SEO experts are being sought after in the digital world today. I don’t think this is a profession that can ever go out of date. In Nigeria, businesses, organizations, and even companies are on the lookout for organic traffic to their websites and how they can convert the generated traffic. This can only be done by a seasoned SEO expert.
If you’re new to SEO, sometimes it seems like it’s too complicated and would take over 10 years to become a master at it. It doesn’t have to take that long. While I believe that there is no overnight success, there are steps that can streamline your focus and help you achieve what you want in a shorter time, and these steps also help you focus on learning the right skills. These steps will be discussed in this article.
Who is an SEO Expert?
Every business or organization needs an SEO professional. They do this by searching for relevant keywords and using them to create content for the website, improving the website structure and making the user experience memorable, building quality backlinks, and optimizing the content on the web pages following the search engine guidelines.
With the help of SEO tools, SEO experts can increase the visibility of a company on Google or other search engines. This has significant advantages for the company. SEO professionals also sometimes work hand in hand with the marketing department in order to create new projects or improve social media account management to increase user engagement and traffic.
How to become an SEO Expert in (9 steps)
1. Understand the fundamentals of SEO
This is the first step to becoming an SEO professional. You must first understand what SEO is all about and the key terms used in SEO. Learn about important terms like link building, analytics tools, on-page and off-page optimization, keyword research, and search engine algorithms. You can do this by reading SEO blogs and taking courses on platforms like digital marketing skills by enrolling in some or all of the courses listed.
It might be challenging to know where to begin in the complex realm of SEO, but Digital Marketing Institute is ready to hold your hand and walk you through the steps to becoming an SEO expert.
2. Learn about SEO Tools
To effectively carry out SEO practices would be impossible without the use of SEO tools. These tools are available to assist you in creating, organizing, and publishing your content; conducting analysis and research to get fresh ideas; and keeping an eye on what’s effective and what requires improvement.
Understanding how search engines operate and how a search query is translated into search results is essential if you want to get the most out of these helpful tools. This includes knowing about site crawlers, page indexing, meta descriptions, Google Search Console, rich snippets, and data highlighters. Some of these tools include: SEMRush, Moz, Google Analytics, and Google Keyword Planner.
3. Have knowledge of Digital Marketing
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When specializing in SEO, it is important to have an idea of what digital marketing is all about. You should do this because SEO is a subset of digital marketing. Go the extra mile to know the terms used in digital marketing; this puts you ahead of others who focus solely on SEO.
Learn about terms including paid advertising, social media marketing, and content marketing. Using a comprehensive strategy makes it easy to include SEO in more extensive marketing plans.
4. Gain practical experience
After you have taken a course or two, apply for internship positions where you can practice what you have learned. SEO is more hands on than just having head knowledge.
These internship roles might be paid or free. Remember, the goal here is for you to gain experience that can be added to your resume. You can also apply for entry level positions in organizations.
Simply practicing by designing your own SEO tactics and experimenting to see what works and what doesn’t is an excellent method to hone these abilities. Keeping detailed logs of your SEO activities is also important to track progress.
5. Create your own Website
What better way to practice SEO than to create your own website, post relevant content, and watch it rank? I particularly advocate for this because it provides a trial-and-error means of learning that enhances the growth of the individual. This program lets you test out different SEO tactics, put best practices into effect, and monitor the effectiveness of your website. It functions as a physical portfolio that shows prospective employers or clients what you are capable of.
6. Build a portfolio
Create a portfolio that highlights your accomplishments, projects, and the results of your SEO work. Provide case studies that demonstrate your capacity to raise organic traffic, increase website visibility, and produce quantifiable outcomes. An organized portfolio is a valuable resource while looking for a job or freelancing work.
A portfolio highlights your skills and tells the story of what you set out to accomplish and the challenges you faced.
This is the reason keeping records is crucial: once you know what tactics work, you can package your completed work to illustrate the many approaches you’ve tried and demonstrate your proficiency with them.
