Meet Syed Muhammad Baqar Rizvi, SEO Specialist at Reprise Digital
Baqar’s expertise lies in analyzing, reviewing, and implementing changes to a website so that it ranks better on popular search engines. His education in Business Administration and further experience working with some of the best SEO agencies in the region have equipped him with an excellent sense of what it takes to bring a website on top of the rankings and SERP.
Why did you join this industry?
I have always been interested in the technical aspects of search engine optimization (SEO). It is wonderful to bring to the table an analytic mind and a way for clients to achieve better revenue through my SEO efforts. This profession helps me achieve quantifiable results for websites, and this is exciting.
How did you land your first job?
I got recruited to web-design for my first company. While I was working there, Google released their RankBrain algorithm, and this changed the world of digital marketing forever. I knew that SEO was the next logical step to further my career and I took it without thinking twice.
Who do you look up to?
I have good friends who have been in the SEO field for decades and I do look up to them. My peer groups help keep me updated with the latest trends and changes in the Google algorithm. I follow and listen to members of the Google Webmaster Analysts team, like John Mueller.
What’s the best advice you have received so far?
When preparing content for a particular website, it is imperative that we understand the user intent or the real human behind the computer screen. SEO should be done so that users can find the information they are searching for; therefore, write for users first and search engines second.
What’s the best advice you have given so far?
Whether a user clicks through to a certain website or not is directly correlated to the crawl and indexing budget. In simple terms, this means that the amount of attention a search engine like Google gives to your website will decide if a user clicks through to it.
How do you feel about the stigma sometimes associated with Millennials and Gen Z?
It is true that some professionals in the SEO industry believe that Millennials and Gen Z do not bring much to the table in terms of experience. This is not the case as SEO is an ever-evolving entity, and what might have worked five years ago will not work now.
What do you think you specifically bring to the organization you work for?
My problem-solving skills coupled with decision- making capabilities enable me to prioritize and develop relevant and engaging SEO strategies for websites to ensure that we get maximum conversions and ROI for the clients, along with first-page Google ranking for the landing pages for select keywords.
What’s the most valuable lesson you’ve learned at work?
One thing that I have learned working in the SEO industry for this long is that nothing is set in stone. Google changes its algorithm almost every two months in minor ways, and once a year in core updates; therefore, it is necessary to keep updated through the right channels.
What’s the most rewarding thing about your job?
There is a definitey satisfying feeling when you have been working on increasing the ranking of a certain keyword and everything finally clicks. There are many black hat methods to achieve a sudden boost in ranking but for permanent results, it is best to put sincere efforts into the work.
What’s the most frustrating thing about your job?
Just like the satisfying feeling of bringing a keyword on top, the opposite can happen; when you try hard for some keywords without any kind of success and Google just becomes too stubborn – although I have found that the algorithm does not make mistakes and we must be missing something.
If not this, what would you be doing?
Coming from a pure technical background, I would perhaps become a web developer, although I feel that I have selected the right industry as there is a possibility of growth, learning, and career development that is com- pletely unmatched. It is indeed a pleasure to be considered an SEO professional.
Would you start your own venture in the future?
Oh yes. This is indeed something that has garnered my attention. I would love to get a team of like-minded SEO experts together and bring results to websites. Since I have a network of peers in this field, it is something I would be interested in doing.
