The recent economic downturn has led to fervent panic about job security and heightened uncertainty surrounding career choices. For those that are about to leave, or have recently left education to embark on a career the prospect of navigating the career minefield will seem particularly daunting, especially as we are bombarded with negative news about job losses and failing industries on a seemingly daily basis.

So with that in mind, this article examines why you should consider a career in Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).

What Does It Involve?

The basic premise of SEO is to drive traffic to websites from search engines. Usually this requires identifying certain phrases that web users will search for, you then employ a range of tactics to get a web site to rank as highly as possible in search engine results when that phrase is searched for.

There are a multitude of techniques for increasing a website’s ranking in the search results for a certain phrase, although some industry commentators like to split them into two categories; onsite and offsite. Onsite involves ensuring that a website is built in the optimal way to be picked up and ranked by search engines as well as providing, and allowing search engines to identify content that is relevant to a search. Offsite covers the things that can be done across the web, away from the site itself, that send signals to search engines to suggest that it is a site that will provide the information or products someone is searching for.

There are also different types of working situation that you could find yourself in. Some larger companies prefer to employ people directly to do ‘in-house’ SEO for their website or sites. Alternatively, you may find that you can get a job at an agency working on behalf of numerous clients.

What Skills Do You Need?

To be successful in the SEO industry it is essential that you are analytical, have an eye for detail and a thirst for knowledge. This also needs to be matched with a degree of technical understanding, a passion for the online environment and a desire to understand how people behave online.

What Are The Benefits Of A Career In SEO?

There are numerous plus points to a career in SEO, but as far as office based jobs go, it’s quite exciting. If you are motivated by learning new information and constantly developing new skills then this could be the career for you.

The world of search engine optimisation does not remain static, take for example the way in which Google is constantly evolving to try and make the experience more beneficial for its users. This means that anyone wanting to be successful in SEO has to be up to speed on any changes to the way in which Google collates and presents search results, be aware of web user’s behaviour and be able to translate this knowledge into actions that mean their sites continue to gain relevant traffic. This constant necessity for learning can be incredibly rewarding as can the rapid feedback that is available about the success of anything you may have done to try and boost traffic to a website.

Additionally, the recession hasn’t hit ecommerce as hard as other retail channels. According to the Interactive Media in Retail Group, online sales continue to grow in the UK, with an 11% growth in November, compared with November last year. This suggests that more and more retailers will be battling to attract this potentially profitable traffic to their websites. Consequently there may be an increasing demand for SEO professionals to assist retailers with an online presence to attract more potential customers to their websites and swelling their profit levels.

Do you think you have what it takes to carve out a successful career in SEO?