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?
Right after graduating from university in 2011, I started my own business (a translation agency). I have always been a bit of a computer geek and had some experience building websites, so I created the website for my business myself. This was when I learned about SEO and that it is not enough to just create a website.
It soon turned out that optimizing my website was way more fun to me than being a translator, so I started to learn SEO like crazy. I took all the SEO courses I could find and read all the SEO books that got into my hands. Together with learning the theory of SEO, I was also building my first SEO websites and blogs. Some of them are still online. This was the end of 2012 which I think of as the actual start of my SEO journey. The following two years allowed me to gain enough experience thanks to which in 2015 I got my first job as an SEO.
What is your favourite SEO task?
My favourite SEO task is by far performing in-depth technical SEO audits. The best type of an SEO audit is the one that takes me about 30-40 hours to complete. I know this is a long time but this amount of time lets me dig into each and every detail of the website and uncover practically everything. I do these in-depth audits mainly for huge international brands as part of my cooperation with one of the biggest SEO agencies in Poland. I have performed 100+ in-depth technical SEO audits so far (and counting).
What is your go-to tool or resource that you can't live without?
There are at least a few SEO tools I cannot live without. If I were to name just one or two, then it would be Sitebulb and Screaming Frog. Besides that, I cannot live without Google tools, such as Google Search Console (and its advanced reports), Lighthouse, Google PageSpeed Insights, Chrome DevTools, and more.
What is something you learned in SEO that made you have an 'AHA' moment?
For me, that was learning about and really getting to understand what JavaScript rendering is and how it works. With that knowledge and skills, when doing an SEO audit, I can pretty accurately analyze how Google is rendering a web page and whether its content is visible to Googlebot.
What is your proudest industry achievement?
I would say this is the complete change of the scope of an SEO audit and how it is performed (and how many tools are used to compile it) at the SEO agency I partner with. I modified the process, extended the scope of the audit (to include practically all the SEO aspects), and added tons of useful things to check and analyze in detail (like Core Web Vitals, JavaScript rendering, page experience, website security to name a few). This new audit process allowed me to do in-depth analyses and detect absolutely all the issues on a website (plus a bunch of other “bonus” issues).
As a result, I was able to help many huge and well-known brands nicely improve their visibility in search and detected issues that other agencies never uncovered. Unfortunately, I cannot name the brands, so you need to take my word for it. I am willing and happy to share my SEO audit process and experience, so feel free to use my technical SEO audit guide and a free template to audit your or your client’s site.
What advice would you give women who are starting out in SEO?
Take one step at a time and never stop learning. If you feel overwhelmed, take a short break and come back to what you were doing. Remember that you won’t be able to learn everything with just one course or guide. You need loads of them.
It is unlikely that your first SEO website will be a success. Be ready to create tens of websites and have tons of fun in the process. The more you read, listen, watch, and experiment, the quicker you will connect all the SEO dots.
And totally get addicted to listening to SEO podcasts! They are very powerful and will help you overcome any SEO crisis.
Give a shout out to a woman in the industry who inspires you and tell us why
This is definitely Marie Haynes. I love her approach and her SEO story (a veterinarian who became a world-class SEO who is really a great authority). Yup, her podcast is one of the podcasts I am addicted to. And another woman who really inspires me is, of course, Areej AbuAli who is really changing the SEO world for women. Thank you!
I am also a great fan of Lily Ray who is not only a great SEO but also a very inspiring person overall.
Finally, what empowers you to be the brilliant woman you are?
I really love these two quotes:
Abraham Lincoln: “I walk slowly, but I never walk backward”.
Calvin Coolidge “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”
This is the essence of how I work, live and do my running workouts (I am a marathoner). Patience and persistence let me achieve my long-term goals. I like doing things slowly and feeling that I am also making (slow but steady) progress. This is also the approach I have taken with my SEO blog which I treat as a long-term project that I slowly build and grow (while at the same time helping lots of SEOs).
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Thanks Olga for a truly insightful interview, you can check out Olga's website and connect with her on Twitter and LinkedIn.
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