Know The Various SEO Job Roles And Responsibilities
If you have a good idea of what exactly SEO is, then you almost know the key activities, job roles and responsibilities of an SEO professional. In simple terms, SEO or Search Engine Optimisation means to optimize a website in such a way that it appears on top of the search results for relevant search terms and you get free traffic to your site. It sounds easy, right? But it is not so easy in practice, and that’s the reason people take years to be a specialist and companies hire these specialists for such a high price.
Let’s understand the SEO activities, job roles and responsibilities that are defining the current market. To understand it well, we have divided the whole article into four parts and make sure you read all four to have a complete understanding.
What is SEO?
We are focusing on what SEO is because many people have a misconception about SEO. They assume it to be quite easy and effortless. But in real, practicing SEO is not at all easy. As explained earlier, SEO can be described as a process to make your website rank high in Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs). SEO helps in gaining free traffic to websites, and hence, it is so much in demand. We can also say SEO is about researching and using keywords and links to rank your content in search results, but that’s not all.
SEO Activities
As an SEO candidate, you might have different tasks or activities based upon the demand of the project. The best thing about Digital Marketing and SEO is, there is no fixed path or a predefined path for success. You will have to experiment on your own and see what suits you the best. But the basic framework or guidelines remain the same more-or-less. You must be wondering why we are talking about SEO Activities first instead of SEO Job Roles or job titles. Knowing about the key SEO activities is vital because, as per the activities the Job Roles and responsibilities are divided and categorized. So let’s have a look upon the activities which an SEO candidate is expected to know and execute.
Website Audit
Auditing the website means to find out what are the areas to improve in the site. Whenever a project comes in, the first task is to Audit the same and find out what all things are missing and how we can make it better. Site loading time, domain authority, website architecture, keywords, etc., are checked. A detailed report is made, and that report will also help in preparing a budget for the whole project. This step is very crucial because all the findings and opportunities help the client decide his course of action and so the business deal is dependent on that.
On-Page SEO Activities
These include the tasks which are required to be done to make the content of the website healthy.
On-Page SEO demands a lot of effort in the form of:
Keyword research and usage
Searching for the right keywords that people are searching for, which are relevant to your website content requires some research on different keyword planners or tools. It seems easy, but it requires a lot of research and thinking. The main areas to use the keywords include:Title, Headers, Meta Tags, Meta Description, Image descriptions and more.
Throughout the website content, these keywords should populate uniformly, but not stuffed in the content and it is also the responsibility of the SEO candidate to take care of that.
Content Optimization and development
In real time projects, it is common to come across pages that do not have enough content to use keywords or do SEO. In such cases, it is also to be taken care of, and the person in the SEO job role has to develop the content too in which he can use the keywords.
Internal Linking
There are several pages on a website, and all should be discoverable enough so that all pages get equal traffic. But making all pages visible at once and bringing the same Traffic is not possible. So to achieve somewhat close results, we link different posts and pages within a single article. Creating links help in making all Articles visible to the user and it is a part of the SEO job role.
Image SEO
Neglecting Images is a common practice, but this element in a website is crucial. The person developing the site tries to make the content of the image as descriptive as possible, but Google cannot yet understand that. Google or any other search engine uses the description and alt tags to understand the content of the image. So it becomes essential from an SEO point of view to configure these images with proper keywords and information. And thereby this task also comes under your SEO Activities.
Formatting the Site to make all data easily accessible
Putting together all data and information on a website is not enough, but you should do it the right way to make sure that people are liking it and can discover all the info. The user experience also is an essential element.
If people are understanding and loving the content on the website, then they may spend more time on it. People spending more time will in return give you positive results. So making the design and framework of the website user-friendly is also the responsibility of an SEO professional.
Taking care of the URL structure
URLs are a very neglected element by most, but it is essential to categorize the URL of all pages too. Adding categories to the URL is a simple task but should be taken care of by the person doing SEO of the website.
Off-Page SEO Activities
Off-Page SEO activities are those which help a website to rank high using external elements or help. There are various ways and processes to promote a website externally to rank high.
