I Analyzed 52 SEO Manager Job Listings. Here’s What They Do and How You Can Become One

website positioning managers are answerable for growing the technique to enhance an internet site’s search visibility and natural visitors. However what precisely do they do? What abilities and {qualifications} do they want? And how are you going to develop into one?

To search out out, I regarded by means of 52 website positioning supervisor job listings on LinkedIn and requested a number of precise website positioning managers.

The most typical duties I discovered had been:

• Develop website positioning technique (100%)
• Collaborate with different groups (96.15%)
• Establish new website positioning alternatives (88.46%)
• Make website positioning suggestions (76.92%)
• Report back to stakeholders or create experiences (76.92%)
• Sustain-to-date on website positioning traits and updates (76.92%)
• Develop website positioning checks (32.69%)

It appears that evidently an website positioning supervisor’s job largely revolves round administration (who knew!?). They could have some accountability for implementing adjustments, writing content material, or constructing hyperlinks themselves, nevertheless it’s not their main factor. They have an inclination to collaborate with and depend on different groups to get issues executed.

I reached out to a couple website positioning managers who (largely) echoed this:

It’s extra frequent for me to collaborate with different groups.

For probably the most half, I’ll present strategic route and suggestions to shoppers which they may then implement. I’ll collaborate with totally different groups (e.g. content material managers, builders, and many others.) to make sure we’re aligned and pleased with the actions. There are some edge instances the place I’ll get extra hands-on (e.g., updating metadata, including inside hyperlinks), however many of the worth in my roles lies within the technique!

In relation to content material, I’m fortunate sufficient to be surrounded by a group with a variety of experience. I’ll usually be the one to scout matter or title alternatives earlier than directing it to probably the most appropriate group member. Relating to technical website positioning & onsite adjustments; if it’s one thing that may be executed inside our CMS then I’ll go forward and do it. Something hard-coded or issues like pace tweaks or fixing CLS then I’ll temporary the adjustments in with the dev group.

At NOVOS, we function totally on a consultancy foundation. Which means we’re recommending adjustments for website positioning, however as an alternative of implementing, we work with our consumer’s tech groups and advertising and marketing groups to have our suggestions applied.

I additionally requested which of their duties take up probably the most of their time.

Right here’s what they mentioned:

I might say each collaborating with different groups and reporting to stakeholders. Some individuals are very tech and market-savvy, some usually are not 🙂 so it takes time.

Inside my function it’s a little bit of a mixture of collaboration throughout different departments retaining issues aligned, in addition to figuring out and constructing new methods to make sure all our shoppers are stored on the forefront of search.

On the entire, nearly all of my time is spent figuring out website positioning alternatives and growing suggestions to attain them. However it varies a good quantity relying on the consumer/web site. Some shoppers will need extra complete reporting and extra common conferences, whereas others need to get our suggestions and get on with it.

Usually, most of my time is spent analysing information to information our technique. This could be backlink evaluation on a competitor, working by means of search question information on Search Console or taking a look at index experiences to see how serps are interacting with our pages.

For my function, there’s a particular break up between group administration and consumer focussed work. I might say in the case of working with shoppers, figuring out new alternatives and speaking with the consumer are probably the most outstanding areas that I work with.

I’d say figuring out the technique & growing it on-going is what takes up most of my time, adopted by the preparation for various consumer conferences.

It actually relies upon, however normally firstly of every month reporting on every consumer, preparations for the month-to-month conferences with the shoppers take a little bit of time. On Monday-Tuesdays I normally deal with web site well being checks after which the remainder of the week is conferences, BAU duties, engaged on methods, reviewing work/serving to others, and many others.

