Corporate entities are no longer confined in bricks and mortar. They are spreading their tentacles in the virtual world. Businesses are going online. They are building websites, allowing netizens to shop online, aggressively marketing their products on the net and harnessing the power of the Internet to build up leads for their products and services.
The corporate world has also become aware that only ‘Building a Site’ will not help in drawing prospective customers. Sites as well as brands have to be pushed aggressively, marketed properly and above all ensure that they are able to garner the attention of search engines. This has meant that an increasing number of corporate houses are looking out for trained Internet Marketing Professionals who are aware of the intricacies of search engine optimization.
But, finding such professionals is proving to be a daunting task for recruiters. This is because there are very few institutes offering SEO training and certification. Also, most of the available talent has not received proper training per se but are self-taught professionals. The above-mentioned facts are also supported by experts who state that the industry supply is lagging the demand by 20%.
Robert Half International, world’s first and largest specialized staffing firm, cites the job profile of Search Engine Optimizer as ‘one of four jobs on cutting edge’. So, should you consider doing a career in Search Engine Optimization?

Why Should I Consider A Career In Seo
Let’s look at the work profile of a search engine optimizer. MSN Careers states that ‘SEOs typically supplement their knowledge of how various search engines operate and determine page rankings with strong marketing skills, as well as the ability to communicate effectively and program using HTML.’ Thus, SEO comprises all the aspects relevant to the building of a website right from its development to the content and designing.
SEO is a sunrise industry. Reports are showing that the spending on SEO as well as online marketing is growing. According to a survey conducted by Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO), ‘North American advertisers spent $9.4 billion on search engine marketing (SEM) in 2016, a 62 per cent increase over 2015 spending’. Similarly, a survey conducted by Affinity Internet reveals that ‘SMBs will commit greater resources to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) marketing and other online efforts in 2017.’
A study conducted by E-consultancy paints a rosy picture of the future of SEO. The study takes into account the mindset of business houses located in the UK. According to the study, ‘Continued pay-per-click growth and keyword inflation have boosted companies’ spending on SEM, with an emerging trend towards the long-term benefits of organic optimization as Adwords/Overture costs soar’.
All the above reports point to the fact that spending on SEO and online marketing is growing. The reports also indirectly underline the fact that the demand for SEO professionals is all set to increase in the near future.
Look at any leading job site. You will notice that there are many openings for SEO. For instance, Yahoo Hotjobs had approximately 214 openings for the month of May 2017 in the US alone. Moreover, the jobs available require people with a varying level of experience. So, whether you are a fresher or possess some experience, you are sure of landing a job provided you are equipped with the employer-desired skill set and qualifications. Likewise, the pay packet is also good. A fresher can expect to earn between $ 35K-$ 55K which only increases with experience. In fact, according to MSN careers, ‘because of a shortage of experts in this relatively new area, many top SEOs receive multiple job offers.’
The fact that the rules of SEO remain the same and are immune to geographical locations only increases your chances of getting a job. For instance, if you have received your training from an institute located in India and have worked in a company located in the UK, you are still eligible to apply for a job in the US.
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The SEO industry has many interesting careers up for grabs. Equipped with the right kind of certifications and good knowledge about search engines, you can expect to land a challenging and well-rewarding career.
An SEO of Opportunity – 7 Career Paths for Today’s SEO Specialist
But how do you advance in your SEO career? Once you’ve mastered the black art of search engine optimization, what do you focus on to add the most value to your career?
Here are 7 popular roles and career paths for new and experienced SEO professionals looking to take the next step in their career.
- Search Engine Marketer – Search engine optimization and search engine marketing (SEM) are often lumped together, but in practice they are very different. SEM is much broader and incorporates SEO. SEM requires that you learn new skills including Pay Per Click marketing (PPC), advertising, and some customer relationship management, as you will have to work to market to consumers as well as to search engines. While many SEM professionals specialize solely in paid search, you can branch into SEM and SEO to handle both aspects. Search Engine Marketers earn a median salary of $45,255 according to Payscale, or an average of $2,300 more per year than a standard SEO specialist. Mastering Google AdWords, Bing AdWords, and various web analytics is a must for this position.
- Business Marketing Consultant – Some search engine optimization specialists go on to become public speakers, professional business consultants, and marketing consultants. While this position typically requires that you have demonstrated success with your own business or someone else’s, it does afford the ability to work with companies almost everywhere, become a public speaker, and work with businesses on a client basis to improve their marketing and strategic planning. In most cases, working as a consultant will require you to work with clients to provide solutions to their specific needs, plan and assist in implementing search and other marketing initiatives, measure the effectiveness of existing strategies as well as ones that you put into place, and provide long-term support and stratification to those companies. In short, consultation is an ideal job if you are idea and strategy-driven. The median salary for a business marketing consultant is $57,610 per year.
- Digital Marketer – Moving into digital marketing is an easy way to utilize your existing SEO experience while broadening your range of skills and increasing your salary. Digital marketers typically handle all types of online marketing including SEO, SEM, PPC, and social media. This means that you must be able to create and implement marketing strategies, utilize SEO, work with content planning, understand and utilize social media as part of long-term strategies, use analytics and data management, and work with advertising platforms to drive paid traffic. A digital marketer earns a median salary of about $46,919 per year, but relevant qualifications in web marketing, communications, and strategic marketing can boost your salary.
- Marketing Analyst – Data analytics is a large part of search optimization and as an SEO specialist you are likely very familiar with it. As a marketing analyst, your key responsibilities are using numbers to track the performance of existing initiatives, identify opportunities for new ones, and generate forecasts and reports based on data. Marketing analysts earn an average of $52,176 per year, and can benefit from qualifications in business analysis, strategy, market research, and SQL.
- Content Marketer – Content marketing is a natural step for SEOs who prefer working with content rather than links and numbers. Content marketers require SEO skills as they work with the direct creation of web content, blogs, outreach material, videos, graphics, reports, and other content. While your exact role will vary depending on the company, most content marketing professionals fit into a marketing team to act on the content decisions in a marketing plan. With a median salary of $56,414 for newcomers to the field, content marketing also pays significantly higher than SEO on its own.
- SEO Manager – Search engine optimization often requires a team of analysts, data managers, SEO specialists, content strategists, technology experts, and so on. The larger a company, the larger their SEO team will be, and the more they will benefit from an SEO manager. Managers must understand search engine optimization and potentially search engine marketing, but directly oversee a team and marketing strategies rather than directly working with the mundane elements of data and link analysis. If you are people oriented, this can be more exciting than SEO itself. SEO managers earn a median income of $64,358 but may have a diverse array of responsibilities depending on the company and the size of the team.
- Entrepreneur – Starting your own business allows you to bring your skills as a Search Engine Optimization specialist and offer them to businesses on your own terms. Unfortunately, your salary can greatly vary depending on your business, your launch, and the services you offer, so there is no one set general salary for those who choose to start a business in SEO or in digital marketing. However, if you do have something to offer to businesses, prefer to work on a contract basis, or have another reason to launch your own company, starting your own business can be rewarding and profitable in the long term.
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