An SEO specialist helps businesses improve their web presence and search engine rankings. Qualifications vary, but many are self-taught or have IT and business backgrounds. They can assist with website development, content creation, and social media. They also address negative search results and offer solutions.
A search engine optimization (SEO) specialist is a business consultant who can help a business improve its web presence so it can reach more potential customers. The SEO specialist will evaluate the company’s existing presence, paying particular attention to what comes up in the various search engines. This information will help the specialist make recommendations for getting the company’s sites higher in search engine rankings and maintaining those positions. Some consultants also offer help dealing with negative search engine results such as critical reviews of a company.
The qualifications required to work as an SEO specialist depend on the type of job the person intends to undertake. Many are self-taught or have acquired skills working for an Internet company. Some take IT and business classes, with an emphasis on public relations, social media, and related topics. An SEO specialist may have past work history with a research firm and may also work as a web developer, building and maintaining sites for clients. Some pursue independent certification.
Businesses can hire an SEO specialist at any time, but a good time to do so is before developing a new website or launching a first web presence. The SEO specialist will meet with company staff to discuss what the company does and what kind of image it wants to project. You can help the company create the content of web pages to attract search engines. Each engine uses a slightly different algorithm, and many have measures in place to counter practices like keyword stuffing, where a website has numerous instances of a particular keyword in hopes of pushing it into search results.
As the site’s content changes, the SEO specialist may also work on topics such as staff training to keep the site fresh and attractive to search engines. Sites usually have to change regularly to encourage search sites to re-index them and update their results. As users add new content, it should be optimized. The SEO specialist can teach staff members how to use tools like alt tagging and effective article titles to attract search engines. You can also identify problem areas on the site and make recommendations on how to fix them.
Part of this work may also include increasing web presence through social media and interaction on other websites. The SEO specialist can also evaluate negative search results and discuss methods of dealing with them. This can include pushing positive results up and reaching out to people who have posted negative comments to fix issues. It may be possible to eliminate a negative result entirely by addressing a customer complaint and encouraging them to remove or update the negative comment.
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