Woman in professional attire facing forward and smiling. Caption says: Find fulfillment with a career in SEO.

Are you thinking about upping your game and becoming an expert in search engine optimization (SEO)?

If you wonder if it’s a good career move in 2022, the answer is an emphatic YES!

SEO is a thriving career option for individuals who like to stay at the edge of the learning curve and continuously make tweaks and modifications to improve their techniques.

If you’re faint or heart of wary of change, SEO may not be for you. But if you thrive in a go-getter atmosphere and live on problem-solving, it can be one of the most rewarding—and lucrative—careers out there.

Read on to learn more about the SEO industry, its trajectory, and how you can build a career in a growing field.

SEO Defined

As we mentioned above, SEO stands for search engine optimization, but what does that mean?

SEO is a marketing strategy that is designed to optimize your digital content so that Google can recognize it and include it on the first page of its search engine results page (SERP).

While SEO can be employed for any search engine, since Google is the largest, most SEOs focus their talents on understanding what Google looks for when crawling and ranking content.

Don’t be fooled, though: There’s an increasing appetite for SEOs familiar with optimization strategies for other platforms, including YouTube, Bing, and Amazon search. SEO is a growing industry, branching into new corners of the Internet year after year. Bottom line: There’s no better time to buckle in and get in on the SEO field.

What Does the SEO Industry Look Like Today?

The SEO industry is steadily growing and thriving in response to today’s digital climate, where visibility in search engines is crucial in achieving the level of website traffic you desire.

If you are curious to know what type of work is out there for someone just starting, it’s essential to remember that this type of work doesn’t come with a glamorous entry-level salary (though it is above our nation’s median average). However, once you’ve mastered the skills of the craft, the sky is pretty much the limit since it’s ultimately up to you to decide how much work you’re willing to take on.

If you want to play it safe, honing your skills by working at a digital marketing agency in the beginning is a great way to practice and learn what you need to know to make your content stand out from the rest.

Once you develop the talent and confidence to branch out and take on clients of your own, you can significantly increase your revenue stream by working with small businesses to improve their online presence.

The final way to monetize your skills is to begin building your own websites, then using your abilities to maximize organic traffic.

Tip: The truth of the matter is that SEOs who move their skills forward toward building a solid base of new clients and creating their own websites are the people who earn the most.

SEO Strategy Checklist

Let’s take a minute to explore the ingredients that still reign true for a winning optimization strategy:
  • • Focus on mining keywords that make the most sense for your products and services
  • • Highlight what makes your offerings unique
  • • Resist the temptation to cram too many keywords into any body of text
  • • Keep building quality backlinks
  • • Focus on regularly publishing top-quality, information-rich content which answers key questions about your industry, product, or service
  • • Make your mark on social media
  • • Ensure your site is user friendly across all devices
  • • Benchmark results so you know what’s working and what’s not
Of course, these areas are just a few of the key ingredients to mastering the art of SEO. Over time you will pick up various tricks and tips that make what you bring to the table unique.

The Future of SEO

The future of SEO is bright and still holds a lot of promise for aspiring writers looking to take on an exciting career in digital marketing.

We’re predicting the following trends to play a role in shaping the future of search engine optimization:
  • • Artificial intelligence will take on a more significant role in determining the context of any given page of content
  • • Voice search is changing the way people use search engines
  • • Providing mobile-friendly options will play a more prominent role in ranking
  • • Useful, quality content will remain the golden standard
  • • Long-form content will see its day in the sun
  • • Optimizing video content will become necessary to obtain a higher page rank
Don’t just take our word for it. A quick search will give you all the information you need to be able to spot these upcoming SEO trends for yourself.

If you’re serious about selecting a career as an SEO, you’re probably conducting this search and gathering information in another browser window right now.

That’s the attitude that will carry you forward into the success you desire.

Stick with it.

Is SEO the Right Career for You?

We want to hear from you.

Building a career in the SEO industry is both challenging and rewarding. Like anything in life, it all comes down to what you make of it and how much you’re willing to learn.

Luckily, there is no shortage of businesses that can benefit from a well-optimized digital presence.

Once you master the basics, there’s virtually no limit to what you can achieve.
Did this article clarify your questions on how SEO fits into the larger picture and if it would be the right fit for you? Is there anything that’s giving you hesitation? 

We’d like to know your thoughts, so drop a few lines in the comments below.