Remote Careers 2022: How to Become An SEO Specialist
If you are searching for a remote career in rising demand, you may consider a marketing career in search engine optimization. Becoming an expert in search engine optimization is a career worth exploring if you enjoy writing, content creation, analysis, and algorithms (No - this is not your high school calculus). This particular path in marketing has a remarkable blend of technical analytics and creative processes.
What is SEO?
Well, SEO stands for 'Search Engine Optimization, which is the process of getting web traffic from free, organic, editorial, or natural search results in search engines. It aims to improve your website's position on search results pages. - Digital Marketing Institute.
Fundamentally, SEO encourages users, through deep algorithms and analysis of user behavior, to land on specific web pages using various marketing techniques to entice the user to navigate the web.
Therefore, what is an SEO Specialist?
An SEO specialist is a person that optimizes web pages to reach a higher ranking on search engines such as Google, Bing, or Yahoo. They understand the concept of drawing more users to any specific page through the use of keywords and the algorithms of search platforms like Google. They can assess particular keywords or topics that are rising or falling in popularity or if there are keywords that a specific market has saturated. For example, the word ‘digital nomad’ has been growing since the mid-2010s when the idea of working remotely and traveling began picking up interest by the general public.
What type of person is best suited for this role?
SEO specialists are incredible writers. They must build creative and captivating content that will attract specific audiences to their words and style. They usually will find themselves writing many content pieces using exact keywords to optimize activity for the customers landing on a particular page. Many SEO specialists are very avid readers. If they plan to build a piece based on a specific topic of content, then they want to use the best jargon for the issues being produced. They must also be very analytical. They will review the published content to understand which keywords successfully brought customers to their page and where there is room for improvement. This career is a very data-driven role. Therefore, a successful SEO specialist will have the perfect balance of creative writing and analytical investigation.
How do you become an SEO Specialist?
1. Learn SEO fundamentals
If you want to become an SEO specialist and are unsure where to begin, you can always start by taking a free online course. Many free courses and certifications can help you understand this field, SEO terminology, and essential practice. Education and certifications are a fantastic opportunity to build your profile as a specialist.
Resources:
Hubspot: SEO Training Course: Building Sustainable Traffic for Business Growth
Skillshare: SEO Today: Strategies to Earn Trust, Rank High, and Stand Out
2. Utilizing SEO Tools
Of course, to understand the trade, you must understand which tools to use to complete the tasks - and this is no different for SEO Specialists. While keywords and content creation are helpful, knowing if this information is making an impact is necessary. Therefore SEO Specialist may start their search in Google Analytics or Google Trends to evaluate the content and how it will be delivered to its audience.
It will be imperative to learn the search engine ‘jargon’ used - such as crawlers, page indexing, rich snippets, data highlighter, pay-per-click, ad groups, or remarketing. If you are unsure of these terms, you will have time to work through this in more detail once you complete your courses and explore through hands-on experience.
There are also many tools that SEO specialists may use to research and rank specific keywords, such as websites like SEMRush, Google Analytics, Serpstat, Ahrefs, and Google Keyword Planner. Websites like these will help SEO specialists research relevant keywords, understand ranking factors, and examine competitors' content.
3. Gain the experience!
It is essential to practice. Whether you can find contacts through your network of friends and Linkedin connections or start building your website and optimizing keywords, search engine optimization is a growing specialization; you can find work in various paths. You can start freelancing your work and begin with small projects while learning the trade. You can apprentice with other SEO specialists online. You can join Facebook groups to build a network and contacts. As mentioned above, if you want to show employers a successful portfolio, you can start building your own personal or business web pages and perform your analytics.
Or you can be like my excellent friend Jordana Abitbol who Founded her SEO Consultation services. You can look at her blog post: One Way Nomad of the Week - Jordana Abitbol, Founder of SEO Cafe. You can also connect with her on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jordana-abitbol
The most significant facet of becoming an SEO specialist is the ability to pivot in various directions with this specific role. You can have a specific focus on certain keywords and topics, or you can specialize in particular platforms. Whichever you decide, SEO specialists play an integral role in this growing online market, so if you are looking for a way to integrate yourself into a new remote career. Becoming an SEO Specialist is an excellent opportunity for your future.
