I wanted to take the time to write about my experience on how to become an SEO specialist these days for two reasons:
- SEO is changing SO much, and,
- it’s SUCH an underrated career path that many people don’t consider.
In fact, I do have a hunch that most SEOs, like myself, just kind of stumbled into the career rather than intentionally seeking it out! Haha.
So I wanted to talk about it and give some thoughts about becoming an SEO specialist in today’s ever-changing and evolving world of search engine optimization.
But before we dive into the “how,” let’s look at a bit of the “why.” This part is quite important if you’re on the fence about putting in the work to become an SEO Specialist. But if you’re already sure, feel free to jump ahead!
5 Benefits of Becoming an SEO Expert
Here are five of the biggest benefits to becoming an SEO Expert that really stand out to make this a great career path to choose. I’ll go into detail for each.
- Low barrier to entry
- Doesn’t require a degree or massive amounts of training
- You can practice and gain experience by doing SEO for yourself
- There are a lot of freelance, flexible, and work from home jobs in the SEO field
- The pay can be really great and the potential is unlimited
1. Low barrier to entry – how do I become an SEO Specialist with no experience?
I’ll discuss this a bit more in the “how” section, but simply put, with the right tools, training, product, community, and mindset in place, you can become an SEO Specialist quite quickly!
Most SEO Specialist jobs don’t require you to have a degree and it’s extremely easy to get experience. Let’s have a quick look at ways you can gain experience starting today:
4 ways to get SEO experience:
- Start your own website – what better way to gain SEO experience than creating your own site(s) and diving right in!? This is a great way to start learning by doing right away, as well as gain experience. If you can show a potential employer or agency proof of your experience by sites you’ve worked on and properly executed SEO on the site, grew the sites search ranking, etc., that’s such a great way to stand out above the competition. Plus, depending on the site(s) you create, they could actually start making money for you as well. Win – win!
- Start doing SEO for other people – not only will you gain a lot of experience and help others, but you’ll have great testimonials and recommendations to include in your CV/resume, LinkedIn profile, and website! Maybe you offer to help them for free, maybe they’ll be willing to pay you, or maybe they’ll agree to pay you based on results. Either way, it’s a great and easy way to help others and gain experience at the same time. A great place to find people to reach out to are in communities that are exclusive to people trying to build and grow their website and succeed online. For example, the Home Business Academy community is full of people who are investing in their business and trying to succeed online and most of them do need help with SEO because they are largely focused on ads and outreach. Helping people like this with SEO would be such a blessing to them and great experience for you.
- Reach out to small agencies – small marketing and website design agencies are often lacking in the SEO department. Quite often, they might not even offer SEO as a service to their clients because they are focused elsewhere. Reach out to explain that you’re looking for experience, want to learn, and ask if they could use help with SEO, they might be quite interested in bringing you on board or pointing you to someone else or offering your services to their clients directly. Small agencies are great for this because they are looking to grow, helping their clients as much as they can, and often times looking to expand their services but don’t often have the time to implement themselves. Check out some directories like Kinsta’s agency directory that list agencies that use and promote their service. These agencies are typically small and work hard to get featured in these types of directories for extra exposure.
- Apply for jobs and projects on freelance jobs – There can be a lot of competition on freelance sites like Upwork, but once you set up your profile, it’s quite quick and easy to apply for jobs. Be personal in your outreach. Explain why you want the job and your willingness to help and learn. And if you can afford to or if it’s your first job, start out with a low wage that you’re willing to do the job for. Being personal will help you stand out and if you find the right person, they’ll be eager and excited to help you.
This is all kind of how I got started with SEO in 2014. I started getting back into website design in hopes of giving myself more career options and opportunities and quickly realized that SEO goes right alongside good website design. I started learning and implementing on my own website, I was lucky to find an entry-level position on Upwork (which I believe was called something else back then… Freelancer or something like that, maybe?), and worked part-time for that small agency for about eight years and grew my knowledge and skills a LOT!
But, as you can see, it’s quite easy to jump right in and get going!
2. SEO doesn’t require a degree or massive amounts of training
Is there even a degree option in SEO? Haha. If there is, there shouldn’t be. The landscape of SEO changes rapidly and a university definitely wouldn’t be able to keep up. Everything you need to learn and know about SEO can be found online anyway. And I’m not sure I’ve ever seen an SEO job posting have a degree as a requirement.
