How to Get a Job in SEO

SEO is a fast-paced and dynamic field. As one of the in-demand roles within digital marketing, it's also almost uniquely diverse, with no fixed barriers to entry or professional qualifications required to apply for a vacancy.

Let’s look at how to get an SEO job, with realistic advice from our digital marketing specialists.

Careers in SEO appeal to all sorts of job applicants, from students who’ve just graduated, to those switching careers or wanting to find a way to use their passion for tech and innovation to earn a stable income.

As with a lot of positions within digital marketing, there are many perks and working structures out there. You might, for instance, apply for a 100% remote vacancy, work in a hybrid role, be part of a large digital marketing agency, provide targeted SEO for one employer, or act as a freelancer taking on individual SEO projects – the choice is yours!

While SEO might be a career path with endless entry routes, we also know that it’s not always that easy to find a great job. If you've sent off thousands of applications or filled in dozens of forms only to hear silence, our real-world guide to finding an SEO position is a great place to start.

Key Tasks to Focus on When Looking for a Job in SEO

• SEO is a popular career, which also means you’re likely up against pretty considerable competition. You need to refine your resume, read job descriptions carefully, and make sure you put in the effort to stand out!
• Anyone can learn the basics of SEO, from keyword research to link-building and on-page optimization, and you’ll find lots of free and paid-for online courses. The more skills and certifications you can add to your resume, the better your chances, especially if you’re able to learn more technical abilities like coding and indexation.
• Hands-on expertise beats qualifications. If you’re a junior or trainee, you can position yourself as a strong candidate by setting up your own website or launching small projects, monitoring the outcomes to prove that you have the necessary know-how.
• Most agencies and employers use the same SEO tools and resources, so familiarizing yourself with Google Search Console, SEMrush, Google Analytics, and Ahrefs, as just a few examples, is time well spent.
• SEO changes quickly, and with just about every algorithm update, so staying up to date and keeping up with trends and changes will ensure you’re not left behind. You can also look at networking opportunities on platforms like LinkedIn.

1. Get to Grips With the SEO Basics 

You might already have a good level of SEO knowledge or have worked in another aspect of digital marketing, which means you've got a more than passing understanding of how it all works. We've said that you don’t necessarily need a specific qualification to apply for a job in SEO, but being able to prove you have a baseline know-how is definitely advisable.

The majority of agencies and recruiters have an ongoing need both for SEO specialists with years of experience, alongside SEO juniors and trainees who can learn on the job and take some of the workload away from senior colleagues. If you’ve got the basics secured and are willing to learn, you’ll put yourself in a good place to be recruited.

Take a few online courses, learn how search engines function, and try setting up your own mini website if you haven’t yet practiced tasks like keyword research and link building.

This gives you some practical experience to mention on your resume and talk about in an interview but also means you won’t be derailed by terminology your interviewer expects you to know. 

2. Spend Time Practicing With the Most-Used SEO Tools

Although you don’t need to be an SEO whizz to apply for your first role, if you can show that you won’t need extensive training and coaching, you’ll also show an employer that you will be able to get up to speed quickly!

That means learning and being able to use a few tools and features that are prevalent in almost all SEO positions. They include:

• MS Excel and Google Sheets, being able to run enquiries, create pivot tables, and write simple formulas to organize data.
• Google Search Console, which shows how a website is performing and flags issues that need to be corrected.
• Sites like Ahrefs and SEMrush, which we mentioned earlier, and are among the top keyword research, competitor analysis, and website audit tools.

Knowing your way around and being able to drop in a few of the tools or platforms you've used is an advantage, as it demonstrates a good enough understanding to get to work without protracted periods of training.

3. Create a Portfolio or Website

Job applicants fresh out of college or transitioning from another career can gain some serious plus points if they’ve got a tangible way to prove their abilities – but if you’ve never worked in SEO before and don’t have a portfolio or references from a previous employer, you have two main options:

1. Building yourself a portfolio of mini projects for friends, local businesses, or charities
2. Creating your own website, which you can optimize

Setting up a simple website on a platform like WordPress is straightforward, and you can try ranking for a few specific keywords – not only to show your abilities but as evidence that you’ve put real effort and interest into upskilling.

While this isn’t mandatory, hands-on experience is incredibly important, and you could volunteer some time to do a good turn for a small business or charity.

