SEO Career Scope and Job Opportunities in India
SEO Career Scope and Job Opportunities in India – SEO is a booming industry and SEO professionals are in great demand. This drastic change has happened because of marketers’ awareness towards digital marketing. Instead of only a career option, SEO has emerged as a necessary skill which will shape your career towards digital marketing.
So if you are zealous towards marketing, analytics, websites and knowing new skills, give wings to your career with SEO. The highlighting feature of this strategy is that you don’t need high degree, if you have logic, dedication and patience you can do it!
The best part of SEO profile is that you can do part time, full time job or else you can be the owner of your company. If you are a fresher, start your career with Jr. SEO Executive, spend some time at this designation and then learn Advanced SEO for upgrading your skills. Gradually you can move to higher designation as SEO Executive, team leader or manager.
Why SEO industry is growing?
- Increased use of search engines to look for information on web year on year.
- Large brand advertisers are using SEO actively in India & Internationally.
- Traditional or Direct marketers are increasingly adopting SEO.
- Growth in the number of local search request with mobile web searches.
- Organic SEO listings on Google search result page is more trustworthy than Ads.
- Google are fast evolving and making demographic targeted & Geo targeted search results.
Qualification and Skills Required
The minimum qualification for becoming an SEO in a good company requires graduation or a diploma course in digital marketing. However, to work in SEO, you don’t need a degree or higher education in the most cases because it’s something that requires a diverse skill set and cannot be defined by the traditional examinations.
SEO is progressive and requires a lot of skills to keep the career growing. Here are just a few skills that are prerequisite:
- A good knowledge of HTML and CSS
- A sound knowledge of how search engines such as Google work
- A good analytical and logical skills
- A good written communication skill (such as writing emails, blog comments, website blogs, etc.)
- A basic knowledge of photo and video editing
- A basic knowledge of creating presentations and reports
- A sound knowledge of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn
- A basic understanding of user experience and customer behavior in online world
Table of Contents
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.
Career for SEO Professionals
SEO is a part of digital marketing and its demand is increasing day-by-day. Just take a look on job portals and you will notice the requirement of SEO executives in many companies. Most of the small and big firms are adopting SEO techniques for better ranking of their websites, thereby fuelling traffic. You may have questions in your mind as why to make career in SEO, what are job responsibilities, and future prospects of SEO. Don’t worry; this article will cover answers of all these questions. So let’s begin…
What Exactly SEO Is?
Whenever you type a query on search engine page, you get a list of websites. You probably click on the topmost website isn’t it? So, how a website attains good position on search engine page? Answer is through Search Engine Optimization. SEO is a strategy of getting website ranking on Google or other search engines. It is a process of optimising website for increasing visibility on Google page. As Google algorithms are dynamic in nature, it becomes important for a company to hire SEO professionals.
Why to Make a Career in SEO?
SEO was not popular in past. As webmasters used to optimize websites by using some simple techniques and Google used to give better rankings to their websites. But today’s scenario is different. Google has started improving its algorithms, thus making it difficult for webmasters to handle websites.
It is true that every problem gives opportunity to new solutions and here the solution is SEO. Today webmasters are looking for professionals who can give top rankings to their websites and here comes the role of professionals who are good in SEO. Hence it goes without saying that SEO professionals have huge demand in the market as every business has their own website which they want to promote.
Roles and Responsibilities of SEO Professionals
- Site auditing
- Competitor Analysis
- Keyword research
- Onpage Optimization
- Off page Optimization (Link building activities)
- Local listings on Search Engines
- Reports management.
Future in SEO
SEO Freelancing Jobs
Along with regular job in SEO most of the professionals also offering SEO freelancing services in online portals like Fiverr. You can also work on local seo freelancing projects to make extra income.
SEO Job Categories / Designations
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
Can I work as a freelancer / self-employed individual?
Here are some tips for those seeking to be self-employed in the SEO field:
- By teaming up with web designers of web design firms. Their clients typically require SEO services.
- Attend conferences and meet people in the search engine optimization industry
- Social networking websites such as LinkedIn.com are good places to meet people who need SEO/SEM services. Explore networking opportunities
- Offer free or trial services to build trust in your business. Go after word of mouth referrals.
- Attend SEO workshops in your city. They provide good networking opportunities.
SEO Training & Certification
At present, there is no official governing body for the SEO industry and there are no fixed standards to follow. However, several large and influential institutions and organizations have started to offer International certifications for completing SEO courses. Taking these courses can enhance your resume.
At the Last:
Now coming to India, out country is a heaven of out-sourced work, and that includes good amount of SEO as well. Of course you will begin well. What would you be getting in your pockets? Twenty to thirty thousand rupees a month? You might be satisfied with that in a young age but where will you go further? What would you be doing after ten years down the line?
This is where you should think broader. SEO is not evil. Even I would hire a SEO as a part of branding for my product. You need to plan your career to stay in the stream in the long run. We never know when top search engines change a minor parameter in their algorithms and all your old SEO techniques will fail. My advice, if you have options, don’t limit yourself to SEO.
