Top 15 SEO Skills That Can Make You a Search Engine Wizard

Think of it this way: if your content is your boat, then SEO is the oar that can keep it afloat and take it in the right direction. Sounds confusing? It isn’t. 

Let’s assume you’ve written an amazing blog post on the ‘best summer drinks to keep you hydrated’ or ‘top 10 reads for the year’. Once you hit the publish button, you would expect everyone searching for “best summer drinks” or “top reads” to find your blog post. How do you ensure your blog post ranks on the first page and is read by thousands or millions of readers? This is where the concept of Seach Engine Optimization (SEO) comes into the picture. 

Remember, more than 7 million blogs are published daily on the internet and more than 8.5 billion searches are done on Google every day! How to make your business stand out successfully in this ever-increasing organic search competition. SEO is the answer! 

SEO is one of the most sought-after marketing strategies that has the highest ROI. This makes SEO skills all the more important to master in 2023!

If you’re interested in learning the most in-demand SEO skills, you’re in the right spot! Read on to know the 15 SEO skills every aspiring SEO expert must have! 

Let’s Have A Look At 15 Essential SEO Skills Needed

• Understanding of Search Engine Algorithm

SEO experts must have a good understanding of how popular search engines like Google and Bing work.

 For instance, they must be well-versed in the crawling, indexing, and ranking process of Google. To get acquainted with this, a knowledge of search engine algorithms and ranking factors, is essential. This helps you to stay ahead of the competition, improve website visibility and drive organic traffic by optimizing websites in a way that is aligned with the ever evolving Google algorithm. Once you have an understanding of the behind the scene process of search engines, you’ll be well on your way to creating foolproof SEO strategies that will yield amazing results.  

Also Read – Top 13 Digital Marketing Trends in 2023

• Keyword Research Skills

Another skill that SEO experts must master is keyword research. 

Simply put, keyword research is about finding the most relevant words or phrases your potential audience might use on a search engine. 

For instance, if you’re an online nursery, you might want to write blogs on ‘gardening for beginners’ or ‘gardening tools for beginners’. By using such relevant keywords in your blogs (or other content on your website), you can rank higher on search engines and drive organic traffic. 

Remember, finding the set of keywords appropriate to your business is important. It further calls for understanding keyword research tools, the searcher’s intent, and determining the type of keyword you want to target. For instance, ranking for long-tail keywords is much easier than just using head terms with higher search volume. 

• Data Analysis

Through data analysis, SEO professionals can identify trends, spot opportunities for content optimization, and adjust strategies to improve search engine rankings and organic traffic. They can uncover patterns in user behavior and make data-backed decisions to enhance the user experience, improve website navigation, and increase engagement.

Moreover, data analysis skills help in evaluating the success of link building campaigns. SEO professionals can analyze backlink profiles, monitor the quality and relevance of acquired backlinks, and measure the impact of these links on search rankings.

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• Technical SEO

Technical SEO involves employing all those techniques to ensure a technically optimized website. In simple terms, a technically optimized website is one that is crawlable by bots, loads quickly, contains zero deadlinks, is secure, and has original content. The objective of technical SEO is to establish a website as helpful and well-built in the eyes of search engines. 

Further, technical SEO skills include improving meta tags, sitemaps, javascript indexing, page experience, and more. Also, to master technical SEO skills a little knowledge of coding will go a long way. 

• Keeping Up with the Latest SEO Trends & Updates

A good SEO specialist is one who keeps an eye on the trends and tendencies in the industry, has a growth mindset, and adapts quickly. 

For instance, voice searches and visual searches are the trends of today. That’s why, ensuring that your website is responsive to audio and visual searches is crucial. 

Google regularly updates its algorithms, introducing changes that can significantly impact search engine rankings and website visibility. By staying updated with these Google updates, SEO practitioners can adapt their strategies to align with the latest best practices and guidelines.

