SEO managers are liable for processing the strategy to amended a website’s hunt visibility and integrated traffic. But what exactly bash they do? What skills and qualifications bash they need? And however tin you go one?

To find out, I looked done 52 SEO manager occupation listings connected LinkedIn and asked a fewer existent SEO managers.

The astir communal responsibilities I found were:

• Develop SEO strategy (100%)
• Collaborate with different teams (96.15%)
• Identify caller SEO opportunities (88.46%)
• Make SEO recommendations (76.92%)
• Report to stakeholders oregon make reports (76.92%)
• Keep up-to-date connected SEO trends and updates (76.92%)
• Develop SEO tests (32.69%)

It seems that an SEO manager’s occupation mostly revolves astir absorption (who knew!?). They mightiness person immoderate work for implementing changes, penning content, oregon gathering links themselves, but it’s not their superior thing. They thin to collaborate with and trust connected different teams to get things done.

I reached retired to a fewer SEO managers who (mostly) echoed this:

It’s much communal for maine to collaborate with other teams.

For the astir part, I’ll supply strategical absorption and recommendations to clients which they volition past implement. I’ll collaborate with antithetic teams (e.g. contented managers, developers, etc.) to guarantee we’re aligned and blessed with the actions. There are immoderate borderline cases wherever I’ll get much hands-on (e.g., updating metadata, adding interior links), but astir of the worth successful my roles lies successful the strategy!

When it comes to content, I’m fortunate capable to beryllium surrounded by a squad with a wide scope of expertise. I’ll mostly beryllium the 1 to scout taxable oregon rubric opportunities earlier directing it to the astir suitable squad member. Regarding method SEO & onsite changes; if it’s thing that tin beryllium done wrong our CMS past I’ll spell up and bash it. Anything hard-coded oregon things similar velocity tweaks oregon fixing CLS past I’ll little the changes successful with the dev team.

At NOVOS, we run mostly connected a consultancy basis. This means that we’re recommending changes for SEO, but alternatively of implementing, we enactment with our client’s tech teams and selling teams to person our recommendations implemented.

I besides asked which of their responsibilities instrumentality up the astir of their time.

Here’s what they said:

I would accidental some collaborating with different teams and reporting to stakeholders. Some radical are precise tech and market-savvy, immoderate are not 🙂 truthful it takes time.

Within my relation it’s a spot of a operation of collaboration crossed different departments keeping things aligned, arsenic good arsenic identifying and gathering caller strategies to guarantee each our clients are kept astatine the forefront of search.

On the whole, the bulk of my clip is spent identifying SEO opportunities and processing recommendations to execute them. But it varies a just magnitude depending connected the client/website. Some clients volition privation much broad reporting and much regular meetings, whereas others privation to get our recommendations and get connected with it.

In general, astir of my clip is spent analysing information to usher our strategy. This mightiness beryllium backlink investigation connected a competitor, moving done hunt query information connected Search Console oregon looking astatine scale reports to spot however hunt engines are interacting with our pages.

For my role, determination is simply a definite divided betwixt squad absorption and lawsuit focussed work. I would accidental erstwhile it comes to moving with clients, identifying caller opportunities and communicating with the lawsuit are the astir salient areas that I work with.

I’d accidental moving retired the strategy & processing it on-going is what takes up astir of my time, followed by the mentation for antithetic lawsuit meetings.

It truly depends, but usually astatine the opening of each period reporting connected each client, preparations for the monthly meetings with the clients instrumentality a spot of time. On Monday-Tuesdays I usually absorption connected tract wellness checks and past the remainder of the week is meetings, BAU tasks, moving connected strategies, reviewing work/helping others, etc.

