Who is an SEO Specialist? Salary, Skills & Career

Who is an SEO Specialist? Salary, Skills & Career | Digital Marketing | Emeritus

Businesses nowadays use several search engine tools to optimise their website and rank high on SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). However, only a few people have an in-depth understanding of search engine optimisation.
Most of them assume that a few keywords spread throughout some web pages will do the work, but there is much more to successful SEO.
The reality is that companies need to understand the ins and outs, and complexities of organic search to get their websites/web pages ranked. This is where the need for SEO specialists comes into play.
Continue reading to learn more about SEO specialists and the skills required to be one.

What is SEO and Who is an SEO specialist?

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is the process of taking measures to help a website or piece of content organically rank high on search engines.



SEO specialists identify methods and strategies to increase the number of visitors to a website and subsequently lead the website to a higher rank on major search engines like Google, Yahoo!, and Bing.

These keyword kings perform on-page optimisation across websites to make sure the search results are relevant and to create a positive user experience. This helps generate more leads, boost site traffic, and drive new opportunities for growth and profit of the business.

What does an SEO specialist do?

SEO specialist responsibilities differ depending on whether someone is working:

  • For the digital marketing branch of a company
  • For a digital marketing agency
  • For a client as a freelance

However, the overall job description for the majority of SEO Specialists includes the listed duties:

Keyword Research

Despite the change in the search algorithm, every search starts with a keyword. An SEO specialist does the keyword research and prepares a list of focus keywords depending on popularity, competitiveness, and relevance.

Optimisation

This is another important role of an SEO specialist. It includes both on-page (refers to SEO elements and strategies focused on optimizing aspects of the website that are under the website’s control) and off-page (refers to SEO aspects and strategies focused on advertising the site or brand around the web) SEO optimisation.

Link Building

Part of an SEO specialist’s role is to look for opportunities where other websites can link to the company’s website, for the search to understand another website’s opinion.

URL Building

An SEO specialist also works on building unique URLs for the sources to pinpoint exactly where traffic comes from.

Some other responsibilities of an SEO specialist are:

  • Collaborating with the web development team to ensure SEO practices are properly followed for the website content.
  • Monitoring the daily performance of the website using different SEO tools to understand the performance of SEO strategies.
  • Collaborating with other teams within the marketing department to drive SEO strategies.
  • Executing suggestions for content development in coordination with SEO goals.
  • Applying web analytics to evaluate website traffic and provide suggestions for modifications in content for a better user experience.

What Are the Skills Required to Become an SEO Specialist?

To evolve as a successful SEO Specialist, one should have the following skills:

Proficiency in SEO Tools

An SEO Specialist should be proficient in tools like Ahrefs, Screaming Frog, SEMRush, MOZ, Excel, Google Analytics, and Google Search Console. The knowledge of these tools helps perform keyword analysis, predict website traffic, and generate reports.

Analysing skills

A thorough understanding of analytics helps an SEO specialist evaluate campaign outcomes and make strategic evaluations, like choosing keywords for better ranking or tracking the root cause of a ranking drop.

Research Skills

SEO Specialists should possess excellent research skills, as most of the time, they are researching for the right keyword, creative strategies for campaigns, and the latest updates on search engine technologies.

Basics Coding Skills

Fundamental knowledge of coding (HTML and CSS) and related technologies helps understand the website’s source code and related functionalities.

Communication Skills

Communication is a crucial requirement for all SEO specialists. They are required to communicate proactively with their team members to explain tricky concepts, ensure smooth workflow and on-time project deliveries and present analysis reports to the higher management.

Website Analysis Skills

It is an essential skill for SEO specialists. They are expected to analyse a website’s performance to determine the steps that will follow. SEO specialists will have to analyse organic traffic, ranking, optimisations, and keywords to identify the best possible solution.

How much does an SEO specialist earn?

The annual salary of a fresher SEO Specialist in India starts from ₹ 2 Lakhs and goes up to ₹ 9 Lakhs. The average yearly salary is around ₹ 4 Lakhs [Source]. Depending on the agency/company, the salary may vary.

The other factors that affect the salary are:

  • Educational Qualification
  • Years of experience
  • Skills
  • Location of the company

How to Begin a Career as an SEO Specialist?

The basic requirement is a degree or a diploma in information technology, business, marketing, or related fields. Anyone with the essential qualification and skills can step into a career as an SEO specialist.

You can also acquire these skills with a certificate course. You don’t even need to attend classes in person. You can take online digital marketing courses from any location.

Emeritus India offers a range of certified digital marketing programmes that would help you understand SEO and marketing to fast-track your career aspirations.

You can sign-up with Emeritus India for digital marketing-related courses to gain hands-on SEO knowledge and training to give a competitive edge to your career.

About the Author


Emeritus brings you the latest learning trends, in-demand skills, and research across the most sought-after professions. Discover the benefits of lifelong learning with us.
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