Listed here are the frequent abilities I noticed:

• Information evaluation and interpretation (84.62%)
• Robust communicator & collaborator (80.77%)
• Expertise with website positioning instruments (80.77%)
• Programming – e.g., HTML, CSS, JavaScript (50%)
• Challenge administration (48.08%)
• Entrepreneurial, self-starting spirit (25%)

I additionally requested a number of website positioning managers what they suppose is crucial talent for his or her place. Right here’s what they mentioned:

I’d say that larger image pondering/long run imaginative and prescient is tremendous necessary. In website positioning, it’s really easy to get slowed down in high-quality particulars when placing collectively a method, so it’s very important to know learn how to prioritise duties in a roadmap and work out what makes most sense to sort out first from a wider enterprise perspective.

I feel a few of the most necessary abilities in website positioning are the “delicate abilities”. Being inquisitive and in a position to pivot shortly is vital as rankings, pointers and algorithms can all change in a single day.. and infrequently do! Alongside that, having clear communication abilities is necessary for securing buy-in from stakeholders, and educating different departments how their actions tie into wider website positioning technique.

For me, it’s got to be robust communication and consciousness. With out this issues can simply go missed and with website positioning being such a rollercoaster at instances, this offers readability throughout what is going on from an enterprise standpoint in addition to from a bigger website positioning & Google view.

I feel that empathy and emotional intelligence are crucial abilities in my function. The inspiration of website positioning experience and being data-driven is in fact necessary, however I do suppose that my capacity to narrate to individuals has helped me to develop on this function.

Whereas there are such a lot of necessary qualities, like being listener, and being useful and trustworthy, I’m going to stay with being resilient. Certain, one can resolve an issue, work out a method that works, or know learn how to discuss to shoppers, however for those who don’t comply with by means of, for those who don’t keep constant, that mindset received’t result in success as an website positioning supervisor.

I feel you need to undoubtedly have an analytical mindset, generally you simply want to show the logic on and your concern is sorted. Communication abilities are essential too, not simply whenever you work with different groups or individuals inside your group, but in addition shoppers. Consideration to particulars can’t go unnoticed – one little factor can take a flip of occasions.

Listed here are a number of extra attention-grabbing observations from the information:

• 55.77% wished candidates to have a confirmed observe report of website positioning success.
• Of those that requested for expertise with website positioning instruments, 54.8% requested for expertise with Ahrefs.
• 11.54% wished candidates with information of AI instruments like ChatGPT.

I requested a number of website positioning managers whether or not they contemplate information of AI instruments to be necessary for his or her place. Right here’s what they mentioned:

Contemplating it’s all anybody has been speaking about for the final 12 months or so, I’d say it’s fairly necessary! Jokes apart, I feel there’s been a lot noise about AI instruments over the past 12 months that generally the advantages for SEOs could also be barely exaggerated or seen as a “silver bullet”, when really their use instances are nonetheless fairly particular.

I feel everybody in website positioning ought to maintain some information of how AI instruments are getting used and the way they acquire and serve their responses. 

I feel it’s undoubtedly a bonus as it could actually prevent time on some areas comparable to writing HTML code however would nonetheless should be checked over manually.

Yeah, it’s necessary. ChatGPT got here in helpful for each monotonous (e.g., meta description, ALT textual content in bulk) and complicated (Python script for a particular process; it’s worthwhile to have programming information although to confirm) website positioning duties. 

There was a reasonably even break up right here, with simply over half (53.8%) of listings requiring candidates to have a level.

None of those that required a level requested for something larger than a bachelor’s diploma, however the majority (80%) do ask for a level in a associated subject like advertising and marketing, enterprise, promoting, or laptop science.

I requested a number of website positioning managers whether or not they felt a level was necessary for his or her function. Right here’s what they mentioned:

My diploma was in trendy languages, so I wouldn’t say it’s “necessary” to my function. However it’s undoubtedly useful on some events, for instance if I’m engaged on a multilingual web site and performing duties comparable to competitor evaluation, key phrase analysis or content material ideation in different languages.

