Search Marketing Specialist @ CAA with Rihanna Hosseini

07/20/23 • 45 min

In her Year 1ne, Rihanna works as a Search Marketing Specialist, primarily focusing on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) at Canadian Automobile Association (CAA), a not-for-profit made up of eight regional automobile clubs serving over 6 million members in Canada. She’s an in-house SEO expert for two automobile clubs—CAA South Central Ontario and CAA Manitoba–doing in page optimization for multiple websites to ensure search results (in Google and other search engines such as Bing) are relevant and create a positive user experience. 🚘
Some of the highlights from Rihanna and Blair’s chat include how being an SEO is the most mysterious job in marketing, the practice of turning an unsuccessful job interview into a moment of reflection; and, the importance of using simple words in marketing.
In This Episode 🗣️
Rihanna’s Year 1ne @ CAA
1:47 | Introduction from Rihanna
2:35 | Overview of CAA
4:50 | Working as a Search Marketing Specialist
9:35 | SEO is detective work
13:20 | Essential human skills
15:10 | Essential software and tools
16:50 | Changing careers from polymer engineering into SEO
22:15 | What’s on your mind in marketing right now?
Getting to Day 1ne: The Job Search
24:50 | Getting hired at CAA
28:00 | Preparing for the interview process
28:40 | Hardest part of the job search
30:40 | The “What’s your favourite brand?” question
33:15 | How to balance user attention span vs. right amount of information for the user
Thing’s I’ve Learned in Year 1ne
36:10 | Rookie mistake of using acronyms and jargon
38:50 | Lesson learned to practice patience
41:55 | Pro tip to share your ideas
The Hottest of Links and Resources 🔥
Connect with Reyhaneh (“Rihanna”) Hosseini: LinkedIn
Brands/organizations: Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) | CAA South Central Ontario | CAA Manitoba | TD Insurance
Marketing and media tools: Microsoft Excel | Google Analytics 4 (GA4) | Google Search Console | BrightEdge
Connect with The Year 1ne’s host Blair Smith: LinkedIn
Check out The Year 1ne’s show website for past episodes, show notes and more goodness

Previous Episode

SEM Manager @ Saatchi & Saatchi with Alex Carter

In his Year 1ne(ish), Alex works as a Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Manager at Saatchi & Saatchi, a global advertising agency that’s part of the Publicis Group. I just under two years, he’s progressed through four roles in paid search advertising from SEM Intern to SEM Coordinator to SEM Specialist to SEM Manager. 📈
Some of the highlights from Alex and Blair’s chat include the progression of his four roles and what changed with each one, which brand stands out as the “king of content” by being memorable; and, why you need to spend the entire advertising budget you’re given.
In This Episode 🗣️
Alex’s Year 1ne @ Saatchi & Saatchi
1:30 | Introduction from Alex
2:15 | Overview of Saatchi & Saatchi
4:50 | Progressing from SEM Intern to SEM Manager
13:45 | The specifics of search marketing
17:00 | Essential software and tools
18:35 | Writing ads in Microsoft Excel?!?!
22:20 | What’s on your mind in marketing right now?
Getting to Day 1ne: The Job Search
27:20 | Switching from sports management to digital marketing
29:30 | Why digital marketing?
31:00 | Getting hired at Saatchi & Saatchi
32:40 | Optimizing your LinkedIn profile
35:10 | Hardest part of the job search
37:30 | The “What’s your favourite brand?” question
Thing’s I’ve Learned in Year 1ne
39:40 | Rookie mistake that it’s easy to make small mistakes in paid search
40:45 | Pro tip as an Intern it’s all about learning
41:25 | Lesson learned to spend the media budget you’re given
The Hottest of Links and Resources 🔥
Connect with Alex Carter: LinkedIn
Brands/organizations: Saatchi & Saatchi | Publicis Group | Brock University | George Brown College | Red Bull
Marketing and media tools: Google Ads Editor | Google Ads | Google Search Ads 360 | Microsoft Advertising | Microsoft Excel
Connect with The Year 1ne’s host Blair Smith: LinkedIn
Check out The Year 1ne’s show website for past episodes, show notes and more goodness

Next Episode

SEO Strategist @ Flywheel Digital with Nathan Smith

In his Year 1ne, Nathan works as an SEO Strategist at Flywheel Digital, a boutique growth marketing agency. The truth is Nathan started out as a life science student in the pursuit of medical school only to have an MCAT seminar deliver an earth-shattering awakening about how much time he would have to commit to getting there, so Nathan chose the next best thing...to get into digital marketing.😱
Some of the highlights from Nathan and Blair’s chat include the real deal of what being an SEO is all about, how medicine, law and SEO are similar; and the time that ChatGPT let him down.

In This Episode 🗣️
Nathan’s Year 1ne @ Flywheel Digital
1:42 | Introduction from Nathan
4:05 | Overview of Flywheel Digital
5:25 | Working as SEO Strategist
7:50 | Doing link building for SEO
9:25 | Essential software and tools
11:00 | Deciding to drop med school and get into marketing
13:15 | Nerding out on SEO
14:30 | Essential human skills
18:50 | What’s on your mind in marketing right now?
Getting to Day 1ne: The Job Search
21:05 | Getting hired at Flywheel Digital
24:10 | Learning about SEO while looking for SEO job
25:10 | Talking about technical SEO
26:35 | Hardest part of the job search
28:30 | Onboarding experience at Flywheel Digital
29:10 | The “What’s your favourite brand?” question
33:00 | Hot tips for content marketing and SEO for small organizations
41:00 | Being creative in marketing
Thing’s I’ve Learned in Year 1ne
44:15 | Rookie mistake on trusting ChatGPT too much
45:15 | Lesson learned to communicate succinctly
The Hottest of Links and Resources 🔥
Connect with Nathan Smith: LinkedIn
Brands/organizations: Flywheel Digital | ChatGPT | Wayfair | HubSpot
Marketing and media tools: Skillshop with Google | Google Search Console | Google Analytics 4 | Google Chrome Developer Tools | Ahrefs | Semrush | BlueArray Technical SEO Certificate | YouTube
Connect with The Year 1ne’s host Blair Smith: LinkedIn
Check out The Year 1ne’s show website for past episodes, show notes and more goodness