#52: Technical SEOs Talk Technical SEO & SEO Audits (W/ Nikki Halliwell)
Episode #52 of the SEO Podcast by #SEOSLY features Nikki Halliwell.
I invite you to subscribe to the SEO Podcast by #SEOSLY to keep learning SEO with me and the SEO experts I interview.
Follow SEO Podcast by #SEOSLY
You can subscribe to the SEO Podcast by #SEOSLY on popular podcast platforms or check the website of the podcast.
Apple Podcasts
Google Podcasts
Spotify
RSS
Episode #52
Episode #52 of the SEO Podcast by #SEOSLY features the brilliant Nikki Halliwell, a technical SEO specialist hailing from Manchester, and currently working at Journey Further.
I record both the audio and the video version of each episode. Here is the video version for you.
Watch episode #52
Listen to episode #52
You can listen to episode #52 of the SEO Podcast by #SEOSLY below.
The SEO Podcast by #SEOSLY is sponsored by JetOctopus
JetOctopus is a cloud-based website crawler and SEO log analyzer. The tool allows you to analyze your website structure, check for broken links, detect technical SEO issues, and monitor your website’s ranking in search engines.
JetOctopus is the fastest and most affordable SaaS crawler and logs analyzer without limits.
Episode #52 notes
Here are podcast notes summarizing the key points from Olga Zarr’s interview with Nikki Halliwell:
Introduction
- Olga Zarr interviews Nikki Halliwell, an SEO consultant and freelancer who also works at an agency.
- Nikki fell into SEO 7-8 years ago while doing marketing for a music company. She built their website and started learning SEO by experimenting and reading blogs/Twitter.
Nikki’s Experience
- Has worked at 5-6 agencies and likes the hands-on learning and working with diverse clients.
- Also built her own site to learn SEO. Creating your own site and “breaking things” is the best way to learn.
- Does SEO freelancing through her site nikkihalliwell.com. Also launched techseoaudits.com for audit services.
- Writes a weekly SEO newsletter started from her “Tech SEO Tuesday” tweets.
- Is active on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram sharing SEO tips.
Audit Process and Tools
- Starts audits by using the site from a user perspective to understand flows.
- Keeps all data in a spreadsheet with tabs for summary, checks, issue log, roadmap.
- Main tools are Screaming Frog, Sitebulb, OnCrawl, Google Analytics.
- Speed tests with Lighthouse, WebPageTest, GTmetrix. DebugBear to track over time.
- Most common audit issues: noindex on launch, canonical problems, JavaScript pagination.
Industry Insights
- Imposter syndrome is common among women in SEO preventing conference speaking.
- Content quality getting lazy with overreliance on AI. Unique, helpful content still vital.
- JavaScript must enable crawlable site structure and links. Buttons hide content.
- SEO will remain important and evolve with AI search. Informational sites more impacted.
Advice for Beginners
- Create your own site to learn. Break things without consequences.
- Work at an agency to learn quickly from diverse projects.
- Follow @areej_abuali and @aleyda for useful, actionable insights.
Conclusion
- Olga and Nikki reflect on enjoying the constant change and learning in SEO.
Follow Nikki
Make sure to subscribe to my SEO newsletter to stay fully informed and be notified when a new episode comes out.
You can subscribe to my newsletter using the form below.
Want to become a guest or provide ideas for the show?
If you want to become a guest on the show or you want to share ideas, feel free to contact me. I will be happy to hear from you. Contact me at [email protected].
