Interviewing Dani Leitner

Welcome to a new WTSInterview edition, where we interview brilliant women & GNC folks 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 Dani Leitner! Based in Switzerland, Dani is an independent SEO Consultant focused on the German-speaking market and works as an SEO Consultant at Webrepublic. She loves the challenge of ranking websites on search engines. First thing in the morning, she writes her daily German SEO Newsletter with a good cup of coffee.

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?

I searched almost my entire grown-up life for something that sparked my passion. I have been an IT product manager for 5 years. Then, I dropped everything and returned to university to study civil engineering. When Covid started in 2020, I started a travel blog - a dream I have had since 2015. With the blog, I got introduced to the world of SEO and found an SEO Agency right where I lived in Innsbruck.

On the job interview, I clicked with the founder and knew I had to work there. And that's where my career took off - I learned in 2 ½ years at this agency more than I could have imagined, grew personally and, of course, my SEO knowledge. I had the best mentors I could wish for. And I finally found what I was looking for professionally: Something I want to do for the rest of my life.

What is your favourite SEO task?

SEO Positioning. I love the challenge of analysing the web and finding the best strategy to position a website on search engines. I am very solution-oriented and love to start with an open question like “How can we reach our clients?” - and dig deep into the niche to find a creative strategy for the business to stand out online.

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

Google Workspace - I do everything with Google (Drive, Sheets, Docs, Meet, Gmail). I really can't imagine a world without Google Workspace. For SEO purposes, I am a big fan of the real data you get from Google Search Console, as it represents reality and not some nice guessing. I also love SEMrush; it's my go-to tool for keyword research.

What did you learn in SEO that gave you an 'AHA' moment?

Topic Authority. When I started writing about “Interrail”, e.g. travelling Europe by train, on my travel blog, I was amazed about the results. With all the posts I wrote about it, I quickly became an authority on the topic. Google even started ranking posts that don't even use the word “Interrail” for search terms around it.

Since this experience, I am convinced that topic authority is a thing, and you should try it.

What is your proudest industry achievement?

Being featured in SEOFOMO newsletter
Ranking my Travel Blog (planbvoyage.com) for “impossible” Keywords
Every goal I achieved together with my clients - it is just amazing seeing a website grow and finally know that the strategy you planned works

What advice would you give those starting out in SEO?

Learn the fundamentals and try to understand how Google works first. Not just crawling and indexing but also how Google makes money and why the user is the main focus for Google.
If you get the fundamentals, you will be ready for every change that's there to come. There are a lot of changes in SEO every day.
Don't overfocus on certain tactics - every industry is different, and tactics change rapidly.

Give a shout-out to someone in the industry who inspires you, and tell us why

Corina Burri - A friend of mine and the one who brought me to WTS. I am forever grateful for this small tip she gave me that came with many opportunities. And I love our exchanges about what is happening in our businesses.
Aleyda Solis - I just met here at Search Central Live in Zürich and am still impressed by the presentation. My dream is now to be able to present as entertaining and packed with knowledge as she does. And, of course, growing my German newsletter like SEOFOMO would be more than I could wish for.
Maria Artho and Noémie Radon - My technical SEO heroes, I had the chance to work with and am still working with. Thank you both for your patience.

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

I am reading many books to grow my knowledge - not just books about SEO but about everything. Personality, Habits, Health, Money, Philosophy, Mental Models, Copywriting, everything I get my hands on. There is so much knowledge in a book - and it costs almost nothing.

Another thing I do that helps me a lot is write a diary. I reflect on everything that happens to me almost daily - good and bad. And I feel that nothing is better to get a clear mind than writing it all down by hand.

So, if I can give you 2 pieces of advice at the end of this interview:

Read as much as you can
Clear your mind and start journalling

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Thanks, Dani, for a truly insightful interview! You can connect with Dani 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! 🙌🏽