How to become A SEO Specialist

An organisation does not want its website hidden away like the proverbial needle in a haystack, impossible for users to locate in a stack of search engine pages. SEO Specialists recognise the value of high rankings and optimal online visibility of a company’s website. Using specialised techniques and tactics, they stimulate greater traffic to the website, raising the likelihood of product or service sales online, leading to enterprise success and profitability.

• Search Engine Optimisation Specialist
• SEO Expert

What do SEO Specialists do?

An SEO Specialist would typically need to:

• Boost search engine traffic to the company’s website by using digital marketing techniques and tactics to ensure it places near the top of the results on the pages of major search engines, such as Google, Yahoo! and Bing
• Research, select and test keywords; develop content using them; implement link building strategies; make strategic changes to page design and layout
• Analyze websites and perform SEO audits; help maintain websites; constantly monitor search terms, rankings & analytics; provide reports & technical suggestions to developers
• Ensure site accessibility and ease of visitor interaction by programming in HTML, CSS and JavaScript, which may need you to work on video and PDFs
• Organise PPC (pay-per-click) campaigns to augment the revenue generated by sponsored online advertising
• Create original and engaging web content suited to the target audience; develop, execute and consolidate content marketing approaches
• Liaise with other businesses to leverage link-building, generating paid commission from driving user traffic to their websites
• Optimise UX (user experience) and conversion rate to enhance website performance and convert visitors to active users
• Promote community building to drive loyal and targeted users to a website
• Leverage social media for content distribution and to get more external sites to engage in link-building with your web content, thereby boosting your authority
• Keep track of changes in the algorithms set by search engines

You will most likely be based in an office and work within a marketing team. SEO specialists spend considerable time on computers, working with numbers, graphs and charts while collaborating with colleagues across departments in their organisation.

SEO Specialists typically follow regular business hours, 9 am to 5 pm, Monday to Friday. Your current project and deadlines would determine if you need to spend evenings, holidays and weekends at work. For example, traffic analysis for a major marketing campaign typically demands long hours.

Various options may be available to suit you, such as part-time work, job sharing, flexible work patterns, working from home, and short-term contracts.

Finding a new job might seem challenging. SEO Specialists can boost their job search by asking their network for referrals, contacting companies directly, using job search platforms, going to job fairs, leveraging social media, and inquiring at staffing agencies.

SEO Specialists are generally employed by: 

• Large Corporates
• Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
• Digital Marketing Agencies
• Marketing Firms

Professional associations and organisations, such as the Digital Analytics Association (DAA), are crucial for SEO Specialists interested in pursuing professional development or connecting with like-minded professionals in their industry or occupation. Membership in one or more adds value to your resume while bolstering your credentials and qualifications.

• Staying current with rapidly-changing trends and technology
• Intense competition in the SEO market
• The likelihood of considerable travel, particularly if freelancing or working for an agency
• High level of adaptability required while meeting the needs of diverse projects
• The lack of faith in SEO on the part of business owners or senior management
• The expectation of business owners that SEO Specialists will self-evaluate and rank their services
• The expectation of new clients to see immediate results, although SEO is a long-term investment
• Guaranteed rankings by unprofessional and unreliable SEO agencies and the use of SEO tactics that end up harming the business website
• Business owners giving up on SEO after failed trials with other services or specialists
• Dealing with email spammers, pushy cold callers and robo callers

Any academic program that a potential SEO Specialist takes up typically requires a period of supervised experience, such as an internship. You would do well to find an SEO/digital marketing placement or internship, most likely with large enterprises. You may send out speculative applications to local digital marketing agencies, charities or the marketing departments of enterprises in your region. You can chalk up helping a company improve its website as valuable work experience or even launch your own website or blog to showcase your skills.

You will gain optimal benefit from your tasks outside of the classroom when they line up perfectly with your lessons inside it. You may get to hear countless stories from more experienced professionals and obtain valuable hands-on experience when they manage to turn seemingly routine incidents into unique learning moments.

You may pursue self-paced online programs to understand the industry and become a successful SEO Specialist. Read about the profession and interview or job shadow experts working as SEO Specialists to prove your commitment to course providers and prospective employers. Following digital marketers on social media and reading their blogs may also be helpful. If you are eligible to join relevant professional organisations, you may be able to enrol in their courses and use their other resources.

