A Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Specialist examines, analyses, and modifies a website to make it search engine friendly, resulting in the website ranking higher in search results on major search engines such as Google and Bing.
An SEO person optimizes a web pages to ensure appropriate search results and a great user experience, increasing website traffic, lead volume, and brand awareness. To put it another way, an SEO Specialist is no different than any other digital or a traditional marketing professional in that they’re all aiming to increase sales for the firm they work for.
SEO professionals can improve a website’s exposure on Google by conducting keyword research and utilizing SEO tools such as Google Analytics. This has significant benefits for any organization. Some may collaborate with other members of a marketing team to develop new projects or improve the management of social media accounts to increase user engagement and traffic.
WHAT ARE THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE SEO SPECIALIST JOB?
Whether working for a digital marketing firm, or as a freelancer for a client, SEO Specialist job responsibilities differ. However, the vast majority of SEO Specialist job postings will cover all or most of the following:
- Create SEO strategies to help the company’s website rank higher in search results.
- Keep SEO campaign costs under control by forecasting monthly costs and resolving discrepancies.
- Work closely with the web development team to make sure that SEO quality standards are applied consistently throughout the content of the website.
- Collaborate with editorial and marketing teams to improve SEO in content production and distribution.
- Assume responsibility for improving search engine marketing pages.
- Research, identify, and optimize new SEO keywords for use on the company’s website and marketing materials on a regular basis.
- Study and implement search engine optimization references.
- Develop and implement a link-building strategy.
- Change the website architecture, content, linking, and other features to improve SEO placements for desired keywords.
- Set measurable goals to demonstrate that your marketing efforts are improving.
- To better evaluate the efficiency of your SEO strategy, use SEO tools like Google Analytics to track daily performance indicators, which is quite necessary for an SEO specialist to do on daily basis.
- Improve website search results by writing interesting and high-quality website content, such as blog posts and page descriptions.
WHERE DO SEO SPECIALISTS COME FROM?
Most SEO Specialists and other search engine optimization professionals start in another sector before manipulating their technical talents and leveraging their transferrable skills and educational backgrounds to go into SEO.
Although there is no specific college or university degree in SEO, and no four-year marketing program will provide you with the technical knowledge you’ll need to excel in the field.
Most SEO experts in the field seek additional certification to prove to employers that they have the particular abilities. Which are necessary to carry out their digital marketing strategy, improve search engine traffic, and assure that their website appears towards the top of search engine results pages. Courses like the Search Engine Optimization Certificate will also enable you to achieve real-world results that demonstrate your abilities. It will be carried out under the supervision of an SEO industry specialist who is familiar with the requirements of potential employers.
Even if you have a relevant degree, you will almost likely need to upgrade your skills with a certification program or other online course to show that you are active in the ever-changing industry of SEO.
CHARACTERISTICS OF A SUCCESSFUL SEO SPECIALIST
To prosper in the arena of digital marketing and search engine optimization, competent SEO experts must possess the following important characteristics:
Three Levels of SEO
There are three tiers to search SEO rankings, and any professional SEO Specialist should consider all three when developing a marketing strategy:
TECHNICAL
Technical refers to the portions of your website that aren’t content. This section provides suggestions for strengthening the backend structure and foundation of a website. Conducting a full website analysis will be a big part of this effort, as it will uncover technical SEO opportunities to improve website speed, indexing, mobile-friendliness, crawlability, and architecture. Technical SEO will improve a website’s readability, enhancing the user experience and proving to search engines that the site is worthwhile.
ON-PAGE SEO
On-page SEO is the process of optimizing the material on your website so that search engines can better understand the subjects and recognize it as a valuable resource. Keywords, meta tags, internal links, and HTML title tags are all used in on-page SEO to increase search engine traffic and ensure that your website ranks towards the top of Google results.
OFF-PAGE SEO
Off-page SEO entails employing a variety of link-building strategies in order to increase the relationship between your website and other websites. Off-page SEO also entails taking steps to increase a website’s reputation, which signals to search engines that a website is a trustworthy source and should appear near the top of search engine results.
All levels of search engine optimization play a role in how prominently your website appears in Google search results, and SEO professionals must be aware of this.
A SAVVY MIND FOR MARKETING
The technical aspects of SEO are vital, and identifying the flaws that may be causing Google to bury your webpage in the search results is crucial. However, after you’ve gotten over that, SEO jobs are a lot like other digital marketing or even traditional marketing tasks in that you’ll need to generate and position content that describes the consumer’s benefit while bringing them closer to a sale.
The difficult part is creating content that will attract to both people on the opposite side of the search engine and Google’s algorithm. That comes with time and practice.
To be truly successful in an SEO role, you must think about content marketing on a deeper level, as well as consumer psychology and the target audience you’re marketing to, and overall business goals that help drive product awareness.
AN ABILITY TO THINK BIG-PICTURE
As we’ve already seen, SEO impacts every aspect of your business. Because company websites are so vital, SEO is intimately connected to the rest of these factors.
Having precise goals for SEO marketing is beneficial. As an SEO Specialist, it is your responsibility to emphasis on search engine rankings, traffic growth, brand recognition, and conversions (converting a visitor to a customer).
An SEO Specialist will be effective if they are able to outline those goals and then implement an SEO strategy while keeping the organization’s overall objectives in mind.
OUTSTANDING COMMUNICATION SKILLS AND A COLLABORATIVE SPIRIT
An SEO Specialist will work with a variety of departments within a company, including revenue, customer service, web development, statistics, IT, marketing, and more. It’s also not always evident why making changes to a website will help with SEO and, as a result, traffic and conversions. That’s when efficient communication comes in handy.
In a compelling and clear manner, SEO specialists must be able to explain why certain changes are necessary and how they will benefit the website and the company’s bottom line. Additionally, a section of your role requires collaborating on the website with teams of varying backgrounds and perspectives.
You may also be engaged in the creation of different content for the site, so make sure your writing skills are up to the standard for SEO jobs.
CURIOSITY AND ADAPTABILITY
Google’s algorithms for ranking search engine results are constantly changing. This might be frustrating or exciting depending on your point of view, but a skilled SEO Specialist approaches the work with passion.
You must be adaptive to flourish in the SEO profession. Many professionals benefit from continuous learning, but an SEO Specialist must do so in order to survive. Furthermore, as an SEO expert, you can’t afford to be complacent if you’re in charge of a single company’s website; it’s your responsibility to constantly review its content to see if it complies with ever-changing SEO best practices.
WHAT ARE SOME JOB DESCRIPTIONS FOR SEO SPECIALISTS?
SEARCH ENGINE MARKETER
Search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM) are sometimes misunderstood, but they are very distinct. SEO is included in search engine marketing, because you will be selling to customers as well as search engines, search engine marketing requires acquiring abilities such as advertising, Pay Per Click (PPC) marketing, and some customer relationship management. Understanding keyword research and SEO tools such as Google AdWords, Bing AdWords, and Google Analytics is essential.
BUSINESS MARKETING CONSULTANT
SEO experts have valuable knowledge that is in high demand. You must have a proven track record of SEO-related success to qualify for a job as a Business Marketing Consultant, as this position requires you to work with clients to deliver solutions to their particular needs.
DIGITAL MARKETING MANAGER
The domains of digital marketing and search engine optimization are strongly intertwined. SEO, PPC, SEM, and social media are all varieties of online marketing that digital marketers frequently manage. Experts in digital marketing implement marketing strategies, manage content, struggle to improve SEO, and maximize the use of social media to rise traffic, brand exposure, and sales.