Blogger Outreach
Blogger outreach means to approach different bloggers to write an article on their website or channel, and the focus should be your product. Convincing bloggers requires good connections in the industry and also approaching and persuasive skills. So if you are a person involved in SEO then start developing contacts that can help you get other bloggers to write for you when needed.
Guest Blogging
Guest blogging means to write blogs on other websites or channels. Usually, these posts should be informative and add value to the site where you are offering it. If you are guest blogging on behalf of your client, then it will help in improving the brand image of the client’s website.
Get links to your blog post
A person doing SEO is expected to find websites and articles from which they can get quality backlinks for the client website. Good backlinks are essential to make the site look valuable to search engines.
Answer questions on Quora
Quora is a new way of finding answers to questions. People are trying to get the best solution for their queries now in Quora. So to promote something or to get quality traffic Quora is also a great place now. The person looking after SEO is also expected to find relevant questions in Quora where one can answer on behalf of the client’s business and in that process, leave links to the client’s business website.
Commenting on Blog posts
Finding opportunities to leave links to the website for which you are doing SEO is a good practice to help improve rankings. It is the responsibility of the candidate doing SEO to find such opportunities or blogs where he can leave comments to add value to the article and as well promote our website but in a decent way.
Social Sharing
Social Network sites are the place where most of the people spend time online nowadays. So utilizing that to bring more traffic is always a good idea. A person looking after the SEO of a website can also be expected to use Social Media to bring more traffic and popularize the content of the website.
Submitting in Niche Directories
Use of directories have reduced, but still many people use it to search for businesses nearby or abroad. To find the Directories and the categories in which the website can be listed to increase its visibility is also done by the SEO personnel.
Technical SEO
Many might wonder that technical issues of a website or any single bit related to HTML are not the responsibility of an SEO candidate. That is true to some extent, but you cannot bug the HTML developers even for small issues. Issues like overflowing HTML Codes, adjusting some aspects of a website to enhance the user experience, managing missing links, resizing the images as per requirement, etc. are the issues which can be efficiently dealt with by anyone doing SEO. And moreover having some basic ideas about HTML and CSS can be helpful and be an added advantage. So don’t shy away from dealing with such issues in a project. And of course, if the problem is beyond your limits, then you will have developers taking care of that.
Local SEO
Local SEO has proven to provide more beneficial results nowadays because people search for businesses or services near their home or in their city. Moreover, trending in your locality is easier than trending all over the world. So results in these cases are better. And you get clients right in your town or region. It is also the responsibility of the candidate doing SEO to make use of platforms like Google My Business to help the client rank high locally too.
Monitor the Performance
Implementing all the techniques on a website does not end your journey in SEO. You should analyze and bring changes as per the results obtained. SEO is a never-ending process, and so for a project or a client, it is necessary to modify the website and content continuously as per the current trend. There are various tools whose usage and interpretation are essential to be an SEO expert. Without knowing how to interpret and use the data from those tools the candidate is limiting his SEO abilities. Learn to use several tools and try to experiment with the data and only then you will master it.
The activities listed above are just a general guideline and need not be the same always. You can have your ways and methods of doing your SEO, but most of the things will revolve around these points. Now as we know about the activities to be performed by an SEO individual. Let’s now see the job profiles that are available in the market for an SEO specialist or candidate.
SEO Job Roles in the Market
Now that we know what SEO is and what are the activities that an SEO professional should be understanding, we are ready to know about the various SEO Job Roles and responsibilities in the current market. Usually, if you are starting in a company, then you will have to start from the lowest position and gradually go up. But if you start your firm then you know you are on top already, and you may want to align your employees in the hierarchy below. So let’s have a look at the Job Roles and job titles in the current market.
SEO Trainee
SEO Trainee is usually the first step of an individual looking forward to a career in SEO. He is generally kept under a senior employee or trainer or SEO Executive to learn the process and ways of the company. In this phase, he is expected to learn more about the process and later implement them when needed. When under this designation you won’t have to brainstorm much and instead you will be given routine tasks so that you learn the process as per the requirement.
