SEO specialist

What does an SEO specialist do? The tasks usually depend on the industry or employer. Here are some of the duties of an SEO specialist:

• performing keyword research: as an SEO specialist, you conduct intensive research for key phrases and words. Keyword research is important for websites since it helps you find what customers search for on search engines. When you identify the best keywords to increase traffic, you can incorporate them into on-page SEO content, such as in meta titles and meta descriptions.
• publishing high-quality content: as an SEO specialist, you supervise the creation of relevant content. High-quality content improves rankings and provides value to customers. When you research keywords, you discover what customers want to know, and you can provide valuable content on the topics of interest. When you create quality content, you help build brand authority and improve traffic for your website.
• optimizing HTML: as an SEO specialist, you should optimize your HTML to ensure the site is accessible for all users. With programming knowledge, you can improve accessibility to allow better visitor interactions for all people. Sometimes, you work on PDFs and videos or images.
• metadata and image optimization: metadata is important in improving rankings since it often includes keyword phrases. You add relevant phrases to the meta description and title when optimizing the metadata. Image optimization helps your images appear on the search list, and customers can click on them to access the website.
• engaging with other businesses for link building: as an SEO specialist, you take advantage of any opportunity to improve the website's backlinks and drive more customers to your site. You use guest blogging to build backlinks.
• improving the user experience: ensuring the users have a good experience on the company's website is important. For instance, improve the page speed and incorporate mobile optimization to encourage more customers to browse on the go.

As an SEO specialist, you work in marketing consultancy, technology and retail firms. Some SEO specialists work in-house in the marketing department, assisting with digital marketing. Other SEO specialists work for consultancy firms and serve various clients. The SEO specialist role is a desk job, and you spend most of the time working in an office environment. Most companies strive to provide creative spaces for SEO specialists and other digital marketers. When you work with multiple clients, you travel a lot to meet them. Some companies offer the option of working remotely if you'd prefer to work from home or your own private office.

As an SEO specialist, your colleagues include digital marketers, social media managers and content writers. You also work with marketing managers, marketing coordinators, and content marketing managers as well as other specialists that include web developers, web designers and multimedia specialists.

The work schedule of an SEO specialist is quite flexible, depending on the project you are working on. Normal working hours in the role run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with an occasional evening or weekend meeting with clients. When you work a full-time position, the hours are over 40 hours a week. However, in part-time roles, you have flexible time schedules. Some SEO specialists are freelancers and work on short-term contracts. The flexible work patterns for freelancers make it easier to work from home.

Because websites are a necessity for businesses to build customer bases, SEO specialists are in demand. A website owner needs to either understand the strategies to rank high in search engines or hire an SEO specialist to drive traffic to their website. The rules for ranking in search engines change over time, so you keep up with these changes to maintain high search engine rankings.

After a few years of experience as an SEO specialist, you have the opportunity to advance to an SEO manager role. As an SEO manager, you draft a company's search engine optimization strategy. Your duties include:

• market research
• competitor analysis
• keyword research
• technical SEO
• link building

Working through Randstad offers you a range of benefits:

• being paid weekly
• flexibility
• always a contact person you can fall back on and ask for help from
• many training opportunities
• a range of jobs in your area

Want a permanent contract? But you wonder why it would be interesting for you to work with a staffing company? A temporary job as an SEO specialist is often a stepping stone to an attractive permanent job. Every year, thousands of people earn a permanent contract with great employers thanks to a temporary job found through Randstad. What's more, many companies recruit their permanent employees through Randstad too!

Assuming that you've already learned search engine optimization, it comes down to persistence in finding your first job in the field. You can improve your odds by obtaining a bachelor's degree in marketing, information technology, business or communications and writing an eye-catching resume. Creating a website to include in your portfolio as proof you can get results also increases your chances of getting hired.

How much time you dedicate toward your studies influences how long it takes. On average, learning and mastering SEO takes around a year-and-a-half with the basics typically covered within three months.

Anyone can learn SEO, even if you don't have extensive knowledge of website development and information technology. For a deeper understanding of advanced SEO, some knowledge of coding is helpful.

The typical work day changes over time as an SEO specialist because of the nature of your work. When your company wants to launch a new marketing campaign, your typical day will start off with market and keyword research. As the project progresses, you work on fine-tuning the on-site and off-site SEO. Responding to emails is part of the typical work day as an SEO specialist. Meetings occur regularly as an SEO specialist too.

You can become an SEO specialist without learning coding. However, advanced SEO involves basic coding knowledge because you develop an understanding of how to improve page load speeds and mobile optimization. Understanding the basics of coding makes your job easier.

Applying for an SEO specialist job is easy: create a Randstad profile and search our SEO specialist jobs for vacancies in your area. Then simply send us your CV. If you do not have a resume, no worries. Just check out our resume builder. This state of the art tool will help you to create your own resume. Need help with your application? Check out all our job-hunting tips!