Meet our May Employee of the Month - Laura Köcher

The winner of our May Employee of the Month is Laura Köcher! As part of winning, she'll receive a £50 voucher of her choice, a commemorative mug and a huge amount of kudos from her colleagues. Her nomination was full of superlatives for her SEO knowledge and collaborative approach.

“Laura is an amazing SEO Specialist. The wealth of knowledge she has in her field is impressive, and the way she spreads it across all her clients and by working closely and collaboratively internally with both the wider SEO team and her integrated team. A Laura highlight is in face-to-face meetings with clients where she stands up and presents performance, ideas and upsell opportunities excitedly. She improved performance for a lot of our clients in the last couple of months, and they've seen great performance growth since. She's also worked tirelessly to get external agencies to collaborate and the results speak for themselves. She always seeks to improve her already extensive SEO knowledge going to events like Women in Tech SEO and Brighton SEO.”

We caught up with Laura on everything from language, to travelling and a day in the life of an International SEO Specialist. 

Could you tell us more about your role as an International SEO Specialist?

I aim to show the value of our clients' websites to search engines, by optimising them for both search engines and users.

While I work with a lot of UK-based clients, I'm very passionate about International SEO, as it adds another layer of understanding; different markets, different cultures and how to tailor strategies for search engines. For example, when using the same language on separate websites and for different markets - like German for the DACH markets.

What is your background and how has this impacted your career or helped in your current role?

I studied Modern Languages and later did my MBA. Although I did Marketing as a minor, I didn't plan to work in this industry - as I feel is often the case with people working in Marketing.

However, studying languages helped me understand cultural and linguistic differences better and created this passion about working on International markets.

What is the biggest difference between the German language and the English language - and do you find this has any impact on work conversations?

The main difference is that Germans tend to be more direct, which can sometimes be perceived as rude. I sometimes worry about coming across as overly blunt and try to compensate for it by using a lot of smiley faces in chats with my colleagues!

If someone is looking to learn more about SEO, what's the best way to do so?

Ask me! Joking aside, while I'm always happy to help, it depends on your goals. For basic understanding, reading articles from websites like MOZ and Ahrefs is helpful.

However, if you'd like a deeper understanding, I recommend doing some of the free courses offered by Google and LinkedIn. 

You've been learning more yourself - heading to brightonSEO and Women in Tech SEO recently - do you think in-person events are a good way to expand knowledge?

Absolutely. In-person events not only offer valuable insights from talks, but also provide opportunities to engage with speakers, meet new people, share knowledge and seek advice.

Attending online conferences or doing online training on their own won't give you the benefit that interacting with other people brings - as conversation often heads towards the talks and personal experiences - which often provides the most value!

If you could work in any other marketing specialism, which would you pick?

Oh, that's a hard one. Since a lot of focus at the moment in placed on UX and user-friendly websites, I'd probably go with CRO.

Seeing how CRO strategies differ across different markets would be particularly interesting for me!

What are you planning to spend your voucher on?

I'm going on Interrail soon, so I think I'll spend the voucher on some backpacking essentials before my trip.

Finally, do you have any advice for anyone looking to get into Digital Marketing or SEO?

Think outside of the box and try to get a Junior position in-house or at a Marketing Agency - both have their advantages - to gain some experience. 

I feel like especially within this industry, the quote "learning by doing" seems to fit very well. 

For SEO, joining communities like the aforementioned Women in Tech SEO and the like can help a lot with talking to people in the industry and learning from one another.

Interested in joining us here at ClickThrough? Take a look at some of our latest vacancies to find your perfect fit.