Whether you want to work on the technical side of SEO, analysing and improving website speed and performance, or you want to structure analytics to help organisations benefit from end-user insights and implement them into their overall business strategy, there are several paths a career in SEO can take.
You might think that knowing the ins and outs of programming languages ​​or having AI skills is what future employers are looking for, but a new report reveals that it's other skills that can boost your salary.
SEO platform Ahrefs analyzed 307 skills from 527 search engine optimized job listings on Glassdoor and found that certain skills (basically job listings that contain certain keywords) are favored over others. This was done by comparing the average salary of jobs that contain certain keywords with job listings that don't contain those keywords.
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The top keywords are the names of software applications that help SEO professionals perform their daily jobs, such as Hootsuite, Salesforce, Smartsheet, Ahrefs, Moz, Semrush, etc. The report found that job ads containing these words increased salaries by $35,217.
Additionally, SEO professionals with marketing experience can expect a salary increase of $30,763 if they apply for a job that includes public relations, keyword research, social listening, or social media marketing in the job description.
While programming is not a required skill for SEO professionals, those who have it can also benefit: jobs that involve concepts like application development, software troubleshooting, services like AWS (Amazon Web Services), and coding languages ​​like Python and JavaScript can increase salaries by around $27,999.
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Interestingly, having a bachelor's degree is less important than it once was when it comes to securing the highest paying jobs: The report shows that jobs that require a bachelor's degree only pay $9,189 more.
This correlates with a separate survey of 800 U.S. employers, which found that 45% of companies plan to eliminate bachelor’s degree requirements this year.
Commenting on the findings, Tim Soulo, CMO at Ahrefs, said: “Search engine optimization is an incredibly exciting industry with an ever-evolving toolkit that, if used effectively, can dramatically increase a website's visibility. This can mean a significant increase in revenue and influence for your website, leading to even better search engine rankings.”
“This increase isn't just limited to companies and websites, it also applies to SEO professionals. As the industry has matured in recent years, it has become more valuable to companies and salaries for people working in this field have increased.”