• Analytics & Reporting

To make data-driven decisions, analytics and reporting are crucial. Tracking website performance, observing heatmap, and analyzing key metrics such as organic traffic, bounce rate, conversion rates, and leads generated is the key to knowing the impact of your optimization process. This also gives you an indication as to what further optimization is required. 

SEO professionals should be able to create comprehensive reports that present key performance indicators, highlight progress towards goals, and provide actionable recommendations. Clear and concise reporting helps clients and management understand the value of SEO efforts. 

By leveraging analytics and reporting, you can demonstrate ROI, improve search rankings and achieve key business objectives. 

Also Read – 15 High Paying Digital Marketing Skills in 2023

• Content Writing

Content writing is one of the most in-demand skills for an SEO expert. A good piece of content answers the user’s query without beating around the bush, is simple to read and comprehend, and often comes in a friendly tone. 

On the other hand, good-quality SEO-optimized content contains all of that along with an appeal to attract search engines to it. For instance, short paragraphs, headers, meta tags/descriptions, alt text, hyperlinks, relevant keywords, and much more contribute to an SEO-optimized content piece. All these offer positive cues to the search engine to crawl, index, and rank a website. 

Even if you’re not a Content Writer, you should have a fair understanding of what constitutes good SEO-friendly content.

• Good Spoken and Written Skills

When we discuss spoken and written communication, it isn’t limited to writing content pieces and speaking at conferences. 

SEO strategy is an integral part of marketing as it optimises both the top of the funnel and the bottom of the funnel. As an SEO in charge, you will be responsible for articulating strategies, goals and recommendations to the client or team members. Hence, the ability to communicate and explain complex SEO strategies in simple words is a bonus. 

In addition, writing call summaries (if you work in an agency), preparing presentations, and written reports are crucial to keep the SEO team and other stakeholders aligned. Clear communication is the key to driving results and delivering successful SEO campaigns.

• Critical Thinking

Metrics portray the story. An SEO expert must be able to see the picture those numbers are trying to show. They must have an analytical mind that is capable of differentiating between correlation and causation for a particular phenomenon. 

For instance, if a client is complaining about low traffic, an SEO expert will set out to understand the factors responsible for this. Is it that the client is targeting the wrong keyword?  Or is it because their website is not mobile-friendly? Or something else? Once you jot down the factors, list out what can be done to solve the issue and bring this to the client’s notice. 

Also Read – How Much Do You Earn After Pursuing MBA in Digital Marketing in India, North America, and Europe?

• Understanding Link-Building Strategies

An SEO specialist’s profile calls for proficiency in link building. In simple terms, it refers to all those efforts that can get a website backlined by other websites. 

But, why is link-building so crucial? Because when a website is backlinked by a credible website of the same niche, it alleviates its domain authority in the eyes of search engines. Thus, making it more likely to rank higher on a SERP. 

Link building includes both internal as well as external linking. While internal links include linking your previous content piece to your new one, external linking is a harder nut to crack. For this, you’ll have to search for high-authority websites in your domain and backlink them wherever necessary. 

• Proficiency in Using SEO Tools

To be an SEO expert, you must know how to use important SEO tools like Google Search Console (GSC) and Google Analytics (GA). 

GSC is definitely a treasure trove for every SEO specialist out there. Its insights on web traffic, site performance, technical SEO issues, and more are simply impressive. Similarly, GA can help in tracking your website activity, PPC efforts, and much more. Apart from these tools, there are other tools like Screaminfrog that can be useful while doing technical audit, Pagespeed Insights for checking the website speed. 

• On-Page SEO

Simply put, on-page SEO refers to all those efforts that you can put on the site to improve its visibility and appeal. 

For every SEO expert, on-page SEO skill is a must-have skill. 

