Every day, thousands of websites are designed that need to reach the first results of Google to compete with other sites and attract customers. Therefore, all online businesses need an SEO expert or SEO to be in a better position than the competitors.
Who is an SEO specialist and what are his duties? What knowledge and skills are required to become an SEO expert or in the colloquial term SEO? If you reach the professional level, how much will you earn? In this article, we will answer these questions.
Who is an SEO expert?
An SEO expert is someone who optimizes web pages to increase site traffic and achieve high rankings in search engine results (SERPs).
An SEO specialist will ensure that your site creates a good user experience for the audience in every aspect (keyword relevance, site speed, etc.) so that more users enter the site and the volume of leads increases.
Ultimately, the main goal of an SEO specialist is the same as any other digital or traditional marketing professional: to generate more sales for the company.
Most SEO professionals optimize content alongside a content marketer, and a developer (if they don’t have technical SEO skills). These three specializations together make a site grow and be able to surpass competitors and earn good income through SEO.
Well, so far we have understood who is an SEO expert and what are the results of his work for a business; But what skills are needed to become an expert in SEO and what responsibilities do they perform? We will read together in the next section.
What are the duties of an SEO expert?
The job responsibilities of an SEO specialist vary based on whether they work for a digital marketing agency, are part of the digital marketing department of an SEO firm, or work as a freelancer for a client. But the job description of the vast majority of SEO specialist positions includes most of the following:
Formulation of SEO strategy to increase site ranking in search results
Setting measurable goals to measure progress
Analyze the results of paid search campaigns and find ways to get a return on investment
Cost management of SEO campaigns, budget maintenance, monthly cost estimation
Collaborate with the web development team to ensure proper implementation of SEO in website content
Cooperation with the content production and marketing team for the proper implementation of SEO in content and marketing
On-page optimization for search engine marketing
Research and optimization of relevant and new keywords
Develops and implements link building strategy
Changing site architecture, content, links and other factors to improve SEO for target keywords
Performing technical SEO methods, such as producing and implementing sitemaps, marking, etc.
Checking Google Analytics and Search Console to check how SEO works and results
Report current performance and provide recommendations to optimize impressions, clicks, conversions, organic traffic and channel performance
12 important skills to become an SEO expert
Note that skill does not only mean technical knowledge, but a person needs to have other skills besides learning SEO techniques to become an expert and succeed in SEO. If you look at different sites, you will see that there is no fixed list that says what skills are required for an SEO or SEO specialist, but with the interpretation of the views of great SEO experts and working with successful and professional SEOs, 10 of the most important skills of an SEO worker We listed in this section.
1. Ability to analyze
SEO is not just about doing a bunch of techniques. An SEO should have high analytical skills. He should check the data regularly and find possible site problems. Always keep an eye on your competitors and turn their weaknesses into strengths of your site.
There are a number of factors that are accurately identified with analytical tools; Like:
Factors affecting the increase or decrease of website traffic
Search volume
Long and short keywords
Ideas for creating content
But as Hufford (SEO consultant and growth marketer at ActiveCampaign) points out, the goal of all these SEO and Google issues is the user. First of all, you need to see what is the purpose of a user searching for a keyword? Put yourself in the user’s place and see if your content is attractive enough for users. Because you want them to interact with your content and when they are attracted to your content, drive them down the sales funnel and earn through SEO.
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2. Ability to prioritize activities
Most SEO campaigns have more than 20 main tasks and each of them includes sub-tasks. An SEO expert should have the skill to prioritize each step based on the specified duration and importance.
SEO expert
Backlink building, for example, is an important task that usually takes weeks or months to pay off.
The following are some of the things that must be done for internal and external linking:
Identify potential backlink sources.
Check out how to publish content on these sites.
Set a content schedule.
Hire more writers if needed.
All of these are important, but depending on the customer’s needs, some take precedence over others; The SEO manager determines these priorities and chooses the program accordingly. This is why prioritization is an essential SEO skill.
Andrew Dennis, director of content marketing at Shopify, wrote in Search Engine Journal: “Prioritization is the secret to getting results faster and gaining trust for long-term success.”
3. Deep keyword research
Keyword research is the most basic and important skill required for SEO and all
SEO campaigns are planned with this research; In order to bring users to your site, you must first know what they want and what they are looking for.
An SEO specialist should have the ability to find and select the best, most searched and best selling keywords and develop the SEO strategy accordingly. According to a survey conducted by SEMrush, keyword research is one of the best SEO skills necessary for website optimization; For this reason, it is considered one of the most important duties of an SEO specialist at the global level.
Choosing keywords is not always as simple as choosing the most searched and that’s it. Sometimes you have to choose the words according to the purpose you have.
An expert knows that sometimes, targeting high-intent keywords (that is, words that may not have a high search but are closer to the sales goal) makes more sense than targeting keywords with high search volume and unrelated to the sales goal.
For example, the keyword phrase “SEO optimization tools under $100/month” will get you closer to sales than the search term “marketing tools.” Low-competition and high-intent keywords, also known as long-tail keywords, can often lead to less traffic but higher conversion rates.
4. SEO analysis of competitors
As part of the research and strategy phase, the SEO expert should see where your competitors are ranking in the SERPs and which keywords they are outranking you for. Now it’s time to analyze:
Why are they ranked higher?
Do they have better content?
Does their website load faster?
A shoe store site may not be able to compete with brands like Nike and Adidas, but in reality these brands are not his competitors. As a smaller brand, its first goal should be to outdo its local competitors, many of whom may be deficient in their SEO efforts.
