As an SEO expert, your job will include optimizing websites to attract quality traffic through organic searches. Many companies and online business owners are constantly looking for professionals with SEO skills and SEO experience to help them monetize their web content, generate good leads, build brand awareness, and optimize user experience.
If you’re interested in building a successful career in the industry, this article can help you learn how to get a job in SEO and discover what’s attainable on the job market. We will outline educational programs and SEO skills you need to secure the highest-paying SEO jobs in the industry.
What Is SEO?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a technique used to maximize the searchability of content on a webpage to increase its visibility and position in search engine rankings. SEO Knowledge makes it possible to generate organic links for your client’s website. It is used in online marketing to incite and increase interaction with prospective customers.
SEO makes it easy to measure the success of marketing campaigns and efforts, as well as substantially draw actionable insights from these SEO campaigns. Before you start earning your dream pay in this exciting profession, you need to understand the technicalities of this field, how it relates to the online business world and how it can be integrated.
SEO Job Outlook
SEO is a budding field, and as such, the demand for SEO professionals is growing consistently. According to the Advertising, Promotions, and Marketing Managers grouping by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, advertising, promotions, and marketing managers, which includes SEO experts, have a positive job outlook, 10 percent higher than in the average career. Between 2020 to 2030, there will be an employment growth of 31,800 new entrants.
What Education Do I Need to Become an SEO Expert?
To become an SEO expert, you need to learn the applicable skills and then devise workable SEO strategies that will impress your clients. Most positions in SEO require bachelor’s degrees in marketing, business management, and information technology. Alternatively, you can secure an SEO position with certifications. You can get these through coding bootcamps or online courses.
Can I Get an SEO Job Without a Degree or Certificate?
Yes, you can. You don’t necessarily need a certificate or a college degree for a job in SEO. While some potential hiring managers prefer to hire college graduates, you’ll definitely find many who place more emphasis on your hands-on experience and technical skills. In most cases, having a well-tailored portfolio will make you stand out as a potential employee.
Can a Coding Bootcamp Help Me Get a Job in SEO?
Yes, a coding bootcamp can help you get a job in SEO. Enrolling in a digital marketing bootcamp, business bootcamp, or information technology bootcamp can provide you with the SEO skills you need to succeed in this field. Coding bootcamps are specialized in preparing students for lucrative career roles in the tech industry.
These programs offer interested students well-structured immersive curricula spread out over a few months. If you enroll in any of the bootcamps listed, you’ll be taught by industry experts and career advisors. These instructors will provide you with mentorship in building your portfolio and social media profile. You’ll also have access to job placement services.
How Long Does It Take to Get a Job in SEO?
It could take you anywhere between one month and four years to get a job in search engine optimization. This mostly depends on the education path you choose, your learning speed and the platform you choose to conduct your job search. If you learn through online courses, it could take you anywhere from a few hours to six months.
Coding bootcamps offer an intensive curriculum and excellent student services, usually requiring about four months to complete. Typically, earning a degree takes longer. Associate degrees take up to two years, while bachelor’s degrees take three to four years. You should also consider the time it takes to build a portfolio of projects and a strong resume.
Common SEO Education Paths
Several educational platforms can help you gain the SEO training you need to apply for job openings in this field. We’ve outlined the most popular training platforms, along with their mode of operation, so you can choose the best fit.
SEO Bootcamps
SEO bootcamps are a popular education pathway for people looking to get started in this field. With this training, you’ll learn more than just the SEO basics. You’ll build your soft skills, technical knowledge, social profiles, and portfolio. You’ll learn about key SEO tools and how to scrape websites for data. You’ll also learn how to devise useful marketing strategies.
Community College
Community colleges offer both certificates and associate degrees to college students looking to get started in SEO. Certification training in either social media marketing or digital marketing from community college can provide sufficient education for a career in SEO. You’ll study topics such as content marketing, key SEO tools, link-building strategies, and click advertising.
SEO Degrees
You can gain search optimization knowledge and professional SEO marketing skills by attending a University or a four-year college. A college degree offers a strong knowledge base and a wide range of career options. Most SEO firms prioritize students with broad degrees in a related field.
You can learn how to efficiently measure SEO efforts, build search engines, and use advanced SEO factors through a bachelor’s degree program in digital marketing or information management.
Key SEO Skills to List on Your Resume
To impress prospective hiring managers, you have to structure your resume in a way that efficiently highlights your core skills. Your resume should list your transferable skills, as well as your technical skills. Below are some of the key SEO skills your resume should highlight.
