7 Career Paths For SEO Specialists In 2022
SEO, or search engine optimization, is a concept that has been around for less than two decades, but it has resulted in a massive surge of jobs for marketers and men and women from practically every industry.
There are over 1 billion websites on the internet now, and each one must compete for attention in Google, Yahoo, Bing, and other lesser-known search engines. After all, SEO is still the king of organic and content discovery. You can also look for the Best SEO Company In India.
An SEO specialist is someone who specializes in learning and mastering the algorithms that govern search engine results in order to assist their clients and businesses in appearing in search.
Initially, the majority of search professionals were individuals who had prior experience promoting their own businesses or websites. Today, SEO is taught as part of digital marketing, and many SEO professionals gain skills through classes and certifications before moving on to earn compensation that are commensurate with their level, employment role, and firm size.
Data analytics, writing, marketing, research, web content, HTML, link building, competitor analysis, and keyword research are all talents that most modern SEO experts are expected to have. Experience with SEO tools such as Raven, Moz, and others is also required.
Companies require search optimization to compete in most niches, therefore SEO practitioners are in high demand. Because firms need web traffic to make digital campaigns successful, SEO specialists are hired as part of digital and content marketing initiatives, by web developers, as content marketers, and in a variety of other jobs. Whether you’re already working in search engine optimization or trying to break into the sector, an SEO career guarantees excitement and a lot of room for advancement.
However, how do you progress in your SEO career? What do you focus on after you’ve mastered the black art of search engine optimization to contribute the most value to your career?
Most SEO specialists, in my experience, stay in marketing, where they can use their analytical talents and deep learning expertise in digital marketing to carve out lucrative careers.
1) Search Engine Marketer.
While search engine optimization and search engine marketing (SEM) are sometimes confused, they are extremely different in practice. SEM is a considerably larger term that includes SEO. Because you’ll be marketing to consumers as well as search engines, SEM necessitates the acquisition of new skills such as Pay Per Click marketing (PPC), advertising, and some customer relationship management.
While many SEM specialists focus primarily on paid search, you can combine SEM and SEO to handle both elements. According to Payscale, search engine marketers earn a median pay of $45,255 per year, which is $2,300 more than a normal SEO specialist. This position requires knowledge of Google AdWords, Bing AdWords, and different site analytics.
2) Consultant in Business Marketing.
Some search engine optimization experts go on to work as public speakers, business consultants, and marketing consultants. While this position typically requires you to have demonstrated success in your own or someone else’s business, it does give you the opportunity to work with businesses from all over the world, become a public speaker, and work with businesses on a client basis to improve their marketing and strategic planning.
Working as a consultant typically entails working with clients to provide solutions to their specific needs, planning and assisting in the implementation of search and other marketing initiatives, evaluating the effectiveness of existing and new strategies, and providing long-term support and strategizing to those companies. In summary, if you thrive on new ideas and strategies, consulting is the career for you.
3) Marketer in the Digital Age.
Moving into digital marketing is a simple way to put your SEO experience to good use while widening your skill set and raising your pay. SEO, SEM, PPC, and social media are all sorts of online marketing that digital marketers often manage. This means you’ll need to be able to build and implement marketing plans, use SEO, work with content planning, understand and use social media as part of long-term strategies, use analytics and data management, and work with paid traffic advertising platforms.
4) Analyst, Marketing.
Data analytics is a big element of SEO, and as an SEO expert, you’re probably well familiar with it. As a marketing analyst, you’ll be responsible for tracking the performance of existing programmes, identifying potential for new ones, and generating data-driven projections and reports. Qualifications in business analysis, strategy, market research, and SQL can help marketing analysts make an average of $52,176 per year.
5) Content Marketer.
Content marketing is a natural next step for SEOs that prefer to work with content over links and metrics. Content marketers require SEO knowledge because they work directly with the generation of web content, blogs, outreach materials, videos, graphics, reports, and other content. While your specific job responsibilities will vary depending on your company, most content marketing specialists work as part of a marketing team to put content decisions made in a marketing plan into action. Content marketing pays significantly more than SEO alone, with newcomers to the field earning an average of $56,414 per year.
6) Manager of Search Engine Optimization.
Analysts, data managers, SEO specialists, content strategists, technology experts, and other professionals are frequently needed for search engine optimization. The larger a firm is, the larger its SEO staff will be, and the more an SEO manager will benefit them.
Managers should be familiar with search engine optimization and possibly search engine marketing, but they should be in charge of a team and marketing plans rather than dealing directly with data and link analysis. This can be more fascinating than SEO itself if you are a people person. SEO managers get a median salary of $64,358 a year, however their responsibilities vary depending on the firm and team size.
7) Entrepreneur.
Starting your own company allows you to convey your expertise as a Search Engine Optimization expert to businesses on your own terms. Unfortunately, your income will vary widely based on your business, your launch, and the services you provide, therefore there is no one-size-fits-all salary for people who want to establish an SEO or digital marketing company. Starting your own business, on the other hand, can be gratifying and successful in the long run if you have something to offer enterprises, choose to work on a contract basis, or have another reason to do so.
Conclusion.
As an SEO, you can expect to earn a typical salary of $42,931, and you’ll be part of a fast-growing field with several opportunities for advancement. This provides you with a unique opportunity to advance your career by branching out into something more fascinating or with a higher pay grade, allowing you to continue to grow and progress.