[Video] A day in the life - SEO Expert Pamela Czerniecka

In this video, Spencer sits down with our resident search engine optimisation specialist, Pamela Czerniecka.

Pamela discusses her day-to-day role as an SEO specialist, as well as common challenges our clients encounter, and provides top B2B inbound marketing tips. 

If you'd like to know more about the roles within an inbound marketing agency, you can find it in our blog - Your Guide to Choosing an Inbound Marketing Agency.

If you'd like to read the transcript of the video, please find it below the line.

Pamela:

Hi, my name is Pamela and I'm an SEO expert at Axon Garside.

Spencer:

So Pamela, what does a typical day look like for an SEO expert here?

Pamela: 

Sometimes I will look at websites and analyse them in order to improve the performance. On other days, I might do a bit of content writing, in order to optimise certain pages and blogs. I also want to look at rankings to see how they change.

I use tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and Ahrefs to see how the keywords have improved on particular websites and if there are any opportunities that I can expand on and target new search terms, as well as generally monitor how the traffic's improved over the website.

Spencer:

You touched on using technology - I'm guessing there's a fair amount in your role, but is there a piece of technology that you'd like to be invented that would make your job easier - a dream piece of kit that could improve your role?

Pamela:

A lot of technologies out there that are already available, especially Google, provide a lot of tools that make my job a lot easier.

Seeing as Google is the main search engine that everyone uses, I think it's important to use them. I suppose the dream for every SEO expert is to know what kind of updates Google will be doing forever along the line. However, we don't really get to find that out until it happens and we often have to figure it out ourselves.

But apart from that, there's a lot of other tools, like Ahrefs, which is really good for keyword research, as well as the health checker tool of the website. You can use other tools like SEMrush or AnswerThePublic, whichever websites you prefer to use for for keyword research. They all show you the right things and take you in the right direction about what you should focus on with your SEO strategy.

Spencer:

So you'd say the Google suite and the Google offerings are the best. Do you ever consider Bing or any other search engines, or do you normally just focus on Google?

Pamela:

Of course, options are important. Generally when you're optimising things for Google, you also optimise it for other search engines, because they do tend to work in similar way. However, with Google being the most popular one, I think it's essential to mainly focus your SEO efforts on optimising your website for that search engine.

Spencer:

So working with Google will help improve other search engines. So does your role involve keeping on top of trends? What does SEO look like in 2021?

Pamela:

In 2021, SEO really moves forward in the same way as marketing itself, with the main trend towards what Google has been recommending for many years. If that content is really important, and answering the users' query in the best way it can, that will help it reach higher rankings. Therefore, that kind of customer-orientated marketing, or customer orientated SEO, is essential.

So my advice for 2021 is to keep on continuing doing your research, especially into your audience and what they want - what they expect from your service, as well as looking at your keywords and their performance.

Spencer:

You mentioned that you use a lot of technology, but how do you work with other people in the agency? Is it a collaborative process? Do you need the support of other experts to do your job best, or is SEO a kind of individual sport?

Pamela:

It's absolutely integrated with a lot of other roles. A lot of roles in particular in this agency have some natural overlap, but everyone has their own strengths and their own areas of expertise.

So I do work closely with other people, especially content writers, as SEO helps with their role. In terms of my role on its own, it is very much integrated. It's a little bit like working with a production line; you can't have one person operating the whole line. You need other people in order to generate that product really well.

Spencer:

What differentiates us as an inbound marketing agency from, for example, freelancers or an in-house team.

Pamela:

Within an inbound marketing agency, you have people that have different levels and areas of expertise, and they work together in order to complete the project.

Whereas, using a solo freelancer or in-house marketer is like trying to complete all elements of website optimisation with one person; it's nearly impossible, because you do need an expert in SEO, you do need an expert in PPC, you also need a content writer, etc.

All those people have their own strengths, which come together and provide a good piece of work. And it's nearly impossible to try to master all those skills on your own.

Spencer:

Are there any key pain points that you see on a of regular basis?

Pamela:

The biggest pain point for me is not notifying your SEO consultant about changes that you make to the website. Even if it's something simple, such as removing a page, or something bigger, such as a whole website redesign - it is really important to consult the SEO expert, in order to avoid jeopardising the search rankings that have been built up on the website.

Spencer:

Do you have any top tips to help people overcome any of these challenges?

Pamela:

Certainly communication with your team, as well as utilising someone else's skills when needed - especially if you're paying good money for it - is really important.

Spencer:

So lastly, you talked about your typical day job, but what's the highlight of your typical day?

Pamela:

The biggest highlight of my day is seeing the impact that my work makes to clients' websites, and seeing their keywords improve amongst the general rankings as well as the increased traffic to their website