So You Want To Be An SEO Analyst: What Skills, Salaries, and Job Opportunities Do You Have?
So You Want To Be An SEO Analyst: What Skills, Salaries, and Job Opportunities Do You Have?
To work as an SEO analyst, what are the necessary qualifications? Also, what can be expected in terms of wages and job prospects in 2022? To gain a thorough understanding of this profession, let's delve into a comprehensive overview. Being an SEO analyst is among the most sought-after careers in the digital marketing realm. As an SEO analyst, your primary responsibilities would include collecting and structuring data on your company's or clients' website performance, interpreting the insights gained in their respective market niches, and presenting actionable solutions to help them achieve their business goals.
For SEO analysts, the scope of work is massive, requiring a diverse skill set to ensure success. Thankfully, due to the technical nature of the job and the skillset needed to excel in it, SEO analyst roles in the United States are typically well remunerated, and the demand for such professionals in 2022 is expected to be high.
What Does an SEO Analyst Do?
When exploring the many responsibilities involved in SEO, it's common to mistake the roles of an SEO professional and an SEO analyst. While the two positions are related and share many similarities, an SEO analyst takes things to the next level beyond the specialist role.
While SEO specialists focus on the technical aspects such as integrating title tags, H1s, providing structured data to product pages, and uploading content, analysts analyze hard data and interpret it to determine how the website is currently performing and what improvements can be made.
As an analyst, your job primarily involves analyzing websites to assess their SEO quality, as the job title suggests. The initial step is to examine the entire website to identify any evident areas of improvement from a user experience standpoint. This may include fixing an ineffective or missing CTA, seizing missed internal linking opportunities, streamlining primary navigation, or optimizing title tags. Additionally, SEO specialists also determine if the website would benefit from any new pages or sections such as service, location, product, blog, FAQ, or testimonial pages.
As an SEO analyst, while performing these tasks, extensive keyword and competitor research is crucial to determine the keywords that the website could improve or start targeting, increasing its chances of appearing above its competitors in relevant queries.
Although the analysis part of the job is essential, the recommendation part is where the real work lies. Most significantly, SEO analysts crawl the entire site for any technological faults that aren't easily visible to the naked eye, such as broken pages, redirects, and metadata issues. Once the recommendations have been made, the client can adopt them, and within a few months, they can begin to reap the benefits of the SEO analyst's suggestions.
An SEO Analyst's Must-Have Skills
To be an effective SEO analyst, it's crucial to possess a mind that leans towards the analytical, as the job title suggests. Simply understanding what makes a good website and conducting research using various SEO tools isn't enough. A great SEO analyst must be able to approach a website with a logical and comprehensive investigative perspective.
While soft skills can be developed over time, they are more of a personal growth activity that lacks clearly defined milestones. On the other hand, hard skills, such as analyzing load time and structured data using a variety of SEO tools like Screaming Frog, Semrush, and Google Search Console, are crucial.
Additionally, page-speed concerns can be addressed using tools like Google PageSpeed Insights and GTmetrix, while Ahrefs can be used to identify broken backlink opportunities. All of this data, including keyword volumes and intents and SEO aspects, needs to be translated into real-world suggestions and tactics for the employer or client portfolio.
Becoming analytical at the level demanded of an SEO analyst can be challenging for someone who doesn't possess such analytical skills. With this in mind, let's break down the essential SEO analyst skills into hard and soft categories.
Hard Skills
Advanced understanding of SEO best practices.
A thorough understanding of how technical SEO works.
The ability to perform keyword research as well as competitor analysis.
Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Semrush, Ahrefs, GTmetrix, PageSpeed Insights, and Screaming Frog are some of the examples of SEO tools.
WordPress, Squarespace, Drupal, Wix, HubSpot, and Magento are just a few of the well known and most popular CMSs.
Content marketing, content auditing, and topic research expertise are required.
Knowledge of link building, backlinks, and the issues that come with it.
Potentiality to keep up with SEO best practices
Soft Skills.
The ability to think critically.
Curiosity and consideration.
The ability to think critically.
Problem-solving in a novel way.
Organization.
Time management is an important skill.
Oral and written communication that is effective.
Advantages of opportunities
What Experience Or Certifications Are Required/Helpful?
A job posting for an SEO analyst can be found on Glassdoor, which indicates that candidates typically need a degree in a relevant field, such as computer science or information technology, depending on the job and employer. Other SEO analyst positions may require a bachelor's degree in marketing or business. According to the same job posting, the majority of SEO analysts (60%) have 2-4 years of experience. Becoming an SEO analyst requires developing skills over time and through experience, which can be challenging. After working in the position for 2-4 years and auditing a variety of websites, an SEO analyst is on the cusp of becoming an expert. To become an SEO analyst, the following courses are highly recommended:
1. Google Analytics Academy Courses
- Beginner's Guide to Google Analytics
- Google Analytics with advanced features.
- Google Analytics for Power Users is a guide to those who want to fetch the most out of
- Data Studio is an introduction to the program.
- Fundamentals of Google Tag Manager
2. Hubspot SEO Certification Course
- SEO Certification course
3. The Semrush Academy's SEO courses
- Semrush SEO Toolkit is a collection or a group of SEO tools created by Semrush.
- Semrush can help you assess your online visibility.
- Keyword research and competitor analysis
- On-page and technical SEO are two different types of SEO.
- Link building is a term that refers to the process of Tracking your rank.
- Ross Tavendale conducts a Semrush site audit.
- Bastian Grimm discusses technical SEO.
- Greg Gifford educates about SEO fundamentals, keyword research, backlink management, mobile SEO, and local SEO.
- Brian Dean discusses content-driven SEO.
4. Ahrefs Academy's Courses
- Course on Ahrefs Certification.
Course on Search Engine Optimization.
What Is The Average Salary For An SEO Analyst?
To work as an SEO analyst, you have the advantage of earning a decent income in the United States. According to ZipRecruiter, the average salary is $63,058, and Glassdoor reports a slightly lower average of $62,987. Meanwhile, the average salary for an SEO analyst, as claimed by Income.com, is $71,101, with most workers earning between $64,301 and $77,601. However, the salary range may vary based on factors such as the company's size, location, and your experience.
The job prospects for SEO analysts in 2022 are promising. Indeed yielded 975 results for "SEO analyst" job search, with 566 jobs paying over $50,000, 553 mid-level positions, and 291 remote jobs. Companies like Pearson, Deloitte, Angi, LendingTree, and Merkle advertised jobs on Indeed. Similarly, a LinkedIn search yielded 966 SEO analyst openings, with 509 jobs paying over $40,000, 522 at the associate level, and 364 remote jobs. Companies like The Home Depot, Thriveworks, Havas Media Group, and Vox Media show cased job openings on LinkedIn. The job requirements varied from zero to two years of experience.
The Final Word
SEO analysts face a challenging task without a doubt. They must thoroughly examine websites, analyze data, and communicate their findings in a clear and concise manner to clients and organizations. This demands strong critical thinking, problem-solving abilities, and a deep understanding of SEO principles. While a bachelor's degree in a related field is often required for SEO analyst roles, exceptions can be made. Depending on the location and organization, these experts can earn more than $50,000 in this highly competitive market. If you possess a passion for data analysis and SEO, becoming an SEO analyst could be your ideal job.