Whether you like it or not, digitalisation is now part of your life. You live in a modern digital world right now. Almost every aspect of daily life is connected online. For instance, Google is one of the online platforms where most people are looking for information, entertainment, or even shopping. However, search queries can produce millions of results, which makes it tricky to find suitable ones. That’s where the SEO specialist comes into play.
The SEO specialist is becoming popular these days. They are in high demand due to the increase of traffic in search engines. Moreover, lots of websites show up in search engines. To help those websites appear on the first page and get more clicks, the role of SEO specialists is needed.
If you are keen on pursuing a career as an SEO specialist, you have come to the right place. This article will dive deep into this profession, including what exactly they do, their career projections in the future, and how to become one. Have a read!
What is an SEO specialist?
An SEO specialist is a professional who has expertise in optimising websites that is responsible for improving ranking in search engines organically. They use various strategies like content creation, keyword research, link building, and website audit to make their websites stand out more than their competitors. SEO specialists have become one of the most wanted roles as it offers a flexible work field. For example, you can work in the digital marketing industry, brands, corporations, or even freelance.
The SEO specialist plays a key role for website owners, especially the one that is related to business. For business, the traffic and conversion coming from websites is highly important. This is because it can contribute to both brand awareness and profits. So, business owners need specialists in SEO to make the website easily found in the search engine and give what the target audience is looking for.
Job description details of an SEO specialist
Before you decide to work in this field, you must know the SEO specialist job description first. Their role and responsibilities are various, depending on the organisation they work for. As shown above, their main focus is to enhance the website’s visibility and reach more target audiences. Apart from that, their daily duties include:
- Keyword research: An SEO specialist takes a look at some phrases relevant to the business niche. After that, they use those words as the foundation for a general SEO strategy.
- Website audit: Perform a thorough website audit to check which area needs improvement. For instance, on-page SEO, content, or backlinks.
- Competitor analysis: Look over what the competitor has and identify their weaknesses to gain a competitive advantage.
- Content development: An SEO specialist is in charge of creating guidelines for SEO-friendly content and monitoring the performance.
- Stay up to date on SEO trends: Keep an eye on every update in SEO as they are considered dynamic fields.
- Maintenance: To ensure the website performs as expected, do some maintenance on meta tags, crawlability, HTML tags, and images.
- Monitor and report: Break down all of the strategies implemented and evaluate the weak spots along with future actionable plans in the report.
Some SEO specialists’ duties above show that their roles are not as easy as they seem. In fact, it’s truly challenging and involves so many technical skills and knowledge. So, if you want to become one, mastering various essential skills is no longer a choice. However, identify the sector you are in first, as some jobs need different skills to learn.
SEO specialist career projections in the future
As mentioned earlier, SEO specialist jobs are known for their versatility. Plus, they are in high demand because businesses are looking for more ways to gain profits through organic traffic. The good news is, the high demand won't be over tomorrow. This is because SEO careers have bright prospects in the future. A report from BrightEdge reveals that 53% of all site traffic comes from organic search. This indicates SEO will still be crucial in the years to come.
You can start your career as a junior SEO to learn some fundamentals from the experts. Once you get experience, SEO assistants or analysts are often the next roles you can achieve. At this stage, you'll be in charge of some big SEO projects with seniors. You can have the opportunity to undertake more responsibility as you progress to a senior level, such as SEO executive, SEO supervisor, SEO manager, Head of SEO, or even Head of Digital Marketing.
How to become an SEO specialist?
By this point, you know what exactly an SEO specialist does and their career projections in the future. Now, it’s time to discuss the path you should take to become one. Generally, this role is not specifically required for degrees, but having one would be a great start for your journey. Despite education, there are other qualifications you should be aware of.
Becoming a specialist in SEO requires a long journey. Therefore, it’s not suitable for those who don't have the desire to learn. You must be ready to always be up to date with the SEO trends and learn some technical aspects to become one. However, with dedication and hard work, there’s nothing that can stop you. Here’s the breakdown of how to become one:
Learn basic SEO
First things first, you need to familiarise yourself with basic SEO, such as on-page, off-page, local SEO, and technical SEO. This will be a foundation for you before becoming an SEO specialist in the real world. Also, get to know various supporting tools and learn how to use them. Google Analytics 4, Semrush, Ahrefs, and Ubersuggest are a few examples you can get started on.
Take SEO courses and get a certificate
While there aren't many schools that provide an SEO major, the alternative is to take courses to sharpen your skills and knowledge. Luckily, you can find lots of online courses regarding SEO these days, even the free one. Most of them will deliver a certificate at the end of the course that can help with your application.
Gain real world experiences
In the digital marketing field, experience is more valued than a degree. So, whatever your educational background is, you need to gain experience to become a successful SEO specialist. The options are plenty, you can apply for an internship or entry-level job to get started. Combinations of a certificate and real world experiences can smoothen your way to become the career you dream of.
Trial and error
Last but not least, trial and error is the best method to help you become a great specialist in SEO. The courses and certificates will mean nothing if you don’t do what you’ve learnt. Make a self project, experience lots of errors you make, and identify how to solve it will make you grow quickly. Plus, don’t forget to put it into your own portfolio that can show to potential clients or companies.
Estimated an SEO specialist salary in the UK
Salary is one of the important factors to consider before deciding to pursue a career, which also applies to an SEO specialist. The exact number may vary, depending on the job level, experiences, or even areas you work for. Based on Indeed's report, the average salary for this role is £32,637 per year. But there are variations in each cities, such as:
- Cardiff: £45,007 per year
- Leeds: 34, 996 per year
- Birmingham: £34, 857 per year
- London: £34, 387 per year
- Bristol: £34, 284 per year
The estimated numbers above might be higher or lower, as most companies adjust salary based on the revenue. For instance, you can get bonuses for achieving conversion or traffic objectives. However, it won’t apply the same if you work as a freelancer, which oftenly paid by the hour or based on performance.
Final Thoughts
At last, an SEO specialist is one of the promising roles in the digital marketing sector. For those who enjoy continuous learning, this career is perfect. You can have a significant impact for brands, companies, or website owners to meet their goals. Beside it’s paid quite well, the career projections are also promising as the digitalisations will grow more than ever.
If you are keen to pursue this job, remember to take relevant courses for learning the essential knowledge. There’s no better place than the College of Contract Management to get that. The College provides SEO courses and every additional insight you need to thrive in this dynamic field. Plus, you will get a certificate that smoothens your process to dive into the real world. Don’t wait any longer- join now!
