn Shelby is an industry-leading technical and enterprise SEO strategist, currently serving as Principal SEO at Yoast. With a digital career spanning more than three decades, she is recognized for her pioneering contributions to search optimization, AI-driven discovery, and large-scale content strategy.

Beginning her career in 1994 as co-founder of MDN Internet Services—one of Indiana’s first ISPs—Carolyn quickly established herself as a digital innovator and advocate for web accessibility. A specialist in technical and enterprise SEO, Carolyn has driven successful strategies for renowned organizations such as Disney’s ESPN, Tribune Publishing (including the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and Baltimore Sun), as well as major nonprofit institutions. Her expertise lies in optimizing complex web architectures and aligning digital initiatives to foster sustainable growth in the era of AI-powered search..​

At Yoast, Carolyn leads initiatives that shape how over 13 million WordPress sites optimize content for both traditional search engines and emerging large language models. She was instrumental in promoting the adoption of the new LLMs.txt file, a groundbreaking standard that helps websites communicate key content directly to AI systems like ChatGPT and Google Gemini.​​

Beyond her corporate leadership, Carolyn is the founder of CSHEL Search Strategies, an independent SEO and AI advisory firm helping enterprises improve visibility and digital resilience in an AI-first search landscape. She regularly appears as a keynote speaker at industry conferences including Pubcon, BrightonSEO, and State of Search, and co-hosts Yoast’s educational series “The SEO Update”.​

A respected voice in the SEO community, Carolyn is celebrated for making complex technical and algorithmic concepts approachable, empowering both brands and creators to thrive in the evolving world of search.

Carolyn can be found on LinkedIn.

Recent Shows with Carolyn Shelby
  • 773 | Content Strategy and LLMS.txt w/ Carolyn Shelby
    773 | Content Strategy and LLMS.txt w/ Carolyn Shelby773 | Content Strategy and LLMS.txt w/ Carolyn ShelbypodcastAI Eats Your Content Is your website feeding the AI overlords? Or hiding all the good stuff under napkins and toggles? On this week’s EDGE of the Web, Erin Sparks sits down with Carolyn Shelby, Principal SEO at Yoast, to reveal why your site’s juiciest content may be lost to the bots (and your users, too). We dig into Carolyn’s strategies for structuring content that’s not only valuable to users, but also perfectly plated for LLMs like GPT and Google’s AI Overview. From the new LLMs.txt “treasure map” for your website to deep dives on why schema isn’t your silver bullet, Carolyn delivers expert guidance (complete with sheet cake metaphors and cafeteria tray analogies) to help you chunk, serve, and show off your best ideas for the AI appetite. And, for those still determined to hide FAQs behind fancy sliders… watch out. Carolyn shares why conversion flow isn’t where you think it is, and why making peace with longer, openly structured info pages might just save your SEO bacon (and your server bills). We wrap with practical tips to build up your content strategy for AI, advice on speaking your users’ language, and a side of wit. Press play for your weekly dose of SEO smarts, AI survival tactics, and enough food metaphors to power your next content audit! Content Strategy for AI Search Visibility  Visual Analogy: “Cake & Frosting” Content Model Rethinking Page Design: Human UX vs. LLM Accessibility Redefining Conversion Funnel: From Site-Centric to AI-Centric Alternate Markdown Versions of Pages EDGE of the Web Housekeeping Break: Upcoming Guests & News Podcast Balancing Clarity, Structure & Creativity for Humans and AI Transition Phrases: Building Logical Bridges in Content Search Rankings as the Gateway to LLM Visibility Required Mindsets: User Intent & Conversational Language Measuring Performance: Beyond Traditional Rank Tracking Final Actionable Tip: Create Helpful, Original Content Where to Find Carolyn: Articles, Social, & Publications Thanks to Our Sponsors! [...] Read more...October 23, 2025
  • 772 | Unpacking LLMs.txt with Carolyn Shelby
    772 | Unpacking LLMs.txt with Carolyn Shelby772 | Unpacking LLMs.txt with Carolyn ShelbypodcastErin welcomes Carolyn Shelby, the Principal SEO at Yoast and a renowned authority in technical and enterprise SEO. Carolyn brings decades of hands-on experience from her pioneering days in digital marketing, working with brands like Disney’s ESPN, Tribune Publishing, and major nonprofits. The conversation kicks off with a surprising twist—Carolyn’s unique title as Queen of the micronation Ladonia—before diving into her role at Yoast and their latest innovation: the LLMs.txt file generator. Carolyn explains how this new file helps websites communicate their most valuable content directly to large language models like ChatGPT and Google’s AI, streamlining the way future search agents discover and answer questions with information from your site. We explore what inspired Yoast’s push to roll out LLMs.txt to over 13 million sites, what website owners should include in their files, potential industry pushback, the adoption challenge with search giants, and how this moment could change the way websites optimize for AI-driven search results. Key Segments: Introducing Carolyn Shelby, Senior SEO at Yoast Queen of the Micronation Ladonia? What is the LLMS.txt file? LLMS.txt is a Treasure Map A New File, along with Robots.txt and Sitemap.xml  What inspired Yoast to create this LLM text file?   LLMS.txt proposed by Jeremy Howard (Sept, 2024) Standard Uniformity and Acceptance? Housekeeping  LLM Markdown Effort Questioned: Exploitation? LLMs Lack Memory at Inference Pushback on the LLMS.txt file Thanks to Our Sponsors! [...] Read more...October 16, 2025