SEO offers job opportunities & career potential
Guest post by Matt Kirkman
If you’re planning to live and work in our vibrant capital city, getting a job in one of the many great SEO Agencies can be an exciting way to experience the best of London life, as well as funding the notoriously expensive London lifestyle.
Why SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. This is the skill of optimising websites and online spaces so that they appear at the top of search engine results pages, such as google or bing.
Helping businesses to be found by their ideal customers is the basic premise behind SEO (and all marketing) but the specific mechanics of SEO strategies is a rapidly-changing challenge that can be both art and science. This makes the SEO niche one of the most dynamic and fast-paced industries in the marketing sector.
The industry is enjoying an ongoing trend for businesses to increase the percentage of their marketing budgets devoted to SEO, so the future prospects look very bright. In fact, all digital marketing careers will position you well for the future of work, and SEO is one of the core roles in this sector.
Skills you acquire and pick up while working in an SEO agency will equip you with expertise that will be of benefit for many years to come. If you can help businesses reach more customers and make more money, you will always be in high demand. So, SEO careers can be highly lucrative, providing you with in-demand expertise that should help achieve the kind of salary you need to enjoy living in London.
Why London?
London is a great place to work in SEO. Some of the best conferences such as SearchLove, SMX London, Outreach Conference and Ungagged are held here. And the hugely popular beachside BrightonSEO is only down the road.
As well as the close proximity to the great industry get-togethers, London SEO agencies are some of the most innovative and industry-leading. So, if you’re excited by the prospect of working in a dynamic and creative industry, London is one of the best hubs of like-minded peers and SEO-loving communities.
What to expect
Your day-to-day work life as an SEO will vary depending on the type of company you work for.
If you opt for a small company, you’ll probably have a mix of roles, as these close teams often have an ‘all hands on deck’ philosophy. You may also find that the close relationship with your superiors allows for a degree of mentorship or shadowing, which can really boost your skillset and confidence.
However, in a larger agency, you might have access to greater resources that help you advance quickly in your career. Many forward-thinking agencies are happy to invest in training and keeping up with industry developments. You might also be lucky enough to land a role with some nice corporate perks such as a gym, pension or healthcare.
Roles within SEO agencies can also vary and your employer will want to make the most of your strengths and natural abilities. For example, if you are happiest working on your own on the tech side, you may be better suited to the more technical jobs, such as data analysis or app development. Or if you like to be out and about meeting people, you would do well in a client-facing role, either managing accounts or developing new business leads.
One of the nice benefits of working for an SEO agency (as opposed to in-house) is that you’re likely to be involved in projects for a wide variety of businesses and sectors. These days, almost every business can benefit from good SEO, so your client roster may include an eclectic mix of clients – from plumbers and funeral directors to make up artists and shopping malls. Working across a range of industries can keep your work interesting and help you learn new skills that you can apply to your own career.
Whichever type of agency and role you choose, one thing is certain: to succeed in SEO, you’ll need to build up your reserves of creativity, flexibility, initiative, perseverance, and patience for what can often be a challenging, albeit rewarding career.
There’s no doubt that this is a fast-moving industry, and you need to be able to adapt quickly when a new algorithm shakes up your results. And if you want to impress your bosses and climb the career ladder, you’ll also need to be constantly on the lookout for new trends or opportunities for both the agency and its clients.
Tips for newbies
If you’re new to SEO or you have yet to land a paid position in an SEO agency, here are some tips to help you build up some basic skills and get your foot in the door for an interview.
- Optimise your Personal Brand.
Begin practicing basic SEO techniques on your own website or social media profiles. There are many free guides online that will help you master the basics. If you begin experimenting with these, you should soon be able to get your own website to #1 in the SERPS for your own name. (Unless your name is Beyonce…)
In the future, most employees will be looking at candidates’ ‘personal brand’, so this is a great opportunity to begin building your online presence. If you do this well, it is strong proof of some SEO savvy and a great showcase of your blossoming optimisation skills.
- Help a charity
Another strategy that is impressive to prospective employers is to do some pro bono work for good causes as a way of boosting your skills. If you choose a charity that is particularly meaningful to you, you also get to enjoy the good feeling of making a positive difference for a cause you care about.
- Offer family freebies
If any friends or family members have a business that could benefit from more online traffic, offer to help them with their SEO. This can be a great way to see real results and the impact good SEO can have on a business. If you provide these services for free, your family will be delighted with any successes, however small. You’ll also be helping out your family in a valuable way, which should make you very popular with your loved ones.
If you think you’re up for the challenge and opportunity of working in the SEO sector, getting into a London agency can be a great way to begin your SEO career.
You’ll learn some valuable tech skills that will serve you in any branch of digital marketing, as well as those all-important soft skills and people skills that modern employers want to see. All this, while enjoying the sights and delights of London, and being at the heart of the vibrant SEO industry.