4. Include All Your Soft and Transferable Skills on Your Resume

It goes without saying that recruiters and agencies don't always mind if a recruit needs some training, and onboarding is a very normal process that all will be familiar with.

Employers often look at resumes and initial interview rounds as a way to assess whether applicants will be a good fit within their existing teams – and you don't need amazing SEO skills to be an asset!

Here are a few examples of the soft skills or transferable abilities employers have listed on their SEO job vacancies posted through the Digital Marketing Jobs Board recently:

• Strong communication
• Proven project management
• Linguistics
• Research capability

These are all things you could have learned in your education or in previous jobs or volunteering experiences. If you speak a second language, have shown that you’re great at detailed research, or have managed a project, this is something you should highlight to augment the more technical SEO skills that are actually a lot easier to teach.

5. Network and Keep Learning About New Trends

Networking is sometimes seen as a bit of a lost art, as so much of the world is digital. Still, it's absolutely possible to be active and engaged, and to join groups, discussions, and webinars where you might discover a new job opening that's just what you're looking for.

You can ask questions, follow advice from the many experts who are very generous with their time, and stay up to date with new techniques and tools as they evolve.

This all ensures you’re not stating on your resume that you’re ‘motivated’ or ‘dedicated’, you’re showing that you’ll invest your time into learning and ensuring you’re completely up to speed with the latest in the SEO sector.

6. Polish Your Resume to Gain Attention From Busy Recruiters

Recruiters and interviewers have the unenviable task of sifting through thousands of applications, which is why so many choose to advertise their vacancies via Digital Marketing Jobs to ensure they hear from the highest-caliber applicants who are a good fit for their requirements!

However, if you’re sending the same resume to every potential job and have copied and pasted the information from a chatbot, you're likely being disregarded out of hand, because your resume might look identical to the 10 (or 100) before it.

Employers are busy, and we'd suggest you:

• Keep your resume short, with bullets and lists, and no long-winded paragraphs; they don't have time to read essays.
• Concentrate on a professional, well-designed layout that is easy to skim and shows all the most important details at a glance.
• Steer clear of tired cliches that don’t really mean anything – be honest about what you can do, what you’re good at, and what you have to offer.
• Set up an email address that sounds professional and share a link to your website or portfolio. The recruiter might not click on it, but if they want candidates who are proactive about showcasing their abilities, this will be a win.

We’d also suggest you tailor your resume for every job – yes, every single SEO position you decide to apply for! That shows you've actually read the description, and you can use this to identify all the mandatory criteria to ensure you’ve stated how you meet them in your resume.

7. Be Thoroughly Prepared for an SEO Job Interview

Once you’ve made it past the shortlisting stage and are invited to interview, we recognize that nerves come into play – but this is the time to shine!

A lot of SEO interviews are held virtually, but that by no means implies you don't need to look, sound, and come across as a professional that an employer or agency will be happy representing their business.

Regardless of how many interviews you’ve attended – successful or not – you should:

• Check you have the latest version of any video software the recruiter uses, including Google Meet, Zoom, and MS Teams. Be sure you know how to mute the sound, test your microphone and headphones, if applicable, are crystal clear, and check the background very carefully to ensure there's nothing there that shouldn't be.
• Research the business or agency, because when you’re asked if you have any questions, you'll perform better if you're obviously informed, know what the company is about, and have some relevant, meaningful questions to ask about new products, services, or announcements.
• Practice, practice, practice! If you’ve worked through a few common interview questions for SEO jobs, you’ll at least have some ideas about how you might respond and won’t be left struggling with an awkward silence while you try to formulate and answer on the spot.

Of course, it's impossible to know exactly what the interview might ask, but if you're ready to, for example, run them through your resume, chat about what you're expecting from the job, or talk about SEO strategy, you'll find it easier to adapt to whatever questions come your way.

Start Your SEO Job Search With the Digital Marketing Jobs Board

We hope this guide has given you some actionable tips and suggestions to help you find your ideal SEO job – and show you how all the details matter, from hands-on learning and practical experience to being well-prepared to perform during an interview.

If you're ready to get started, we recommend visiting our SEO Jobs page, where you'll find recruitment ads for a wide range of roles, or reading through our SEO Manager Guide to compare the skills and capabilities required for a more senior position.