Welcome to a new WTSInterview edition, where we interview brilliant SEOs in our industry and share their stories with the world! WTS members are welcome to share their story by simply filling out this form; we encourage folks from all walks of life in our industry to do so.

Introducing Lucy Dodds! Lucy is a Senior SEO Strategist at Evolved, where she leads award-winning content strategies for automotive brands. She has also spoken at digital marketing conferences such as brightonSEO and can usually be found playing with her border collie, Cid.

How did you get into SEO?

I started out as an in-house copywriter after finishing my Master’s in Creative Writing and had to pretend I understood any of the “SEO stuff”. Over time, I developed my SEO skills, but I still felt embarrassed by my limited technical abilities and background. I questioned the value of my work a lot and wanted to prove content is a very important skill in SEO, so I’ve pushed on a lot in that area.

What is your favourite SEO task?

Making objectives and roadmaps! I LOVE planning and making sure we’re doing all the right work so that the businesses we work with get results.

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

Keyword Insights. No, ChatGPT is not better. There is nothing like Keyword Insights for keyword clustering. And it’s so cheap!

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

Getting stakeholders on your side to get the work done is more important than a perfect SEO checklist. For example, a developer’s backlog might not be your fault, but it is your responsibility to work around it.

What is your proudest industry achievement?

Winning at the most recent European and UK Search Awards for working with BYD. I have led this client for over two years and put a lot of effort into it, so it was a very proud moment.

What advice would you give those starting out in SEO?

Ask what people mean and get practical examples. Don’t pretend to understand all the jargon—it’s way better to be upfront and ask for a clear explanation. You won’t look stupid. It is the other person’s fault if they can’t explain properly!

Give a shout out to a person of marginalised gender in the industry who inspires you and tell us why

I always read Amanda Natividad’s LinkedIn posts; her ideas are really interesting. I also think Liv Day is super smart.

What empowers you to be the brilliant person you are?

An old client used to say, “JFDI”, meaning just do it (you can fill in the rest). And as much as I love planning and being organised, sometimes you just have to make decisions and get the work DONE!!

Finally, how does it feel being part of the Women in Tech SEO community?

I first joined the community in 2019 and came to one of the very first meetups at brightonSEO. I hadn’t been part of anything like that before, so it was very cool to see lots of other women in our space. Watching it evolve over time into a fantastic support network and learning group has been great to see.

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Thanks, Lucy, for a truly insightful interview!

You can follow and/or connect with Lucy on LinkedIn.

Check out our Interviews page for more interviews. If you've enjoyed reading this, we'd love for YOU to share your story with the world! Simply fill this form here, we welcome brilliant SEOs from all walks of life! 🙌🏽