Cyrus Shepard is an SEO consultant, marketer, writer, and speaker, best known as the founder of Zyppy SEO. He has spent over a decade helping websites grow qualified traffic through evidence-based SEO, content strategy, and experimentation, with a strong focus on how Google and AI-driven search systems actually work.
Before founding Zyppy, Cyrus helped lead SEO and content strategy at Moz, where he became widely recognised for his clear thinking, practical testing, and ability to translate complex ranking systems into actionable guidance. Earlier in his career, he also worked as an official Google Quality Rater, giving him first-hand insight into how Google evaluates search quality, relevance, and trust.
Through Zyppy SEO, Cyrus works with startups, SaaS companies, publishers, ecommerce brands, and Fortune 500 organisations to craft long-term organic growth strategies. His work often centres on ranking signal research, content performance, internal linking, and search experimentation, with an emphasis on what demonstrably moves the needle rather than SEO theory or shortcuts. He is particularly well known for publishing original studies and controlled SEO experiments that test assumptions about Google’s algorithms.
Watch Cyrus Shepard speak at the Sydney SEO Conference 2025:
Cyrus is a prolific writer and educator in the SEO industry. His work has appeared extensively on the Moz Blog and other leading marketing publications, and he has contributed to foundational SEO resources, including guides and books used by practitioners worldwide. His writing style is data-driven, practical, and grounded in real-world testing rather than speculation.
As a speaker, Cyrus has presented at many of the industry’s most respected conferences, including MozCon, SMX, Marketing Festival, Marketing Nation Summit, and MnSearch Summit. He is valued for talks that focus on experimentation, ranking systems, and sustainable content strategies, often challenging commonly held assumptions in SEO.
Today, Cyrus continues to publish research, advise companies, and speak internationally, positioning himself as a trusted voice on how search engines evolve and how marketers can adapt intelligently. Outside of SEO, he is known for his love of running, pizza, and maintaining an aging Ford pickup truck that requires almost as much patience as search engine optimisation.
