Welcome to a new
Introducing
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?
It just happened. 3 years ago, I decided to relocate to the Netherlands with my partner, and I started looking for a fully remote position to make our life easier. I came across Zima Media and they were looking for a Junior Marketing Specialist to help with SEO and PPC, but the biggest part of the business at the time was SEO. So, I started learning on Day 1 and haven't stopped since.
What is your favourite SEO task?
Definitely keyword research and strategy. What I love about SEO is that it's not invasive like ads. You need to understand your target audience and do everything you can to answer their questions, solve their problems, and eventually gain their trust. To do that, you need to empathize with them and keyword research is how we SEOs do that.
What is your go-to tool or resource that you can't live without?
I can't live without Google Search Console & Google Analytics as it's the best way to start understanding your audience.
However, I did recently discover Thruuu and it's been one of the most helpful tools I've come across so far. It's a SERP analyzer: Put a keyword in, and gives you the results that show up in the location of your choice, their H1 and H2 heading tags, possible questions you can answer and so much more.
What is something you learned in SEO that made you have an 'AHA' moment?
That there is not one checklist you can use for SEO and it's not just about what Google wants.
Every client is different, every website is different, and every audience you're targeting is different. What you need to do is understand what each project is all about, and do what's best for the user each time. If you do that, your content will be read, your pages will rank higher, people will not bounce, and sites will link to you.
What is your proudest industry achievement?
I haven't won an award, or spoken at a conference, or written a book (yet), and what I'm proud of is not really tangible.
So far, what I'm proud of is my professional growth and career. In 4 years, I went from an engineering student to a marketing consultant working fully remote, managing multiple clients around the world, and helping train others on SEO. I can't even imagine what will happen in the next 4.
What advice would you give women who are starting out in SEO?
SEO is about understanding your audience and doing what's best for them. People change every day though, and that's why SEO (and marketing in general) changes with them.
Never stop learning new things. You can't unfortunately know everything, but you'll never feel like you're missing out either.
Give a shout out to a woman in the industry who inspires you and tell us why
Areej AbuAli, because she's done so much for every single one of us in the Women in Tech SEO community, and Kathryn Monkcom, because her career inspires me to follow my dreams and for all her help with the Mentorship program (first-time mentor here!).
Finally, what empowers you to be the brilliant woman you are?
There are still so many things one can learn! How can you not feel empowered with so many opportunities to seize and so many amazing books to read?
----
Thanks Olga for a truly insightful interview, you can learn more about her through her website and connect with her on 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