How We Can Support Women in SEO: Advice for Women, from Women

We recently sponsored and attended the 2022 Women in Tech SEO Fest, a full-day conference with speakers from all corners of the SEO industry. The session covered four important topics: analyze, advance, innovate, and empower. Every session gave attendees a huge amount of information and inspiration to support their work in SEO. Not to mention motivation for them to progress in their careers and find their own personal successes both in and out of the workplace.

Although the event helped celebrate the achievements of women in SEO, the work still isn’t done.

Women in Local SEO

In our recent Local Search Industry Survey, 35% of people who completed the survey identified as women, compared to 62% who identified as men (3% identified as ‘Other’ or preferred not to say). A survey from Moz also found that “men outnumber women by more than 2 to 1 in SEO”.

The gender imbalance also means it’s often harder for a woman to progress their careers in SEO too. Results from our Local Search Industry Survey tell us that nearly 80% of male respondents described their roles as Senior-level, compared to just 60.7% of women. On average, a higher proportion of females described their SEO-based positions as Junior (8.6%) or Mid-Level (30.7%) than men (2.9% and 19.3%, respectively).

In this typically male-dominated industry, amplifying women’s voices is much needed and one woman working hard to do this is Areej AbuAli.

Women in Tech SEO

Areej founded Women in Tech SEO back in 2019 to champion women in the tech SEO industry.

Areejabuali

“Women in Tech SEO is a global community for women in the Technical SEO field, to discuss, share and learn from one another. The aim is to empower each other in a positive, inspiring, and beneficial way, and to help build our network and accelerate our careers. In less than 3 years, we’ve grown to over 4,000 brilliant members and we host a number of initiatives throughout the year; including our newsletter, podcast, mentorship program, virtual workshops, and more.”

A group of women at the festival

Advice for women, from women

To celebrate Women in Tech SEO Fest and meet more marvellous experts within the community, we spoke to women within the Women In Tech SEO online community. We encouraged members to share their advice with those looking to start their career in SEO and invited them to discuss their biggest learnings to date whilst working in the industry. 

Kari DePhillips

CEO, The Content Factory

“The biggest piece of advice I’d give my younger self: get started sooner. Plus, when others on your team can’t brag about themselves, brag for them.”

Sigþrúður Dóra Jónsdóttir

SEO Specialist

Dorajons

“The best advice I ever got was to DO SEO. Just start using your knowledge to audit websites and create a website to optimize. You learn so much!”

Jess Joyce

Freelance SEO Consultant

“I had a boss once who told me that the way I speak wasn’t ‘professional’ enough for the clients we had. So I took that away and tried to change the way I speak. I tried until one client called me out on it and told me they specifically call me because I talk like a human being. That honestly made me feel better and stuck with me. It’s helped me continue to be myself and feel more confident about finding clients for whom I won’t have to change the way I talk.”

Jen Penaluna

Senior SEO Strategist, Evoluted

Jen Penaluna

“You can get started in SEO at any point in your life; it doesn’t have to be fresh out of school/college/university. Try a bit of everything in SEO and you’ll find what you enjoy most, then find a role that focuses more on that and you’ll have a happier working day.” 

Sara Smith

“One of the biggest things I learned is just to be less afraid of breaking things! I was so overly cautious that it was limiting. Things will break. This leads me to the second-best piece of advice I’ve received: befriend your development team. When it comes to technical fixes, they can really help you become more efficient and knowledgeable.”

Dhriti Shashikanth

SEO Account Manager, Mindshare

Dhriti S

“I would advise anyone who is starting out in SEO to make use of all the amazing resources available online to help you learn. It’s important to take one step at a time and not overwhelm yourself with too much at once. The SEO community is really a lot more friendly and approachable than it may seem. It’s just a matter of reaching out! 

The most valuable advice I was given was that it was totally OK to not have all the answers right away. If a client asks you a question that you can’t answer, it’s completely acceptable to let them know that you will either ask the wider team for their opinion or research further before getting back to them. Taking time to give a well-researched answer is always better than rushing to respond at the moment.”

Erika Austin

Ecommerce and Digital Marketing Consultant

“The best advice I’ve received was, you can’t beat yourself up about what you didn’t know at the time if you learned from it – you succeeded!”

Martina Grossi

Founder, Joyful SEO

Martinagrossi



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