This fact makes becoming an SEO Specialist an even better choice. Don’t get me started on how awful universities are in the US… ugh.
I didn’t have any training or education in the SEO field. SEO was completely new to me in 2014 and my education and career background up to that point was in environmental management. I didn’t need a degree. I didn’t need extensive training or experience. I just needed to get started.
3. You can practice and gain experience by doing SEO for yourself
Instead of the typical grind of going to university or going through years of training before starting your profession, you can start doing SEO today. Sign up for hosting at Kinsta (the best hosting there is by far), start your WordPress site (the most common website platform and the most SEO-friendly platform), and search for a great beginner’s guide to SEO and dive right in!
4. There are a lot of freelance, flexible, and work-from-home jobs in the SEO field
Most SEO jobs are remote / work-from-home positions. This is how I ended up becoming an SEO Specialist in the first place. Not only was it difficult for me to find a full-time career type of job in the environmental field, but at that time, I was dating a boy who lived in England. So I was quite motivated to create my own opportunities and find work that could be done wherever we were while we traveled to be together.
This is especially true with beginner and entry-level type of SEO positions. You will be able to find flexible, part-time positions, work as a freelancer for agencies, or work full-time from home. Not bad!
5. What is the average salary for an SEO Specialist? – the pay can be really great and the potential is unlimited
The average salary for an SEO Specialist will vary slightly depending on the part of the country (or world) where you find work, but here are some rough numbers for you from several sources:
- $65,435 is the national average for an entry-level SEO Specialist according to ZipRecruiter.
- $62,156 is the national average for an SEO Specialist according to Indeed.
- And according to Glassdoor, the average annual salary for an SEO Specialist in the US is just over $74,000.
These are pretty good numbers for a position that doesn’t require a college education or extensive training.
Additionally, SEO is extremely valuable because of the potential it has to grow a website. The potential is unlimited. So while you’re learning and working as an SEO Specialist, it’s easy to work on your own website(s) and side hustles along the way and grow those as well. Who knows where that could lead!?
3 Cons of Becoming an SEO Specialist
I laid out the benefits above, but are there any downsides to becoming an SEO? I want to be fair and objective here, but there are only three cons of being an SEO Specialist that I can think of…
- The future of SEO is unknown – Like many SEO professionals, I believe SEO will always be around and a need for businesses and websites, but we never know where it’s going to go or how it’s going to change. This uncertainty doesn’t give us a sense of long-term job security, but what does these days?
- You can never stop learning – SEO is always changing and evolving. So to be a good SEO, you have to really enjoy learning. Haha. So I suppose this is only a con if you don’t like that sort of thing, but to me, it’s quite fun to stay on top of all of the changes, learn and implement new strategies, and it always helps you sound like a pro when you are in the know!
- Dealing with clients that don’t believe in SEO – This certainly isn’t unique to the field of SEO, but as an SEO Specialist, you’ll definitely deal with clients who struggle to understand or see the value in SEO or who’ve tried to hire an SEO Specialist in the past and had bad results or a bad experience with them so they become quite untrusting of other SEO professionals. This has been the case with most clients that I have worked with over the years, but as long as you treat them well, communicate often, and really do help them, they turn around quickly. But it can be difficult at times.
From my experience, these are really the only three cons of becoming an SEO. Every job and career has its downsides, so by comparison, it’s still a great field.
5 Steps to Becoming an SEO Specialist
Some time ago, I pieced together the 5 “pillars” that anyone needs to succeed online. As I was thinking about the steps needed on how to become an SEO Specialist, the more I thought about it, the more I realized these 5 pillars to succeeding online mirror this process as well in a lot of ways. So I’m laying this out in the exact same way, because it turns out to be exactly the steps you need to become an SEO professional.
1. The Right Tools – Essential Tools for an SEO Expert
There are quite a few tools out there for SEO professionals to utilize and help them with audits, analysis, monitoring, and so much more. So it can be hard to decide which one suits you best or which actually is the best to use.
And, since there are so many SEO tools comparison articles out there, I won’t waste your time by reviewing them all here. I’m just going to tell you what I use and have been using throughout my SEO career.
So, here are the best SEO tools I use and recommend the most if you want to be an SEO professional:
1. Google Search Console – this is required and free!
This free tool from Google directly connects your site with Google, allows you to control what Google sees on your site, and, best of all, allows Google to tell you what it sees and what you should improve for better SEO results.