7. Specialize in specific areas of SEO
Employers typically pay cardiothoracic surgeons more than general physicians due to their specialized skill set, allowing them to be recognized for their expertise in a specific field.
Specialization allows you to be a master at one thing. The SEO industry is large. Since it is difficult to be an expert in every topic, you should focus on and develop your knowledge in the area that most interests you.
As you gain more expertise, think about focusing on particular SEO niches that fit with your skills and hobbies. Technical SEO, content optimization, local SEO, e-commerce SEO, and mobile SEO are some examples of specializations. A narrow area of knowledge increases your marketability and worth.
8. Network and Seek Mentorship
In any professional field, networking is crucial. Join social media groups devoted to SEO, go to industry conferences, and establish connections with other experts in the sector.
The field of SEO is one that is always changing. Participate in forums, webinars, and industry blogs on a regular basis to stay up-to-date on algorithm updates, best practices, and industry trends. Interacting with the SEO community offers insightful information and networking prospects. Seeking mentoring from seasoned SEO experts can offer priceless advice, perceptions, and growth opportunities.
9. Develop soft skills
Develop soft skills like problem-solving, communication, and critical thinking in addition to technical ones. It’s especially important to communicate effectively while dealing with developers, marketing teams, and clients.
The capacity to effectively communicate intricate SEO ideas fosters teamwork and increases project effectiveness.
Being able to connect with an audience is crucial to the job; therefore, having strong communication skills is not just a benefit but also a requirement.
You’ll probably be editing the work of a writer to improve certain keywords, in addition to creating headlines, abstractions, snippets, and captions.
Skills an SEO Expert should have
1. Content Writing
For someone overseeing an SEO campaign, having strong writing abilities is essential. Creating useful and pertinent content is essential to raising search engine results. For instance, it’s crucial to include keywords in your text naturally. A blog that is overflowing with terms that don’t belong there is the worst thing to ever damage a reading experience. It goes without saying that keyword stuffing will not help you in the eyes of search engines.
The goal is to create content that is both search engine optimized and actually engaging for readers in a balanced manner.
2. Research skills
An essential element of any effective SEO program is research. Finding terms with a high search volume and low competition that are also pertinent to your audience and business should be your aim when it comes to keyword research.
SEO specialists not only need to stay on top of algorithm changes, changes in user behavior, and developing technologies, but also carry out targeted research that is catered to the particular requirements of every campaign.
3. Analytical skills
Strong analytical abilities are necessary for SEO specialists to create and assess SEO initiatives.
To measure the overall efficacy of particular SEO techniques, pinpoint areas for development, and track website traffic, one must be familiar with tools such as Google Analytics and Google Search Console.
Click-through rates (CTRs), bounce rates, organic traffic, keyword rankings, and page load times are just a few of the data that experts should be able to interpret.
4. Critical thinking
Critical thinking is more than just correctly identifying issues with a website. It also involves figuring out the most effective ways to deal with them. A pro in SEO should be adept at suggesting and executing solutions to problems faced. An SEO expert will rapidly identify the unique problems that a certain website is having.
5. Social skills
Collaboration with individuals with diverse backgrounds and viewpoints is also a major part of SEO. Being able to communicate effectively with stakeholders, team members, and clients is essential for success in this industry.
Establishing trust, controlling expectations, and accomplishing objectives all depend on social skills. SEO involves more than just technical expertise; it also entails developing rapport with clients and providing value.
6. Communication skills
SEO experts may need to be able to communicate verbally in order to instruct clients and clarify intricate SEO subjects. This ability facilitates the easy understanding of complex terms by non-SEO personnel. To succeed, an SEO specialist needs to have excellent communication skills.
Apply this not only to speaking but also to writing. Writing communication abilities are necessary when working with content marketers to produce SEO-friendly material.
7. Time management
Maintaining organization throughout your campaigns optimizes the outcome and boosts efficiency. Employers prefer candidates with advanced time management and work prioritization skills because they can design and oversee multiple SEO campaigns.