There are no mandatory or specific academic requirements for aspiring SEO Specialists. An associate, higher national diploma (HND) or a foundation degree may be sufficient for employers to hire you in entry-level roles if you can demonstrate relevant experience and technical skills.

While bachelor’s degree holders with a major in any subject may enter the field, digital marketing firms may prefer that you have a degree in web development, IT, business, marketing, or communications if you wish to work with them. However, degree programs directly related to SEO are not common, and a marketing or business program may not foster the specialised skills you need. Therefore, you may acquire the necessary skills by choosing an online SEO course from various free or inexpensive options.

Such courses are also valuable to professionals who wish to enter SEO via other fields by learning new technical skills and using their current transferable skills and qualifications.

A master’s degree in digital marketing may be offered by universities but is typically not required by employers and only serves to expand your skills and knowledge, especially if you have a bachelor’s in an unrelated subject.

Most current SEO experts prefer to acquire additional certification, such as the highly valued Google Analytics Certification. It includes a badge you can place on your website to demonstrate your competence in a skill set, particularly in tracking and measuring website performance. You may earn your credentials typically through work experience, training, and passing an examination. 

When acquired from an objective and reputed organisation, certification can also help you stand out in a competitive job market, carry a significant salary premium of up to 18 per cent, increase your chances of advancement, and allow you to become an independent consultant. Successful certification programs protect public welfare by incorporating a Code of Ethics. 

Typically, an SEO Specialist does not need a license unless you are creating a corporation as a legal entity, in which case you would need a business license to operate. Individual government entities conduct the licensing process. It typically requires the passage of an examination in addition to the fulfilment of eligibility requirements, such as a minimum level of education, work experience, training, or the completion of an internship, residency, or apprenticeship. 

Performance, experience, and the acquisition of professional qualifications drive career progression. Employees with consistently high performance levels may be eligible for promotion every two to three years. 

Several career paths are open to SEO Specialists, whether they are company employees, independent consultants, or SEO consultancy representatives. Typically, you begin work in content writing, web development or marketing and continue to expand your SEO skills and knowledge on the job. Or you may start as an intern and progress to become an SEO Executive. 

Either way, you may head to become SEO Manager or Account Manager, and eventually Head of SEO or Head of Digital. Keep in mind that reaching the level of SEO Manager requires from two to five years of experience if your company provides on-the-job training and continuing professional development (CPD) opportunities. With adequate experience in SEO techniques and analytics, you can take on the role of SEO Analyst. You could specialise in optimising conversion and develop strategies based on search trends to achieve KPIs.

Another pathway is to head from an SEO role to copywriting or digital marketing. However, senior marketing roles may require higher qualifications. Reaching the level of Digital Account Director would put you in charge of strategy, accounts, digital marketing campaigns, and budgets. You would also train and mentor juniors.

If you wish to work in SEO but not on its technical side, you can become a Content Marketing Specialist. You would develop the overall content strategy, liaising with SEO and marketing teams to achieve the company’s digital marketing goals. A PPC (pay-per-click) Manager selects the target audience, researches relevant keywords, coordinates creative campaigns and manages budgets. The role of SEM (search engine marketing) specialists encompasses SEO, PPC, and CRM (customer relationship management). They strategise the company website to make it rank the highest on organic and paid search engine results.

You can continue to occupy the digital marketing space through two other avenues if you have the skills but do not want to work as an employee at an organisation. First, you can launch your company and set your terms to take on clients who wish to benefit from your SEO skills. Your reach to potential customers and the business you procure will determine your remuneration. Or you may launch your website as a platform to offer your expert services to examine and modify clients’ web content. Both ways, you foster your SEO skills, entrepreneurship, and ability to negotiate and seal business deals.

Candidates with the relevant skillset, proper certification and SEO experience have the best job prospects. If you have a degree in a non-computing subject, you must demonstrate critical technical knowledge to enhance your marketability. 

Continuing professional development (CPD) will help an active SEO Specialist build personal skills and proficiency through work-based learning, a professional activity, 

formal education, or self-directed learning. It allows you to upskill continually, regardless of your age, job, or level of knowledge.

