What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?
Search Engine Optimization – SEO is the art and science of optimizing your web pages to be found by the search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing etc. But why part art, part science? The science part of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) deals with technology and all the engineering & technicalities of a website such as code, information architecture & user experience etc.
While Art is all about understanding the business, and the customer behavior and try to positively persuade it by adding value to them (in the form of a product, service or a solution) and getting value in return (as leads, sales or branding).
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) plays a fundamental role in scaling up sales and speed up the growth of a completely online business (such as Flipkart.com or Snapdeal.com) or an offline business (such as KFC).
Reasons to Choose SEO as Your Career
High demand for SEO services
With an increase in demand for SEO services, employment opportunities in the industry are also increasing. Now, when sites have increased in number and doing great business, an expert SEO has become the need of the companies. Therefore, you can expect more job opportunities in the Digital Marketing industry.
A LOT of people have made a successful SEO career
There are many living proofs that SEO is a viable business. The list is too long to be quoted here but some of the names include Rob from Blackwood Productions, Jill Wahlen from High Rankings, Rand Fishkin from SEO Moz and many others.
Search Engine Optimizers make Good Money
SEO is a profession that can be practiced while working for a company or as a solo practitioner. There are many jobboards like Dice and Craigslist that publish SEO job advertisements. It is worth noting that the compensation for SEO employees is equal to or even higher than that of developers, designers and marketers. Salaries over $80K per annum are not an exception for SEO jobs.
As a solo SEO practitioner you can make even more money. Almost all freelance sites have sections for SEO services and offers for $50 an hour or more are quite common. If you are still not confident that you can work on your own, you can start a SEO job, learn a bit and then start your own company.
If you already feel confident that you know a lot about SEO, you can take this quiz and see how you score. Well, don’t get depressed if you didn’t pass – here is a great checklist that will teach you a lot, even if you are already familiar with SEO.
Only Web–Designing MAY NOT be enough
Many companies offer turn–key solutions that include Web design, Web development AND SEO optimization. In fact, many clients expect that when they hire somebody to make their site, the site will be SEO friendly, so if you are good both as a designer and a SEO expert, you will be a truely valuable professional.
On the other hand, many other companies are dealing with SEO only because they feel that this way they can concentrate their efforts on their major strentgh – SEO, so you can consider this possibility as well.
Logical step ahead if you come from marketing or advertising
The Web has changed the way companies do business, so to some extent today’s marketers and advertisers need to have at least some SEO knowledge if they want to be successful. SEO is also a great career for linguists.
Lots of Learning
For somebody who comes from design, development or web administration, SEO might look not technical enough and you might feel that you will downgrade if you move to SEO. Don’t worry so much – you can learn a LOT from SEO, so if you are a talented techie, you are not downgrading but you are actually upgrading your skills packages.
SEO is already recognized as a career
Finally, if you need some more proof that SEO is a great career, have a look at the available SEO courses and exams for SEO practitioners. Well, they might not be a CISCO certification but still they help to institutionalize the SEO profession.
Ugly face of SEO
Dependent on search engines
It is true that in any career there are many things that are outside of your control but for SEO this is a rule number one. Search engines frequently change their algorithms and what is worse – these changes are not made public, so even the greatest SEO gurus admit that they make a lot of educated guesses about how things work. It is very discouraging to make everything perfect and then to learn that due to a change in the algorithm, your sites dropped 100 positions down. But the worst part is that you need to communicate this to clients, who are not satisfied with their sinking ratings.
No fixed rules
Probably this will change over time but for now the rule is that there are no rules – or at least not written ones. You can work very hard, follow everything that looks like a rule and still success is not coming. Currently you can’t even rely on bringing a search engine to court because of the damages they have done to your business because search engines are not obliged to rank high sites that have made efforts to get optimized.
Rapid changes in rankings
But even if you somehow manage to get to the top for a particular keyword, keeping the position requires constant efforts. Well, many other businesses are like that, so this is hardly a reason to complain – except when an angry customer starts shouting at you that this week their ratings are sinking and of course this is all your fault.
SEO requires Patience
The SEO professional and customers both need to understand that SEO takes constant effort and time. It could take months to move ahead in the ratings, or to build tens of links. Additionally, if you stop optimizing for some time, most likely you will experience a considerable drop in ratings. You need lots of motivation and patience not to give up when things are not going your way.
Black hat SEO
Black hat SEO is probably one of the biggest concerns for the would–be SEO practitioner. Fraud and unfair competition are present in any industry and those who are good and ethical suffer from this but black hat SEO is still pretty widespread. It is true that search engines penalize black hat practices but still black hat SEO is a major concern for the industry.
Why SEO industry is growing?