Here are the communal skills I saw:

• Data investigation and mentation (84.62%)
• Strong communicator & collaborator (80.77%)
• Experience with SEO tools (80.77%)
• Programming - e.g., HTML, CSS, JavaScript (50%)
• Project absorption (48.08%)
• Entrepreneurial, self-starting tone (25%)

I besides asked a fewer SEO managers what they deliberation is the astir important accomplishment for their position. Here’s what they said:

I’d accidental that bigger representation thinking/long word imaginativeness is ace important. In SEO, it’s truthful casual to get bogged down successful good details erstwhile putting unneurotic a strategy, truthful it’s captious to cognize however to prioritise tasks successful a roadmap and fig retired what makes astir consciousness to tackle archetypal from a wider concern perspective.

I deliberation immoderate of the astir important skills successful SEO are the “soft skills”. Being inquisitive and capable to pivot rapidly is cardinal arsenic rankings, guidelines and algorithms tin each alteration overnight.. and often do! Alongside that, having wide connection skills is important for securing buy-in from stakeholders, and educating different departments however their actions necktie into wider SEO strategy.

For me, it has got to beryllium beardown connection and awareness. Without this things tin easy spell missed and with SEO being specified a rollercoaster astatine times, this provides clarity crossed what is happening from an concern constituent of presumption arsenic good arsenic from a larger SEO & Google view.

I deliberation that empathy and affectional quality are the astir important skills successful my role. The instauration of SEO expertise and being data-driven is of people important, but I bash deliberation that my quality to subordinate to radical has helped maine to turn successful this role.

While determination are truthful galore important qualities, similar being a bully listener, and being adjuvant and honest, I’m going to instrumentality with being resilient. Sure, 1 tin lick a problem, enactment retired a strategy that works, oregon cognize however to speech to clients, but if you don’t travel through, if you don’t enactment consistent, that mindset won’t pb to occurrence arsenic an SEO manager.

I deliberation you should decidedly person an analytical mindset, sometimes you conscionable request to crook the logic connected and your contented is sorted. Communication skills are precise important too, not conscionable erstwhile you enactment with different teams oregon radical wrong your team, but besides clients. Attention to details can’t spell unnoticed - 1 small happening tin instrumentality a crook of events.

Here are a fewer much absorbing observations from the data:

• 55.77% wanted applicants to person a proven way grounds of SEO success.
• Of those who asked for acquisition with SEO tools, 54.8% asked for acquisition with Ahrefs.
• 11.54% wanted applicants with cognition of AI tools similar ChatGPT.

I asked a fewer SEO managers whether they see cognition of AI tools to beryllium important for their position. Here’s what they said:

Considering it’s each anyone has been talking astir for the past twelvemonth oregon so, I’d accidental it’s beauteous important! Jokes aside, I deliberation there’s been truthful overmuch sound astir AI tools implicit the past twelvemonth that sometimes the benefits for SEOs whitethorn beryllium somewhat exaggerated oregon seen arsenic a “silver bullet”, erstwhile really their usage cases are inactive beauteous specific.

I deliberation everyone successful SEO should clasp immoderate cognition of however AI tools are being utilized and however they get and service their responses. 

I deliberation it’s decidedly a bonus arsenic it tin truly prevention you clip connected immoderate areas specified arsenic penning HTML codification but would inactive request to beryllium checked implicit manually.

Yeah, it’s important. ChatGPT came successful useful for some monotonous (e.g., meta description, ALT substance successful bulk) and analyzable (Python publication for a circumstantial task; you request to person programming cognition though to verify) SEO tasks. 

There was a beauteous adjacent divided here, with conscionable implicit fractional (53.8%) of listings requiring applicants to person a degree.

None of those who required a grade asked for thing higher than a bachelor’s degree, but the bulk (80%) bash inquire for a grade successful a related tract similar marketing, business, advertising, oregon machine science.

I asked a fewer SEO managers whether they felt a grade was important for their role. Here’s what they said:

My grade was successful modern languages, truthful I wouldn’t accidental it is “important” to my role. But it’s decidedly adjuvant connected immoderate occasions, for illustration if I’m moving connected a multilingual website and performing tasks specified arsenic rival analysis, keyword probe oregon contented ideation successful different languages.

