Interviewing Sai Deshmukh

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 Sai Deshmukh! Based in India, Sai works as an SEO Manager at Merkle Sokrati. Her professional expertise is to build brands through well-designed marketing strategies. She specialized in Content Marketing, YouTube SEO, App store optimization and Search Engine optimization. Sai holds a master's degree in management from Symbiosis International University. In her spare time, she enjoys reading Agatha Christie and watching “FRIENDS” on Netflix!

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?

Following my MBA, I received an offer from a Pune-based service provider. After just ten days on the job, I realized that this is not my calling. I then began looking for marketing-related jobs, as I had enjoyed marketing as a subject during my MBA. I came across Neil Patel and Ahrefs while researching digital marketing and had an epiphany right there: SEO is for me. I have a bachelor's degree in computer engineering, so I was able to quickly grasp all of the technical details of SEO. So I quit my other job and seized the opportunity that came my way via Merkle Sokrati.

What is your favourite SEO task?

Working on integrating SEO with artificial intelligence has been my jam recently. I absolutely love the idea of content automation with the help of GPT3.

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

I go gaga about google search console, Data studio and Ahrefs! A perfect blend of these helps me greatly in data analysis and visualisation.

These chrome extensions always come to the rescue; redirect path, google lighthouse, Ahrefs SEO toolbar, link clump & data slayer.

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

With the constant evolution in google's algorithm, every day comes as an "Aha" moment to us SEO's.

What is your proudest industry achievement?

Definitely App Store Optimization. ASO was uncharted territory for me up until last year. It started with taking up some online lessons and picking up a small initiative in my team which has now evolved into a separate revenue stream with the acquisition of more than 8 major brands in less than a year.

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

Read, Read and Write: This will expand your horizon with each coming day and who knows you might have a "eureka moment" from it.
Empower each other: It's really vital for us to encourage each other and build a brand of your own self

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

Aleyda Solís & Marie Haynes have had a huge influence on me, I just "click" with their work. I absolutely adore Jennie Woods and Andreah McCartney for being so helpful and bright.

My journey is supported by my strong SEO pillars - Rewati Khare, Manasi Deshmukh, Amruta Khemnar, Prachi Rathi and Heena Ahmad. I learned a lot with them by my side.

And of course, "Women in Tech SEO" without whom I would not have been acquainted with such amazing SEO talent.

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

Perseverance and continuous learnings are the key to anything and everything. Learning can be addictive; it signifies GROWTH and I believe that brings me a great deal of satisfaction at the end of the day.

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Thanks Sai for a truly insightful interview, you can learn more about her through her LinkedIn.

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! 🙌🏽