JESSICA HOUGH
Open to full-time roles Remote or Milwaukee–Chicago corridor

Designed to be found. Written to be chosen.

Content Marketing SEO & AI Search
Writing & Multimedia

I build search-optimized content systems, local SEO, and multi‑channel creative that help businesses show up at the top of Google, get named in AI answers, and turn that attention into leads.

View Selected Work Let’s Talk
Jessica Hough

Portfolio

Search. Copy. Design. Systems.

Real projects, start to finish: what I noticed, what I made, and what I learned.

Three pages from the CG Granite Countertops case study: Google short-video results with the client’s videos highlighted, the new website footer, and the event flyers

Local SEO PR & Content Short-Form Video

Getting a Local Business Found, and Trusted

  • Top 3:

    Google map results for most of the key local searches we targeted

  • 7 to 27 or more:

    new Google reviews, the year before vs. after the review funnel

  • 10 of 12:

    top Google short videos for “countertops racine wi”

What I noticed

CG Granite Countertops, a countertop fabricator with two showrooms, wanted more leads in the areas they were targeting and a stronger online presence. But they were underselling themselves. Their website copy and Google listings didn’t clearly describe their products and services, the communities they served, or why customers should choose them. Their business details didn’t match across Google and other key sites, and they had few backlinks or mentions from trusted sites to build credibility.

What I made

I rewrote the homepage with search-focused copy, cleaned up the site’s structure (headings, page titles, and internal links), redesigned the header menu with social links, and added the site’s first footer, listing both locations for local search. I refreshed both Google Business Profiles and corrected inconsistent listings on other key sites, then ran three PR and content campaigns from August 2025 to February 2026 to build outside credibility, securing placements on local news sites and industry blogs, including stories about the company’s support of local nonprofits.

ToolsGoogle Business Profile · Google Search Console · YouTube Studio · HighLevel · Canva · CapCut · WordPress

What I learned

Local search and AI recommendations start from the same foundation: accurate listings, clear pages, and mentions from trusted sites. But AI weighs those outside sources far more heavily than traditional search does. A business’s own website is becoming the last stop, where customers confirm a choice AI has already helped them make.

Result

As of October 2026, the client ranks in Google’s top three map results for most of the key local searches we targeted in both of their markets, holds top spots in Google’s video results for core local searches, and is regularly named in Google’s AI Mode answers about their main services, often first.

My role

  • Search: keyword research based on the services and areas the client wanted to grow, then homepage copy, 7 new location pages for the towns they were targeting, FAQ pages, site navigation, and service menus
  • Google Business Profiles and social profiles: optimized and managed both location profiles, rewrote the About and description text on their social channels, and kept them updated with photos I took on-site
  • Short-form video: I saw short-form video taking off on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok, and recommended the client shift from mostly photos and long horizontal videos toward Reels, Stories, and Shorts, while keeping photos in the mix. I trimmed and edited the client’s footage, added music, audio, and end cards, and wrote each post with keywords, hashtags, and locations.
  • Reviews: a QR-code review funnel with thank-you cards I wrote and designed, linking to a landing page where customers picked their location and review site, plus replies to every review for much of our work together. New Google reviews nearly quadrupled: 7 in the 12 months before the review funnel, 27+ in the 12 months after, across both locations.
  • PR and events: three campaigns (Aug 2025 – Feb 2026), with event pages, press releases, social posts, and graphics
  • Leads: added a “Get a Quote” button to the site header and other key pages, refreshed the Contact page with correct location and contact info, and rebuilt the quote form to capture the project’s state and city, measurements, and how each lead heard about the client

The client also works with other agencies, so their current website includes work from other teams.

Read the full case study (PDF) See the designs, photos, and posts from this client
SEO & Local Search AI Search Writing & Copy PR & Media Video & Audio Design & Brand
First page of a sample AI Visibility Audit report: an overall score of 67 out of 100, with separate scores for Trust, Presence, Clarity, and Authority

AEO/GEO Strategy Copywriting Report Design

An AI Visibility Audit System for Local Businesses

What I noticed

More people are asking ChatGPT, Gemini, and Google’s AI which local business to call, and most owners have no idea whether those tools can find them, let alone recommend them.

