Interviewing Nikki Parsons

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 Nikki Parsons! Nikki Parsons is a marketing strategist with 13 years of experience leading digital, SEO, and marketing initiatives for global brands like Semrush, iQuanti, and GC Aesthetics.

How did you get into SEO?

I had my first experience in 2016 when I did a web development Bootcamp at Ironhack. Although the focus of the Bootcamp was Ruby on Rails, Javascript, and basics of HTML/CSS, it kickstarted my love of helping companies improve their websites and make them more visible in search engines.

What is your favourite SEO task?

I think my favorite task is doing a simple site audit. It always provides easy, actionable recommendations that I can do immediately. I'm really motivated to see the site health numbers improve as it's such a quick win (most of the time!).

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

Asana! It's a work management platform that helps me organize all my different projects and keep on top of everything.

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

How easy it is to get backlinks for existing mentions and quickly improve a site's domain authority. I always thought SEO was a long-term initiative, and of course it is, but there are also quick wins that can be achieved in the beginning.

What is your proudest industry achievement?

I coordinated a website refresh for a B2B corporation and then managed the ongoing SEO efforts that ended up increasing organic traffic 20% annually for four years straight.

What advice would you give those starting out in SEO?

That you don't have to learn everything to get started. SEO's constantly changing so much anyway that it makes sense to focus on one area (ex. linkbuilding or digital PR) and get started with that. You'll be able to start working and continue to learn and expand to other areas of SEO afterwards. Don't wait to get started, dive in and learn as you go.

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

I'm inspired by Libby Day, a fellow Women in Tech SEO member, who I met at last year's BrightonSEO. Not only was she very friendly in person, but she was very kind and shared several SEO resources with me afterwards. I'm happy to meet such helpful people in this community and make connections that last longer than just one event.

What empowers you to be the brilliant person you are?

Copious amounts of tea. Tea and biscuits is the secret to success ;)

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

I'm very grateful to be a member of the Women in Tech SEO community. As a result of being a part of it I've been able to network with amazing professionals (both in-person and online), started attending more industry events, and even found one of my freelance projects through the community Slack channel!

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Thanks, Nikki, for a truly insightful interview!

You can follow and/or connect with Nikki on her Linkedin or view her website!

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! 🙌🏽