Skills You Need to be an SEO Expert

If you are a digital content writer or are working in the digital marketing industry, the acronym SEO is not a stranger to you. What is SEO? SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, it is an important skill to master to rank content,  drive traffic, and support sales conversion as well. In this blog, we have our expert and mentor Sidharth Iyer, the Head of SEO at Resulta to share the fundamentals of SEO, the current SEO trends, tips to reach your audience, SEO tools, and the core skills required to build a career in SEO.

The Fundamentals of SEO

• On-Page SEO is the activities on your website that help search engines to better understand and rank your content. This includes the site content, title tag & meta tag optimization, H tag optimization, Internal linking, Image Optimization, and more.
  
  
• Off-Page SEO is the activities on another site or platform. This includes link building, content marketing, social media, podcasts, reviews, and more.
  
  
• Technical SEO is the activities on your website that directly impact the indexing and crawling of your site by search engines.
  
  
  

The 11 SEO Success Factors

• High-quality content
• User-friendliness
• Mobile-friendliness
• Site Authority
• User Engagement
• Load Speed
• Crawlability
• Security
• Useful backlinks
• Effective Keywords
• On-Page SEO

The SEO Trends for 2021 based on SEMrush

1. Artificial Intelligence will play a larger role in SEO.
2. Voice search will become more important.
3. Mobile-friendliness will impact Search Rankings.
4. Content that fulfills the Google EAT principles will rank higher. EAT stands for Expertise, Authoritative, and Trustworthiness.
5. Long-form content will help improve SERPs.
6. Predictive Search is set to improve.
7. Featured snippets will become prominent.
8. An effective SEO strategy will need to include a video or videos.
9. Image Optimization plays a larger role in search.
10. Local Search Listings will play a larger role in SEO strategies.

Tips to reach your audience better

According to SEMrush, to reach your audience better we must match the search intent with the buyer’s or user’s journey. What are the potential topics that searchers are looking for that are related to your products or services?

    

• The Pre-Awareness stage (Informational Intent Content)
  The searcher is looking for specific information on a topic. The query may contain ‘guide’, ‘tutorial’, or question words such as ‘who’, ‘how’, etc.
  
  For example: What is the best app to learn to cook?
                        How to work from home effectively?
                        Which platform offers the best free mentoring session?
  
  
• The Pre-Consideration stage (Navigational and Commercial Intent Content)
  
  In navigational intent content, the searcher is looking for a specific web page or site. The query may include the name of a brand, product, or service.
  
  For example: Where can I find online mentors?
                        Is brand X good for my health?
                        Does service Y offer free or paid service?
  
  In a commercial intent content, the searcher is considering a purchase. The query may include product modifiers such as ‘best’, ‘cheapest’, ‘top’, or ‘review’.
  
  For example: The 10 Best Seafood Restaurants In NYC
                        11 Cheap ways to travel abroad
                        10 UI/UX Sketches Techniques
  
  
• The Decision stage (Transactional Intent Content)
  Where the searcher wants to purchase something or sign up for service. The query may contain words such as, ‘buy’, ‘price’, ‘sign up’, or ‘register’.
  
  For example: Buy IKEA flower pots
                        iPhone 13 price
                        Sign up ADPList
  
  

SEO Tools

Free: 

• Google Search Console
• Google Analytics
• Google Data Studio
• Google Trends
• KWFinder
• Answer The Public
• Seobility
  
  

Paid:

• Screaming Frog
• SEMrush
• Ahrefs
• Moz
• Surfer SEO
• Hotjar
• Hunter

Leveling  Up Your SEO Game

• Aim for a depth and width of knowledge as a T-shaped Marketer
  
  Width of knowledge consists of Content Marketing, Email Marketing, SEO, PPC, and Social Media
  
  Depth of knowledge in SEO consists of Competitor Analysis, Strategy, Keyword Research, SEO Copywriting, Link Building, etc.
  
  
• The formula for a winning Product Led SEO is to combine:
  
  What consumers want + What your brand does best

The Core Skills to build a career in SEO

Hard Skills

• Keyword/Intent Research
• Competitor Research
• On-Page SEO
• Technical SEO
• Off-Page SEO
• Mobile SEO
• Local SEO

Soft Skills

• Curiosity
• Critical thinking
• Strong communication skills
• Ownership & Accountability
• Time Management
• Project Management
• Growth Mindset
  
  

Contributor:
Sidharth Iyer (ADPList Mentor) 
Head of SEO at Resulta
ADPList account: https://adplist.org/mentors/sidharth-iyer
LinkedIn account:https://www.linkedin.com/in/iyersidharth/ 
Website: https://www.sidiyer.ca/


Editor and Writer:
Farah Radzi
Content Marketer and Writer at ADPList
LinkedIn account: https://www.linkedin.com/in/famr/