So, this is an absolute must-have for any website!
Get started with Google Search Console here >
Additionally, while Google is considered to be the search engine, you still shouldn’t overlook Bing or even Yandex… and possibly other growing search engines in the future. They have their own version of Search Console and it’s certainly worth connecting and utilizing:
2. Semrush – the best SEO tool and platform you can find (in my opinion) 🙂
There is a lot of debate amongst SEOs about which SEO platform is the best… Semrush, Ahrefs, Screaming Frog, etc. But, it’s all kind of silly because, for the most part, they do a lot of the same things. And if one tool releases a new, awesome feature, it’s likely the others will follow suit.
So, while I do highly recommend Semrush, it’s really about your preference and comfort level. I learned with Semrush and it does everything I need it to do and more, so that’s why I stick with it and recommend it.
However, Semrush is quite expensive! But, it does become the backbone and the most valuable tool in your SEO toolbelt, so it’s highly worth consideration. The good news, though, is that you can use a lot of great features for your own site for free. So dive in, connect your site as you train and learn, and wait to upgrade when you start bringing in clients!
Get started with a free trial of Semrush!
3. Yoast WordPress Plugin – the best SEO WordPress plugin (also in my opinion) 🙂
This is another thing that SEOs will like to debate about – which is the best SEO WordPress plugin? But again, it really doesn’t matter and not worth debating. There are several great SEO plugins for WordPress and they all do a lot of similar things. So for me, it’s about what I know and it does the job I need it to do. And it’s free!
It does have a premium version, as all SEO plugins do, but it will do everything you need it to do at the free level, which makes it even better!
You might also be wondering why I’m recommending a WordPress plugin when not all sites are built on WordPress… but, in my experience, WordPress is by far the best option for a website if you want to do the best and optimal SEO job. This is why I almost exclusively work with WordPress sites.
With all of that said and out of the way, Yoast is great because it does everything I need it to do that WordPress doesn’t natively do – it creates a Sitemap (that you need to submit to Google Search Console), it allows me to deindex pages, posts, categories, tags, etc. if I don’t want them showing up in search engine results, and most importantly for blogs and content marketing type of websites, it allows me to set up and control the structure of the site.
4. WPRocket and Imagify WordPress plugins – take SEO even further!
Yes, I’m mentioning WordPress plugins again because these two plugins take SEO optimization even further by optimizing CSS, JavaScript, and images across the site to make sure speed and performance are up to Google’s standards.
Website speed has become an extremely important ranking factor for Google over the last few years especially. So having the right tools to make your site as fast and as optimized as possible can help a website out-perform and outrank the competition.
With those SEO tools in your SEO toolbelt, you’ll be able to do everything you need to do for your own websites and for client websites.
2. The Right Training – Choose the right SEO Training
SEO training is endless. Because SEO is constantly changing and evolving, you’ll want to make sure you have the right foundational training under your belt as well as having the right places to learn and train when new SEO updates and changes are released.
However, SEO training is everywhere… courses, articles, YouTube videos, podcasts, etc. But how do you know where to start? How do you know what’s still relevant and working now?
It’s a lot to explore and figure out.
There are some great people and resources that I have followed over the years, including:
- Marie Haynes and her Search News You Can Use podcast
- Brian Dean at Backlinko
- The Niche Pursuits podcast from Spenser Haws
- Search Off the Record podcast from Google
- SERP’s Up SEO podcast by Wix
These are great and trustworthy places to learn and keep up with all things SEO and all the latest changes and updates.
3. The Right Product – the product is YOU
A large part of your success as an SEO Specialist will be determined by you – and how you are as a professional. There are a lot of aspects to this, but one way or the other, the more of a professional you are, the more opportunities and success you will find.
So take the extra time to not only develop your foundational SEO training and knowledge, but think about the other intangibles that might contribute to your ability to land a job or clients in the future.
Do you need to upgrade your webcam or your microphone? Do you need to work on or train in other skills like communication or website design?
An SEO Specialist role can vary from agency to agency or job to job. In some SEO roles, you’ll be largely behind the scenes and only need to interact with your team or supervisor. However, it might be up to you to communicate with the client on a regular basis.
There’s no right answer to give you here because it’s largely going to depend on you and your ambitions and abilities. But, it’s definitely something to keep in mind. Think about and prepare for your future in the SEO field as much as you can to become as invaluable as you can.
