If you aren’t getting a lot of traffic to your website, it might be time to step up your search engine optimization (SEO). Not sure how? This is where an SEO specialist can save the day and your marketing strategy. Let’s talk about what SEO specialists do, how they do it, and where you can find one to work with.
So, What Is an SEO Specialist?
An SEO specialist is a marketing professional who uses research and analytics to improve websites’ rankings on search engines like Google. People who do this work are tasked with finding relevant keywords users are plugging into the search bars to find webpages, blogs, and social media posts. SEO specialists often work in digital marketing agencies, in-house marketing teams, or as freelancers.
What Does an SEO Specialist Do?
An SEO specialist is mainly in charge of helping websites rank on search engine results pages (SERPs). In other words, their job is to make sure their companies’ or clients’ pages are seen on the highest possible search position when people look for the products, services, or information offered by them. It’s all about gaining more traffic from the search engines. SEO experts speak the language that algorithms use to know what’s on specific pages, so they end up in front of the most relevant consumers.
SEO specialists’ roles are quite involved. Their daily job functions include:
- Ensuring on-page optimization
- Creating positive user experiences (UX)
- Growing site traffic
- Boosting lead volume
- Improving brand awareness
- Implementing and maintaining keyword tags, title and meta tags, URL redirects, and 404 errors
- Analyzing competitors’ web presences
- Monitoring Google Search Console and other webmaster tools
- Identifying link-building opportunities
- …and more!
In the end, an SEO specialist’s job is to create more sales for the company. They are trained to assess risks and know the differences between changes that can significantly damage sites’ progress versus those that can positively move the needle forward. Specialists deal a lot with data, often forecasting trends and how they’ll impact traffic to the sites they’re working on in the future.
Additionally, SEO specialists need great communication skills. They typically have to liaise between their clients and the rest of the team in ways that articulate the best courses of action and explain why those paths are best. This can be difficult for people who cannot communicate to different audiences, as many clients will not have the breadth of SEO knowledge that an SEO specialist has. That’s why a great SEO specialist will need to adjust their marketing language in ways that make sense to the audience.
How to Become an SEO Specialist
As we mentioned, communication skills are huge. SEO specialists need to talk about their plans in ways that help their clients envision what will happen. Then, of course, they need to deliver on their promises.
A degree in marketing is helpful for those who want to break into the SEO specialist field. Like many jobs, however, a lot of the training will be on-the-job. It might help to build your own website so you can dive into the analytics and have real-life data to talk about when you land interviews. Your potential new employers will want to know that you understand how to use the tools available to you, you can dive into big data, and that you want to do what’s best for the sites you’re in charge of improving.
Keep in mind that there are also some great SEO certifications available online. If you’re really serious about upping your career ante, it can’t hurt to have a few credentials under your belt.
Boost Your Search Rankings With Help From a ZGM SEO Specialist
If you need help with search engine optimization, Zero Gravity Marketing (ZGM) is here to help. Our agency offers a full suite of services, including SEO and many other marketing essentials. Connect with us today to learn how we can help you!
