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Interviewing Amy Leach

Date: 18/07/2020

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Introducing

Amy Leach
, Senior SEO Executive at MAG-O. Based in Manchester UK, Amy has over 5 years experience in SEO and Digital. We asked her everything from how she first got into SEO to what empowers her to be the brilliant woman she is 💪🏽

How did you get into SEO?

I was never really interested in University at school and after completing my first year of college, I decided to complete a Level 3 apprenticeship in Social Media for Business. Little did I know, that I would in fact be part of the SEO team and starting my SEO career on the search team, primarily building links, in a central Manchester agency. I never really knew what I was getting into at first (lets be honest, who did?) but I loved it. I loved being involved in such a fast paced industry where there's always more to learn -especially in a young, digital agency environment.

What is your favourite SEO task?

Honestly, this has changed so many times over the last few years. I used to love nothing more than the satisfaction of being involved with a creative campaign and working with various teams to publish some incredible pieces of content. Although, more recently, I've been honing in on the technical aspects of SEO a little further and I'm always intrigued by a good technical audit. So I'd have to say auditing and finding issues is definitely my favourite SEO task. Although the satisfaction of running a clean crawl after resolving all issues has got to be the best part!

What is your go-to tool or resource that you can't live without?

ContentKing. Hands down. It's definitely a tool which I've come across more recently in my career, but now I don't think I will ever be able to work without it.

What is something you learned in SEO that made you have an 'AHA' moment?

This one is a little tricky as there have been plenty! Although, I think for me, it's got to be when I began to streamline and simplify reporting. In a world not so long ago, I'd be writing pages of commentary each month for clients, with figures and data which they most likely never read. But now, with the help of Google DataStudio and some excel wizardry, the numbers which we present speak a thousand words and explain the results for themselves. Of course, SEO has changed over time, and we're no longer reporting on how many links are built each month (haha!) but we're now able to use scientific data to report on user behaviour and ROI to the business.

What is your proudest industry achievement?

Around 2 years ago, I worked on an award-winning creative campaign from start to finish. We were dealing with a tough industry within mortgage and YMYL, yet we excelled above expectations and the KPIs we had mapped out. By identifying our target audience for the campaign in the early stages, we were able to deliver an interactive campaign in such a tough industry. For a search volume driven piece, we saw huge successes in press coverage, social media engagement and, in turn, links. Which was incredibly humbling. Especially when working on the campaign; from keyword research stages, through to testing and of course, releasing on a phased approach.

What advice would you give women who are starting out in SEO?

Be confident in what you do. Everyone does SEO differently.

As long as you're listening, learning and engaging with different interpretations and theories - you'll be the best which you can be. So, stay on top of your game and learn as much as you can, when you can :)

Give a shout out to a woman in the industry who inspires you and tell us why

There are so many incredible women in the industry, each of which inspire me in different ways. But firstly, the amazing Areej AbuAli for the way she's not only inspired me from previous conferences and talks, but also for the way she's created the most incredible community for women worldwide. Secondly, Emily Potter is a huge inspiration for my career, in the way she experiments and tests various aspects of SEO to their limit. A/B testing the way Emily does is something that most SEOs wouldn't even think about (or if we did, we would laugh it off and never even think of executing it). There are also so many more who deserve shout-outs, including Marie Haynes, Kristina Azarenko and Miracle Inameti-Archibong (just to name a few).

Finally, what empowers you to be the brilliant woman you are?

Learning. Without a doubt, I'm always of the opinion that you have never learnt enough - especially in this industry, there's always an opportunity to learn and develop further.

Finally, I believe you should always surround yourself with those who make you happy. Smile, do your best and you will succeed - every time!

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Thanks Amy for a truly insightful interview! You can check out Amy's website and connect with her on Twitter and LinkedIn.

To view more interviews with brilliant women, check out our Interviews page. If you've enjoyed reading this interview, then we'd love for

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to share your story with the world! Simply fill this form here, we welcome brilliant SEOs from all walks of life! 🙌🏽