Meet Tom Burnett, our terrific new SEO manager

My story is a bit of a rollercoaster after finishing my degree in Marine Archaeology! I had initially trained with an intent to spend more time diving on 17th-century merchant ships (as you do). Around a year after graduating and doing a bit of archaeological illustrating on the side, I decided to move on.

Playing to my strengths, I landed a pure digital role for an incredible team at The Goodwood Estate (home to the Festival of Speed). While working alongside a colleague who had a real passion for technical SEO, I found my niche.

I moved into the role of digital marketing manager and covered an array of activities, including paid search, CRO, personalisation, email campaign management, app content management, UX and SEO. I became more passionate about search and evolved into a specialist throughout this time - something I had strived for after being a generalist for so long.

I love it when you make informed decisions to alter content or implement technical fixes, and then you can see the reward of your efforts through the data. It helps get buy-in from people who are sceptical around things that need prioritising when you can back it all up with data and makes for happy people! It goes back to the adage, “you reap what you sow”. 

For me, it was the creation of a culture that began to put SEO toward the front of planning and strategy rather than something to “fix” once live. It can be a struggle, but once people understand some of what we do (an SEO), peers can buy into best practices and optimisation and see the tangible returns.

You get to see an incredible wealth of different sites, content, and people who have a passion for what they do. Helping those people solve problems they encounter is something I have always enjoyed. 

It would have to be Google Search Console. The wealth of information that you can get on your site is invaluable and a beautiful place to start pointing you in the right direction of issues that need fixing and what people are searching for.  

A willingness to listen and learn from those around you, as well as those you help. Something that may seem like an easy fix in your eyes may be something unachievable from a stakeholder's perspective. It is about collaboration, trust, and honesty.

The perception that SEO is a bunch of “hacks” and “quick fixes”. Your users are the first thing you should always look at and what they are searching for, not trying to dupe people into coming to your site for the wrong reasons. 

Artificial intelligence. I think that Google’s most recent announcements, including the MUM update, will evolve some of what we do and open the doors for more natural and conversational searches. I expect changes like this to have significant implications on what we prioritise, like images, videos, or other types of content. It also puts even more pressure on quality and relevance being the most important ranking factors (which I am all for!). A bit like anything in SEO, and particularly with future Google updates, you never know!

Outside big hitters like Google's John Mueller (and @LordOfTheSERPs on Twitter for top tier memes), I have been going to Brighton SEO for years and love the breadth of knowledge from speakers there. It is hugely important to keep discussions open with your peers, and I love getting stuck in chats with colleagues about the latest updates.

Number one, doing SEO too late and then taking your foot off the pedal! I think SEO should be at the forefront of a digital strategy. Brands can unlock knowledge and acquire a wealth of information from understanding their users. I feel too many organisations don't embrace user data or do not know it exists.

That SEO is an optional bolt-on to the digital shopping list. I have come up against people who have passionately believed we do not need to worry about things as “they are fine right now”. SEO is very much an ongoing process and not something that you fire and forget about.

Of course - and the 56k dial-up sounds from my Gateway2000? Classic. I was a child of the 80s/90s here, so I fondly remember booting up Command and Conquer in DOS!

It is a mixed bag of a great understanding between what SEO is and “Tom works for Google” or “you work in IT; can you fix this?”.

Scrambled for sure, with my Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Handbook at the ready for my next character build - I had to get that in somewhere, sorry!