Technically, I’ve worked in SEO since I was 19 years old. This was for my family business. At the time, I didn’t know I was doing SEO, it was more so experimentation in trying to get more traffic by adding keywords to a page.

This experience landed me my first office job at age 20. It was for a Digital Agency in Brisbane, where I did a 6 month long internship. It was a part-time role while I was studying at University, which had a strong focus on SEO.

I was then hired by well-regarded Agency Alpha Digital who promised in-depth training and career progression. That’s exactly what I got from them, having access to two incredible role models (Chloe Cipra and Emilie Tan) who taught me skills and principles that I still use to this day.

The next move was to Melbourne, where I started working at Optimising. I wanted to work there because I was confident these guys knew their stuff, and I wasn’t wrong. While working there, I’ve been given some pretty incredible opportunities. They flew me over to the US to go to MozCon and visit the GooglePlex – all when I was only 25.

But one thing was consistent in my experiences with all three jobs – I’d gotten all of them pretty unconventionally. Instead of applying for an advertised position, I had approached them all and asked them to make a role for me. I would do my research and could prove that I was the right fit.

These experiences have led me to this point. This week will be my last week working for someone else, I’ll then be a Consultant operating under the name Brodie Clark Consulting. Thankfully, the team at Optimising have supported this move, where I will be continuing to manage some of their clients as a Contractor.

Aside from this, my ultimate plan is to build up my own SEO client-base of suitable businesses. This means businesses who know the value in SEO and really want to take things to the next level. Ecommerce sites are always favourable, but Lead Generation is a focus of mine too.

The plan for 2019 will be to produce more written content now that I’m a Columnist for both Search Engine Land and Search Engine Journal. It was quite difficult for me to make it to this level in SEO writing (because writing wasn’t something that came naturally to me), so I think it’s best that I make the most of these opportunities. Also – special thanks to Barry Schwartz for recommending me as an author for Search Engine Land, I feel very privileged.

I’d like to spend more time speaking at Events as well. I did my first presentation recently at the Melbourne SEO Meetup which was much more fun than I expected.

Brodie Clark SEO Consultant in Melbourne
Thanks to StudioHawk for the pic, and to Peter Macinkovic for taking a photo while a photo was being taken for added effect

April 1st will be my first day of the new job, where I’ll be working mainly in co-working spaces throughout Melbourne. If you have a recommendation for a space, I’d love to hear it. Update: ended up finding an awesome space!

Finally, it would be much appreciated if you could follow my Linkedin Consulting page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brodie-clark-consulting where I’ll be sharing content from time-to-time. I’m planning to update my website branding soon (it’s a work in progress).

And while you’re here: do you know an awesome Designer that I can refer work to down the track? That would be very handy right now.