"Moving to Melbourne was quite possible the best thing I could ever do."

Nik Ranger is a Technical SEO Specialist at StudioHawk. She is no stranger to site migrations and Semrush webinars.

Like many of us in Search, the pathway is often not linear and from a civil engineering graduate position, her internal question of "what do I want out of life" has lead her to be a recording artist, touring as a professional electronic violinist, taught music in Cambodia, and moving between state lines in Australia.

"If you're talented and do the work it should be enough."

As many of us who find their way into the profession of digital search, Amanda's story is similar. As someone who enjoyed band, drawing, psychology and excelled at mathematics and physics in high school, she started off in engineering before moving into graphics design.

In this episode, you'll get to know Amanda in a whole new light - as a BIPOC professional as well as a new mum and she shares the journey of adopting a child during coronavirus and how her world has changed.

Being a freelance content writer is a hard gig. Being a freelance content writer based in Nigeria is even harder.

But Chima has forged a path - it took her 2 years to do so, and in this episode, she shares how she did it and the challenges (both internal and external) she has overcome.

From imposter syndrome, white privilege, to being the best at what you do, Chima leaves no stone unturned and I am honored to share her incredible story of perseverance.

Connect with Chima on LinkedIn.

Unless you're in Melbourne or Australia, you probably won't know Peter Macinkovic. He's not on the speaker circuit but rather, one of the unknown SEOs who GSD for their clients.

With JB HIFI as one of the clients he looks after at Innovate Online, this conversation will leave no doubt that Peter knows his sh*t.

This was an episode worth talking shop :)

Moz Whiteboard Friday presenter Niki Mosier joins us today to share how she got started in SEO. With 10 to 15 years of experience under her belt, Niki shares her journey from "back in the day" of keyword stuffing to what she specialises in now - technical SEO and local SEO.

And since our recording, Niki has a new project - https://www.lessonsfromanseo.com/. Check it out!

Joining us today is Krystal Taing, dialling in from sunny San Diego.

Krystal is a Solutions Engineer for Strategic Partnerships at Uberall, a SaaS business that is based in Berlin. Prior to this, she did 6 years at Rio SEO that also was a SaaS-based local SEO solution.

In this episode, Krystal shares how she fell into her expertise of local SEO, her experience as a person of color and as a woman in an industry represented by white men, where she continues to expand her knowledge, and her advice on whether you should consider a career in Agency vs In-house.

Krystal is a huge advocate of LocalU and Women in Tech SEO (founder Areej will be on an upcoming episode).

So let's get started!

For the longest time, I thought Craig was an intimidating person. But as you will discover, Craig is a very loveable character and he has a wealth of experience - especially with once running an SEO agency and why he no longer wants to own an agency by himself despite achieving "moderate success".

New father, course provider, YouTube and affiliate SEO influencer, this is Craig Campbell's story.

NYC girl moves to Denver, Christina LeVasseur (Brodzky) is the brain behind MediaSesh. We talk about bears, taking naps, what it is like being a woman in SEO, and her previous life in public relations.

What drives Jason Brown to fight SPAM on the SERPs on a daily basis? Find out (and so much more about him) in this episode of Make SEO Simple Again.

You can follow Jason Brown on Twitter (@keyserholiday).

If you need help with removing fake reviews, this is Jason's business: Review Fraud.

Emily Brady popped onto my radar when I tweeted for salary expectations. She DM'd me and through that, I was able to negotiate new responsibilities with my boss.

She is a Senior Manager in Local SEO Solutions at Milestones Inc. In this episode, we inevitably chat about local search and I learn how she pursued to become a content writer before falling into SEO. And learn what rhetorical criticism is :)

Follow Emily on Twitter (@plotboilers).