Interviewing Sevilay Selecki

Welcome to a new Weekly Interviews edition where we interview brilliant women in our industry and share their stories with the world! Anyone is welcome to share their story by simply filling this form, we encourage women from all walks of life in our industry to do so.

Introducing Sevilay Selecki! Based in Poland, Sevilay transitioned into SEO after 12 years as a teacher and has since built a deep passion for solving complex technical challenges, improving site architecture, and navigating the evolving world of search. Constantly expanding her expertise, she now focuses on technical SEO, AI-driven search visibility, and optimizing platforms for both traditional SERPs and generative search experiences. A strong believer that “SEO is a marathon, not a sprint,” Sevilay embraces long-term, data-informed strategies in an era shaped by automation and AI.

Outside of work, she has two great passions—cooking and birds (thankfully not combined). Whether experimenting with new recipes, spending time in nature observing and photographing birds, or practicing daily yoga to stay grounded, she brings curiosity, patience, and balance into both her professional and personal life.

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?

My journey started with a career change decision and curiosity but nothing more. After more than 10 years working as an English teacher, I decided to explore something new, and “SEO” kept popping up everywhere during the job search. At the time, it was a complete mystery to me—but my curiosity quickly turned into learning through a few introductory courses. That led to a Technical SEO internship at Onely, which turned out to be the perfect place to dive into the deep end and learn technical SEO at a highly advanced agency, working across complex client setups. From there, I moved into an in-house role as a manager, this time fintech, gaining a broader view of how SEO supports business growth at international markets. My last role was on e-commerce side, tackling today’s AI-driven search landscape.

What is your favourite SEO task?

My favourite SEO task has always been a deep, in-depth technical audit—the messier the site, the better. I find it very satisfying to untangle complex technical issues, understanding how a site really works, and turning chaos into clarity. And of course recently, using AI-based SEO analysis to identify patterns, surface hidden issues, and improve LLM discoverability has added a whole new layer of insight to this side of SEO, so I feel like every audit is a new puzzle to solve.

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

Big advocate of Chrome DevTools here :) It’s incredibly powerful, free and it’s amazing how much can be done directly in the browser without always relying on third-party tools. From performance and network analysis to debugging rendering, JavaScript execution, and Core Web Vitals, it is just so useful. Performance panel, Lighthouse integration, and advanced rendering insights make my everyday SEO tasks faster and smarter. The recent addition of AI Assistance in DevTools has made it even more exciting, helping explain complex code, surface potential issues faster, and support quicker debugging and analysis.

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

Realizing that fixing one small technical issue can sometimes have more impact than weeks of content work - I've experienced it few times and this was a huge AHA moment for me. It also made it clear that SEO isn’t about doing everything—it’s about doing the right things at the right time and knowing where to focus for real impact. I am really happy to see that technical SEO is finally gaining the value it deserves with this AI hype.

What is your proudest industry achievement?

My success story of how I transitioned into SEO was chosen for the top three success stories by Blue Array Academy.
Years ago, in the beginning of my SEO career, I published an article about Mobile Friendliness, it was an amazing achievement for me as writing is not my strong suit.
I am a proud judge of the European and UK Search Awards for many years now.

What advice would you give women who are starting out in SEO?

Become a member of WITSEO community, it's THE safest place you can be no matter your experience.
Do not ever self-doubt, we all have those moments when we feel insecure, insufficient and let the imposter syndrome take over. Create a 'bag of compliments' folder for yourself and collect all the appreciation/thank yous/great feedback/achievements etc... During those self-doubt moments, just go through your folder and you'll see how much you actually have achieved. Believe me, you'll feel better!
Be open to never-ending learning, invest in yourself, and do not be intimidated to ask if you don't know something. We are all here to improve :)

Give a shout out to a woman in the industry who inspires you and tell us why

One person in the SEO industry who truly inspires me is Chima Mmeje - I don't know her personally but her efforts to elevate diverse voices and create accessible paths into search marketing have made a meaningful impact on many careers, and I follow her in admiration.

How does it feel being part of the Women in Tech SEO community?

It feels genuinely empowering. It’s a space where we share knowledge openly, questions are answered without judgement. Beyond the technical learning, there’s a strong sense of support and representation that makes a real difference in our industry, which can still feel intimidating at times.

Finally, what empowers you to be the brilliant woman you are?

I like to get out of my comfort zone and challenge myself, that's where life starts...There are no shortcuts to success—I build it through dedication, hard work, and learning from both wins and failures.

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Thanks Sevilay for a truly insightful interview, you can learn more about her and connect with her on LinkedIn and Twitter.

To view more interviews with brilliant women, check out our Interviews page. If you've enjoyed reading this interview, then 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! 🙌🏽