Women at Work: PaperStreet’s SEO Team Has a Strong Female Presence
By Nancy Rapp on October 19, 2020 in SEO
With a female running for Vice President, the passing of a powerhouse female Supreme Court Justice with a potential female successor, and October being devoted to breast cancer awareness, women have been in the forefront of the news for a multitude of reasons.
Recently, the topic of women in SEO was also a news item in the digital marketing community. Though the field does not appear to be making huge strides towards gender equality, PaperStreet defies the odds. With a decidedly female presence on our internet marketing team, PaperStreet’s SEO ladies are hard at work — and are happy to be here.
Nationally, the SEO Workforce is Still Decidedly Male
Digital marketing powerhouse, Moz, published a blog post revealing industry data a few weeks ago. (Worth noting that the Moz CEO is a female.) In the global study of 652 voluntary participants, only 29% of the respondents were female. The results were consistent with 4 years of similar studies.
The article examined a host of different SEO data and found that women were more likely to be freelancers than men, and the men and women seem to be equally satisfied with their roles as in-house SEO team members. Regardless of job satisfaction, only Africa and Canada have a roughly even representation of males and females.
Google’s John Mueller Offered His Thoughts on Diversity in SEO
Last week, John Mueller’s first talking point at PubCon Pro Virtual 2020 was about diversity in hiring for the SEO industry. He did not define diversity, specifically, but he did encourage support for the organization Women in Tech SEO. He also endorsed hiring from all backgrounds stating:
Something that’s really dear on my heart, is all about diversity in SEO. And this is something that from my point of view is something that you should be thinking about not just because it’s the right thing to do but also because it can really positively affect your business…Diversity is about removing the biases that prevent a company from hiring the best qualified people: It’s about truly hiring on merit.
PaperStreet’s SEO Team Has No Shortages of Female Leaders
At PaperStreet, women make their mark in virtually every department of the company — especially the SEO team. Half of our Internet Marketing Team is female, and 2 of our company directors are women.
Interestingly, the large majority of PaperStreet’s clients are also in a field with a predominately male workforce. As a company that was founded by an attorney for other attorneys, PaperStreet largely serves as a legal marketing agency (in addition to our other services.) Based on data from 2018, the legal profession is still decidedly male with only 1 in 3 attorneys being female.
What Do We Think About the SEO Industry?
For me — as an attorney turned legal marketing professional and SEO Content Manager — my competitive personality suited the nature of the digital marketing industry. SEO and legal marketing weren’t taught in law school, and I discovered the field while looking for a side hustle. I found that attorneys were unaware of the rules of SEO and did not realize how significantly a properly optimized site can improve a firm’s client base. I enjoy bridging the gap and getting the validation of high rankings.
My colleagues also had the following to say about what is was like to work in the field of SEO:
Ashley, Our Link Building Manager:
My marketing degree helped form the groundwork and my understanding of the overall marketing world. However, my college classes didn’t focus too heavily on SEO. I learned a lot of what I know on the job and by experimenting myself. I have read hundreds of articles online by following the SEO community, taking webinars, participating in forum conversations, and watching tons of videos. I have also learned a lot from my coworkers.
I love analyzing what competitors are doing and trying to find ways to do it better. Link building also takes a lot of research which is one of my favorite things to do. Uncovering new opportunities for a business to market themselves is a fun process.
Victoria, Our SEO Associate:
I was led to internet marketing and SEO from my lifelong knack for technology and working with computers. After years of designing websites, setting up business’ social media accounts and learning digital marketing techniques along the way, I began my agency experience at PaperStreet with a freelance SEO Associate/Link Building position as it best fit my needs at the time. After 2 years, I was able to gain much more knowledge and “hands-on” experience in the industry, and started my full-time role with the company.
I think the gender gap still remains today because young women weren’t pushed to explore STEM careers as much as we’ve seen in the past decade with the overall expansion of technology worldwide and the importance of the digital marketing industry coming to light for business owners.
Adrienne, Our Monthly Content Manager
Working in the field of SEO certainly has its challenges. But turning those challenges into a positive outcome for a client makes it all worthwhile. Every time a client goes from page 2 in Google to the top 10 on the first page, it is crystal clear that the time spent on creating quality SEO content was not in vain.
Allison, Our Content Director
Internet marketing is a fast-paced industry. The best practices change often, and you have to consistently be willing to read, learn, and experiment to get the results you want. I enjoy how SEO levels the playing field. A small and budding business can rival a conglomerate that has been around for decades with the right strategy.
The internet marketing ladies at PaperStreet work fast and smart. It is always a group effort to consider how new ideas can improve our results.