Employers typically provide on-the-job training to build your familiarity with their digital marketing and SEO tools. Some may even sponsor your continuing education (CE) to encourage you to acquire professional qualifications. You may prepare yourself through short courses from various accredited providers, such as the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), the Institute of Data & Marketing (IDM), and JellyFish Training.

You may also take courses in technical, on-page or off-page SEO techniques, search framework, keyword research, document relevance, tool suggestions, link building, or local SEO. You could also learn about Shopify/Pinterest/YouTube/Amazon SEO or build your digital marketing skills relevant to social media, email marketing, and UX design.

While knowledge of basic programming and content creation is helpful to SEO Specialists, it is vital for them to become familiar with the website creation process and how its components impact site visibility.

The Three Tiers of SEO

To succeed as an SEO Specialist and thereby help a website rank prominently in a search engine’s results, you must factor in the three tires of search engine optimisation into a marketing strategy - technical, on-page, and off-page.

Technical optimisation tackles the non-content part of websites, including enhancements to their backend structure and foundation. It begins with a comprehensive website analysis that helps to zone in on how to boost speed, indexing, mobile friendliness, crawlability, and architecture. The user experience can also improve as the website becomes more readable, reinforcing its value for search engines.

On-page SEO deals with optimising website content and getting search engines to value it as a resource. It strategises the use of keywords, meta tags, internal links and HTML tags to ensure the website's appearance is high up in Google results.

Off-page optimisation uses link building to connect websites. It also uses strategies to boost a website’s reputation on search engines as a trusted source, thereby allowing it to feature on top of rankings.

Some SEO Tools 

Google Search Console provides a collection of free tools dealing with diverse aspects of optimisation. The services help to evaluate how Google views a particular website.

Google AdWords Keyword Planner is an extensive collection of keyword research tools that allows you to locate a keyword and its traffic estimates and competitiveness as represented by its AdWords value. 

Semrush helps with keyword research and lets you find out the number of searches for specific terms. It also provides data on similar keywords, related ads, and product listings.

BuzzStream is a comprehensive set of tools that assist domain research, email marketing, and project management. 

An SEO Specialist’s Toolkit
SEO Specialists have a diverse and complex skillset. In general, they must be experts in digital marketing and its various aspects, such as copywriting and web design, and have a solid grasp of SEM (search engine marketing). In particular, some of their primary SEO skills include title tag optimisation and finding high-volume but low-competition keywords while also estimating their optimal location on a webpage. 

They must be well-versed in HTML and how to advance or build links to key pages. The relationship between technical SEO and rankings must be clear to SEO Specialists. Expertise in visual content, such as infographics and videos, is crucial, especially in the future. Communication skills are vital, and so are risk assessment and trend forecasting. Above all, they must stay on top of evolving SEO trends and changes in Google algorithms.

Potential Pros & Cons of Freelancing vs Full-Time Employment
Freelancing SEO Specialists have more flexible work schedules and locations. They have full ownership of the business and can select their projects and clients. However, while they may charge high remuneration levels on their assignments, they may also experience inconsistent work and cash flow, which means more responsibility, effort and risk.

On the other hand, a full-time SEO Specialist has company-sponsored health benefits, insurance, and retirement plans. They have job security with a fixed, reliable source of income and guidance from their bosses. Yet, they may experience boredom due to a lack of flexibility, ownership, and variety.

When deciding between freelancing or being a full-time employee, consider the pros and cons to see what works best for you.

Voice search allows users to browse using verbal commands. Voice search optimization is a critical skill that SEOs must have as it boosts the appearance of a website’s pages in voice searches.

SEO is integral to digital marketing success for any business and will only grow in significance. Dynamic, rewarding and yielding tangible outcomes that become the motivation to perform even better - an SEO Specialist’s role is constantly evolving along with technology. Through creating content, analysing data and optimising websites, SEO Specialists contribute to driving traffic, brand promotion, customer engagement, and enhanced user experience.

Learn how search engines work and get trained in SEO tools and software, content marketing, and link-building. Think of your first assignment as an internship and follow it up by constantly testing and learning. Begin your task with keyword research. Aim to better the match between a user’s intent and website content. Use reverse engineering to analyse competitors. The hundreds of ranking factors all measure relevancy, authority and quality. Remember that both local and international SEO are crucial, depending on your site's reach. Hop on board video content optimisation, which is what the future holds. SEO specialisation is hard work, but its outcomes will propel you forward.