An SEO expert should have an eye of a hawk. If you are looking to make a career as an SEO expert, let me tell you there is a long way to go before you can call yourself an ‘expert’. The best thing about this profession is that there is no said background that you should be coming from. You can become an SEO expert regardless of the educational qualification you have. SEO experts come from various backgrounds. Some might be commerce graduates, while some others MBA, while some are entrepreneurs, some might be law students. There is no restriction or prerequisite before starting a career in SEO.

But here are some essential skills that you must possess in your journey to become an SEO expert. While technical skills are one side of it, there are some general skills that every SEO expert should possess to become a professional SEO specialist.

Skills That Every SEO Expert Must Possess

1. Research Minded

An SEO expert’s primary skill set is to have the ability to research. Keyword research for example is going to take a substantial time and so an SEO expert should have enough patience and interest in doing proper research. While researching is one side of the coin, relevant researching is what is important. Research in SEO is what makes ranking higher. To become an SEO expert, you must have the ability to research various aspects of SEO.

2. Customer Analytics

Knowing how to derive and pull out analytics from various tools. Reading analytics will save lots of time and to become an SEO expert, you should be well-versed in knowing how to pull data and analytics from various tools. While extracting the data is one part, an SEO expert should also know how to read and interpret it to make right decisions.

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3. Decision Making

SEO is a vast ocean and there are so many angles to look at just one aspect of it. In an ever dynamic environment and algorithms that surround it, it becomes important that an SEO expert has the ability to make quick and smart decisions. Having an inside out knowledge on Google’s various processes can only make someone take such quick decisions before anyone else.

4. Flexibility Is key

An SEO expert should not just blindly go by the rule book. What was an implementation and success for a brand might not be the same for all. A Google SEO specialist should have the ability to deep-dive and be flexible to understand and decide what SEO strategy will work for various brands.

5. Writing Skills

While writing is something that a content writer can do, it is also an essential skill for an SEO expert. While grammar is not so essential, a basic understanding of the English language is a must need. Only a reader knows the burden of reading a blog stuffed with obvious keywords. As an SEO consultant, you should be able to weave the right keywords at the right places in an article to make it look and sound natural. End of the day, bad writing can actually let down your SEO for a brand. 

6. Coding for SEO

Web coding is something that not everyone can do but as an SEO expert, it is better to have basic knowledge of how web coding is done. It is essential to understand how meta tags work. Having some idea on this part will make you a rare and most preferred SEO expert in the market. When you create an SEO strategy, you should be aware of the whole working for a holistic result.

7. Communication skills

Irrespective of what your career is, communication is vital. As an SEO expert, you will be in constant touch with your client. Especially, when you are a freelance SEO expert, you need to be sure of having good communication skills as poor communication can often result in incomplete or wrong interpretation of instructions or information. So to be able to converse and deliver the right information, you have to have strong communication skills. It will also help you build a rapport with your client.

8. Staying up-to-date

The digital world is ever dynamic and there is no single day with no update or a change in an existing functioning of a tool. Experts all around the world are in constant search to make better and time saving tools and algorithms that help better business conduct online. To become a professional SEO consultant, you must always be on toes to research, and learn and stay updated.

Technical Skills an SEO Expert Should Possess To Become The Best SEO Specialist

9. Local SEO

The first thing that any SEO expert should master is to clearly know what is local SEO. For any business that has a geographical location, local SEO is very important. No matter where you are as an SEO expert, you should be able to do a quality local SEO for any business irrespective of where the business is located. For this, researching is very important.

Further Reading: What Is Search Engine Indexing, And How Exactly Does It Function For Beginners

11. Knowing the right tools

Have you heard of this tool called ‘Answer The Public’? If you know it then give yourself a pat on the back. The key to becoming an expert in SEO is to learn and understand the working of various tools. There are more than 100 SEO tools available on the internet today. But what suits the best for your brand and your strategy, you have to decide.

The top 5 most in-demand SEO tools are SEMrush, Moz, ahrefs, Screamingfrog, and Google Search Console.

12. A/B Testing

This is probably one of the most essential and required skills for an SEO expert. A/B testing is basically altering an element or an aspect on the web page and see how it is performing. As an SEO expert, you have to constantly work on SEO testing or A/B testing to keep your webpage on ranking.

13. Keyword Research

While everything else is one side the court, keyword research by itself is one entire aspect of the SEO game. It can be called the lifeline of any SEO strategy. Adding the right keywords can eventually take your online presence to rank on the top in Google. This skill is very vital especially if you are looking to become an organic SEO consultant. 

14. Link Building

The ability to build the right links is probably the best skill that you can have as an SEO expert. Link building can give you credibility, make Google rank your site on page 1, increase your web traffic, generate more revenue and eventually build a strong online presence for your brand.

15. On-page SEO

Optimizing your individual web pages to improve your online appearance is called on-page SEO. As an SEO expert, you should be able to optimize your brand’s webpages the right way.

16. Javascript

Programmers are in plenty. But knowing the basics of it can help you do your SEO task independently. Incorrect interpretation of Javascript can prevent Google from crawling to see your webpage. This can lead to bad SEO.

17. HTML+CSS

While HTML builds a webpage, CSS beautifies it. As an SEO expert having a basic knowledge on this can help you frame your strategies better and it also extensively helps while doing A/B testing.

18. Technical SEO

Technical SEO is nothing but all other skills in one. Keyword research, using the right tools, creating best strategies are all a part of technical SEO. Having a holistic knowledge on all aspects can help you build a strong SEO strategy.

19. Social Media Marketing

Social media plays a major role in ranking a webpage. Improved engagement, backlinks, more visibility in SERP can all be done easily if one understands the quick-fixes and the basics of social media marketing.

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Bonus

Usability and Information Architecture

An SEO expert should understand the importance of good site usability. It means to understand how the elements on your webpage are placed and how you can make it better. This also includes making sure the site is user-friendly not just in terms of content but also the design.

Not everyone can become an SEO expert. Becoming an SEO expert requires interest, dedication and passion for the job. While there are so many SEO experts out there it only takes for a few to become the most preferred SEO expert. One has to have a holistic approach and the hunger to keep learning new and experimenting.

What are your best skills as an SEO expert? Do comment below!