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 Pavithra Sekar! Based in India, Pavithra is an Outreach and PR Specialist at Kissflow Inc. She has a postgraduate degree in Public Relations and specializes in digital PR, link building, and influencer/brand outreach. She is a brand evangelist who ignites conversations that improve a brand’s fame. Outside of work, she is a pro-winged liner expert who loves creating subtle makeup looks. Tea and music are her soulmates - they help her relax and rejuvenate after a long day's work.
We asked her everything from how she first got into SEO to what empowers her to be the brilliant woman she is 💪🏽
While working on the PR activities for the brand, I also focused on link building. I was so curious to understand the power of search as a channel, but it took me several attempts and some help from my SEO team before I could get started. Once I got to learn off-page optimization, everything changed! In just three years' time since learning this new skill set, I have seen my hard work bear fruit. What’s more, I never imagined that I would get so much better at it.
My favourite tasks are research, strategies and collaboration. I spend most of my time on these activities but a little extra on the data because it helps guide me in what direction to take! The data side of things isn't so fun but still necessary in order for us to do our jobs right–though sometimes when you're faced with all these numbers, your mind might go blank...or fill up on Google Analytics.
Whether it is link building or brand outreach, I love what I do because no matter how much progress has been made already, there's always another mountain ahead to climb and conquer.
I'm somebody who loves documentation, so I prefer using Google Docs to jot down all my thoughts. The more I use Google Docs, the better it gets. When it comes to outreach, there are many tools that get the job done, but Ahrefs is my favourite! I use it to look up information on a daily basis because you can really see which outreach efforts are driving traffic and what type of content people expect from our brand.
When I realized that SEO is so much more than just ranking and traffic, it really opened my eyes to the potential value of this service. I was so surprised when I identified so many other potential benefits of SEO ranging from higher conversion rates and improved brand visibility to greater customer engagement.
Almost 2 years ago, we decided to position our project module (Kissflow Project), we were in a red ocean with popular competitors like Trello, Asana, and Monday. It took me close to 6 months just to figure out what worked for us–and then it all paid off!
We saw improvement in the Google SERP results within the first year of launching our product and our link profile skyrocketed in a year (close to 100% growth) and doubled in the next year. I couldn’t be any prouder of the fact that my outreach efforts put Kissflow in the spotlight. I could never have made this incredible progress without my super-friendly team members who supported me every step along this journey.
Starting out in SEO can be overwhelming. There's so much to learn and it can be hard to know where to start. Here are two pieces of advice for women who are just getting started in SEO:
The list is never-ending. I love Rebecca Reynoso. She’s such an inspiration! Especially the way she balanced her work and cancer fight. I adore Alexandra Tachalova for having such high clarity on what she does and for staying transparent. I happened to learn some of the best outreach strategies from her. Special shout out to my PR guru, Lalitha Yalamanchi, the one who always had my back.
Finally, Areej for being the support system for all of us at Women in Tech SEO and beyond!
I believe the love and trust I have for myself pushed me to thrive and strive. My self-love, coupled with my resilience, helped me reach my maximum potential and face anything that life threw at me. I can’t wait to reach greater milestones!
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Thanks Pavithra for a truly insightful interview, you can 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! 🙌🏽