Interview with SEO Expert Sourabh Rana

It gives me immense pleasure, to begin with, this new section #ExpertSpeaks on my blog.

This is the first expert interview and in the coming days, many experts from the digital marketing industry will be sharing their valuable experiences.

In the very first interview, I have Sourabh Rana – a devotee, a friend, a mentor, and an SEO expert. In this interview with Sourabh Rana, let us see how has he succeeded in digital marketing and learn from his experiences.

Who is Sourabh Rana?

Sourabh Rana is a seasoned digital marketing professional and a team leader, currently working as an SEO Account Director in India’s one of the biggest electronics website. 

He has worked with Media .net, NDTV, FreeKaMaal, Crystal Travel, and several other companies.

Sourabh Rana is learning and practicing SEO and digital marketing since 2008. He is currently giving SEO Training online and offline in Delhi.

Let us begin the very first interview with Sourabh Rana.

Expert Speaks – Interview with Sourabh Rana Aka SEORANA

#1. Sourabh, you have immense experience in SEO? How did your SEO journey began?

I got to know about SEO from my elder sister long ago. At that time, she was working as an SEO expert in a big MNC.

I was also searching for a suitable career for me and decided to pursue a career in the same field.

After a lot of research, I found one institute which was giving SEO Training in Delhi and I joined the course. After the completion of training, I joined Stellar Data Recovery in Gurgaon as an SEO Executive.

This embarked on my SEO journey.

#2. You are a BCom graduate. Was it difficult for you to pursue SEO?

No, it was not difficult.

In fact, people have the wrong notion that you need to be a coder in order to do SEO.

Yes, I agree that knowledge of web development is an added advantage.

But, even a commerce graduate like me can do it well. One needs to work hard and maintain consistency to excel in SEO.

#3. Sourabh, how do you keep yourself updated?

I have created Google Alerts on my industry terms like “SEO”, “Google Analytics” and I read searchengineland.com, seroundtable.com, searchenginejournal.com on a regular basis.

Apart from this, I am the admin of several digital marketing groups on Facebook and WhatsApp. People share a lot of interesting stuff over there.

#4. What is Sourabh Rana’s ambition in life?

I just keep working hard and believe in KARMA.

In the past few years, I saw many fake “digital” gurus have entered the market and are sharing very wrong and misleading information. 

So, I have decided to share my knowledge with people and I want to give real SEO/Digital marketing training to all, who want to learn. 

#5. What is the best and worst experience in your SEO career?

I have more bad experiences than good. Primarily in SEO because I am from the pre panda/penguin era in Digital Marketing.

Our all websites were ranking on the top on the first page of Google but one day instantly all keywords went down.

That was a shocking moment for everyone.

I worked for almost 4 years on the penalized websites, Then I was able to recover a few websites and a few didn’t. I have learned from my all failures in SEO.

It is all about learning from the mistakes you make, correcting them and never making them again.

#6. Is it necessary to learn only a single area of digital marketing or you recommend one to be a T-shaped digital marketer?

Actually, this is a very good question.

Currently, many training institutes are giving 16-17 modules.

Today, one girl from Delhi called me to inquire about Digital marketing training and she said one institute in Noida is teaching 60 modules in the whole training. I was shocked and said instantly “I also want to join their training :P”

Honestly speaking, you don’t need to learn 17-18 modules initially. Because that is too much food for you, you can’t digest in one go.

I will recommend going with SEO, Social Media, and Pay Per Click (PPC) first. Make a stronghold on these aspects of digital marketing.

I want to add PRO TIP whatever you are learning in Digital Marketing, always make a good command of the ANALYTICS, whether it is Google Analytics or Social Media.

Give some extra hours to learn analytics. 

You would like to read interview with digital analytics expert.

#7. What according to you is the future of digital marketing?

In India, digital marketing has a great future.

Digital has become popular in the last 3-4 years and in the coming years, it will become more popular.

Mobile penetration is increasing, the Internet population is increasing (Thanks to JIO network also). Google and other big players are focusing on the mobile more, so Digital is the future.

#8. Please share 5 SEO tips

1. Focus on mobile optimization
2. Don’t Ignore the value of the Images
3. Use keywords wisely in the content
4. Think first for the “Users” and then Search engines
5. Work very closely on the headlines of the articles.

#9. How should a college student begin his digital marketing journey?

I will recommend college students start from blogging and social media. 

They can follow genuine people, read the journals/white papers, Industry’s best websites like MOZ, Search engine journal, search engine watch, Google’s blogs for more real knowledge.

I strongly recommend college students should be more creative and innovative in the field of Digital marketing if they want to create their careers.

Read “What are the career options in digital marketing?”

#10. It is easy for a student to begin with a career in digital marketing, but it is difficult for experienced professionals. They already have several years of experience in a specific domain and they have to begin it from scratch. How should they go ahead?

Very good question Jainish.

I will recommend them to take basic digital education from the above-mentioned resources and do some blogging. After that, they should work in some good company.

A person might be into software development. He might have a good package in his existing company. But, while switching to a digital marketing role, he should not expect many hikes or maybe be ready to work at less salary.

Because he is switching from one domain to another. Once he works on several projects in digital marketing, the money will flow in.

The purpose should be to learn and gather KNOWLEDGE.

Conclusion

Thank you, Sourabh for sharing your experience and wonderful tips for digital marketing enthusiasts.

I hope the interview helped you.

In case you have any further questions for Sourabh Rana, you can reach out to him on LinkedIn.

Stay tuned!