What I made

An audit system, with its own website and brand, that checks how visible a local business is to AI search. It uses Google’s APIs to confirm the right business and Google Business Profile, then compares the website against that profile and against what other sites say about the business, across 40+ on-site and off-site signals. The findings become a plain-English, prioritized action plan. I built every piece myself: the research, the brand strategy, the website and follow-up email copy, and the PDF delivery system.

ToolsClaude, with web search and data-extraction connectors · Google APIs · Tested in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google AI Mode

What I learned

AI tools reward the same things people do: clear, consistent, trustworthy information. The difference is that AI actually checks, comparing a business’s details far more carefully than most people ever would. The system is live and still evolving as I test and improve it. I’m happy to walk through a redacted sample.

AI Search Writing & Copy
The True Cost Calculator on a phone, filled in for answering phone calls: 6 hours a week, valued at $50 an hour, with $600 a month to contract it out, showing a 117% return on investment

Interactive Tool Conversion Copy AI Prototyping

The True Cost Calculator: Turning Fuzzy Guesses into Clear Numbers

What I noticed

When I asked small business owners what a manual task was costing them, the answer was usually a shrug and a wide range: “Somewhere between 5 and 20 hours a week.” (I was doing the same thing with my own time.) You can’t make a smart decision on a guess.

What I made

A simple interactive calculator that walks an owner through their own numbers until that fuzzy range becomes a concrete net ROI figure. I wrote the copy, designed the experience, and built it with Claude Code.

ToolsClaude Code · Vercel

What I learned

How to take an idea all the way to a live web app. I built it with Claude Code and published it on Vercel, so anyone can open it from a link and see their own numbers in seconds. I also learned how much the words matter. Owners always ask what something new will cost, but rarely what their current way of doing things is costing them. I named it the True Cost Calculator to put that second question first. Small swaps count too: “contract out” landed better than “outsource,” which can sound like replacing someone.

View Live Tool Read the launch post on LinkedIn
Writing & Copy Design & Brand

Writing Samples

Words in the wild.

Published pieces that show how I research, interview, and write.

  • Brewing More Than Coffee at King’s Cup Cafe

    Business Profile About 600 Words Interview & Photography

    A feature on a local cafe owner, built from an in-person interview and told in her own words. Interview, writing, and photos by me. Published on a local community news site I created, 2024.

    ToolsWordPress

    Read the article
    Writing & Copy

  • Local PR & Event Campaigns for CG Granite Countertops

    PR Social Media Event Promotion 2025–2026

    For three community events, each benefiting a nonprofit, I ran the full promotion: event pages on the client’s website, press releases and community listings, emailed pitches to local media contacts, social posts on Facebook (event pages and feed), Instagram, and Google Business Profile, and all the event and social graphics. The Lake County Journal ran all three as news stories, with additional coverage in Lake County News Dispatch, the Daily Herald’s community section, and Patch’s community calendars.

    ToolsCanva · HighLevel · Facebook · Instagram · Google Business Profile

    PR & Media Writing & Copy

Video & Audio

Words, in motion.

Short-form video and audio I’ve edited, optimized, and directed, with AI tools labeled wherever I used them.

Design mockup of the YouTube channel on a phone: the banner I designed, the round CG logo, the channel name, and the first two lines of the description See the channel setup (4)

YouTube strategy Channel setup

YouTube SEO: setting up a channel to be found

Before this, the client’s channel had one 4-minute intro video and two short horizontal clips, posted with no descriptions or tags. YouTube Shorts became one part of a wider shift toward short-form video, so I set the channel up for search and consistency:

  • A header banner designed to read well on every screen, plus the client’s logo as the channel icon
  • A rewritten channel summary
  • Saved upload defaults: a keyword- and location-rich description and tags that apply to every new video
  • End cards with graphics and text I designed in Canva on later Shorts
  • Audio editing and music on every Short except the first. On that one, the original sound was the hook, so I left it as is.

