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 Montserrat Cano! Montserrat is a seasoned, all-round digital marketer and project manager who specialises in integrating the digital marketing areas to maximise marketing and business results. Having started in SEO and content almost back in the dark ages of digital, she is bilingual and her focus and passion is on solving issues and building internal processes to handle and prevent those issues from happening, using data. She has also spoken at the eCommerce Expo and Measurecamp. In her spare time, she mentors other SEO/ digital professionals to help make the industry stronger.
We asked her everything from how she first got into SEO to what empowers her to be the brilliant woman she is 💪🏽
I was in the right place at the right time! I got tasked with a website relaunch project when not many around me knew what a website was! I learnt so much about CSS and other elements which now have a name, such as information architecture or content strategy. I got everyone excited, and some even wrote specific pieces for the site or joined in online conversations that also took place offline.
I enjoy site migrations, especially because of the challenge and responsibility that they entail. I particularly enjoy the information architecture aspect of migrations.
Google Search Console! So much information there, although Bing Webmasters Tool has some gems too. Outside that, Sitebulb/ Screaming Frog/ Semrush combo is great. I'm trying some like Unlimited Sheets, an add on for G Sheets.
My aha moment came when I started to see that companies and clients did achieve objectives thanks to what I was doing. When I started, it was almost like a game I enjoyed playing, and that was mostly the general sense I got from many around me. In other words, they didn't take it seriously. But, I did and was genuine joy when I saw high rankings or stakeholders bought into a website that was being built and which they contributed to with their content.
My proudest achievements so far are to do with education. I've felt chuffed when colleagues said they were grateful for the learnings around SEO/ digital or data, or when attendees to my talks approached me to say they enjoyed my presentations or they've even put some things into practice.
Explore as much as possible to get to know what's out there, how everything is connected and how you can use it on your behalf. It is OK to either specialise or not specialise, but always enjoy what you do. Lastly, get a mentor early on.
There are some inspiring people. I'd mention two. The first one is Dawn Anderson, because she has done so much to get deeper into SEO, while being graceful and generous in sharing her knowledge. The SEO industry has advanced thanks partly to her.
The second one is a former manager who was also trained as an executive coach. She made me realise some aspects that I hadn't seen in relation to managing teams, both good and bad. She inspired me to continue being strong and to reflect on aspects to change or build upon.
Growth and achievement get me out of bed every day. I have learnt though that it can have a negative effect if we don't enjoy the journey. So, I take things easy. It is OK to be confused or stressed at times, as they're signs you need to stop and think or relax.
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Thanks Montserrat for a truly insightful interview. You can learn more about her through her website and connect with her on 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! 🙌🏽