1. Increased use of search engines to look for information on web year on year.
2. Large brand advertisers are using SEO actively in India & Internationally.
3. Traditional or Direct marketers are increasingly adopting SEO.
4. Growth in the number of local search request with mobile web searches.
5. Organic SEO listings on Google search result page is more trustworthy than Ads.
6. Google are fast evolving and making demographic targeted & Geo targeted search results.
SEO Salary & Benefits
In Asian countries like India the average salary for SEO is in between Rs 1.8 lacs – Rs 4 lacs per year for freshers. Like any other discipline; the salary depends on various different factors like No. of years Experience, Employer Type, City, Company Size, Certifications etc.
There are thousands of job openings in the Digital marketing industry and many of the job descriptions include experience in search engine optimization. Need for both entry-level & experienced SEO/SEM professionals will be growing until search engines exist in this world.
Scope of SEO
Online industry is growing everyday & SEO is playing a vital role in bringing the visitors to the website and all the companies are spending a huge sum in SEO. It’s one of the most happening areas and there are a good number of job opportunities in the field of SEO.
Every website is looking to procure SEO services for itself either internally or externally depending on its budgets and expertise at hand.
SEO has very bright future for you if you have great analytic skills, and you are dynamic. You need to keep up with the latest trend in the field, have passion for research and be able to formulate clever and creative marketing strategy to beat your competitor, and have an edge over all others.
SEO Job Categories
Many of the SEO/SEM firms, particularly the larger firms, have employees in these job categories:
• Analytics
• Business Management/Development
• Link Building
• Event Management
• Organic Search Engine Optimization
• Social Media Analyst
• Web Development/Programming
• Web Design
• Offline Marketing/Advertising
• Public Relations/Reputation Management
• Paid Search/PPC Management
• Web Design
• Writing/Blogging
Why SEO is important for Businesses
SEO is important because it is the most cost-effective way to bring in new customers for company. Search engines like Google, Bing and Yell are quickly becoming the first place people look when wanting to find a particular product or service. This is where an SEO becomes the key to making a website in search engine page results.
For example, most researchers are not limited only search once, click on some websites, and be done with it. Instead, search, click on some websites, modify their search terms and search again, click on some websites, further refine your search terms, search again, and so on. So, what does this mean for your business?
This means that if you can continuously display in these search results that you are gaining more and more brand recognition with every potential client. It is likely that over time they will click through to your website, and as they continually displayed in all their search results, they will trust you that much more.
Search Engine Optimization – SEO is the art and science of optimizing your web pages to be found by the search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing etc. But why part art, part science? The science part of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) deals with technology and all the engineering & technicalities of a website such as code, information architecture & user experience etc.
While Art is all about understanding the business, and the customer behavior and try to positively persuade it by adding value to them (in the form of a product, service or a solution) and getting value in return (as leads, sales or branding).
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) plays a fundamental role in scaling up sales and speed up the growth of a completely online business (such as Flipkart.com or Snapdeal.com) or an offline business (such as KFC).
Reasons to Choose SEO as Your Career
High demand for SEO services
With an increase in demand for SEO services, employment opportunities in the industry are also increasing. Now, when sites have increased in number and doing great business, an expert SEO has become the need of the companies. Therefore, you can expect more job opportunities in the Digital Marketing industry.
A LOT of people have made a successful SEO career
There are many living proofs that SEO is a viable business. The list is too long to be quoted here but some of the names include Rob from Blackwood Productions, Jill Wahlen from High Rankings, Rand Fishkin from SEO Moz and many others.
Search Engine Optimizers make Good Money
SEO is a profession that can be practiced while working for a company or as a solo practitioner. There are many jobboards like Dice and Craigslist that publish SEO job advertisements. It is worth noting that the compensation for SEO employees is equal to or even higher than that of developers, designers and marketers. Salaries over $80K per annum are not an exception for SEO jobs.
As a solo SEO practitioner you can make even more money. Almost all freelance sites have sections for SEO services and offers for $50 an hour or more are quite common. If you are still not confident that you can work on your own, you can start a SEO job, learn a bit and then start your own company.
If you already feel confident that you know a lot about SEO, you can take this quiz and see how you score. Well, don’t get depressed if you didn’t pass – here is a great checklist that will teach you a lot, even if you are already familiar with SEO.
Only Web–Designing MAY NOT be enough
Many companies offer turn–key solutions that include Web design, Web development AND SEO optimization. In fact, many clients expect that when they hire somebody to make their site, the site will be SEO friendly, so if you are good both as a designer and a SEO expert, you will be a truely valuable professional.
On the other hand, many other companies are dealing with SEO only because they feel that this way they can concentrate their efforts on their major strentgh – SEO, so you can consider this possibility as well.