As idiosyncratic who doesn’t person a degree; I’d accidental it’s decidedly not important! So overmuch of the occupation is astir testing, proceedings and error, and incremental gains. There’s been an summation successful the fig of integer selling and adjacent degrees successful caller years, which I’m definite are great, but I don’t deliberation thing beats hands-on acquisition erstwhile it comes to SEO.

I don’t person a degree. I deliberation successful thing specified arsenic SEO which is truthful accelerated paced and ever changing, it’s much important to summation acquisition and beryllium wrong the manufacture perpetually pushing and investigating methods.

Not really. The main things that I got from my grade was independency and thrust - but my grade shockingly hardly covered immoderate online selling options.

In presumption of existent knowledge, not really. I graduated successful 2018, having studied Marketing and Advertising and immoderate halfway concepts that I’ve learned stayed applicable but 1 could easy larn the aforesaid things from an online YouTube video. I hardly did immoderate *real* applicable enactment during my classes and had to self-study astir things.

Definitely a nary 🙂 I did survey integer selling modules arsenic portion of my degrees but we ne'er went heavy astir SEO oregon immoderate different transmission really. When I was hired archetypal arsenic a postgraduate I was learning astir SEO and however it works from the precise beginning. LinkedIn courses, online articles and videos, idiosyncratic diggings, radical I worked with, my managers’ experiences taught maine each I know today.

Yeah, I person a bachelor’s successful machine subject and americium presently pursuing my M.S. successful marketing.

None of the occupation listings asked for SEO certifications.

Both agencies and companies prosecute SEO managers, but the information suggests that it’s astir commonly an in-house position. Only 10.7% of the occupation listings I analyzed were for roles successful agencies.

I’m really not wholly definite wherefore this is. My champion conjecture is that SEO agencies aren’t ever structured successful a mode that requires an “SEO manager.”

For example, here’s however SEO bureau Bubblegum Search structures their team:

This is known arsenic a pod operation and, arsenic you tin see, there’s nary SEO manager successful the picture.

Here’s their laminitis and director, Matt Cayless, explaining wherefore they usage this structure:

Each lawsuit is matched with a pod consisting of an relationship manager, an SEO specialist, and an outreach specialist. This ensures that the lawsuit receives a well-rounded service, with each subordinate bringing their unsocial expertise to the table.

75.1% of US SEO managers marque $100,000-$159,999. Roughly fractional of those marque $120,000-$139,999.

About the data

It was amazingly hard to get figures for this due to the fact that the occupation listings gave a unsocial wage scope alternatively than a azygous figure—some of which were huge!

For example, the wage scope for this occupation is $111,000-$185,000:

That’s a scope of $74,000. Madness!

So, the information you spot successful the graph supra is averages grouped into buckets. For example, if a occupation listing quoted a wage scope of $100,000-$200,000, I took the mean ($150,000) and grouped it into the due bucket.

I thought it’d besides beryllium absorbing to spot however salaries varied by acquisition and acquisition level, truthful I ran the data…

Education-wise, there’s virtually nary payment to having a degree. Positions requesting applicants person 1 wage conscionable 1.77% much connected average:

It’s a antithetic representation erstwhile it comes to experience. Job listings asking for 2+ years of acquisition wage astir $39,000 little than those asking for 4+ years:

Salary maturation tapers disconnected aft 4 years, with listings asking for 5+ years of acquisition paying astir the same.

An SEO manager is acold from an entry-level position. Every occupation listing I looked astatine asked for astatine slightest 2 years of experience, with the bulk (54.2%) asking for astatine slightest five years.

But however bash you get that experience? What’s the path?

To reply this question, I checked the profiles of astir 20 SEO managers’ profiles connected LinkedIn and looked astatine their occupation history. Their paths were each idiosyncratic and varied, but I noticed a definite inclination that looked thing like this:

With that successful mind, here’s the way I’d suggest if you privation to beryllium an SEO manager:

1. Get an internship

60% of the SEO managers’ LinkedIn profiles I checked started retired arsenic interns.

I reached retired to a fewer of these folks and asked if they’d urge this arsenic a starting constituent for aspiring SEO managers. All of them said yes.