For SEO experts to prioritize work, fulfill project deadlines, stay productive, adjust to changes, and interact with clients in an effective manner, time management is essential. It guarantees timely completion of assignments, maximizes productivity, and permits ongoing SEO strategy optimization.
8. Link building
Building backlinks is a task performed by an SEO expert. A backlink is typically an inbound hyperlink pointing to another website. The backlinks aid in the ranking of material for particular keywords by search engines. Both internal and external links are part of link-building tactics.
The possibility of a website ranking highly in search engine results depends on the quality of the websites on which you have external links.
To learn about SEO and become an expert, I personally recommend Digital Marketing Skill Instiute (DMSI) you can take there course and become an SEO expert.
Benefits of becoming an SEO Expert
1. Skill is on demand
Since SEO is the cornerstone of online exposure, it is in great demand in today’s digital environment. Companies in all sectors understand that in order to draw in organic traffic and future clients, they must rank highly on search engine results pages (SERPs).
2. Career development opportunities
One job path with a lot of room for growth is SEO expertise. Furthermore, SEO services are always altering to accommodate clients’ varying wants and stay up-to-date with the industry’s shifting dynamics.
Therefore, as an SEO expert, you will continue to be relevant to businesses trying to use the internet to drive visitors. A career as an SEO specialist will allow you to participate in this expanding sector.
3. Freelance opportunities
There are countless entirely remote career options available for SEO specialists. Freelance marketplaces like Fiverr and Upwork list the majority of these remote jobs.
It can be challenging if you’re looking for work or if you commute to work every day. It need not be so difficult to make your way in the job market. Therefore, it would be prudent to think about a career in SEO, as the majority of SEO positions don’t require you to travel far from home; all you need is a working computer and a reliable internet connection.
4. Versatility and Flexibility
SEO expertise empowers individuals to choose their career path freely as it can be applied to a wide range of industries and company models. SEO knowledge remains critical for driving online success, whether one works for a multinational organization, a tech startup, or an e-commerce store.
5. Personal Branding
SEO specialists can establish themselves as respected consultants and thought leaders in their field by offering insights, participating in industry forums, and creating thought leadership content. Becoming recognized as an authority in the field of SEO strengthens one’s authority and personal branding.
SEO Expert: Job responsibilities in 2024
SEO professionals carry out the following tasks in the organizations they work for:
1. Keyword Research
Keyword research is the first job an SEO expert does. If this step is messed up, the whole SEO process might be in for a crash. Keywords are words or phrases that are searched for daily on search engines. So keyword research is doing a study to find out what keywords are most searched for (high search volume) and their density (competition level). There are different keywords for each niche, so finding out what keywords are more likely to rank in your niche is a plus.
Careful keyword research is the cornerstone of successful SEO. Finding and evaluating keywords that are pertinent to the company, match the needs of users, and have the ability to increase traffic is the responsibility of SEO professionals.
Keyword research is done using tools like Semrush, Ahrefs, Uber Suggest, and Google Keyword Planner.
2. Content Creation
SEO professionals also create relevant content for organizations. The content has to not just contain the relevant keywords; it must also answer questions that the audience is asking. If Google or any other search engine discovers that the content is not meeting the needs of the audience, the content will not rank. This is why SEO professionals take their time to craft content that will meet the needs of the audience.
SEO professionals create content that organically includes targeted keywords in addition to answering user queries. Important components of content creation include updating information frequently, making sure it is shareable, and matching it to current market trends.
3. On-page optimization
It is also the job of an SEO expert to carry out on page optimization. On page optimization means making the webpages both user- and search engine friendly. The goal is to make the content of the webpage relevant to the audience while also making sure they have a stress free experience while on the site. For search engines, it ensures that the webpage is accessible to be crawled, indexed, and served so it can be ranked.
An SEO expert makes sure every page has a catchy, persuading, and informative heading, attractive meta descriptions, and well-placed headers. They ensure the focused keyword is in the URL, the content of the webpage is readable enough for any audience, relevant images are added to the webpage, and image optimization to speed up how fast the site loads to speed up the display of rich snippets on search engine results pages (SERPs), and schema markup implementation.
