Intro
SEO experts are in high demand and the latter will only keep growing in the near future. People at entry positions make about $40k yearly; those at higher ones — over $60k. Below, we review a few skills that should be super helpful for growing your SEO career.
1. Prioritization
The challenge of SEO (one of them, at least) is that there are many moving parts and endless metrics:
- keywords
- backlinks
- page speed
- user experience.
Your task as an SEO expert is to choose which areas need immediate attention. As a rule, you’d organize those metrics into high/low priority and high/low impact. The most vital ones are thus with high priority and high impact.
The trick is that prioritization extends beyond work tasks. Because of SEO’s high demands and fast-changing nature, burnout is common in this profession. So yes, you should learn to (this really needs learning!) schedule time for rest to stay motivated and energetic. For the latter, you may consider energizing supplements such as products containing delta-8 thc (or delta-9).
Prioritization in work: If you’re handling multiple clients, focus first on keyword strategy for those with time-sensitive campaigns. Alternatively, if a page is lagging in speed, prioritize fixing that, for example by switching to a Headless CMS, as it directly affects SEO rankings.
Prioritization in life: Set boundaries on work hours so that you don’t overwork. Find things that help you relax in your free time. These can be both physical activities and natural remedies such as Delta-8 gummies. Good relaxation often hampers long-term productivity. It lets you come back with a fresh mind and better performance.
2. Research Skills
This, first and foremost, relates to keyword research (but not only it, of course). The latter involves finding the right keywords that balance search volume with competition. But keyword research is only one piece; here are some other skills that compose your research ability:
- Competitor analysis: Checking what keywords competitors rank for and identifying gaps to target.
- Trend analysis: Staying up-to-date with Google’s algorithm changes and adapting to shifts in user behavior.
- User intent analysis: Understanding what users want when they search a term.
- SEO tools proficiency: Tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, and Google Keyword Planner provide keyword insights, traffic data, and more.
The best thing about research skills is that they help ensure your strategies are grounded in real data.
3. Critical Thinking
In SEO, you must approach issues analytically (not just follow templates or routines). Let’s break down five sub-skills that make critical thinking valuable and explore where each can help.
- Analyzing
You need to review analytics data to pinpoint underperforming pages. You can then make data-driven adjustments to improve rankings.
- Decision Making
You choose between competing strategies, such as whether to focus on content upgrades or backlink acquisition. Your choices must be based on current needs and long-term goals.
- Evaluating
You assess the effectiveness of a recent SEO strategy. That is, you compare past and current rankings, bounce rates, and conversion rates.
- Problem-Solving
Sometimes, you need to resolve a sudden drop in traffic. For that, you must diagnose potential causes like broken links or recent algorithm changes and implement solutions.
- Reasoning
Finally, you should be able to justify why a particular strategy, such as improving page load time, would likely result in better user engagement and SEO performance.
4. Link Building
This may sound a bit cliched but it’s a cornerstone of SEO. Quality backlinks signal to search engines that your content is reputable and worth promoting. As an SEO expert, you must be familiar with (and, ideally experience in) the main link-building techniques.
- Guest blogging: Writing articles for reputable sites in exchange for a backlink to your site.
- Content promotion: Sharing valuable content on social media or through email outreach to encourage natural links.
- Broken link building: Finding broken links on other sites and offering your content as a replacement.
- Resource link building: Creating high-quality resources (like guides or infographics) that other sites will want to link to as references.
- HARO (Help A Reporter Out): Responding to media requests for expert opinions, often earning a backlink in exchange.
Of course, mastering any of these tactics takes time. But it’s worth it — effective link-building really increases your site’s authority and rankings.
5. On-Page Optimization
From content to images, every piece on a page has a role. This means you must be able to refine each element to boost the page’s ranking potential. Here’s what skills knowledge) this implies:
- Content quality: Ensure content is informative, relevant, and answers the user’s intent. Incorporate keywords naturally and aim for readability.
- Title tags and meta descriptions: Craft concise, descriptive title tags and meta descriptions that contain keywords and attract clicks.
- Internal linking: Strategically link to other pages on your site to improve navigation and distribute authority across your website.
- URL structure: Keep URLs short, descriptive, and reflective of the page content. Avoid unnecessary words to improve readability and SEO.
This is in no way a full career roadmap. But these are certainly skills you’ll need to grow in the SEO profession. So if you’ve already got your custom career roadmap, check if these are included.