A competitor analysis report is crucial to formulating a strong SEO strategy and helps you target segments of your customers that you may not have thought of before.
Expert SEO skills
5. Editing and writing skills
SEO and content are two inseparable parts and a large part of internal SEO is done through content. Therefore, the SEO specialist must also master the production of textual content. Yes, it’s true, the SEO of a site is not going to write an article like this or prepare a speech text; But when you’re an SEO manager, you’re expected to oversee the work of teams of content writers so that it’s optimal in every way.
As an SEO expert, you should be able to look at the blog posts, social media posts, and website content that a brand publishes and determine how the content is doing SEO-wise, what areas it needs to improve, and whether there is a better way to optimize. And is the content attractive or not?
“On YouTube, it’s always about when the video is released and how long the video lasts,” Hufford says. So that it should engage the audience and give them what they are looking for. But in SEO, these factors are usually forgotten, and many do not spend time on the quality of content, if it is an important part of SEO.”
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6. Technical SEO
Another skill of an SEO specialist is the complete mastery of technical SEO. Technical SEO refers to website optimization from a technical point of view, and most of its techniques are related to search engines, website technical issues, robots, programming codes, etc.
SEO with technical SEO optimizes the site in such a way that it is understandable for search engines and secondly provides a good user experience for visitors. Starting in summer 2022, Google will evaluate user experience using seven key factors, including loading speed and HTTPS usage.
A technically optimized website should have the following features:
Be fast and safe.
Can be checked by search engines.
At least have dead links.
Do not have duplicate content.
Have a good speed
And be responsive for mobile users
To achieve these features, you must implement the techniques that we have explained in the “Technical SEO” article.
Performing technical SEO requires that SEOs have little to do with coding, or work closely with site developers and programmers.
7. Link building strategy
Another important skill of SEO professionals is the skill of link building. Link building for site SEO is done in two separate parts: internal and external.
Internal link building is completely under your control. You decide when and how to link your website pages. For example, we have just linked to the internal linking article in the blog in the first sentence, and read that article if needed.
But making an external link is a bit more complicated and of course more important. Marketing expert Neil Patel writes:
“The pages that link to you and their quality and credibility play a key role in determining your ranking in search engine results.” Therefore, considering the importance of backlinks, an SEO expert must know how to create and implement a backlink strategy.
SEO experts make external links using the following methods:
Guest posts
comment
case study
Associations and forums
UGC links (links that users give you)
Create image link
Advertisement report
8. Skill in using SEO tools
An SEO expert who can’t work with SEO tools still doesn’t understand how SEO works because he can’t check his work process. Google search console and Google Analytics are two important essential tools that every SEO manager should know how to use.
SEMrush research showed that these two tools have the most fog Earth is required in the job description of the SEO specialist; 47% of job ads required this skill.
Website managers and SEO experts can see whether their website is properly indexed and crawlable through Search Console. What is its position on the main keywords, how many clicks it gets, how many entries it has and other information that is necessary to improve the SEO of the site.
Google Analytics gives you information about user data and their traffic. Information such as the number of visitors per month, the average duration of the user’s stay and the bounce rate, etc.
Both of these tools are free (at least for small businesses) and are valuable SEO assets.
Other recommended SEO tools include:
Microsoft Excel: for working with formulas to analyze data
Clearscope: A visual content optimization platform
SEMrush: A collection of SEO tools all in one place
9. Use of social media
According to Smart Insights report, in 2021, more than half of the world’s population uses social media. The heavy use of social media has made it an important part of SEO and marketing activities in the last decade.
SEO professionals can get traffic through social media platforms and help improve SEO. Of course, search engines don’t directly index social media posts, but social media chatter leads to traffic and backlinks, both of which can help boost a brand’s search rankings.
10. Ability to cooperate and communicate with other teams
Once an SEO expert has completed the research phase, it’s time to formulate an SEO strategy that marketers and content writers can use as a guide.
“As an SEO expert, you cannot optimize a site alone. You should work with marketing, content, social media, engineering and product departments. “All these teams must cooperate.”
Therefore, the ability to collaborate and communicate with multiple teams is essential for strategizing.
3 skills that distinguish you from other SEO experts
In addition to the 10 essential SEO skills, here are three additional skills that can set you apart from the rest.
1. Having a curious spirit
The curious spirit of an SEO makes him look deeper into issues and gain experiences that others may never see. For example, in the case of Google’s algorithms, which Google usually never reveals how they work, a curious SEO manager is always looking to figure out Google’s work and finally finds his way. Where did you think the rest of the facts that Google never revealed about how it works came from? From the trial and errors and reviews of a curious SEO!
2. Flexibility
An SEO manager who just executes the same strategy over and over and doesn’t use new scenarios can ruin SEO campaigns.
“What made a big difference for us in 2010 was putting our keyword in our handing title,” Hufford said. But it doesn’t cause such growth anymore because everyone is doing it.”
SEO managers need to be flexible so that they can change strategies at a moment’s notice based on the situation.
3. Having beginner coding skills
Understanding HTML, JavaScript, and CSS can set an SEO marketing manager apart from the competition. These are the three key languages used in technical SEO. It’s true that you can leave it up to the developers, but remember that most developers don’t know much about SEO.
“Understanding how code works can make you better at technical SEO,” says SEO expert Sam Oh in an Ahrefs video. You can spot technical SEO issues that most tools don’t catch. You can also notice page speed issues.” By combining both skills, you not only have a better understanding of the elements of SEO, but you can do more for the client.
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