4. Link building
Building links is an important job done by an SEO expert. It shows the credibility of a website to the search engines. Link building could either be backlinks or internal links. Backlinks are links from another website to your own website. Internal links, on the other hand, are links from one page on your website to another page on your website.
It is the job of SEO professionals to create and carry out strategies to obtain high-quality backlinks from relevant and reputable domains. To get organic backlinks, they could work with influencers, run outreach initiatives, or use content marketing. Building links increases a website’s authority and helps it rank better in search results.
5. Competitor Analysis
Competitor analysis is something frequently done by SEO experts. It is done to see what competitors are up to or how their content is structured, so they can do something better. It is also a very effective strategy for keyword research.
For SEO techniques to be effective, it is essential to understand the competitive landscape. SEO experts examine the websites of rival businesses to find possibilities, flaws, and strengths. The creation of techniques to outperform competitors in search engine rankings is informed by this analysis.
6. Local SEO
It is essential for companies with a local presence to optimize for local searches so that they can be easily found if a user searches for their business or what they do. Through the optimization of Google My Business profiles, the management of local citations, and the acquisition of favorable online reviews, SEO professionals make sure that businesses are prominently displayed in local search results.
7. Technical SEO
Technical SEO involves improving the technical aspects of a website to improve its ranking on search engine result pages (SERPS). Ever been to a site and not only was it slow, the images also weren’t loading, and it just didn’t look right on your phone? That’s what bad technical optimization looks like.
Experts in search engine optimization strive to make websites faster, make sure they are responsive on mobile devices, and fix crawlability and indexation problems. They audit websites to find and fix technological problems that could prevent search engine bots from correctly indexing and crawling the content.
8. Monitoring and Reporting
One of the most important aspects of SEO is ongoing observation and analysis. Professionals monitor user activity, keyword rankings, and website performance using a variety of analytics tools, such as Google Analytics, Google Search Console, or third-party solutions. Frequent reporting facilitates rapid adjustments based on performance data and aids in evaluating how efficient the SEO techniques are.
To put it simply, they monitor the site for things like bounce rate, user behaviour on the website, and click through rate to analyze if the current SEO techniques being used are effective enough.
If not, changes are made to improve the site’s performance.
9. SEO Audits
This is also part of an SEO professional’s scope of work. Their work doesn’t just stop at optimizing web pages; it also includes going back to ensure that those webpages are functioning optimally.
Frequent SEO audits are carried out to assess a website’s general condition. Based on audit results, SEO specialists uncover problems, fix mistakes, and make changes. This proactive strategy guarantees that the website will always be search engine and user experience optimized.
10. Conversion Rate Optimization
Although increasing organic traffic is SEO’s main objective, SEO experts frequently work with marketing teams to optimize websites for conversions. This entails examining user behavior, conducting A/B testing, and fine-tuning page elements to optimize conversion rates while adhering to SEO best practices.
Tools used by SEO Experts
They offer data on keywords and backlinks, along with insights into online SEO competition.
The tools used by SEO experts include:
1. Moz
The all-in-one SEO tool for improving your website’s ranking, attracting targeted visitors, and executing effective SEO campaigns is Moz. It provides guidance on how to address problems with websites. Some of the problems Moz addresses are: long URLs, redirect chains, duplicate content, missing descriptions, and no-index meta tags.
2. Ahrefs
Ahref is a go-to tool for digital marketers and SEO experts looking to improve the performance of their websites. s a feature-rich SEO tool made to help companies and website owners maximize their online visibility. Ahrefs helps customers raise their search engine ranks by offering services like backlink analysis, keyword research, and site audit capabilities.
3. Google Search Console
You may measure the traffic and performance of your website with Search Console, address problems, and optimize your website to rank well in Google Search results.
