The biggest SEO mistake, per Meltem, is treating content as a keyword-stuffing exercise. Instead, ask whether a reader who lands on your article is satisfied or goes back to Google to keep searching — because search engines ultimately reward content that ends the search. Writing to genuinely answer the question makes for content people actually read.

Mentioning keywords is fine, but stuffing them is the common failure mode
The real test: does the reader return to Google, or is the search over?
Search engines want the user to get their answer the fastest way possible
Framing content this way naturally produces readable, non-meandering articles

“the biggest mistake people make is they will just shove keywords”
Meltem Kuran Berkowitz · 16:30

“are they going back to Google to continue reading more or is the Google search over”
Meltem Kuran Berkowitz · 17:00

#seo#content#growth

Myth Buster45:00

Deel Is a Global Work Platform, Not a Remote Work Platform

Many assume Deel was born from the pandemic, but it started before COVID; the pandemic simply forced the world into a pilot of its vision. When people worried that returning to offices would kill demand, Meltem's answer was that Deel was never a remote-work company — it's a global-work company. Businesses went back to offices, but now those offices are in Germany, Canada, the US, and France.

Deel predates the pandemic; COVID forced a global test of remote and distributed work
The remote-work label stuck because of news coverage, not the actual positioning
Return-to-office didn't hurt Deel because companies now hire globally across many offices
The reframing protected the company against 'remote is over' fears

“we are not a remote work platform we're a global work platform”
Meltem Kuran Berkowitz · 45:00

#positioning#remote-work#b2b

Hot Take· 2

Hot Take23:00

SEO's Biggest Failure: Senior People Think Keyword Grunt Work Is Beneath Them

Meltem argues SEO never stops being time-consuming, and the mistake people make is trying to cut corners to save time. As marketers get more senior they consider hands-on keyword research beneath them, which is exactly when quality drops. If the resource isn't good quality, nobody reads it and the program goes nowhere.

You can save time in SEO, but it never stops being time-consuming to do well
Cutting corners produces a low-quality resource, which is the whole game
Seniority tempts people to skip the one-by-one grunt work — the biggest mistake
Same meritocracy as a newsletter: useful content gets read, shared, and ranked

“it never stops being time consuming and to do it well it is going to be time consuming”
Meltem Kuran Berkowitz · 23:00

“people as they become more senior think it's below them and I think that's the biggest mistake”
Meltem Kuran Berkowitz · 23:30

#seo#content#leadership

Hot Take32:00

Why Early B2B Startups Should Skip Awareness Campaigns

Meltem is not a fan of early awareness campaigns for B2B. They take a full month or more of strategy and creative, often don't resonate, and waste time when a startup hasn't figured out its messaging yet. Because B2B products serve a real need, she says tap the bottom of the funnel first — which can take six to eight months — before speaking to the masses. Notion's out-of-home ads worked precisely because they came late, once people already recognized the interface.

Awareness creative takes a month-plus and often fails to resonate early
Tap ready-to-convert bottom-of-funnel demand first — expect 6–8 months
Consumer founders can ignore this; it's specific to early B2B
Notion's billboards worked because they ran late, reinforcing a recognizable product interface rather than introducing it

“first tap into the bottom of the funnel and then go out and start speaking to the masses”
Meltem Kuran Berkowitz · 33:00

“I've seen notion do a great job with their out of home ass they didn't do it early on they started doing it much later…”
Meltem Kuran Berkowitz · 33:30

#brand#awareness#b2b#paid-ads

Explainer· 4

Explainer20:00

Why Deel Can't Just 'Rank for EOR' — A Search-Intent Lesson

Meltem uses 'EOR' to illustrate why understanding search intent comes before writing. Type EOR into Google and it returns 'enhanced oil recovery,' not 'employer of record,' because that's what most searchers want. Blindly targeting a keyword without matching what Google already serves means you'll never rank; she also points to the 'people also ask' box as a map of follow-up questions.

Google serves results based on majority intent — EOR returns enhanced oil recovery, not employer of record
Start by seeing what Google currently surfaces for a term
Use the 'next question' suggestions at the bottom of results to plan follow-on content
Tools like Clearscope check reading level and keyword placement before publishing

“when you type eor to Google it doesn't give you employer of record it gives you enhanced oil recovery”
Meltem Kuran Berkowitz · 20:00

#seo#search-intent#content

Explainer35:00

Partner With Who People Actually Ask for Advice — Not Just Shared Audiences

Meltem warns that a shared audience isn't enough for a partnership to work; what matters is whether that partner is a trusted resource people turn to for your kind of problem. Deel's VC partnerships worked because founders ask their investors what platforms their other portfolio companies use — whereas a tech company with the same audience but no advisory trust won't drive the same results.

