Welcome to a new
Introducing
How did you get into SEO?
I've always been into video games, so when I was in college I worked remotely for a gaming company doing their digital marketing & PR, as well has having a part-time job in retail, to earn some extra money. This entailed things like social media, video marketing and events. I was asked to see how we could rank in the top position of Google for our key terms. I started looking into how I could do this and began researching SEO. After a while I actually achieved this (granted, it was niche) and started writing SEO copy as a freelancer, too. I wasn't sure if university was for me, so after college I found a work placement at a local development agency as an SEO Content Writer. After the placement, I was offered a full-time position and that's sort of how I started. Since then I've worked at a few search agencies and have focused on content, links and technical, with technical being the one I love the most and specialise in now.
What is your favourite SEO task?
I appreciate this is a weird one, but I love migrations. They're a lot of work, especially if you're working with a huge site like eCommerce AND the URL structure is changing, but they're satisfying to do. It's one of the few SEO tasks you can do and see almost instant results of your hard work (not losing traffic when the switch is flicked, and sometimes even seeing it rise!)
What is your go-to tool or resource that you can't live without?
Screaming Frog - classic but can't live without it. I typically use a variety of crawlers for audits and in daily work but it'll always involve Screaming Frog.
What is something you learned in SEO that made you have an 'AHA' moment?
Learning how Google crawls and indexes content. A lot of things started making more sense once I got my head around this.
What is your proudest industry achievement?
Being nominated for a UK Search Award (Young Search Professional of the Year 2019). It was honestly a complete surprise to me, I remember scrolling down the shortlist and counting the number for my company, and then my manager said 'check the young search professional section'. I was completely shocked. Possibly my proudest moment seeing my name on that list and it gave me the encouragement to come out of my shell more and start to get involved in the community.
What advice would you give women who are starting out in SEO?
Never stop trying to learn. Even after 8 years, I'm still keen to learn things and I'm learning something new every day. It's an ever-evolving industry so you need to be on your toes. But fortunately the industry is a very friendly one that's happy to share knowledge.
Give a shout out to a woman in the industry who inspires you and tell us why
Ruth Everett. I've only recently started to look into automating processes in the last year or so and I have found her advice to be invaluable surrounding Python. She's provided resources to help me learn the language and gain a better understanding of how to apply it to my role.
Finally, what empowers you to be the brilliant woman you are?
I've been encouraged to be independent from a young age and I don't really rely on anyone for anything, I like that feeling of being strong on my own. If I need something, I'll try to figure it out myself before asking anyone else for help. Although I wish I hadn't taken that approach when moving house and assembling flat pack furniture, ha!
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Thanks Sam for a truly insightful interview! You can connect with Sam on Twitter and LinkedIn.
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