SEO Expert – Emilio Rodríguez

How did you start in the world of SEO?

After graduating in Computer Engineering, I moved to Madrid to work as a programmer at Indra. After two years I decided to return to my hometown, Salamanca, to start my own IT company.

However, shortly after starting, I realised that I lacked marketing knowledge, which is fundamental for the communication, visibility and success of any business. Therefore, I decided to train in this area. It was then that I found a job offer as an SEO consultant at Traffic4U, a Dutch international agency that was establishing itself in Spain and had offices in Salamanca and Madrid.

At first, I was not very familiar with the concept of SEO, but I trained and prepared myself for the job interview with the aim of acquiring new knowledge and being able to apply it in my own company. Eventually, I got the job and joined a great SEO team that has been key in the development of my professional career. Eventually, I left my IT company and dedicated myself entirely to the world of SEO.

You have a very broad professional career in the world of digital marketing, what do you like most about your job?

Diversity is key in my job. Working in an agency allows me to participate in different projects every week, which keeps me updated and gives me new challenges in different verticals and sectors. This is very important to me, as it prevents my work from becoming monotonous and repetitive.

In addition, I really enjoy the relationship with people. In my day-to-day work, I do not only interact with my colleagues at Smartup, but I also have the opportunity to build relationships with customers, external suppliers and other teams. This enriches my job.

You have also lectured at the University, why did you start teaching marketing?

While I was studying for my degree, I gave private classes at the academy at Alfonso X El Sabio to help my classmates with subjects I had already passed.

This experience helped me to improve my communication skills and to prioritise important tasks. As a result, I was soon presented with the opportunity to give trainings at Traffic4U.

From there, new opportunities arose as a speaker at various industry events and collaborating as a teacher of analytics and SEO in institutions such as C2B (Bilbao) or Foro Economía Digital (Madrid).

My last stage on this path was to be a lecturer on the Big Data and Business Intelligence Programme at the University of Deusto and to actively participate in the Master’s Degree in Digital Marketing at the University of Salamanca, my hometown.

However, the biggest challenge is time. I have always liked to prepare my classes carefully and offer an added value to what can be found on the Internet. Therefore, I usually share my experiences in real projects and the learnings I have acquired. Updating the materials and adapting them to the reality of the sector takes time, so it is difficult to combine it with a full-time job as well as a family.

Among your many projects you also have a weekly news section, where did the idea of ‘Chuleta Seo’ come from?

It all started with a need: in the beginning, I had an email list of several clients to whom I regularly sent information about the state of SEO.

For me, it was important that they not only knew about the work I was doing for them, but also understood how the market was evolving and the challenges we were facing. It is essential to contextualise the SEO work we do so that it is properly understood and valued.

However, manually creating and sending these emails was tedious and not scalable. To be more efficient, I decided to create a newsletter, and so Chuleta SEO was born.

Which part of SEO are you specialise in?

Being a IT professional, I focused on technical SEO. Because of my background in web and application programming, it was relatively easy for me to understand and identify issues and work in collaboration with technical teams. Luckily for me, it’s a field with low competition.

How have you balanced your work and personal life?

For me, family is the most important pillar of my life. Although I enjoy my work very much, I think it is essential to find a balance between work and personal life. That’s why, in all the companies I have worked for (Indra, Traffic4U, Internet Advantage and Smartup), I have always valued work flexibility and working hours over economic aspects.

At Smartup, thanks to remote work and flexible working hours, I have managed to find the perfect balance between both.

How do you value teamwork in the digital marketing environment? How can the relationship between departments be improved?

“If you want to go fast walk alone, if you want to go far walk together”. I prefer to be a lion’s tail rather than a mouse’s head, and that means having great professionals by my side who value and appreciate communication and teamwork.

It’s funny how in this sector you can suffer from information overload. That’s why I value subjective opinions based on experience the most. I love to share with my colleagues the highlights of our projects and the lessons we have learned. The SCRUM methodology, applied by projects and verticals, has proven to be quite effective in my day-to-day work at Smartup.

As you progress in your career and find yourself leading teams, you can lose some of that feedback. That’s why it’s important to be surrounded by excellent professionals so that we can all keep improving and learning. In such a fast-moving industry, no one can consider their experience and learning as standardised.