Welcome to a new
Introducing
How did you get into SEO?
I worked for a social media team in a marketing agency. It became very tiring and I wanted a change. Luckily, the agency needed someone to switch to SEO, and I was eager to try. After a while, it was clear to me that this was something I want to do.
What is your favourite SEO task?
It is keyword research, forever! I like doing it, not just because it's important for SEO, but also because it's so fun to see what people are searching for and how they do it. You can see the thinking patterns, ways of thinking, and sometimes some really funny (or even bizarre) stuff, too. You can actually learn a lot about people's behaviour online through keyword research.
What is your go-to tool or resource that you can't live without?
It is definitely Ahrefs, I tried other tools as well but somehow I stuck with Ahrefs. I also love Google Sheets, Chrome extensions such as Lightshot, Nightwatch SEO Simulator, and Grammarly. Since I started working in COING, I got hooked on tools we are developing -- I use Clockify to track my time and it keeps me organized.
What is something you learned in SEO that made you have an 'AHA' moment?
There were a lot of AHA moments — but the most important ones would be:
You don't simply follow the SEO rules — sometimes, there are no rules.
Testing is everything.
Internal links are powerful.
You don't need to know everything.
What is your proudest industry achievement?
It was starting the community of women working in SEO in my country/region. The Women in Tech SEO was an inspiration. There are almost 2k members at the moment. We share experience, knowledge, job openings, resources, and anything that can help. It is similar to WTS but it's focusing on the region, where we have similar challenges regarding work conditions, salaries, legal aspects, and so on. Some of our members are also members of the WTS community as well.
What advice would you give women who are starting out in SEO?
It is definitely to connect with other people who work in the industry and to be part of any community that will help them learn and grow, like WTS and similar.
Also — ask questions no matter what, and stay persistent.
Give a shout out to a woman in the industry who inspires you and tell us why
It is obviously Areej AbuAli — I like that she thinks beyond just SEO, she cares about the people and I appreciate that very much.
I would also like to mention Chloe Smith and her rising awareness about menstrual health. I think it takes bravery to talk about that at an event such as Brighton SEO.
Aleyda Solis of course, her contribution to learning SEO is huge.
Lily Ray, for sharing her expertise about EAT and her insights about each google update.
Then, Tory Gray, I took her advice a lot of times, she contributed a lot to the WTS community.
In the end, I want to give a shoutout to all the amazing women in my community who are doing a great job in SEO. Some of them gave interviews here. I hope that there's gonna be even more of them, and, in general, that they will become more visible in the SEO industry in the future — because they really deserve that.
Finally, what empowers you to be the brilliant woman you are?
It is constant learning and education, not just formal education. I love informal education a lot, I'm addicted to it. This applies not just to SEO and work, but to other things as well. I'm focusing on feminism in recent years, which gave me so many insights about myself and other people. It also helped me at work as well.
Knowledge is definitely powerful and sharing knowledge is everything. This is something I love about the SEO industry — people share knowledge selflessly. This empowers me more than anything else.
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Thanks Sandra for a truly insightful interview, you can connect with her on LinkedIn.
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