4. The Right Community – find other SEOs to learn and grow together
It’s such an asset to have other like-minded people around to talk to about SEO, ask questions when you run into a problem, or to get help from.
This applies in so many areas of working online because you are typically working from home and you don’t have co-workers nearby to talk to, learn from, grow with, etc.
Think of the community as your co-workers, your colleagues, and your support throughout your SEO career. It’s invaluable.
Marie Haynes has a great place for this! It’s called The Search Bar. There is a free and Pro version, so dive right in!
5. The Right Mindset – this is so overlooked
Working from home, remotely, and on my own has been great. It provides so much flexibility, it’s allowed me to travel, it’s allowed me to move and live in other countries, and it’s kept me from driving every day, which I hate to do! Haha
But, it didn’t take long for me to recognize the downside of working from home. Well, more accurately, it took me too long to actually recognize it and start doing something about it.
Working from home can have its challenges. If you’re spending too much time alone, or working each day close to your bed, or not getting outside enough, it can really affect your mind and have a negative impact on you in many ways.
These negative impacts are usually slowly poisoning you… and you don’t see it until it’s too late.
I bring all of this up because it’s so important to be aware of the potential of this happening to you so you make it a priority to be proactive about taking care of yourself and your mindset.
A few recommendations based on what’s help me:
- Make time to get outside – whether it’s just a walk in a nearby park or going for a run, it’s important to get outside and out of the home office. There are a lot of benefits to this, obviously, but it’s a great way to refresh your mind and body.
- Connect with other people in the same situation – The Search Bar might be a great place to find and network with others who are in the same situation as you are in. Not only can you benefit professionally from these people, but they’ll understand working from home and having the right mindset as well.
- Find what helps you stay positive and growing – What works best for you to stay positive? Read good books about positivity and mindfulness. Listen to helpful podcasts. Meditate. Do what you need to do in order to keep positivity entering your mind.
One resource that I have found very helpful has been The Home Business Academy. I mention this platform quite often because I have been a member for so long and it’s helped me so much. The primary function of the HBA is to provide training and community for people trying to succeed online through online marketing, developing marketing skills, etc., but there is a great focus on mindset. It comes with an enormous library of Mindset training, but also includes a daily mindset call that can be a very uplifting part of your day.
Check out the Home Business Academy trial if you’re interested in learning more >
Frequently Asked Questions About Becoming an SEO Specialist
How long does it take to become an SEO Specialist?
This is obviously difficult to say and certainly depends on you and the amount of available time you have to learn SEO and practice SEO. But you don’t have to be an SEO expert to be an SEO Specialist. With the right things around you like we talked about, you can definitely learn SEO and succeed on the job. If you get some foundational SEO training complete, you’ll be well on your way to becoming an SEO Specialist.
Can anyone become an SEO Specialist?
I feel like the answer here is, “yes.” Obviously, it depends on the person, their ambition, and ability. However, because SEO training and the ability to learn SEO is so widely and easily available, a career as an SEO Specialist could be available to anyone.
Do I need a degree to be a SEO Specialist?
Not at all! Some companies might prefer for an ideal candidate to have a degree in marketing or communication or something similar, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen it listed as a requirement.
Is it hard to be a SEO Specialist?
This is subjective, of course… but I feel like the correct answer here is, “no.” There is a lot to know and learn, but with the right pieces in place and around you, it’s simply a matter of figuring out the right seo strategy for the client or website you’re working on.
Is SEO dead or dying?
Absolutely not. This question always pops up when big changes start happening with search engines and SERPs. The latest worry is AI killing SEO, but it won’t. Search engines change. Search results change. The SEO industry changes. It all evolves. But so do our SEO tactics and SEO techniques.
Businesses are always going to need help ranking high in search results and no matter what it takes to get there, SEOs will be sought after to help.
How do I start a career in SEO?
Hop back up in this article to learn more if you skipped my recommendations! 🙂
What qualifications do I need to be an SEO?
There are no specific qualification that are required for becoming an SEO Specialist.
However, the more training and experience you have, the better. Additionally, a well-rounded understanding and basic knowledge related to things that impact SEO are beneficial, including digital and social media marketing principles, search engine marketing, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and website design.
No more wasting time learning – let’s start doing! My name is Becca and I’m your new digital BFF! 🙂 Let’s crush our side hustles together!
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