Two partner types: shared-audience and trusted-referrer; only the second reliably drives demand
Founders ask their VCs which tools portfolio companies trust — so VC partnerships convert
A company can share your exact audience yet never be asked for that recommendation
Evaluate both audience overlap and referral trust before partnering

“just because you share an audience doesn't mean your audience goes to your partner for guidance when they have this problem”
Meltem Kuran Berkowitz · 35:30

#partnerships#growth#b2b

Explainer48:30

'Little Hands': Everyone Does the Nitty-Gritty Work

Deel has a concept loosely translated from French called 'little hands,' meaning no matter your role or seniority, you must be willing to get into the small, nitty-gritty tasks. In interviews at every level they ask whether a candidate will do the tiniest jobs; the right first answer is 'yes, of course,' not 'I'd hire a team for that.' People who won't get their hands dirty aren't a fit at their stage.

'Little hands' is a core cultural expectation across all seniority levels
Candidates are asked directly if they'll do the tiniest jobs
The right instinct is to do it yourself first, not delegate immediately
Reluctance to do nitty-gritty work signals a poor fit for the company's stage

“no matter who you are where you sit within the organization you need to be willing to get into the little things”
Meltem Kuran Berkowitz · 48:30

#culture#hiring#team-building

Explainer55:00

Deel Speed and Default Optimism: The Culture Behind the Growth

Meltem describes culture as a two-way exchange: what the team brings and what the company gives back. Deel's version of velocity is 'Deel speed' — acting with urgency for customers, answering within 24 hours, shipping products in a tenth of a competitor's time. They also expect 'default optimism' — assuming something can work and then solving for the risks — plus genuinely caring about customers whose livelihoods depend on the platform. In return, Deel gives full flexibility over when and where people work.

Deel speed means acting with urgency regardless of team size — 24-hour customer answers, 10x faster product builds
Default optimism: ask why it can work, then solve the risks, rather than leading with why it won't
Deep customer care because payroll and hiring touch real human livelihoods
In exchange, the company gives full flexibility on hours and location
The values were formalized about a year in, after the culture already existed in practice

“our version of velocity is something that we call Deal speed is that we want to make sure that we act with urgency”
Meltem Kuran Berkowitz · 55:00

“we have default optimism because we are in a new space”
Meltem Kuran Berkowitz · 56:00

#culture#values#operations

Story· 2

Story10:30

The 'Janky' Reddit Keyword-Tracking Setup Deel Built Day One

On her first day at Deel, Meltem set up keyword alerts to catch people asking about international hiring and HR across Reddit and other communities, then had real team members (never bots) jump in with answers. The tool was a hand-me-down someone else built; she plugged in keywords and it worked. She stresses sizing the audience — a 1,000-person subreddit might win 10 customers, not 5,000.

Keyword alerts were live within the first day of her role and are still used today
The tool was borrowed and 'janky' — no custom build required
Interactions are always human, never automated; whoever jumps in first flags it for the team
Judge the upper limit of a community's audience before investing time there

“I did a very janky assistant that's set up I'm not proud of it but it works”
Meltem Kuran Berkowitz · 10:30

#reddit#growth#community#tools

Story38:30

The Blog Post the IRS Itself Linked To

At Meltem's previous company (the author later joined Deel too), the team wrote a thorough resource explaining the PPP program during COVID — who qualifies, how to apply — purely to help their own confused customers. It became so good that the IRS website linked to it as the answer. It drove a burst of growth for a few weeks while people applied for PPP, then faded as the program ended.

The post answered urgent PPP eligibility and application questions during COVID
It was written to help existing customers, not as a growth play
The IRS linked to it as a definitive resource — the ultimate 'search is over' signal
Growth spiked for a few weeks, then died out with the program itself

“it ended up being such a good resource that it was linked from the irs's website”
Meltem Kuran Berkowitz · 39:00

#content#seo#growth#story

Q&A· 1

Q&A25:30

Should Every Company Do SEO? Not the Lipstick Sellers

Asked whether every company should invest in SEO, Meltem says no. If you sell a solution to an active problem — as most B2B products do — SEO is worth it. But a direct-to-consumer brand selling lipstick shouldn't lean on SEO, because buyers go to Instagram and influencers, and a brand site won't outrank third-party comparison content anyway.

