Esther Azcano

Entrevista

Talking about the truly importance of professionals in the SEO area Esther Azcano Valdes tell us about her academic and professional route and how it is to be the Head of SEO of Tribal Worldwide Spain.

Know more about the facilitator of the EDIT.’s new International Workshop in this interview.

Nowadays, Search Engines (mainly Google) is the main entrance to the online world.


Tell us about your academic and professional background. What made you choose the Business, Advertising and Administration areas? And how did your interest in Digital Marketing emerged?

When I was a child I wanted to be a painter, a doctor, even a policewoman depending on the TV show I was watching at the time. I never thought on SEO of course (SEO didn´t even existed). But I started to be interested on Business and Marketing at school, when I had to study Economics. Then I started thinking about Business as a good way of developing my career, so I decided to Study Business Administration. At the beginning I was more interested on Creativity and Advertising, so I chose the Marketing and Advertising field in my degree. But when I got to the real world, I realized how important was getting the Online Marketing; it was actually the future. So, I started as a trainee on the SEO department of iProspect Spain. That was the starting point.


Do you have an established work routine? What tasks you don’t dismiss in your work daily life?

As Head of SEO I manage a team of 8 people, so if I have to choose a routine, I would say to be in contact with everybody in the team and the projects, make sure that everybody is confortable with both the projects and the company, and take time to have fun without putting aside the hard work.


What is the importance for agencies, companies and brands to bet on Search Engine Optimization? Regarding this, what are the main challenges you find as the main responsible of SEO in Tribal Worldwide?

Nowadays, Search Engines (mainly Google) is the main entrance to the online world. Hence, anytime people need to look for information, buy a product or contract a service, one of the very first things they do is to search on Google. Which brand or company will take the risk of not being there? If your products are not showing up when the user is searching for a product with a  “generic term” (when they haven´t decided a brand yet – ex. “red shoes”) your brand won´t be considered in the convertion funnel – one sale less.

The main challenges we have to face as SEO professionals (I think every SEO would agree with this) is to manage a website within a very competitive sector (travel, insurance, online education). It is sometimes hard to explain to the clients why their new website is not positioning in the first place for “cheap flights”, but that is the ugly part we have to deal with as “misunderstood” professionals.


In your perspective how is the international labour market in the Digital Marketing area? Is there a growing need for specialized professionals?

Of course. I´ve been working on SEO for 8 years now and the high demand of SEO professionals is far from decreasing. It is hard to find good professionals in the area and a proof of that is the high rota of professionals within the main SEO agencies.


In your opinion, what would be the main Digital Marketing trends in the next few years?

No one knows what is certainly happening – its always surprising how fast these world moves. What I do think is that everything is going to be conditioned by relevance and quality: no more spamming banners, no more results from Barcelona if i´m searching from Madrid, no more ads of a product i´ve already purchased, no more random search results when I do a voice search, etc. And all this won´t be possible without the personalization of online content: we are all so different from each other, and we have different ways of consuming; then why are we all getting the same content online?


Can you give some examples of what you consider successful digital marketing strategies?

BBVA Spain is doing a great job online: perfect sinergies withing the different online marketing areas, high focus on SEO, really useful tools development doing the hard world of banking much easier to understand without needing an expert by your side or their APP awarded as the best banking app in the world 2017 by Forrester.


What is the best way to be always updated in the digital world?

Reading, reading and reading. Also attending congresses, marketing / SEO events and keeping in touch with colleges; but mostly reading specialized blogs and sites (Twitter is also a god allied).


Do you have any professional goal to fulfil?

I´m still young (or at least I feel like it), so yes, I have plenty goals in the pending list.

Apart from lecturing goals, one of the things I wouldn´t mind experimenting in the future is to work from the client side. People say it could be a bit boring for professionals used to the agency madness, but I think its an interesting point of view and an enriching experience.


In your opinion what skills and knowledge should a digital marketing professional have?

Curiosity, ability of adapting to new stuff, anger of learning all the time and high level of English (at least reading skills). Everything else, you can learn it once in the sector.


What is the main goal of the Workshop that you will lead in EDIT. Lisbon? What will the participants learn?

The main goal is to deeply understand how Search Engines work. Once you understand it, developing SEO strategies is about common sense. A technical part is also important, but not as important as the Strategy definition – you could have a technician in your team for the technical gaps, but if you really understand how SEO works, you will be able to optimize any website -.



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