Front End and Backend Programming
SEO specialists and managers need skills in programming. Knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript is essential for making websites easier to find on the web. A front end developer utilizes programming languages, web design skills, and keyword research when optimizing a website to meet SEO standards.
On the other hand, an SEO expert with backend development skills will ensure the website URLs are properly canonicalized to facilitate organic searches.
Data Analytics
Every SEO expert should understand and be able to implement SEO analytics. SEO analytics is the process of gathering and organizing datasets from websites into useful patterns to evaluate the organic performance of a website based on specific indicators. The information extracted from the analysis is used to make predictions and improve future results.
The types of analysis you can conduct on your website include on-page SEO, off-page SEO, content audit, site audit, local SEO, backlink analysis, and technical SEO.
Copywriting and Marketing
Copywriting and marketing in the digital world involve applied SEO. Your job may require you to create engaging and directional sales copies or marketing campaigns using search engine optimization. In cases like this, you need to know how to utilize specific keywords and links organically to ensure your content promotes authority, actionability, and brand awareness.
Professional content marketers and copywriters know how to identify the components of Google Analytics or Bing ranking algorithms to create compelling sales or ad copies.
Where to Find SEO Jobs
Now that we’ve covered the essential skills particular to SEO experts, it’s time to identify the best platforms for SEO job search. If you’re ready to start applying to reputable firms under contracts or freelance work, below are some of the best platforms to use.
Upwork
Upwork is one of the leading players in the gig economy. This freelance platform provides opportunities for SEO professionals to advertise their expertise through service offerings to potential clients. You’ll find different types of real-time SEO jobs on this platform, including on-page SEO, off-page SEO, SEO keyword research, and SEO audit jobs.
Search Engine Journal
Founded in 2003, Search Engine Journal was developed to enable SEO professionals to find lucrative remote and onsite jobs in different parts of the United States. If you’re interested in careers in content marketing, social media marketing, software development, web development, copywriting, data entry, and customer support, this platform may be for you.
MarketingHire
MarketingHire is a freelance job website for marketers in various niches, including SEO. It provides job placement services for interested marketers. All you have to do is apply as a job-seeking marketing professional and you’ll be matched with prospective employers in less than a week. This platform supports full-time, part-time, and hourly pricing.
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How to Prepare for Your SEO Interview
Your SEO interview will require you to display your impressive knowledge of SEO as a discipline and field. You may be asked technical and non-technical questions to determine whether you’re the best fit for the position. Here are some common questions you may encounter.
SEO Interview Questions
- What are the most important Google ranking factors?
- What is a canonical error?
- How do you integrate SEO into content video marketing?
- How do you measure SEO performance, using Google analytics?
The Five Highest-Paying SEO Jobs
| SEO Jobs | Average Salary | Projected Growth |
|---|---|---|
| Search Engineer | $117,423 | 22 percent |
| SEO Director | $112,857 | 10 percent |
| SEO Technical Specialist | $84,063 | 13 percent |
| SEO Digital Marketer | $69,301 | 10 percent* |
| SEO Engineer | $65,289 | 25 percent |
*The job outlook for SEO digital marketers has been sourced from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics under advertising, promotions, and marketing managers.
Search Engineer
- Salary: $117,423
A search engineer is a professional who builds search engines for Internet users and programs them to optimize website content, using keywords for search ranking purposes.
SEO Director
- Salary: $112,857
An SEO director leads and coordinates an SEO team. This professional develops and approves SEO strategies that are adopted by the company. They determine how the company utilizes these strategies in generating organic traffic and brand awareness.
SEO Technical Specialist
- Salary: $84,063
An SEO technical specialist is an IT specialist that coordinates the backend technical operations of a website. Their job is to improve search optimization and increase a website’s visibility in search engines like Google and Bing.
SEO Digital Marketer
- Salary: $69,301
An SEO digital marketer is a marketing professional who utilizes the practices of SEO in devising and implementing useful online marketing schemes. This includes improving access to products or services using different ecommerce platforms.
SEO Engineer
- Salary: $65,289
An SEO engineer is a web engineer that focuses on building websites in such a way that they are optimized for search engines. This professional uses knowledge of front end and backend development in devising responsive websites and web pages.
SEO Career Path
SEO can be implemented in different tech careers. Below are some of the possible SEO career pathways.
Entry-Level SEO Jobs
- Search Engine Marketer – Search engine marketing is an entry-level role that involves promoting products and services on search results or search engines through paid ads.
- SEO Technical Specialist – An SEO technical specialist works on the backend of a website, ensuring web pages load faster by optimizing server response time. They also create sitemaps and indexes.