SEO fits products people search for to solve an active problem — typically B2B
Consumer goods buyers discover via Instagram and influencers, not Google
A first-party brand site rarely ranks for 'best [product] of 2023' comparisons
Match SEO investment to whether your category is actually searched

“you probably shouldn't invest in SEO all that much because people don't go to Google for that they go to Instagram they go to influencers”
Meltem Kuran Berkowitz · 26:00

#seo#b2b#consumer#strategy

Takeaway· 4

Takeaway07:00

Cheap Growth = Show Up Where People Are Already Asking Questions

Deel's cheapest early channels came from finding places where potential customers were already asking for help — search, Reddit, Quora, communities — and answering their questions instead of selling to them. Because B2B products are bought to solve an active problem, adding a genuine answer converts far better than a pitch, and the answer keeps working for free over time.

B2B buyers have an active problem; they want it solved, not to be sold to
Look for wherever your users ask questions: Google, Reddit, Quora, Twitter, niche communities
Answering a question online is free and the answer persists for other people to find
The least effective approach is 'we solved that, check out our website'; the value-add approach explains the actual solution first

“people don't want to be sold to they want their problems solved”
Meltem Kuran Berkowitz · 07:00

#growth#b2b#channels#community

Takeaway29:30

The Long-Tail Paid Channels Everyone Overlooks

After covering the big four or five ad platforms, Deel invested in long-tail channels — review sites, newsletter ads, podcast ads, and small niche sites with 50–100k monthly visitors. Individually none moves the needle, but stacked together they became roughly 30% of lead flow. They're overlooked because each one has to be set up from scratch, taking as much effort as Facebook or Google.

Cover the big four or five ad platforms first, then go long-tail
Review sites, newsletter ads, podcast ads, and niche sites each contribute little alone
Stacked, the long tail became about 30% of overall lead flow
They're neglected because setup is manual and effort-per-channel is high

“if you add them up it diversifies your lead flow such that it kind of ends up being about 30 of your overall kind of…”
Meltem Kuran Berkowitz · 29:30

#paid-ads#growth#channels

Takeaway42:00

Acquisition Channels Are Worthless Without a Product People Keep Using

Meltem underlines that every growth tactic sits on top of a genuinely great product; acquisition channels fail if the product doesn't live up to expectations, especially in B2B where customers won't tolerate crappy software. Deel's product was so strong early on that her team had to tone down its pitch because prospects didn't believe the claims. Her joining advice: ask a young company for its team breakdown — if it's mostly product and engineers, the core is solid.

In B2B, a product that fails expectations makes churn inevitable and word spreads fast
Deel's product was so capable the team had to tamper down its messaging to be believed
When evaluating a young company to join, ask about the team's composition
A heavy product-and-engineering team signals a durable core; six salespeople and two engineers is a warning sign

“acquisition channels just straight up don't work if you have a product that doesn't live up to the expectation”
Meltem Kuran Berkowitz · 42:00

“ask them what their team breakdown looks like when I joined deal most of the team was product and Engineers”
Meltem Kuran Berkowitz · 43:30

#product#growth#hiring#b2b

Takeaway47:30

Hire Growth People Who Commit to Revenue — and Ask When They Joined Their Famous Employer

Early growth hires had to commit to full-funnel, closed-won revenue KPIs, not just lead counts. Meltem also cautions against being seduced by big brand-name resumes: ask when the person joined that company, because someone who arrived at 5,000 employees with every resource is very different from an early operator. Big-company hires often can't operate with 10% of the resources they're used to.

First interview question: what KPIs are you willing to commit to?
Look for people who commit to closed-won revenue, not just lead numbers
Check when a candidate joined a prestigious company — early operator vs. late arriver
Case-study test: ask for strategies at $0, $10k, and $100k budgets to see how they scale and commit

“one of the first questions I would ask people is what are the kpis that you're willing to commit to”
Meltem Kuran Berkowitz · 47:30

“they're not used to operating with ten percent of the resources that they had”
Meltem Kuran Berkowitz · 48:00

#hiring#growth#team-building

Frameworks in this episode

Deal Speed and Default Optimism

Little Hands Growth Hiring

Long-Tail Paid Diversification

Payback-First Channel Measurement

Question-First Cheap Channel Playbook

Skeleton Before the Makeup

The 'Is The Search Over?' Content Standard

The Traffic Light Keyword System

The Trusted-Advisor Partner Test

Insights & moments

⚡Myth Buster· 2

The SEO Question That Beats Keyword-Stuffing: 'Is the Google Search Over?'