In the growing online world, there is one field that everyone is sure will never lose its demand. Can you guess what field it is?
You guessed right! It is SEO (Search Engine Optimization). SEO is one of the major fields that come under online marketing.
With the increasing number of businesses that use online platforms to reach their audience, you can be confident that SEO is one of the fields that will never fade or lose its demand.
In such a scenario, becoming an SEO expert can be a positive career choice for you to boost your career and beat your competitors. This article will serve as a step-by-step guide for you to become an SEO expert who stays ahead of the competition.
Who Is an SEO Expert?
Before learning how you can become an expert in SEO, you should first understand who is called as an SEO expert. Not everyone who optimizes websites and works on search engines are an expert.
An SEO expert is someone who can leverage the tools and techniques of SEO to their advantage and make a website rank higher in the search engines. They will stay updated on the latest trends and frequently analyze the best solutions for each issue a website might face.
An SEO expert will know where a website needs improvement and make the necessary optimizations to reach the target audience and gain more leads and conversions.
What Skills Should an SEO Expert Know?
Just like any other profession, SEO also requires you to have certain skills to become an SEO expert.
Want to become an SEO expert? Then, make sure you have all the essential skills of an SEO expert, and some are listed below.
1. Keyword research. Know how to find relevant keywords with high search volume but low competition. These keywords should be able to bring you organic traffic without spending money.
2. Technical, On-Page and Off-Page SEOs are key skills. The more you master them, the closer you are to becoming an SEO expert.
3. Have a good understanding of HTML meta tags and website optimization.
4. Stay updated on the latest SEO trends and changes in Google algorithm.
5. Learn the art of link building. Build quality backlinks from high-authority websites.
6. Learn how to use SEO tools to analyze and measure performance.
7. Content & copywriting. Know how to write captivating content & copies when necessary.
8. Critical thinking. Learn to assess a problem from different angles and develop the perfect solution.
9. Socialization & communication skills. SEO is a huge industry. You need to have good socializing and communication skills to succeed in the field.
How to Become an SEO Expert?
SEO experts are in very high demand in today’s society. Every business, whether a multi-billion dollar one or a small one, relies on online platforms to reach its target audience and gain valuable customers.
So, if you wish to enter the SEO industry, ensure you become an SEO expert that every company fights to hire.
Don’t know where to start to become an SEO expert? Don’t worry, you can follow the below steps and begin your journey toward becoming an an expert.
The best and simple way to attain that stage is to learn from any of the best SEO expert.
Understand the Basics of SEO
Have you ever heard about someone becoming an expert in something without even knowing its basics? No, right. This is the same for SEO, too.
Before diving deeper into SEO, you should first cover the basics and understand what SEO revolves around. Here is an idea of what topics you need to cover.
- What is SEO, and why is SEO important?
- What are the benefits of SEO?
- What are the steps involved in SEO?
Understanding the basics of SEO is the first step you take toward becoming an SEO expert.
Learn the basics of how search engines work
Once you learn the basics of SEO, the next step will be to learn the basics of how a search engine works. Learning all about SEO will be of no use if you don’t understand how a search engine works.
SEO is the skill, and a search engine is the stage where you implement it. Without understanding the layout of your stage, you can never implement your skill to the fullest.
Google has several ranking factors that it uses to rank pages for a particular query. If you wish to rank higher in the search engine, you need to know these ranking factors to optimize your pages accordingly.
Take an SEO course and get certified
Learning SEO on your own by watching tutorials is fine. However, joining an SEO course and learning under the guidance of an SEO expert can give you exposure to various aspects of SEO that you won’t get through tutorials and free online videos.
Taking an SEO course and getting certified also gives you more credibility as an SEO professional. Your companies will require proof that you have adequate SEO knowledge before hiring you. Getting certified by a reputed SEO training academy can give you an edge over your competitors.
Understand SEO strategies and concepts
An SEO strategy is a plan you draft to create, optimize, and promote content in a search engine so as to increase its visibility and generate organic traffic. It involves implementing various SEO concepts and techniques that can potentially revitalize your website and rank them higher.
Below are some SEO strategies that an SEO expert should know how to use for their websites.
- Implementing keyword research in different ways without entirely relying on the tools
- Optimizing content through competitor analysis
- Using AI to get useful data to improvise content
- Approaching backlinks using different strategies
- Building strategies based on the data gathered from the Google search console
- Design your websites for conversion standpoints.
Practice building websites
Practice! Practice! Practice!
You can learn about SEO for a whole year, but you will never know how it actually works unless you implement it.
It is okay to get things wrong at the start. You have to start somewhere. Practice building websites and learn how the process works.
Doing this can help you gain knowledge about the website’s backend side, and moreover, you will have enough knowledge to make changes easily on the live website in the future.
