SEO: My Time Learning Organic Digital Marketing
Suppose you have organically landed on this blog post from your search engine, skipping the “sponsored” content, and finding this blog about a Senior Advertising student at Temple University talking about her time in her internship at Harmelin Media as an SEO Intern. Then, you’ve discovered the beginnings of SEO, and how I, as an SEO intern, learned how to get from the bottom of pages to top ranking content on search engines.
My name is Masina Garonzik and as I mentioned, I’m a Senior Advertising student in the Klein College of Media and Communication at Temple University, originally from Los Angeles, California. It was a big change to move from a city I’ve known all my life to Philadelphia, and after learning about its foundational history and importance to its community, I found those same values in Harmelin Media.
While at Harmelin Media as a Search Engine Optimization Intern, I learned a great deal from such a caring and informative team about the best methods to optimize their clients’ web pages. Getting hands-on experience with real brands to help boost their visibility in their search engine, in addition to intensive research in keywords, content building, and back linking analysis, I was able to understand how to thoroughly utilize a competitor analysis to help improve our clients’ visibility.
With my in-depth interest in technology and experience with coding, it was interesting how I could intersect reading CSS and HTML alongside writing, which are some of my favorite aspects of SEO. Because of this exposure, I was able to acquire a full-time job post-graduation in the field of SEO, as I believe this has combined both fields in which I’m truly interested, and when it comes to digital marketing, I believe it’s an essential skill to develop, being universally applied to other fields.
In addition to learning more about SEO, I also learned what it meant to be with such a supportive as well as knowledgeable team with years of experience in SEO. Experiencing not only shared frustrations when a site’s UX design was less the subpar, to celebrating when finishing some great work. And during my time at Harmelin, it was wonderful to see my work applied to their clients, either through YouTube search optimization, or the inclusion of content I had built for increased effectiveness in search overall.
This internship at Harmelin inspired me to take a bigger investment in understanding Google Analytics and the new GA4 system, especially when it is a universal tool that is utilized at almost every digital agency, I had managed to acquire my Google Analytics Certification independently, but I believe I couldn’t have had that motivation as well as background without my time at Harmelin Media.
While this isn’t my first internship, I’d say that some parting advice to those looking for internships is to open themselves up to any opportunities, especially among startups and projects around your campus. Everything you do can be turned into portfolio work, it just depends on how much you put into it. And with startups, a universal skillset is important and can help you explore what you truly enjoy such as content creation, copywriting, account management, and analytics. As you may know exactly what you want to do when becoming an advertising student, or have no idea where to start, exploring one’s options is always an amazing way to pinpoint future advertising positions in which you’ll excel, and most importantly, what makes you happy. And at least right now, SEO is definitely making me happy.
Hi Masina, I think your experience learning SEO and Google Analytics was a great way to build up your skills and portfolio. I’ve recently been interested in learning more about organic and paid search which led me to enroll in an SEO class next semester. It’s so important to do what makes you happy, and I wish you the best of luck carrying this mindset to your full-time role after graduation.
Hi Masina,
Thank you for sharing your insights on your internship. As an SEO intern myself I understand what you went through during your internship at Harmelin Media. Prior to starting my internship, I didn’t have a lot of experience in search engine optimization aside from the fact that it improves the quality and quantity of website traffic. When I started my role as an SEO intern at SEOM Interactive, I had to learn how to make content appealing to clients whether that’s creating multiple webpages, drafting case studies, editing metrics on Google Analytics 4, fixing hundreds of directories to increase web presence, updating job sites, and changing Google Business Profiles.
I’m glad you found the same values you did in Philadelphia as you did in Los Angeles, I’m curious to see how different they are in terms of your overall experience. Did living on the East Coast open you up to more opportunities or is it about the same? I know California is big on media too so I’m interested in seeing how they vary from each other.
I find it fascinating that you have a background in coding as well, I think it’s really helpful in the advertising industry when you have analytical skills to back up your research. I use HTML coding in my internship to create things like floating widgets. My experience is limited though, so if you have any tips or tricks I’d love to learn more about it.
Congratulations on moving forward with your career in SEO, I too will be doing that soon. I wish us both the best of luck as we step into the job market and utilize our skills to the best of our ability.
Hi Masina! I really loved reading through your post, I do not have any experience with SEO and the different intricacies that go into it. After finishing reading about your experience at Hamelin, it made me more curious about SEO and something that I should potentially look into more.
I also love your last paragraph and the advice you give. It applies to anything in life, not just looking for an internship!
Hi Masina,
Wow, you have really grown since first meeting and working with you at Allotrope. It sounds like you found something that makes you happy and interests you. This internship sounds like it gave you good experience for the future. I can’t wait to see what comes your way in the coming years. Congrats!