Key Takeaways – How to become an SEO Analyst
| – SEO is a vital aspect of digital marketing, and every business is focused on ranking their website on the search engine. – An SEO Analyst is a member of the digital marketing team who uses their expertise to improve website rankings and visibility by analyzing various SEO metrics. – The average salary range for an SEO analyst is Rs 2,50,000 to Rs 4,00,000/ year. – Career opportunities for an SEO Analyst include becoming an SEO Specialist/strategiest, SEO Manager, or SEO director. – Learning and developing SEO skills is crucial for career growth in the SEO industry. |
68% of the online experience begins with the search engine.
Every brand and business is in a mad rush to be visible and accessible to people on search engines. There is no doubt that SEO is essential. And it is no surprise that many would want to choose SEO as a career option.
Should you be an SEO analyst or an SEO expert?
What are the different roles and what’s in it for you?
These may be some of the questions lingering in your mind. Let us get to the bottom of it in this article.
Who is an SEO analyst?
SEO Analysts are a part of the digital marketing team, who develop marketing campaigns by collaborating with marketing strategists and content specialists to connect with the target audience.
They provide their expertise and insight relating to SEO. They analyse and compile data relating to various SEO metrics like high value keywords and use that information to build content strategies to improve rankings and visibility. They create reports on performance metrics and other key analytics.
Some responsibilities are
- Preparing reports and updates about performance to clients.
- Executing marketing plans to deliver results and achieve objectives
- Conduct keyword research and for building websites and content.
- Collaborate with content managers and make suggestions to improve organic reach.
- Help identify the target audience and execute new marketing techniques and advertise products or services.
- Help maximise ROI
- Keep pace with the evolving search engines trends and technical developments.
- Collaborate with the appropriate team members to plan, develop and implement high performance marketing campaigns and attain organic traffic goals
- Driving partners to identify and drive demand generation and funnel building activities.
SEO analysts play a huge role in digital marketing and a qualified person can land an analyst job with necessary qualifications.
What qualifications do SEO analysts need?
By qualifications, if you mean a degree, then I can say a Bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, or information technology.
But is that a must?
No.
SEO is a skill that can be learnt on your own from the comforts of your home by anyone who wishes to master it.
Your skills and experience are what matter if you want a job. These can be practised and developed over time.
The skills they look for an SEO analyst role are
- Understanding of search engines, Google Analytics, content management systems, Javascript, and algorithm design.
- Communication and leadership skills to work in collaboration with a team and deploy goals.
- Attention to detail for efficient problem solving.
- Knowledge of HTML and SaaS programming is a plus.
What is the salary of an SEO analyst?
The average pay range for an SEO analyst looks like this:
An SEO analyst performs all SEO tasks in a team and SEO is in the heart of digital marketing. If you start your career as an SEO analyst there is so much to do and so much to grow.
But it does not end there. There are several roles and positions for an SEO analyst in the industry.
Let us try to understand what else you can do in this profession?
What are the career opportunities for an SEO analyst?
In the SEO industry, learning never ends. The more you learn the more you grow. If you want to make a career in SEO, there are two main streams you can follow.
- SEO all the way, SEO as a profession, or
- SEO as a stepping stone to become a digital marketer with SEO expertise.
The SEO way
If you are choosing to stay with SEO all the way, then here is the hierarchy you can expect to grow. Many would like to become an SEO expert. But if you ask me, there is no such thing as an SEO expert.
Once you call yourself an expert, you have decided that you know everything about the subject. But that is quite impossible especially in a field that is dynamically evolving and developing.
All you have to do is continue learning and gaining experience to grow and specialise. Let us just stick to the given names of roles and understand their responsibilities. You have already understood the core responsibilities of an SEO Analyst. The following is the growth ladder of roles.
SEO Specialist/Strategist:
As an SEO specialist you would be responsible for analysing, reviewing and implementing the changes to optimize websites. You need follow trial and error with various combinations of SEO practices and strategies to boost ranking in search results and increase website visibility.
Then you analyse the performance to see what works best for the websites and modify your strategies accordingly to increase visibility and conversion. You work closely with the SEO analysts to implement and execute their suggestions.
Your tasks include:
- Perform keyword research to drive more traffic and conversions.
- Designing and implementing strategies to reach targets
- Content optimization and competitor analysis
- Prepare detailed strategy and performance reports of the whole campaign for your higher ups
- Design and perform link building strategies
The average payscale for this role is Rs.3,00,000 – 3,60,000/year. This range increases with experience.
SEO Manager
Your responsibilities as an SEO manager is to coordinate and implement Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing campaigns/programs for clients. You need to oversee and coordinate with content, design, social media and marketing teams while managing offsite and onsite optimization projects.
You develop and execute SEO strategies with the help of SEO strategists of your team. You will also need basic knowledge of web design and development.
Your tasks as an SEO Manager are:
- Execute SEO projects and improve leads.
- Analyse the reports of performance of the projects as submitted by SEO strategists.
- Oversee the performance of your team, guide them, and solve problems.
- Optimize the website, landing pages, track KPIs and fill any gaps.
- Collaborate with other team heads on different SEO projects.
The payscale is Rs.3,60,000 – 5,40,000/year. The pay can even rise up to more than 7 lakhs with more experience.
SEO Director
SEO Directors are the heads of departments. They set targets and goals for different teams in the department keeping in mind the growth of the company. They oversee the working of different teams and also collaborate with other departments over projects. The pay scale ranges from Rs.7,00,000/- to 18,00,000/year and increases with experience.
SEO consultant
SEO consultants are independent third-party consultants who plan, implement and execute SEO campaigns for clients. They work independently and have their own team of specialists working with them.
They are not regular employees but advisors to their clients and take care of the entire SEO needs and services for them. They sometimes work on multiple projects and have extensive knowledge of SEO tools and techniques.
They perform a wide range of tasks including keyword research, content planning and marketing, website optimization, link building, web analytics, among other things.
The salary depends on the level of expertise, projects, and experience starting from Rs.3,00,000 – 3,60,000/year.
SEO Content Writer:
This is yet another option if you are interested in writing and are equipped with SEO knowledge.
Digital Marketer
If you are interested in expanding your knowledge and skills outside the SEO streamline, then you can aspire for the digital marketing industry. For this I recommend the T-shaped marketing career.
A T shaped marketer is someone who has expertise in one aspect of marketing in-depth while having a general understanding of multiple other topics that are complementary to the first subject.
As the image shows, the horizontal part of the ‘T’ represents the extensive knowledge of various topics in marketing while the vertical represents the deeper understanding of one topic making them generalists with one specialty.
For example, if SEO is your key skill of expertise, you may also be interested in other aspects of digital marketing like content marketing, search engine marketing, and performance marketing.
The benefit of this is you can help your clients with marketing strategies with different skills rather than just doing SEO for them. You are more useful to them, they will pay you more as you have more to offer.
Conclusion
Mastering SEO requires your perseverance and dedication. The industry is growing which means the need for specialists is also increasing. You can also grow in the professional ladder by consistently upskilling and staying updated with the advancements in the field.
You do not need a job to gain experience in SEO. You can have your own project website which you can use to practise and learn different techniques.
If you are new to SEO and want to learn the basic skills, you can sign up to my SEO Career Kickstarter course.