Experiment and Optimize Your Own Website
This is one of the best ways to learn SEO if you are a beginner. SEO is an endless ocean, and there are many things we can experiment on to see how it works.
One important pro tip: Never experiment with new techniques on your clients or other people’s websites. That is not where you should be messing about.
Instead, create your own website where you can experiment with new ideas and see where it goes. Here are some reasons why you should create your own website.
- You can make any change you want and do not need others’ permission.
- You get to explore various facets of SEO and learn what works and what does not.
- You get to learn 10x faster with your own website than other people’s websites.
- You won’t get reprimanded if an experiment fails. You just learn from your mistakes and improvise.
Learn how to use SEO tools and analytics programs
This is one of the main factors that distinguishes an expert from a fresher. A fresher does everything manually. An expert, on the other hand, uses tools to automate tasks and focuses on what’s important.
Learning about the right tools for the right purpose can make it much easier for you to complete your work more efficiently without any errors. Different tasks have different tools. There are tools for
- Analysis and performance tracking,
- Keyword research & optimization,
- Competitor analysis,
- Technical website optimization,
- Link building and backlink analysis, etc.
Learn About Technical SEO More
You might have worked really hard to create your website and add captivating content that will attract customers. But what will you do if the search engine can’t crawl or index it?
You need to understand what Google looks for and optimize your website accordingly. This is where Technical SEO comes in.
An SEO expert never stops learning Technical SEO. No matter how much you learn about it, there will always be something new for you to learn.
So learn, learn, and keep on learning.
Learn About Content Strategy, Creation, Optimization, and Promotion
Never think that SEO and content are different fields. Both are interrelated and go hand-in-hand in giving you the results you work for.
You might have put all your SEO knowledge into optimizing your website and ranking it higher in the search results. But if the content is not up to par and doesn’t improve user experience, all your hard work will go down the drain.
Google only ranks websites with content that is relevant and useful for the user’s search query. Ensure you learn all about content strategy and how you can optimize it to make your website rank higher.
Regularly Update Your SEO Knowledge
A true SEO expert never stops learning because they know there is much more they still need to learn.
Search engines like Google frequently update their algorithms to provide the best results for their users. These updates can significantly affect your websites if you don’t optimize them on time. So, always pay attention and stay updated on the latest industry trends.
Here are some ways you can actively learn about Google updates and best practices.
1. Follow the search engine’s official page
Every time an update is released, the search engine will announce it on its official website (Google Search Central for Google) or other pages they have for updates & guidelines. E.g., Search engine land, search engine roundtable, etc. Follow these pages and regularly check if there are any announcements.
2. Get in touch with other SEO professionals
Participate in online communities and attend webinars and conferences where you can interact with like-minded SEO professionals. E.g.. LinkedIn and Twitter have SEO communities where people regularly meet up to share knowledge and experience.
Even if there are no recent SEO updates you should learn, you can get valuable insights and resources to up your SEO game to the next level.
3. Set Google Alerts
Set Google Alerts for your chosen keywords or competitors. Google will send you an email if there is any new content related to them.
The images below are Google Alert notifications for the keyword “Air Monitoring.”
If the industry is trending or updating talks about topics related to your keyword, Google will alert you to read it!
Keep Practicing SEO
SEO is a never-ending cycle. There will always be new updates or changes that you need to learn. Keep practicing SEO and implement any new techniques you learned about recently.
Tip: Twitter is a valuable social media to read a lot of case studies about SEO techniques
Make mistakes and learn from them. There are also other fields, like graphic design and web development, you can master to enhance your SEO skills. Continuously expanding your knowledge and mastering new skill sets makes you a valuable asset for any company you work for.
Conclusion
All businesses, whether they are small-scale or large-scale, are on the hunt for the best SEO experts in the industry. If you have proved yourself to be an SEO expert who can scale their business to new heights, businesses will be ready to pay you the fee you demand.
Continuous learning and updating are crucial steps in mastering SEO. If you don’t know where to start in SEO, you can join an SEO course mentored by an experienced SEO expert.
Frequently Asked Questions
The time it takes to master SEO depends on the pace of your learning and how you learn it, whether you learn by yourself or join an SEO course and learn from other experts. On average, it will take about a year to master SEO.
Yes, SEO is one of the fields that has become more lucrative in recent years. All businesses want to rank higher in search engines and grow their business. This has increased the demand for expert SEO professionals.
Unlike before, businesses have come to know that they need to get into online marketing if they want to grow their business. This has increased the demand for SEO experts as businesses are ready to spend as much as necessary to reach their audience.
SEO is a good way to earn money online. Even if it is not your primary job option, understanding it can help you earn through freelancing.