Here’s what on-page SEO includes and what you can do to improve it: 

1. Site Content: Unless and until your content is SEO friendly, you cannot rank on the top of the result page. For creating SEO-friendly content, you must master the above two skills of keyword research and content writing. Further, you can take the help of tools like Yoast SEO for checking the SEO-friendliness of your content. 
2. Image Optimisation: If the images you put in your content are bulky, chances are it will spoil your SEO efforts. To improve the loading speed of your site, you can change the settings to load an image only when a user scrolls to the bottom of a page. Further, always add alt-text to your images. 
3. Internal Linking: It is another strategy to direct the readers to another page of your website and keep them glued. 
4. Meta Description: A good meta description contains the targeted keyword and sums up the content in not more than 155-160 characters. 
5. Title Tag Optimisation: A good title tag is short, crisp, and has the most relevant keyword. For optimizing title tags, you can use tools like Monster Insights headline analyzer. 

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• Basic Coding Skills

Basic coding skills are good to have. Coding is required to generate schema markup. Knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript is crucial to add structured data to web pages. SEOs should be familiar with coding concepts, syntax, and best practices to effectively implement schema markup and optimize websites for search engines. 

• Project Management Skills

Whether you’re freelancing or working in-house, project management skill is a must-have for every SEO specialist. 

Setting clear objectives, creating project timelines, allocating resources and delegating responsibilities is important. Tasks such as keyword research, content optimization, and link building should be executed timely and effectively. 

Effective project management ensures smooth workflow, timely delivery, and successful implementation of SEO strategies. 

All in all, effective time management, leadership, organizational and collaborative skills will take you a long way as an SEO specialist. 

• Good Understanding of the Business 

Last but not least, it’s essential that you understand the business’s objectives to fetch the desired result. This involves a detailed understanding of products or services, target audience, industry landscape, and competitive positioning. 

By understanding the business, SEO professionals can tailor their keyword research, content optimization, and link-building efforts to resonate with the target market.

Consider the case of an SEO specialist working for a company selling sporting goods. The target audience is athletes, sports enthusiasts, and fitness-conscious individuals. Armed with this knowledge, the SEO professional would conduct keyword research to identify relevant search terms, optimize product descriptions and category pages, and develop content strategies that cater to the interests and needs of the target audience.

How to Learn SEO Skills?

If you want to learn all these SEO skills, we’ve got you! Below are the two ways you can learn the top SEO skills. 

• Enrol for IMS Proschool’s Digital Marketing Course

IMS Proschools’ Digital Marketing Course is your one-stop destination to learn all SEO-related skills. Content strategy, usage of key SEO tools, technical audit, off-page SEO and much more, it encompasses all. 

Not just SEO, it also teaches you other digital marketing skills like Social media management, PPC, email marketing and new-age skills like applications of ChatGPT. The course is thoroughly updated to keep up with the industry standards. 

What’s more? IMS Proschools’ dynamic learning experience where you learn from the best and get hands-on experience will make you ready for a successful career as an SEO specialist. You also get a chance to work on a real-time project and apply your theoretical knowledge. 

If this is something that excites you, hop on to our Digital Marketing Course page and contact us TODAY! 

• Build Your Website and Start Optimising It

Another way of honing your SEO skills is by learning from the internet and applying it to your very own website. For instance, you can create a blog about a topic that excites you, be it personal finance, economy, or something as simple as lifestyle. You can share your ideas here, make the content (as well as the website) SEO optimized and rise on the ladder. 

Once you do, this website will vouch for your SEO skills and expertise for your future employers. 

Conclusion

SEO is a dynamic field and a career in it will offer a plethora of learning experiences. If you want to make a mark in this field, having the above SEO skills is a must! These 15 skills will not only make you an SEO expert, but also a full-fledged marketer and a better business leader. 

FAQs

• What does an SEO specialist do?

Simply put, SEO specialists can drive traffic to your website and get it on the top spot of a SERP by employing appropriate SEO strategies and techniques. 

• What is the starting salary and average salary of the SEO Analyst in India?

According to AmbitionBox, on average, an SEO Specialist earns around 3.7 LPA in India. 

• What is the career path in SEO?

To ace the SEO game, one starts as an intern analyst, moves on to SEO Project Manager followed by senior managerial positions like Group Head and Vice President.