SEO helps businesses keep their website visible to people looking for what they offer.
It鈥檚 a technical specialty that requires understanding its foundational processes, continuously monitoring performance, and staying on top of search algorithm updates and new requirements.
The person at a business who monitors trends and helps sites remain visible is an SEO expert. In this post, we鈥檒l discuss exactly what they do and advice from experienced 探花精选ters on how to become one.
An SEO expert monitors search trends and uses analytics to help businesses build websites that rank highly in search engines, reach target audiences, and meet business objectives. The optimized websites they help create generate leads and drive conversions to support business growth.
A successful SEO expert:
Some SEO specialists don't start out with the intention of dedicating their careers to SEO.
, SEO Lead at Faire, along with other SEO and historical optimization experts at 探花精选 , , and 鈥� offered their advice about what it takes to become an SEO expert and the paths they took to get there.
鈥淕etting a job in SEO ideally requires two things: content creation skill and analytical skill. Most SEO professionals today have one of those and develop the other,鈥� Braden says.
SEO experts are skilled writers with creative instincts, so it鈥檚 helpful to have a strong writing background to optimize content in a way searchers will comprehend. Becker noted that his writing background helped him get his start in SEO:
鈥淢y background in writing and editing helped me get my foot in the door, but a willingness to focus on the structure, mechanics, and intent behind my writing is what I think secured my role as an SEO specialist for 探花精选.鈥�
Before Frost became an SEO strategist at 探花精选, she was the editor of 探花精选鈥檚 Sales Blog.
鈥淚 taught myself how to do keyword research and competitive analysis as the Editor for 探花精选's Sales Blog," Aja says. "The Sales Blog's traffic had been flat for a year and a half 鈥� I noticed that the only posts that consistently generated views for us were getting all of those views from search. So I began looking for sales-related keywords we could rank for that would help boost organic traffic."
So, how do you start developing your skills to be SEO-ready? Here's what Frost did to keep her SEO skills sharp.
鈥淭o refine my SEO expertise, I constantly read. I'm really interested in technical SEO, so I look for blog posts, white papers, and research about site architecture and navigation, website speed, and everything that goes into that, including structured data,鈥� she says. 鈥�, , and are all great technical SEO resources, along with (unsurprisingly) the . I'm a member of a few SEO subreddits ( and are the most active). And 鈥� they drop random factoids or insights all the time.鈥�
Whether you鈥檝e got an analytical mind and want to start a blog to practice writing, or you鈥檙e a seasoned writer looking to train your technical mind, balancing both will help your SEO career.
Earning a certification ensures that you have the proper knowledge to successfully practice on your own.
It also gives you credibility when you network on professional sites such as LinkedIn. When doing initial SEO research, Aja found courses she could take in order to get a certification for SEO, which opened up more doors. "I read a ton of blog posts and eventually got my ."
If you decide to enroll in the , pick one that helps you build the skills to advance your SEO career. If it doesn鈥檛 go in-depth into subjects you need help with, it鈥檚 probably not the best course for you.
SEO is meant to increase visibility in search engines so people can find your content. While it should always be created with your audience in mind, they won鈥檛 find your content if search engines don鈥檛 know what to make of it.
Search engines have three primary functions:
Increasing visibility is directly tied to rankings but comes after crawling and indexing.
According to Amanda Sellers, "Becoming an expert SEO means understanding those functions and optimizing content in a way that serves users... while keeping best practices in mind for crawling and indexing."
While the inner workings of each search engine will vary, keep in mind that each one has a single goal: Always retrieve the best results for each query.
There are many factors that can go into what makes a particular result the "best," but for the most part, it comes down to a few key things (as of 2023):
"The better you understand these big ideas, the better you'll be able to understand the role ranking factors and SEO tactics play. With this context, the more effective you'll be at implementing SEO initiatives and diagnosing problems when they come up," Sellers says.
"Once a search engine can crawl and index a website, it then uses ranking factors and signals to gauge relevance, authority, trust, and experience. These then translate to the strategies SEOs can use to improve their content," Amanda adds.
