Search engine optimization is an essential skill for Digital Marketers and anyone trying to drive traffic to a website, build a following, or increase sales. Knowing how to find the best keywords, create backlinks, and optimize websites are skills that can really pay off. If you are unsure that learning SEO is right for you, consider reading on to learn more about the many uses of SEO tools and techniques. Not only will learning SEO open up a number of new career opportunities, but it also has a lot of potential personal uses for entrepreneurs, influencers, and creatives.

What is SEO?

Search engine optimization (SEO), is a way to increase website traffic and sales. SEO depends upon content, technical website optimization, link building, and keyword research to improve ranking on a Google results page. Professionals who work with SEO are called Website Optimization Specialists. One of the keys to SEO is building trust between your business and your user through high-quality content, making sure your website loads quickly, is easy to navigate and is optimized for new developments like voice search. 

Read more about what SEO is and why you should learn it.

Professional Uses for SEO

Digital Marketers and other professionals use SEO in their daily work. Large companies often hire people to work specifically with SEO and website optimization, while Digital Marketers with smaller firms will handle SEO and other responsibilities. SEO skills are in high demand and earn an average annual base salary of $55,000 in the US. With knowledge of SEO, you can work as a Digital Marketer, SEO/Website Optimization Specialist, Content Marketer, or Digital Marketing Data Analyst.

Digital Marketer

Digital Marketers use SEO to promote goods and services successfully and efficiently. After using data analytics tools to determine a target audience, Digital Marketers set goals and research keywords. The next step is to create or find high-quality content to engage the audience and choose keywords that will place the content near the top of search engine pages. The content is then shared on social media or through an email campaign, and Digital Marketers use tools like Google Analytics, SEMRush, or Moz to analyze its performance. Some Digital Marketers are generalists and work with all aspects of digital marketing, while others are more specialized and work as SEO/Website Optimization Specialists.

SEO/Website Optimization Specialist

Website Optimization/SEO Specialists are in charge of a company's search engine optimization (SEO). They plan and implement SEO strategies and monitor them. They do audits to make sure the website is up-to-date and performing well, develop insights to share with the marketing team, create a link-building program, and collaborate with other departments and team members, such as the Content Marketer.

Content Marketer

Blog posts, videos, and white papers are important to digital marketing. Content Marketers develop content for digital marketing campaigns. They either create or acquire content from writers, photographers, and video artists and then research the best places to post it. Content Managers also create a publishing schedule and use tools like Hootsuite to schedule publications. SEO is integral to content marketing because good content meets users' needs, drives website traffic, and builds trust and authority for a brand.

Digital Marketing Data Analyst

Digital Marketing Data Analysts work with tools like Google Analytics, SEMRush, and Moz to keep track of SEO and report on it to the marketing team. They use other tools like Tableau and Microsoft’s PowerBI to create visualizations to help the team plan future SEO strategy.

Other Uses for SEO

Learning SEO can help in other ways besides getting a job. If you have your own ecommerce website, are involved with a non-profit group, or want to promote your music or artwork, learning SEO can help you share your message.

Build a Personal Brand

You can use SEO and website optimization to build awareness of a personal brand by using content marketing, researching long tail keywords and phrases, building backlinks, trading guest blogs, and creating a “Google My Business” listing. SEO can help you decide which social media channels are best for your target audience and the optimal time of day to reach your followers. By understanding how SEO works, you can increase the visibility and authority of your brand. 

Market a Product

SEO is helpful for marketing your own products. If you have an ecommerce store, SEO is the way to find and connect with customers. Finding the right keywords and identifying your specific audience can build a relationship that leads to sales. Write guest blogs or appear on podcasts to create backlinks to your site.

Promote a Creative Project

Musicians, artists, writers, and other creatives also use SEO to increase their audience. Find relevant keywords that fans will likely use when looking for your music. Use these keywords and phrases in your website's metadata section and your content. Optimize your website with meta descriptions, title tags, and headers. Optimize for mobile devices, too. Engage with fans by adding links to songs on social media and in content. Create backlinks by trading posts with other musicians.

Create Visibility for a Passion Project

All of these ideas are useful for causes you support, too. Doing volunteer digital marketing work can also help you get a job. Whether you are creating a group for your high school class reunion, your child’s dance class, or the local animal shelter, SEO can help you get the message to the people who are most likely to be receptive.

Learn SEO Skills with Noble Desktop

To change careers and become a Web Optimization/SEO Specialist, sign up for one of Noble Desktop’s bootcamp or certificate courses. SEO Bootcamp will teach you SEO strategies to get your website to the top of the page. In Google Analytics Bootcamp, learn how to set up an account, know which metrics to track, and understand the Google Analytics reports. Noble’s Digital Marketing Certificate includes digital marketing, SEO, and Google Analytics bootcamps, plus Google Ads and social media and content marketing classes. Use Noble Desktop’s Classes Near Me to find other courses in digital marketing in your area.

Key Takeaways

• SEO is a set of techniques for increasing website traffic and sales based on content, website optimization, link building, and keyword research.
• Professional uses for SEO:
• Digital Marketer
• SEO/Website Optimization Specialist
• Content Marketer
• Digital Marketing Data Analyst
• Other ways SEO skills are useful:
• Building a personal brand
• Marketing a product
• Promote a creative project.
• Create visibility for a passion project.
• Get comprehensive SEO training through Noble Desktop in-person or online.