As somebody who doesn’t have a level; I’d say it’s undoubtedly not necessary! A lot of the job is about testing, trial and error, and incremental positive factors. There’s been a rise within the variety of digital advertising and marketing and adjoining levels in recent times, which I’m positive are nice, however I don’t suppose something beats hands-on expertise in the case of website positioning.

I don’t have a level. I feel in one thing comparable to website positioning which is so quick paced and ever altering, it’s extra necessary to realize expertise and be inside the trade continuously pushing and testing strategies.

Probably not. The primary issues that I obtained from my diploma was independence and drive – however my diploma shockingly barely lined any on-line advertising and marketing choices.

By way of precise information, probably not. I graduated in 2018, having studied Advertising and Promoting and a few core ideas that I’ve discovered stayed related however one may simply study the identical issues from a web based YouTube video. I barely did any *actual* sensible work throughout my lessons and needed to self-study most issues.

Undoubtedly a no 🙂 I did examine digital advertising and marketing modules as a part of my levels however we by no means went deep about website positioning or every other channel actually. After I was employed first as a graduate I used to be studying about website positioning and the way it works from the very starting. LinkedIn programs, on-line articles and movies, private diggings, individuals I labored with, my managers’ experiences taught me all I do know right now.

Yeah, I’ve a bachelor’s in laptop science and am at the moment pursuing my M.S. in advertising and marketing.

Not one of the job listings requested for SEO certifications.

Each businesses and firms rent website positioning managers, however the information means that it’s mostly an in-house place. Solely 10.7% of the job listings I analyzed had been for roles in businesses.

I’m really not totally positive why that is. My greatest guess is that website positioning businesses aren’t all the time structured in a approach that requires an “website positioning supervisor.”

For instance, right here’s how website positioning company Bubblegum Search constructions their group:

This is called a pod construction and, as you may see, there’s no website positioning supervisor within the image.

Right here’s their founder and director, Matt Cayless, explaining why they use this construction:

Every consumer is matched with a pod consisting of an account supervisor, an website positioning specialist, and an outreach specialist. This ensures that the consumer receives a well-rounded service, with every member bringing their distinctive experience to the desk.

75.1% of US website positioning managers make $100,000-$159,999. Roughly half of these make $120,000-$139,999.

In regards to the information

It was surprisingly tough to get figures for this as a result of the job listings gave a singular wage vary quite than a single determine—a few of which had been enormous!

For instance, the wage vary for this job is $111,000-$185,000:

That’s a spread of $74,000. Insanity!

So, the information you see within the graph above is averages grouped into buckets. For instance, if a job itemizing quoted a wage vary of $100,000-$200,000, I took the common ($150,000) and grouped it into the suitable bucket.

I believed it’d even be attention-grabbing to see how salaries diversified by schooling and expertise stage, so I ran the information…

Training-wise, there’s just about no profit to having a level. Positions requesting candidates have one pay simply 1.77% extra on common:

It’s a unique image in the case of expertise. Job listings asking for two+ years of expertise pay roughly $39,000 lower than these asking for 4+ years:

Wage progress tapers off after 4 years, with listings asking for five+ years of expertise paying roughly the identical.

An website positioning supervisor is way from an entry-level place. Each job itemizing I checked out requested for a minimum of two years of expertise, with the bulk (54.2%) asking for a minimum of 5 years.

However how do you get that have? What’s the path?

To reply this query, I checked the profiles of round 20 website positioning managers’ profiles on LinkedIn and checked out their job historical past. Their paths had been all particular person and diversified, however I observed a particular development that regarded one thing like this:

With that in thoughts, right here’s the trail I’d recommend if you wish to be an website positioning supervisor:

1. Get an internship

60% of the website positioning managers’ LinkedIn profiles I checked began out as interns.

I reached out to a couple of those people and requested in the event that they’d suggest this as a place to begin for aspiring website positioning managers. All of them mentioned sure.