Google Analytics helps users understand user behavior, traffic sources, and the efficacy of marketing campaigns by offering comprehensive information and reports. You can examine data on both web and app platforms with Google Analytics to gain insight into our users’ complete user journey, and Google Analytics’ free products also enhance marketing ROI and comprehend the consumer journey.
5. Semrush
Marketers can benefit from Semrush tools and reports in the following ways: campaign management, PR, PPC, SMM, keyword research, competitive research, SEO, content marketing, and marketing insights.
6. GT Metrics
GTmetrix performs a thorough analysis of your website’s performance and provides insightful analysis that can greatly improve your search engine optimization efforts.
It assesses the speed and effectiveness of a website and provides useful information to improve the user experience and optimize performance. Site owners can find areas for improvement with GTmetrix’s comprehensive report on page load times, performance scores, and optimization opportunities. This tool is critical for making sure that users can navigate websites quickly and easily.
7. AnswerThePublic
AnswerThePublic is an innovative content marketing platform that uses data visualization in the form of content ideas to provide insights into user search queries.
Whether you’re looking for ideas for blog posts or want to boost your chances of landing a featured snippet, AnswerThePublic is a fantastic online market research tool. AnswerThePublic powers its searches with autosuggest (sometimes called autocomplete) data.
8. Google Trends
Despite being available for years, Google Trends has not been fully exploited. Not only does it give you information on a keyword, but it also offers amazing insight into patterns around the topic, which can be important at any point in a business’s growth.
Google Trends is a website that examines the popularity of the most popular search terms in Google Search across different languages and countries. The website compares the volume of various keywords searched over time using graphs. It also displays the volume and interest over time.
9. Google Ads keyword planner
Through Google Ads, users can access Google Keyword Planner, a paid service for researching keywords. It allows users to locate relevant and fresh terms throughout time, along with an average monthly search volume. Additionally, users can see the terms that the competition is employing to rank in search results and the cost involved in bidding on particular phrases.
10. Ubersuggest
Neil Patel’s free keyword finding tool, Ubersuggest, displays the highest-ranking search engine results to assist you in identifying keywords and the search intent underlying them.
Ubersuggest incorporates keyword volume, competition, CPC, and seasonal trends as metrics in its results. This tool is great for paid PPC as well as organic SEO and can assist you in determining the competitiveness and value of a given keyword.
Conclusion
The success of your online business depends heavily on how well it ranks on Google’s home page. If customers can’t discover you, they’re not likely to make a purchase.
In Nigeria, becoming an SEO professional is a journey that combines education, practical experience, continuous learning, and a proactive mindset. To build your name in the field, embrace the dynamic nature of SEO, adjust to customer needs, and deliver outstanding results. You would need consistency and diligence to achieve this feat, and by following these steps, you too can become an SEO expert.
FAQS
How much are SEO experts paid in Nigeria?
An SEO expert’s pay in Nigeria might vary based on a number of criteria, including experience, skills, region, and the particular industry or business they work for. Nigerian SEO specialists often make between ₦100,000 and ₦500,000 a month. But a seasoned SEO expert with advanced expertise and a successful track record could demand greater pay, from ₦500,000 to ₦1,000,000 or more each month.
Can I get an SEO job with no agency experience?
Yes, you can. You don’t have to work at a big firm first before you get a job. Your lack of experience shouldn’t stop you from applying for that job. With a little perseverance and creativity, you can achieve your goal of landing an SEO job, even if you have no prior agency experience. You ought to be able to demonstrate your abilities with technology and creativity and can participate in a lot of free activities, tools, and instructions. Creating a website for testing and experimentation purposes, or to serve as your professional profile or blog, is also a way to build your portfolio.
All these will help you build your portfolio and serve as a trial-and-error, hands-on period where you can discover what works and what doesn’t. You can also apply what you have learned to businesses in your area and offer to help business owners perform local SEO for their online stores, perform free website audits, and provide solutions.
More Resources
What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)? A Complete Beginner’s Guide
SEM and SEO: What Is The Difference Between The Two?