SEO Executive
SEO Executive is the lowest position in the hierarchy if we do not consider the SEO Trainee. In this position, the task will depend upon the company in which he is working. But it is expected that he should be aware of all the SEO related activities and may have to do the same as per the requirement of the company and the project. We can say that an SEO Executive does the necessary SEO activities on the website or a project.
SEO Analyst
The position of SEO Analyst is higher than that of an SEO Executive. He is usually assigned to monitor and analyze the task of the SEO Executives to make sure the results are fruitful. He also manages the quality and time for the output. He is also expected to be exceptional in keyword research and leading the SEO Executives assigned to him.
SEO Strategist
The work of an SEO Strategist is to lay down strategies to improve the SEO of the company’s website. He will study the various methods and tools that can be utilized for a project and will forward the acquired data to the Analyst and the executives. The analysts may suggest changes after studying the provided data. But basically, the work of SEO Strategist is to make strategies on what methods and tools will be suitable for a project and how they will get the maximum result out of it.
SEO Specialist
SEO Specialist is accountable to maintain the organic search results for a company’s webpages. The SEO campaigns get planned and executed under him. When working for a client in a Digital Marketing Agency then he is the one taking care of traffic to the client’s website. He plots and devises ways to increase the traffic. Depending upon the required results he may suggest changes keeping in mind the different ranking factors.
SEO Consultant
As the name suggests, the work of an SEO Consultant is to provide business suggestions or consultancy to the clients with which he is working. He may be a part of a Digital Marketing Firm, but his work would be to assist the clients of the Digital Marketing Firm. He need not go directly to the offices of those clients but can support online too. Expectations are that he will be an expert in the fields of SEO and has in-depth knowledge in Digital Marketing.
SEO Technician
The work of an SEO Technician is to assess the competitor’s website to see their updates and work accordingly and also to find opportunities to get backlinks. He is the one who tries to build connections with Bloggers and pitch them for backlinks. Apart from that, he is also expected to study, optimize and promote the content prepared for marketing.
SEO Account Manager
Social Media promotions and generating more leads are the expectations out of an SEO Account Manager. Apart from that, he will also represent the team and its work in front of the client and also assist the client accordingly. He will be a bridge between the Client and the team working for him. And regarding the social media campaigns that he handles, he is expected to generate some successful results out of his Campaigns.
SEO Manager
The designation of an SEO Manager is quite high in an organization, and so the responsibilities will also be proportionate. He is expected to analyze the reports of all the campaigns ongoing and suggest in-depth knowledge of how to improve keyword research and make successful campaigns. He is expected to have a good understanding of the process and impart the same to people working with him. And as per the requirement, he may have to suggest changes for campaigns whether new or live. And he may also have to develop marketing strategies as per the goal of the SEO or the client.
SEO Trainer
An SEO Trainer is supposed to be an SEO Expert who can teach his subordinate employees some hacks to master the art of SEO and get better results. He can analyze the previous campaigns and provide a better pathway for the same or teach them better ways to improve. The candidate must have overwhelming knowledge in the field of SEO and should be able to impart the same to his subordinates to be an efficient SEO Trainer. He should have the capability to get the best result out of any campaign, and that is only possible if he knows his field well and not to mention experience is a crucial factor to that.
SEO Director
An SEO Director is the head of the department, and he keeps a keen eye on all the goals and results of all campaigns under him. His tasks are more focused on accessing and analyzing the campaigns. He tries to make sure that all functions are aligned and proper results come up at the end. He is also concerned about bringing the right brand image for the company by making sure the clients realize their goals and all tasks execute correctly. He will have many employees reporting to him, and he will have to manage them all. So basically he has to take care of almost everything in the company that concerns SEO and clients.
The job roles and responsibilities mentioned in the article are just an overview. Different companies or agencies may have a different approach to the same job role. But at the end of the day, one thing stays the same. If you know the process well, then you will surely perform well and will be able to manage all the job roles eventually. It’s just a matter of time and hard work, and you can quickly scale up to the highest position starting from the lowest in the hierarchy. So stay focused on your goal and learn more to grow more.