Beginning as an intern labored out nice for me and is actually a path I’d suggest. Popping out of faculty I had no concept what website positioning was – I’d by no means heard the time period and hadn’t even actually thought-about how or why Google provides the outcomes that it does! Going into an internship and beginning “on the backside” allowed me to construct up my information by means of engaged on small scale tasks, with loads of time for coaching and absorbing the general “vibe” of the trade – and the superb individuals inside it.

I’d completely suggest this! I did my diploma on the premise that there was a 12 months in trade, and that is the place I discovered absolutely the most about advertising and marketing all through my time at college. It was additionally considered one of my first experiences in the kind of office you may count on to be within the website positioning trade, which taught me a lot.

Internships I undertook had been essential to my skilled improvement. That’s the place the actual information got here from. Plus I obtained to make necessary connections with individuals within the trade.

Sure, for positive. As an intern you’re employed on many alternative tasks that make it easier to form your pursuits and the realm you need to deal with after the internship is over.

To search out internships, search LinkedIn, Certainly, or every other job web site. It’s clearly greatest to get an website positioning internship however for those who can’t discover one, a extra generic digital advertising and marketing internship works. Most website positioning managers I checked began out in such roles.

2. Grow to be an website positioning specialist

60% of the website positioning managers’ LinkedIn profiles I checked had been an website positioning specialist at one level or one other—typically shortly after their internship.

Be taught extra concerning the abilities wanted for this function in our analysis of SEO specialist job listings.

3. Progress by means of the ranks (and don’t be afraid to leap ship!)

It’s doable to go straight from website positioning specialist to website positioning supervisor, as confirmed by Andrew Chacon’s expertise:

However many of the people I analyzed on LinkedIn had a profession development with different roles in between. For instance, Jonnathan Monsalve held website positioning Crew Lead and website positioning Strategist positions between website positioning Specialist and website positioning Supervisor:

One factor I did discover, although: most individuals switched corporations a number of instances on their journey to website positioning Supervisor—so don’t be afraid to do that too! If there’s no alternative for development inside your present firm, transfer!

I requested a number of website positioning managers how they see their careers progressing. Listed here are just some of their solutions.

Grow to be an website positioning lead or companion

Inside my present place, I hope to proceed to develop the website positioning group and slowly construct up from there trying to have a variety of managers with seperate groups under, probably shifting into extra of a lead / companion function.

Fraser wasn’t the one website positioning supervisor to say this.

It’s mainly the method of constructing extra of an inside construction just like the one under, which was featured in our information to SEO team structures:

Grow to be a freelancer

Three of the website positioning managers I requested mentioned that they’d like to do that in future or already are.

Exterior of my present place, I do some freelance and guide work, and doing this actually helps me testing and figuring out new alternatives that I can convey again into CreativeFolks and additional take a look at and measure throughout a wider variety of shoppers. I might all the time suggest others to take a look at beginning one thing on the aspect to permit them to additional their abilities and convey up new alternatives for themselves.

I discovered the reply above from Fraser actually attention-grabbing: For him, freelancing isn’t actually a profession progress; it’s one thing he does alongside his present function that has the additional advantage of serving to him be a greater website positioning supervisor.

Grow to be a advertising and marketing supervisor

I’ve a powerful ardour for product advertising and marketing. I’ve managed paid, electronic mail, programmatic, and social media advertising and marketing for different manufacturers prior to now. Subsequently, I’m excited concerning the prospect of working in product advertising and marketing or main a complete advertising and marketing division sooner or later.

This looks as if a reasonably pure development to me. It’s primarily going from managing one advertising and marketing channel to managing them all.

What subsequent?

When you have no expertise within the trade, an internship is unquestionably place to begin. You may additionally need to set your sights on turning into an website positioning specialist first. This can be a frequent stepping stone in website positioning managers’ profession paths.

Discover out what website positioning specialists do right here: I Analyzed 52 SEO Specialist Job Listings. Here’s What They Do and How You Can Become One