Supporting and championing women in tech SEO

Over the past decade, we have witnessed a significant shift in the world of SEO. Women in tech SEO have increasingly taken up roles that were once dominated by men. Hurray! This rise of women in tech SEO is a noteworthy and welcome trend in the industry. So let’s look at the benefits of having more women in tech SEO, and how companies can digital agencies can retain female SEO talent!

Firstly, what is technical SEO?

Technical SEO is a process of optimising a website’s technical components to improve its visibility and ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs). It involves improving the website’s structure, code, and configuration to make it easy for search engine crawlers to navigate and index the website. This includes optimising the website’s architecture, reducing page load times, and ensuring that the website is mobile-friendly. Tech SEO also involves adding structured data to a website’s HTML code to help search engines understand the website’s content and structure better. Additionally, it can involve ensuring that the website is secure and protected against cyber threats.

Why have we seen a rise of women in tech SEO?

The rise of women in tech SEO can be attributed to a number of things. Firstly, the area of SEO has evolved and become more complex over the last 10 years. In the past, SEO was largely focused on on-page optimisation such as meta tags and keyword density. However, with the rise of search engines’ artificial intelligence and the increasing importance of user experience, SEO has become more technical, requiring a deeper understanding of coding, server architecture, and web analytics. Along with a much more holistic view of content and how this can be used to improve results.

There has also been a growing awareness of the indisputable need for diversity and inclusion in the tech SEO industry. SEO and marketing agencies are now actively seeking to recruit more women and other underrepresented groups in tech SEO jobs, and this has created opportunities for women in SEO to take up technical roles and excel.

As well as these vital factors, the effect of communities and individuals championing women in tech SEO has meant women have increasingly become interested in SEO as a career path. The increased number of online courses, webinars etc focused on SEO has made it easier for women to learn and develop the necessary technical skills. Women who may not have considered tech SEO as a career path are now able to take advantage of these resources to gain the knowledge and experience needed to succeed in technical SEO.

Having more women in tech SEO brings a number of benefits to the industry. For example, it promotes diversity and inclusion, which has been shown to lead to better decision-making, greater innovation, and higher employee morale. We see this across so many agency reports! By having a diverse workforce, companies are able to tap into different perspectives and ideas, leading to better problem-solving and improved outcomes.

Secondly, having more women in tech SEO can help to bridge the gender gap in the tech industry. Women have historically been underrepresented in technical roles across so many areas of the tech industry, and having more women in tech SEO can help to change this. This can encourage more women to pursue careers in tech and help to break down the stereotypes and biases that have prevented women from entering technical roles in the past.

So, how can companies attract and retain female SEO talent?

Firstly, they need to create an inclusive and welcoming workplace culture. This can involve providing mentorship and support for women, offering flexible work arrangements, and promoting diversity and inclusion at all levels of the organisation.

Agencies should actively seek out and recruit women for tech SEO jobs. This can involve partnering with women-focused organisations and communities like Women in Tech SEO, offering training and development programs, and creating job postings and recruitment materials that are inclusive and welcoming to women.

Finally, companies need to create a career path for women in tech SEO. This can involve providing opportunities for advancement, offering competitive pay and benefits, and creating a supportive and empowering work environment as well as opportunities to move up and get promoted to senior roles within agencies. By creating a clear career path for women in tech SEO, companies can help to attract and retain talented women in the field.

3 ways for you to get started in Tech SEO

Learn the basics: To get started in technical SEO, you need to have a solid understanding of the basics of SEO – this can feel a little overwhelming but it all clicks together! This includes knowledge of on-page optimisation, keyword research, and content optimisation. You can start by reading online resources such as the Moz Beginner’s Guide to SEO or Google’s Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide.
Develop your technical skills: Technical SEO requires a deep understanding of coding, server architecture, and web analytics. To develop technical skills, you can start by learning HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. There are some amazing courses out there and organisation that provide training. This will help you understand how websites are built and how to make technical changes to a website. You can also learn how to use web analytics tools such as Google Analytics and Google Search Console to track website performance and identify technical issues.
Practice on your own website: One of the best ways to get hands-on experience in technical SEO is to practice on your own website. This will allow you to apply what you have learned and see the results firsthand. You can start by conducting an SEO audit of your website to identify technical issues and opportunities for improvement. You can then make the necessary changes and track the impact on your website’s performance.

If you are looking to make connections with women in tech SEO – get in touch! Women in Agencies have some incredible members who are already working within this space available for advice, mentoring and support in the development of your career!