- SEO Copywriter – An SEO copywriter creates sales copies using keywords that target a specific group of users to stimulate immediate purchase or engagement.
Mid-Level SEO Jobs
- SEO Analyst – An SEO analyst evaluates web pages and websites to identify areas that need improvements. This analysis can be done on the client’s website or their competitor’s website.
- SEO Manager – An SEO manager helps an SEO team implement marketing campaigns and keeps the team updated on the latest SEO trends.
- SEO Developer – An SEO developer builds and designs websites and web pages to optimize SEO, increasing your search engine ranking potential.
Senior-Level SEO Jobs
- SEO Director – SEO directing is a senior-level duty in the SEO hierarchy. Professionals in this role utilize their leadership and communication skills in coordinating the SEO efforts of marketing teams.
- SEO Marketing Manager – An SEO marketing manager coordinates and evaluates the marketing efforts of a company.
- SEO Engineer – The SEO engineer defines the technical website needs, devises a workable plan and collaborates with the development team to build an SEO-optimized website.
SEO Certifications
If you’re looking for the best SEO certifications to accelerate your career, below are some of the best ones you should consider earning.
SM Certified SEO Professional
This certificate is awarded to professionals who display relevant expertise in performing on-page and off-page SEO which enables a website or web page to rank high for certain keywords. For this certification, you must follow a study guide and take an examination.
ClickMinded SEO Specialist
ClickMinded offers students a professional certificate at the end of its training course. This certificate is issued after the student has successfully completed a prerequisite final exam. The certificate can be uploaded on LinkedIn and other social platforms to display competence to future employers or clients.
Moz SEO Essentials
Moz is one of the most popular SEO platforms in the world. It specializes in building SEO tools and techniques that other clients integrate into their marketing strategies. Its training academy offers a series of six-part courses and examinations to help students build a comprehensive knowledge of SEO. At the end of each exam, candidates receive completion certificates.
Tips on How to Get a Job in SEO
Below are the best tips for securing a job in SEO.
Build knowledge through SEO courses
Before you apply to any SEO jobs, you should have at least gone through basic SEO training. You shouldn’t expect to learn all the concepts of SEO on the job. Employers typically go for competent professionals who are trained and can deliver on set goals. There are several SEO courses online to get you up to speed.
Familiarize Yourself with SEO Tools and Techniques
Make sure to familiarize yourself with SEO tools that professionals use to gather actionable insights from data analysis. These tools help to determine the visibility and performance of websites on search engines. There are SEO tools for different purposes, such as checking page ranking, page speed, gathering keywords, scraping websites and generating blog posts topics.
Create a Professional Profile
Once you’ve learned the techniques of SEO and how to use the various tools in gathering useful information from websites or webpages, you need to build your professional profile. You can use personal websites and social platforms such as LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook to promote your availability and services. Your profile should draw attention to your portfolio.
Create an Impressive Resume
To apply for desired jobs in this field, you need a professional resume. Your resume is the document that informs the hiring manager of your compatibility with the job role. Your resume should create a good first impression and highlight your relevant education and work experience. You can use platforms, like Indeed, that offer resume services.
Prepare for Possible Interviews
An impressive resume gets you to the interview stage, not necessarily the job. Your interview preparation helps you secure the job. Before going into an interview, review your knowledge of the techniques of the discipline, the company’s history and vision, the latest industry trends, and general employment information.
Should You Get a Job in SEO in 2022?
Yes, you should. SEO is a relatively new field that has been recently experiencing high demand because of its practicality in increasing the revenue and customer relations of a company.
According to Research and Markets’ Agencies SEO Services Global Market Report in 2021, the SEO services market will grow at a CAGR of 19.6 percent between 2021 and 2025. Professionals in this field will enjoy higher median salaries, career growth, and opportunities.
SEO Expert FAQ
Yes, you can. You don’t need a university or college degree to secure a job in this field. There are other alternatives for people interested in breaking into this field. A coding bootcamp is an excellent choice for those who need in-depth theoretical and practical training.
No, it’s not. It’s very easy to break into the SEO field. There is a wide range of career options to choose from and several affordable professional training courses to get you started. This article contains some of the best training resources available.
Yes, it is. SEO is an engaging and lucrative career. Professionals who choose this career path are likely to experience high job satisfaction as a result of the flexibility and autonomy offered by the profession. As an SEO expert, you can choose to work remotely and on your desired schedule. You also get to decide your rate and pick your clients.
Yes, most SEO jobs pay well. As an entry-level SEO specialist, you could earn an annual salary as high as $75,500, according to the salary review from ZipRecruiter.
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