Interviewing Heba Said

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 Heba Said! Based in Alexandria, Egypt, Heba is an independent international SEO consultant. She worked 7 years in SEO in-house, and with agencies as a freelancer and now she prefers remote and independent roles. She mainly works in English, but her mother tongue is Arabic. It helps her when clients are looking to expand to the Arab region. Heba is very passionate about researching and implementing strategies and recommendations for organic SEO success.

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 started SEO by coincidence as I wanted to shift career, I took a break and went to study web design then started studying programming C# and .net. When a developer friend offered me a remote job as an SEO for a project they were working on in the US. Maybe she saw something in me that I can fill the job. I self-studied and started with the project while A/B testing everything I do for them for 2 years, with huge success until I decided to join an office base to learn more and interact with a team of experts. After work, I went remote again.

What is your favourite SEO task?

Everything about SEO. I am strong at technical audits, strategy planning, and on-page and technical fixes. I have handled many migrations before, and I love helping with a content marketing plan. I also worked as an outreach specialist for Canva before which was a fun part of SEO as well. Analytics investigation is a huge plus for me, I love digging deep and checking for hidden opportunities. Recently, I have been interested in studying accessibility for SEO as well for professional and personal reasons.

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

I find a lot of tools very important in my day-to-day work. Starting with Google Search Console, you can't just live without it, it gives you all the data you need. Google Analytics for tracking data and user interaction with the website and the live. Tools for technical, on-page auditing, keyword research, content marketing plans, and backlinking monitoring like SEMRush and Ahrefs, I love them both. Screaming Frog is also a crawler tool that I can’t live without, especially for any auditing. Tools that help SEOs do their daily tasks and improve their work quality like Keywords Insight for creating content marketing plans and clusters, AlsoAsked or Q&A research, and Surfer SEO.

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

Every time I learn something new in the SEO industry is an AHA moment for me, so that's 7 years of AHA moments every working day!

What is your proudest industry achievement?

I am very proud of where I am today. My proudest industry achievement is getting introduced to SEO and succeeding from the first time, depending on myself the whole way. It was impossible to find someone professional in the field in my home country, I was studying and applying and reaching out to professionals to find my way out of a problem.
One of the best moments is reaching a phase now where I can do talks and share my tips and case studies to help other people in this field.

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

Believe in your instincts. It will all work out, be analytical, and read as many case studies as you can. Just follow the right people, and always surround yourself with positive people. Never believe it is hard or can't be done.

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

I have a list that is increasing every day.

• Areej AbuAli: She made me believe in myself and she is always there for me whenever I shout for help or support. I can't add enough thanks for everything she is doing every minute for the women in our industry
• Aleyda Solis: I will never forget the first time I wanted a remote job and she made a tweet to help me out
• Lily Ray: She is the real imposter syndrome fighter. She gives strength to all who follows
• Jamie Alberico: Although I know she is busy, she always replies to my inquiries and does her best to help
• SEO Jo Blogs: She is very supportive and answers me whenever I ask. I love her way of empowering all the women around her
• Sara Taher: I admire the way she is consistent to add tips for us on social media, I can't miss one and I am always learning from her.
• I also need to thank Orit Mutznik as she is a smart and kind person who inspires me every day.

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

My family, and my dreams! I always had a dream to work at my own pace, from my own home. I always hated office-based jobs, I studied many things and worked in many other fields. SEO went right into my heart. Now, I can work on something I love, anywhere in the world!

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Thanks Heba for a truly insightful interview! You can connect with Heba on her website, 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! 🙌🏽