These strategies and disciplines help inform SEO tactics:
"Knowing the basics of each is important in determining whether you want to be an SEO generalist or an SEO specialist in one of these disciplines, and they can also increase the effectiveness of your efforts."
In addition to initial research into SEO, it鈥檚 also essential to keep up with so you鈥檙e employing the latest optimization techniques that search engines require.
For example, when Frost noticed the Sales Blog traffic was flat, starting SEO research helped her uncover why: she wasn't delivering the content audiences searched for.
SEO is always changing, so staying on top of it is crucial.
To build his fundamental knowledge of SEO, Victor Pan cites reading as one of the best habits he's gotten into.
鈥淚 used to be a voracious reader on all publicly available information on SEO. I had an RSS feed of search-related blogs and news websites I would go through for a whole hour every day,鈥� he says. 鈥淢ere exposure to ideas makes unknown problems in SEO easier to tackle when you have other people's experiences or frameworks to build from.鈥�
Similar to finding resources that work for you and your skill set, finding an SEO routine or tool that will become your foundation is imperative. For keyword research, SEOs like to reference their personal arsenal of tools.
For example, in addition to , some of 探花精选鈥檚 experts also use SEMrush, Ahrefs, and Google Console for additional research. Find a tool that works for you and make sure it helps you accomplish your goals.
鈥淢y reading led me to experiment with , , , , and of course, . I read a ton of blog posts and eventually got my .鈥�
If you need help finding tools, here are eight you can check out. In addition:
You'll notice a lot of data when you dive into your SEO tools. Without it, you wouldn鈥檛 be able to measure performance and know exactly where and how to improve.
Some (but definitely not all) important SEO metrics include:
According to Sellers, "Because each of these things measures a different aspect of search behavior, you can use them to gain valuable insights that can drive your strategy. In addition, it's important to drill down and filter so that your data tells a more complete story."
Putting theory into practice gives you the practical knowledge and experience needed to level up as an SEO. In this way, SEO is kind of like playing a sport. You can read all about hitting a baseball or throwing a football, but if you never practice, you鈥檒l never reach your full potential.
Reading the latest news and research is hugely beneficial to stay ahead of the curve in any industry. But as an SEO, when everything is constantly changing, reading isn鈥檛 enough. To gain the practical experience that鈥檒l truly take your SEO skills to the next level, you need to constantly test industry assumptions and your new ideas.
鈥淚 test a lot of things to refine my SEO expertise. Should your brand be in your title tags? Is internal anchor text worthwhile to still do in 2020 to move rankings? What happens when you purchase fake social "signals" 鈥� do you see an increase in organic traffic?鈥� Pan says.
鈥淔ailed experiments taught me just as much as successful ones, and it made me a much more confident SEO whenever I would make any improvements to content. Just because, in one instance, making a change resulted in an improvement, doesn't mean that change in another place will also result in an improvement鈥� which is why we have to test and grasp causation over just correlation."
by Google
Becoming an expert in SEO also means growing your network of fellow SEO professionals. There are SEO groups on LinkedIn you can join, subreddits Aja mentioned, like SEO, and conferences you can attend. Broadening your circle of SEO experts grows your knowledge and credibility.
If you become enough of an expert, you can also speak at conferences in the industry. For example, Braden and Victor led a session at 鈥� their presentation, "How to Grow (Your Organic Traffic) Better" introduces SEO changes, how to adapt to them, and how to use some basic SEO methods to optimize content.
To start building your network, look at your available resources. If you have a LinkedIn account, you can start making those industry connections. You can also watch YouTube videos for quick SEO tips and engage with other learners in the comments to pick up tips from peers.
Based on the stories and tips from these 探花精选 professionals, becoming an doesn鈥檛 mean you have to start and finish your career as an SEO. Pivoting from one role to an SEO role and developing your expertise from then on is entirely possible 鈥� you just need to be willing to learn and adapt.
Editor's note: This post was originally published in March 2020 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.