ToolsYouTube Studio · Canva

Video & Audio SEO & Local Search
Watch on YouTube

Short-form video Edited & search-optimized

The first Short: 15,000+ views

The first YouTube Short after I recommended the move to short-form video: 15,000+ views (as of Oct 2026). The client supplied the footage. I trimmed it, posted it to YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram, and optimized it for search with a keyword-focused title, description, hashtags, and both showroom locations. I kept the raw saw sound as the hook.

ToolsYouTube Studio · Canva

Video & Audio SEO & Local Search
Watch on YouTube
AI-assisted

Audio & video AI-assisted

A local podcast-style episode about a local business

A podcast-style episode about CG Granite, published on a local community news site I created. Google’s NotebookLM (now Gemini Notebook) generated the script and voices under my direction, and I edited the visuals in Canva and CapCut using the client’s photos and footage. The video’s description says the audio is AI-generated.

ToolsNotebookLM (now Gemini Notebook) · Canva · CapCut

Video & Audio

Certifications

  • Career Essentials in Generative AI Microsoft & LinkedIn (2026)
  • HubSpot Inbound Marketing
  • HubSpot Marketing & Content Hub Software
  • Google Analytics (GA4)

About

How I work. What I bring.

I say what I’ll do, and what I won’t.

When a client’s website had technical problems outside my skills, I told them plainly and recommended bringing in a developer. It wasn’t an easy conversation, but it was the honest one.

I start with the customer.

Selling jewelry taught me to listen first. Product development and digital marketing taught me to start with the client’s ideal customer and their journey, because what I’d choose matters less than what makes that customer say yes.

I question the status quo, then test a better way.

Short-form video was taking off on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, but the client was posting mostly photos and a few long horizontal videos. I recommended shifting toward Reels, Stories, and Shorts while keeping photos in the mix, and their first YouTube Short passed 15,000 views.

I check the details.

Before anything goes live, I check every name, number, and link. Small mistakes cost trust, and trust is what I’m building.

Jessica was good at identifying the problem and coming up with possible resolutions… She was very good at putting her thoughts together and at maintaining a paper trail for quick follow up.

Judy Kanka Former team lead, Customer Solutions, Vyaire Medical

When I’m not working

On a nice day, you’ll find me walking the lakefront or on my deck with a good book. I read a little of everything, from the financial markets and technology to classic novels and the power of mindset. Otherwise, I’m at the gym, spending time with family, or spoiling my two cats (who already think they own the place).

My process

How I work with AI. Context, rules, review.

AI speeds up my work, but I stay in charge of the thinking, the voice, and the final call. Here’s how I keep AI-assisted work accurate and on-brand.

  1. Give it context.

    Every project starts with a master “About me” document and project instructions, so each chat already knows my goals and how I want to be helped.

    A master context document titled “About Jessica Hough — master context document,” with the section headings The Basics, Who I Am, What I Believe, and How I Want to Be Helped. The last one is expanded: be direct, flag red flags, and push back on me when I’m settling.

  2. Write the rules.

    I give Claude Code written rules for accuracy and privacy, like never claiming results I can’t explain and never publishing without my approval.

    A project rules file excerpt with five rules: never push, publish, or deploy without my explicit approval; do not mask or work around errors silently; every claim must hold up if someone asks about it in an interview; real numbers or no numbers; and no client names, cities, logos, or storefront signs.

  3. Review everything.

    I check every word, link, and number at phone and desktop sizes before anything goes live.

My AI toolkit

  • AI search testingI test how businesses show up in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google AI Mode.
  • ClaudeProjects with my context and instructions, connected tools for research and data, and repeatable workflows, including my AI visibility audit process and a LinkedIn content system built around my brand voice.
  • Claude CodeBuilt this website and my True Cost Calculator, under written rules for accuracy and privacy.
  • ChatGPTBrainstorming and refining my audit process alongside Claude, and image concepts I finish in Canva.
  • GeminiImage concepts I finish in Canva, and podcast-style audio with Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM).
  • PerplexityResearching which tools are available to small and local businesses today.