SEO professional is supposed to be the magician who helps your website rank higher on the Search Engine Results Page. A decade ago, the job of an SEO professional looked quite different. However, today it necessitates a new skill-set to achieve success as an SEO expert. A Search Engine Optimization Professional is supposed to have many feathers in his cap. He is a multitasker par excellence. He has the qualification and the relevant expertise to analyze thoroughly, scrutinize meticulously and implement websites effectively to fully optimize them for the search engines. He will be testing, analyzing, and modifying websites so that they are optimized effectively for search engines. The websites are optimized for ranking higher in Bing or Google search results or any other search engines.
It is the responsibility of the digital marketing services provider to perform page optimization so that the search results are impressive and relevant. Moreover, search optimization is essential for creating a positive and interactive user experience, boosting site traffic, brand awareness, and lead volume. Remember that SEO professionals are just the same as conventional or digital marketing professionals responsible for generating more sales for the organization they are working for.
An SEO Professional can help boost the visibility of your website on Google by leveraging cutting-edge SEO tools and conducting meticulous keyword research. SEO professionals often work with members of your company’s marketing team for creating new initiatives or managing your company’s social media accounts effectively to drive more traffic and boost user engagement.
Essential SEO Professional Skills
A Creative and Analytical Mind
An SEO specialist should possess a creative and highly analytical mind for analyzing every step towards directing the traffic to your website and boosting the overall ranking of your website. An SEO expert should possess an analytical mind to differentiate between causation and correlation according to the Search Engine Journal. Whenever an SEO specialist comes across some data, he should be capable of answering and understanding the three relevant questions:
- What has happened?
- Why has it happened?
- What should you do about that?
The idea behind this is that an SEO professional should approach and understand a specific problem from multiple perspectives and should use logic and data in the decision-making process.
Sound Knowledge of the Three Tiers of SEO
There are three levels of search engine optimization, and a competent SEO professional should consider all these three while developing a marketing stratagem. The three levels are technical SEO, on-page SEO, and off-page SEO.
Technical SEO entails everything apart from the content. This section comprises strategies for improving the foundation and the backend structure of your website. It involves conducting a meticulous website analysis that may unveil technical SEO opportunities for improving indexing, website speed, mobile-friendliness, website architecture, and crawlability. Moreover, technical SEO has the potential to enhance the overall readability of your website. It will help in improving User Experience or UX. It demonstrates to the various search engines that your website is an authentic and reliable resource.
On-page SEO is all about the content present on a website and everything related to optimizing the content for SEO search engines so that the website may be considered a valuable resource. On-page SEO is all about the proper use of Meta tags, keywords, HTML title tags, and internal links. It helps in boosting search engine traffic.
Off-page optimization is associated with building a robust relationship and bonding with other websites via a host of effective link-building strategies. Off-page optimization is very much about reputation-building. It demonstrates to the search engines that your website is a reliable and trustworthy source. It should convince the search engines to award your website to higher SERP rankings.
SEO specialists should possess sound knowledge and understanding of all the three discussed SEO levels.
A Marketing-Savvy Mind
A chunk of an SEO expert’s job is to take care of the technical SEO and understand the problems associated with your website that are compelling Google to rank it lower down in the SERP. As an SEO professional, you should have a fair idea about ways to tackle these issues. Moreover, you have to perform standard jobs that are similar to traditional and digital marketing jobs.
It is the responsibility of an SEO professional to generate and place your site content in such a manner that it highlights how the customer is going to be benefitted from buying your product or service. For achieving success as an SEO professional, you should focus on in-depth content marketing and consumer psychology.
You may consider many crucial parameters, your precise target audience, web development, social media landscape, business goals and aspirations, and viral marketing strategies. It goes a long way in boosting the brand image and brand awareness and above all, in getting conversions.
Adaptability and Curiosity
Google is in the habit of changing its algorithms associated with SERP rankings all the time. It could be pretty exciting or frustrating depending on how you approach the issue. However, a competent SEO professional should have reasonable adaptability to accept the new changes or algorithm updates as challenges to make websites even more intuitive with better UX and navigability.
Programming Skill Set
Programming expertise may not be a prerequisite; however, it helps in fortifying your background as an SEO Specialist. It gives you access to more job opportunities as you will be capable of providing the services of both a programmer and an SEO expert.
Knowledge of Microsoft Excel
It is a good idea to acquire sound knowledge and understanding of Microsoft Excel because it proves immensely useful in creating strategies, budgets and isolating crucial information, and presenting it as pie charts, and tables, etc.
Sound Knowledge of HTML
An SEO expert must possess mastery over HTML coding. You may have easy access to a host of website builders, but HTML is the basic coding. An SEO professional should possess sound knowledge of syntax and language.
Conclusion:
SEO professionals have to be proficient and agile for thriving in the highly-competitive SEO world. SEO experts have to focus on staying abreast with the latest developments. They should give top priority to continuous learning if they wish to sustain and survive.