Top Traits of an SEO Expert
There are many different approaches, views, opinions and traits when it comes to search engine optimization. In this blog I will point out some of the best traits a person can have in order to become successful in the field of SEO. If you are looking to improve your online presence, always contact the experts for the best SEO in Manchester. In the meantime, let’s get back to those traits!
Collaborative
An expert and experienced SEO understands that search engine optimisation is not a solo-effort. Search engine optimisation requires people to build a website, write optimised content, improve the technical aspects of a website, build quality backlinks, conduct research for keywords, optimise meta tags, outreach to other websites for link opportunities, etc. Many tasks can indeed be coupled together and performed by a single individual, but they can not realistically perform every single task. For SEO to work properly, it takes a full team of people and experts with their own specialised tasks.
Ambitious
SEO is all about getting your website to rank on that important first page of search results. But once you get to the first page – then what? You need an SEO expert who is always hungry to achieve more and isn’t satisfied with achieving the first goal. Someone who doesn’t score early and then parks the bus (I’m looking at you, Jose.)
Realistically, an SEO expert will have enough confidence in their own knowledge and abilities to understand that the grind doesn’t stop at first page – the grind doesn’t even stop at first position, because the grind never stops! If you cease your SEO efforts because you’ve reached your goal, whether that be page one, top 3, or first position, you will quickly see your website fall like a landslide because you are no longer competing with your competitors who will be actively building on their own SEO efforts.
Adaptable
In the world of SEO, you should know that you and your website’s performance is at the sole mercy of one thing: The Algorithm. Back in the good spammy old days, search engines such as Google would only update their search results & refresh their algorithms very periodically. This was incredibly frustrating for many webmasters. For example, if your website was hit by a penalty for bad link building practice and you quickly disavowed all the bad links the same week, you would have to wait around 3 months to actually see any sort of recovery for your website. This is because the algorithm responsible for the penalty would only be refreshed every couple of months.
Today, Google releases hundreds of updates and refreshes every single day. Most of these are unnoticeable and don’t require any action from SEOs – but every now and again Google will release a broad core algorithm update or make big changes to their algorithm. An example of this can be mobilegeddon – this is when Google notified webmasters that websites that were not correctly mobile-friendly would be punished and serve lower rankings than mobile-friendly websites. This update singled-out some noticeable common practices at the time and deemed them as not mobile-friendly including: serving up light-weight/less content for mobile users, or having an entire subdomain dedicated to mobile users (eg m.domain.com)
An SEO expert should be able to adapt and respond to Google’s various updates in order to keep your website on-top and ahead of the competition. Search engine optimisation should also be future-proof: the tactics you use now should not punish your website 12 months down the line.
Honest
Honesty is a very important trait for an expert, because the major work of SEO is done behind-the-scenes, with very little input or knowledge by clients. Research even shows that many SEO consultants have admitted in job interviews to lying to their clients about making mistakes.
Honesty in SEO includes owning up to mistakes that adversely affect the client, being transparent about the work you are doing or not doing, realistic prices for the services you are providing etc. It is very common to find that the agency you are dealing with for SEO is actually just outsourcing their work to another agency at a fraction of the price you are paying and pocketing the rest – this is known as SEO reselling.
Driven
This is one for both the SEO and the client: both should show that they are driven and ambitious. In SEO, it should be understood and accepted that no matter how much you pay or who you hire, it will not be a simple massive skyrocket success story with nothing but uptrends and increases. As the saying goes: what comes up, must come down. For very competitive industries and keywords, you are not likely to reach the first position and remain there in a stable position for years to come. At some point, a Google update is bound to cause chaos with your positions. It is necessary to understand that just because your positions are down does not mean you are doing something wrong – both you and the client should know that the game of SEO is a long one.
Top Traits of an SEO Expert
There are many different approaches, views, opinions and traits when it comes to search engine optimization. In this blog I will point out some of the best traits a person can have in order to become successful in the field of SEO. If you are looking to improve your online presence, always contact the experts for the best SEO in Manchester. In the meantime, let’s get back to those traits!
Collaborative
An expert and experienced SEO understands that search engine optimisation is not a solo-effort. Search engine optimisation requires people to build a website, write optimised content, improve the technical aspects of a website, build quality backlinks, conduct research for keywords, optimise meta tags, outreach to other websites for link opportunities, etc. Many tasks can indeed be coupled together and performed by a single individual, but they can not realistically perform every single task. For SEO to work properly, it takes a full team of people and experts with their own specialised tasks.
Ambitious
SEO is all about getting your website to rank on that important first page of search results. But once you get to the first page – then what? You need an SEO expert who is always hungry to achieve more and isn’t satisfied with achieving the first goal. Someone who doesn’t score early and then parks the bus (I’m looking at you, Jose.)
Realistically, an SEO expert will have enough confidence in their own knowledge and abilities to understand that the grind doesn’t stop at first page – the grind doesn’t even stop at first position, because the grind never stops! If you cease your SEO efforts because you’ve reached your goal, whether that be page one, top 3, or first position, you will quickly see your website fall like a landslide because you are no longer competing with your competitors who will be actively building on their own SEO efforts.
Adaptable
In the world of SEO, you should know that you and your website’s performance is at the sole mercy of one thing: The Algorithm. Back in the good spammy old days, search engines such as Google would only update their search results & refresh their algorithms very periodically. This was incredibly frustrating for many webmasters. For example, if your website was hit by a penalty for bad link building practice and you quickly disavowed all the bad links the same week, you would have to wait around 3 months to actually see any sort of recovery for your website. This is because the algorithm responsible for the penalty would only be refreshed every couple of months.
Today, Google releases hundreds of updates and refreshes every single day. Most of these are unnoticeable and don’t require any action from SEOs – but every now and again Google will release a broad core algorithm update or make big changes to their algorithm. An example of this can be mobilegeddon – this is when Google notified webmasters that websites that were not correctly mobile-friendly would be punished and serve lower rankings than mobile-friendly websites. This update singled-out some noticeable common practices at the time and deemed them as not mobile-friendly including: serving up light-weight/less content for mobile users, or having an entire subdomain dedicated to mobile users (eg m.domain.com)
An SEO expert should be able to adapt and respond to Google’s various updates in order to keep your website on-top and ahead of the competition. Search engine optimisation should also be future-proof: the tactics you use now should not punish your website 12 months down the line.
Honest
Honesty is a very important trait for an expert, because the major work of SEO is done behind-the-scenes, with very little input or knowledge by clients. Research even shows that many SEO consultants have admitted in job interviews to lying to their clients about making mistakes.
Honesty in SEO includes owning up to mistakes that adversely affect the client, being transparent about the work you are doing or not doing, realistic prices for the services you are providing etc. It is very common to find that the agency you are dealing with for SEO is actually just outsourcing their work to another agency at a fraction of the price you are paying and pocketing the rest – this is known as SEO reselling.
Driven
This is one for both the SEO and the client: both should show that they are driven and ambitious. In SEO, it should be understood and accepted that no matter how much you pay or who you hire, it will not be a simple massive skyrocket success story with nothing but uptrends and increases. As the saying goes: what comes up, must come down. For very competitive industries and keywords, you are not likely to reach the first position and remain there in a stable position for years to come. At some point, a Google update is bound to cause chaos with your positions. It is necessary to understand that just because your positions are down does not mean you are doing something wrong – both you and the client should know that the game of SEO is a long one.