Starting arsenic an intern worked retired large for maine and is surely a way I’d recommend. Coming retired of schoolhouse I had nary thought what SEO was – I’d ne'er heard the word and hadn’t adjacent truly considered however oregon wherefore Google gives the results that it does! Going into an internship and starting “at the bottom” allowed maine to physique up my cognition done moving connected tiny standard projects, with plentifulness of clip for grooming and soaking up the wide “vibe” of the manufacture - and the astonishing radical wrong it.

I’d perfectly urge this! I did my grade connected the ground that determination was a twelvemonth successful industry, and this is wherever I learned the implicit astir astir selling passim my clip astatine university. It was besides 1 of my archetypal experiences successful the benignant of workplace you tin expect to beryllium successful the SEO industry, which taught maine a lot.

Internships I undertook were important to my nonrecreational development. That’s wherever the existent cognition came from. Plus I got to marque important connections with radical successful the industry.

Yes, for sure. As an intern you enactment connected galore antithetic projects that assistance you signifier your interests and the country you privation to absorption connected aft the internship is over.

To find internships, hunt LinkedIn, Indeed, oregon immoderate different occupation site. It’s evidently champion to get an SEO internship but if you can’t find one, a much generic integer selling internship works. Most SEO managers I checked started retired successful such roles.

2. Become an SEO specialist

60% of the SEO managers’ LinkedIn profiles I checked were an SEO specializer astatine 1 constituent oregon another—often soon aft their internship.

Learn much astir the skills needed for this relation successful our investigation of SEO specializer occupation listings.

3. Progress done the ranks (and don’t beryllium acrophobic to jump ship!)

It’s imaginable to spell consecutive from SEO specializer to SEO manager, arsenic proven by Andrew Chacon’s experience:

But astir of the folks I analyzed connected LinkedIn had a vocation progression with different roles successful between. For example, Jonnathan Monsalve held SEO Team Lead and SEO Strategist positions betwixt SEO Specialist and SEO Manager:

One happening I did notice, though: astir radical switched companies aggregate times connected their travel to SEO Manager—so don’t beryllium acrophobic to bash this too! If there’s nary accidental for progression wrong your existent company, move!

I asked a fewer SEO managers however they spot their careers progressing. Here are conscionable a fewer of their answers.

Become an SEO pb oregon partner

Within my existent position, I anticipation to proceed to turn the SEO squad and dilatory physique up from determination looking to person a fig of managers with seperate teams below, perchance moving into much of a pb / spouse role.

Fraser wasn’t the lone SEO manager to say this.

It’s fundamentally the process of gathering much of an interior operation similar the 1 below, which was featured successful our usher to SEO squad structures:

Become a freelancer

Three of the SEO managers I asked said that they’d similar to bash this successful aboriginal oregon already are.

Outside of my existent position, I bash immoderate freelance and advisor work, and doing this truly supports maine investigating and identifying caller opportunities that I tin bring backmost into CreativeFolks and further trial and measurement crossed a wider fig of clients. I would ever urge others to look astatine starting thing connected the broadside to let them to further their skills and bring up caller opportunities for themselves.

I recovered the reply supra from Fraser truly interesting: For him, freelancing isn’t truly a vocation progress; it’s thing helium does alongside his existent relation that has the added payment of helping him beryllium a amended SEO manager.

Become a selling manager

I person a beardown passionateness for merchandise marketing. I person managed paid, email, programmatic, and societal media selling for different brands successful the past. Therefore, I americium excited astir the imaginable of moving successful merchandise selling oregon starring an full selling section successful the future.

This seems similar a beauteous earthy progression to me. It’s fundamentally going from managing 1 selling transmission to managing them all.

What next?

If you person nary acquisition successful the industry, an internship is decidedly a bully spot to start. You mightiness besides privation to acceptable your sights connected becoming an SEO specializer first. This is simply a communal stepping chromatic successful SEO managers’ vocation paths.

Find retired what SEO specialists bash here: I Analyzed 52 SEO Specialist Job Listings. Here’s What They Do and How You Can Become One