Welcome to a new WTSInterview edition, where we interview brilliant SEOs in our industry and share their stories with the world! Anyone is welcome to share their story by simply filling this form, we encourage folks from all walks of life in our industry to do so.
Introducing Amy Leach! Amy is Organic Lead at Embryo in Manchester, UK. She has been in SEO since 2014, after leaving college. Amy has worked tirelessly throughout the industry, working both in-house and client side to drive the best results possible for an array of websites across various industries.
We asked her everything from how she first got into SEO to what empowers her to be the brilliant SEO she is 💪🏽
In 2014, I left College age 17, to join a digital marketing agency in Manchester, UK. I was essentially a full time link builder (eek!) but I learnt a lot! Working alongside a team of SEOs and industry experts really helped me to grow as an individual.
In 2016, I moved to a broader role at another agency, working across email marketing, paid social, PPC and other marketing channels to broaden my knowledge as a more well-rounded marketer. Again, I feel like this was crucial for me to understand all of the channels and how each channel can connect and work together to provide the best results.
But... after about 18 months, I knew my passion was in SEO, so I jumped back into a full time SEO role, where I built on my career to get where I am today!
Personally, I'd have to say auditing!
I'm pretty sure every developer I've ever worked with would agree with me on this one. Analysing a site and finding issues is somehow my bag?!
No matter how many times a site is audited, I somehow end up digging further and finding more issues or areas of improvement. I love the investigative aspect of website auditing in my role and the satisfaction of ensuring a site's health is picture-perfect!
I'm going to say Needle!! Needle is an internal tool we've built here at Embryo, which can help you not only analyse a website looking outwards to competitors, but analysing the full competitor market looking in!
Whether you want to analyse the top backlinks across your sector, or help it shape your organic strategy, Needle allows you to do just that.
One of the most useful aspects of Needle is where we have built a 3D graph to represent how Google views an industry. Using metrics such as 'authority', 'keyword reach' and 'unique links' you can easily visualise the makeup of an industry or sector, with various sites plotted alongside one another.
For me, I think authority and link building would be my number one 'AHA' moment.
As mentioned, my first ever role in the industry, I was outreaching with content, emailing webmasters and doing my utmost to build those links!! As the years have gone by, Google has continued to adapt, change and update their algorithms to keep up with the industry and the change. But for me, the one thing that will always be the backbone is links and authority.
How will Google ever be able to trust a website, purely by what they say or do?!
Having external sources cite and reference what you have to say and backing up your information as the most authoritative source on the web is key to success, and personally, I think this is a factor which will NEVER change.
Being shortlisted for Rising Star in the UK Search Awards 2023.
Having attended the UK Search Awards in previous roles and businesses I've worked at, I thought having my accounts and campaigns nominated was something! But, finding out I'd been shortlisted in 2023 (whilst on maternity leave with my first baby) was something else!
I felt incredibly heartfelt to be even nominated or put forward for the award, but being shortlisted was an incredibly humbling feeling and helped that imposter syndrome hide away (for a short time at least!!).
Make relationships and connections wherever you can!
SEO is not a silo channel and you can't physically achieve success on your own. Work with other teams and departments, fill those skill gaps and work together. Whether that be paid media specialists, revenue managers or developers, you're all trying to improve business performance - so it's crucial to work together on everything that you do.
Making relationships with clients or internal stakeholders is also crucial. You shouldn't feel the pressure of presenting or relaying information to these people, you should be able to have open and honest conversations to present your results and successes.
There are hundreds of inspirational and wonderful leading ladies out there in the industry and this platform shows just that!
Some of those who inspire me most are Dr Marie Haynes, Aleyda Solis and, of course, Areej AbuAli.
Dr Marie Haynes is my go-to as soon as an update is released! Her expertise, knowledge and analysis of every Google update is incredible and a true inspiration.
Aleyda again is amazing to follow, with her #SEOFOMO newsletter giving the insights directly to my inbox, and her courage to stand on stage and present is something I'll always aspire to be.
Finally, Areej! How can the woman who created this entire platform and community not be inspirational? The way she's connected thousands of women across the globe is truly sensational.
There's no rule book. Learn, test and adapt everything that you do.
Never, ever give up!
My career in SEO has been almost 10 years in the making and no matter how many obstacles have come my way, I've powered through.
You have to remember, SEO is an ever changing industry that you physically have no choice but to keep up with. Keep reading, keep learning and keep adapting.
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Thanks, Amy, for a truly insightful interview! You can connect with Amy on LinkedIn.
Check out our Interviews page for more interviews. If you've enjoyed reading this, 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! 🙌🏽