What Do You Need to Become an SEO Specialist?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO), is one of the most crucial tools that business leaders can use in the digital landscape. As people spend more of their time shopping and interacting with brands online, SEO is the key to unlocking better rankings on search engines like Google. No matter whether you’re running a successful virtual store, or a SaaS company, every organization with a presence online will need to invest at least some time and effort in SEO these days. That means that if you’re looking for a new career, there may be an opportunity for you in the world of site optimization. Today, we’re going to look at the things you need to become a successful pro.

What Does a SEO Specialist Do?

As an expert in website performance on the search engines, you will take on a number of crucial tasks, including website analytics, where you’ll examine metrics like clicks, conversions, and even page bounce rate. You’ll help companies to come up with lists of keywords that they want to rank for, and possibly assist with content marketing and backlinking plans too. Many people in this area also help with embedding keywords, links, and other ranking factors into a website one step at a time. You may even be required to have some basic information technology and coding skills. After all, as many specialists discover, there’s more to succeeding on the web than just having the right content on your site. You’ll also need to get the HTML and CSS of your digital presence under wraps too.

What Kind of Education Do You Need?

As you might expect, the most important skill you can have as a SEO specialist is an in-depth knowledge of the search engines and how they rank websites. It can be difficult to keep on top of this information, as Google and similar companies update their algorithms on a regular basis. This means that you will need to think about regularly updating your education and staying on top of the latest news. Although you won’t always need a degree to succeed in this space, most job listings for SEO professionals will ask for at least a bachelor’s degree in marketing, IT, communications, or business. This means that taking out a private student loan and going back to school could be an easy way to boost your chances of a job offer. It’s also helpful to have some basic knowledge around various programming languages.

The Opportunities Available

The good news for those interested in a career around SEO is that there are plenty of opportunities to explore. You could become a crucial part of a company’s marketing and sales team, working with other professionals to put extensive plans for growth into place. On the other hand, you might decide that you’d prefer to go solo, and go it alone with your own freelance company. If you do decide to go the self-employed route, remember that you’ll need to spend some time building your portfolio and attracting clients before you’re ready to jump in. Once you’ve got plenty of proof demonstrating your skills, you can begin to advertise.