Logical step ahead if you come from marketing or advertising
The Web has changed the way companies do business, so to some extent today’s marketers and advertisers need to have at least some SEO knowledge if they want to be successful. SEO is also a great career for linguists.
Lots of Learning
For somebody who comes from design, development or web administration, SEO might look not technical enough and you might feel that you will downgrade if you move to SEO. Don’t worry so much – you can learn a LOT from SEO, so if you are a talented techie, you are not downgrading but you are actually upgrading your skills packages.
SEO is already recognized as a career
Finally, if you need some more proof that SEO is a great career, have a look at the available SEO courses and exams for SEO practitioners. Well, they might not be a CISCO certification but still they help to institutionalize the SEO profession.
Ugly face of SEO
Dependent on search engines
It is true that in any career there are many things that are outside of your control but for SEO this is a rule number one. Search engines frequently change their algorithms and what is worse – these changes are not made public, so even the greatest SEO gurus admit that they make a lot of educated guesses about how things work. It is very discouraging to make everything perfect and then to learn that due to a change in the algorithm, your sites dropped 100 positions down. But the worst part is that you need to communicate this to clients, who are not satisfied with their sinking ratings.
No fixed rules
Probably this will change over time but for now the rule is that there are no rules – or at least not written ones. You can work very hard, follow everything that looks like a rule and still success is not coming. Currently you can’t even rely on bringing a search engine to court because of the damages they have done to your business because search engines are not obliged to rank high sites that have made efforts to get optimized.
Rapid changes in rankings
But even if you somehow manage to get to the top for a particular keyword, keeping the position requires constant efforts. Well, many other businesses are like that, so this is hardly a reason to complain – except when an angry customer starts shouting at you that this week their ratings are sinking and of course this is all your fault.
SEO requires Patience
The SEO professional and customers both need to understand that SEO takes constant effort and time. It could take months to move ahead in the ratings, or to build tens of links. Additionally, if you stop optimizing for some time, most likely you will experience a considerable drop in ratings. You need lots of motivation and patience not to give up when things are not going your way.
Black hat SEO
Black hat SEO is probably one of the biggest concerns for the would–be SEO practitioner. Fraud and unfair competition are present in any industry and those who are good and ethical suffer from this but black hat SEO is still pretty widespread. It is true that search engines penalize black hat practices but still black hat SEO is a major concern for the industry.
Why SEO industry is growing?
1. Increased use of search engines to look for information on web year on year.
2. Large brand advertisers are using SEO actively in India & Internationally.
3. Traditional or Direct marketers are increasingly adopting SEO.
4. Growth in the number of local search request with mobile web searches.
5. Organic SEO listings on Google search result page is more trustworthy than Ads.
6. Google are fast evolving and making demographic targeted & Geo targeted search results.
SEO Salary & Benefits
In Asian countries like India the average salary for SEO is in between Rs 1.8 lacs – Rs 4 lacs per year for freshers. Like any other discipline; the salary depends on various different factors like No. of years Experience, Employer Type, City, Company Size, Certifications etc.
There are thousands of job openings in the Digital marketing industry and many of the job descriptions include experience in search engine optimization. Need for both entry-level & experienced SEO/SEM professionals will be growing until search engines exist in this world.
Scope of SEO
Online industry is growing everyday & SEO is playing a vital role in bringing the visitors to the website and all the companies are spending a huge sum in SEO. It’s one of the most happening areas and there are a good number of job opportunities in the field of SEO.
Every website is looking to procure SEO services for itself either internally or externally depending on its budgets and expertise at hand.
SEO has very bright future for you if you have great analytic skills, and you are dynamic. You need to keep up with the latest trend in the field, have passion for research and be able to formulate clever and creative marketing strategy to beat your competitor, and have an edge over all others.
SEO Job Categories
Many of the SEO/SEM firms, particularly the larger firms, have employees in these job categories:
• Analytics
• Business Management/Development
• Link Building
• Event Management
• Organic Search Engine Optimization
• Social Media Analyst
• Web Development/Programming
• Web Design
• Offline Marketing/Advertising
• Public Relations/Reputation Management
• Paid Search/PPC Management
• Web Design
• Writing/Blogging
Why SEO is important for Businesses
SEO is important because it is the most cost-effective way to bring in new customers for company. Search engines like Google, Bing and Yell are quickly becoming the first place people look when wanting to find a particular product or service. This is where an SEO becomes the key to making a website in search engine page results.
For example, most researchers are not limited only search once, click on some websites, and be done with it. Instead, search, click on some websites, modify their search terms and search again, click on some websites, further refine your search terms, search again, and so on. So, what does this mean for your business?
This means that if you can continuously display in these search results that you are gaining more and more brand recognition with every potential client. It is likely that over time they will click through to your website, and as they continually displayed in all their search results, they will trust you that much more.
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