Gipi Gopinath is Director of Biddable and SEO for Croud in Australia. We spent five minutes with Gipi, delving into his experience to date, why he loves SEO, and discussing his predictions for the current year.
How long have you been working in SEO?
I have worked in SEO for over 11 years now, but before this, I used to work as an Aircraft Engineer fixing planes for 14 years. It’s when I moved to Bulgaria that I started to learn about HTML and web design. I saw a book about SEO – the only English book in the office – and it piqued my interest, landing me a job in London for the Flight Centre. I then moved to Sydney to work with more clients and soon joined Croud Australia where I have been for more than two years now, heading the SEO offering.
Why do you love SEO?
When I was designing and creating websites in my previous roles, I was not fully satisfied with the task. I wanted to make an impact on how people found a website, user engagement and the user journey. Understanding the audience and serving them the right content was what got me into SEO – very cliché I know!
What are the biggest challenges you are facing in SEO?
90% of my time goes into explaining to clients why SEO is so important. A lot of clients want quick wins and fast results, so they tend to push SEO to the bottom. Client training has helped and we always insist on a 1-2-1 basis, so that the clients understand the impact and benefits of SEO. Another challenge can also be the different channel departments working in different directions, I think it’s therefore important to educate all channels on the benefits, value, and purpose of SEO, in order to encourage teams to work closely across channels.
Five things that set you apart from the crowd
The retail sector is my bread and butter and, there’s no one who could know more about online parking than me. If you’re looking for unlimited banter and brutal honesty then I’m your man. I know how to fix a plane – which makes me the perfect flying companion. And most importantly, I work for a company that is the only place where SEO and Content work simultaneously to produce the best results for all clients.
What do you predict the future holds for digital?
I think most certainly Amazon will be the next Google. We will also see Content marketing taking a shift towards producing content based directly on search engine queries. And we’ll probably bid adieu to the ‘Nofollow’ tag.
And finally, tell us a fun fact that you can share?
‘Stewardesses’ is the longest word that can be typed using only the left hand.
If you’d like to know more about Gipi, the SEO team or Croud, get in touch.
