As the demand for Digital Marketing is rising exponentially, many professionals are exploring career opportunities in the field. Amongst all, SEO seems to be attracting a lot of attention.
A lot of professionals want to become SEO freelancers, and it’s pretty understandable. Given the limitless growth opportunity & financial success, it makes sense.
But the question is, How to become an SEO freelancer? How to learn SEO? Or some marketing skills will suffice?
In this blog, I have tried to answer all these questions. Hope you will find this helpful.
Let’s get going.
Table of Contents
How to become SEO-expert?
Start from basics
There is no qualification bar to become an SEO expert. But, you must be well aware of a lot of SEO fundamentals. You need to understand what is SEO, How SEO works & other specifics.
You should have a good understanding of How different search engines, primarily Google, works. Collect as much information from the Internet as possible on topics like Google algorithms, Voice Search, Google Analytics & other SEO-specific topics.
SEO is a constantly evolving field, so you can’t just learn some topics & sit idle.
Identify & Develop your skills
Once you are familiar with the basic concepts of SEO, it’s time to take one step ahead. Two traits are vital to become an SEO expert in 2022, Content creation skills & Analytical skills.
Content is King & hence, having excellent writing skills can help you become an SEO expert quickly. But SEO doesn’t end at Content Creation. You should have fantastic analytical skills too.
Now I understand it’s not possible to be an expert in both.
E.g. I’ve been a technical writer for a long time. So once I decided to sharpen my SEO skills, I had to dive deeper into Analytics.
I invested a lot of time in understanding how Google & Readers interact with my Content, what are the keywords, & How to do Keyword research.
This helped me understand users & Google itself in a much better way.
So to be an SEO expert, you need to identify your skill & master the other one.
Take certified Course
I often hear people saying everything you want to learn is available on the Internet for free. I agree. But the issue is, this knowledge is scattered. So while you can learn from free resources, you might not have cohesive learning.
So it’s better to take certified SEO courses through professional trainers. Such techniques help you in mastering SEO & give you credibility.
There is a tonne of garbage SEO courses available in the market right now, so tread carefully. Stay away from such courses, or you’ll end up burning money.
Always find a course that helps you understand SEO from the basics & goes well deep into the subject. You can explore some of the best SEO courses here.
Understand Search Engines & their operations
When you become an SEO expert, you’ll be dealing with Search Engines, 24×7. So it’s critical to have a detailed understanding of search engines.
There are a lot of search engines, but you can focus on Google in the beginning as it’s the most popular one. Different search engines have various internal operations.
But, all of them have a single goal, to deliver the most relevant content to the users. So focus on how you can compel Search engines to rank your Content above the competitors’.
Get a deep understanding of concepts like Authority, Trust, Relevance & User Intent.
Learn about Crawlin, Indexing & Ranking
As an SEO expert, your job will be to improve the online visibility of your Website. Great Content surely helps SEO, but it is not enough. You need to understand how Google finds the relevant Content & presents it to the user.
Learn about the concepts of
- Crawling: A process where Search Engines locate & try to understand the Content
- Indexing: A process where Search Engines organizes the Content
- Ranking: A process where Search Engines present the users with the most relevant Content
Once you understand these concepts, you can easily optimize your Website & its Content, improving your Website’s visibility.
Know your SEO tools
Without SEO tools, you cannot get desired results; it’s a harsh truth. So if you want to become an SEO expert, you must have an in-depth knowledge of SEO tools.
These tools can help you create quality Content, search-relevant keywords, optimize your content for better ranking, & develop insight into the user’s intent.
Some of the best SEO tools are SEMrush, Serpstat, Google Keyword, & Google Keyword Planner. These tools offer a fusion of all the above tools & can help you master your SEO.
So you need to understand & master these SEO tools.
Develop your own Website
Now that you are well-acquainted with the steps & tools for becoming an SEO expert, it’s time to deploy what you have learned.
SEO is not something that you can learn by just reading theories; you need practical experience too. But as you are a rookie, if no one offers you an opportunity to work on their websites, it’s quite understandable.
You have the option of building your own Website. Create your Website, perform all the steps & tricks & tips you learned on it. Keep creating and optimizing Content, try different tools, & keep trying different strategies.
And don’t stop when you hit a roadblock; find a way around it.
Keep learning
SEO is a dynamic field that evolves every minute. You can not stop learning. No one can claim they know SEO in & out!
Algorithm updates, change in the behavioural patterns of users & unexpected phenomena like COVID-19 will keep altering SEO.
So it’s important to learn every day, every hour.
Conclusive Thoughts
Becoming an SEO expert is not about reading some blogs here & some there. It’s not something you can learn in a day & make some quick bucks. It takes a lot of effort, time & patience to be one. Some people have been in the field for almost a decade & still, they like to call themselves in the learning phase.
But, if you are serious about mastering SEO, I can assure you immense opportunities are lying around.
I hope you find this guide to How to start SEO work from a home expert will help you through the journey.
Most Recommended SEO Tools for Auditing and Monitoring
Following are the SEO and marketing tools we recommend you to give it a try:
- Semrush - SEO and Marketing Tools
- Free trial available.
- Customized SEO plans
- Free training session.
- 7-day money-back guarantee.
- Limited tools in the free trial.
- Too expensive.
- Mangools - Making SEO simple
- 10-day free trial.
- Affordable plans.
- Refund available.
- Simple-to-use and incredible UI.
- Limited features.
- Long Tail Pro - Boost your SEO!
- Prompt customer support.
- 7-day free trial available.
- Free training session.
- Feature-rich.
- Content optimization
- No monthly plans.
- Rank Math - WordPress SEO made easy
- Saves your time in doing repetitive work for SEO optimization
- Easy-to-use UI
- 24*7 customer support
- Runs 30+ SEO tests automatically
- Incompatibility issues with JavaScript plugins
- Link Whisper - The best Internal Link Building plugin
- Internal link recommendations in no time
- Simple UI
- Saves time and energy that goes into manual link building
- Prompt support from their team
- No free plans were available.
- SEO Buddy - Optimizing your SEO
- 7-day free trial.
- Ideal for startups.
- Easy to use the tool.
- Useful and comprehensive features.
- Affordable pricing.
- No money-back guarantee.
- KWFinder - Keyword Research Tool
- Organized layout
- Color-coded, easy-to-read results
- Free trial available
- Localized keyword suggestions are also available
- No feature for competitive research.
- Sitechecker - On-page SEO Checker and Audit Tool
- 24/7 website monitoring
- Precise keywords records
- Monitoring and analyzing backlinks
- Chrome extension available
- Serpstat - All-in-one SEO Tool
- Easily understandable UI
- 24/7 support
- SEO audit
- Regular rank tracking
- PPC analysis
- Less tools for content marketing.
- SEOPress - Optimize SEO and Boost Traffic
- Easy to use
- Feature-rich plugin
- Integration with multiple Google tools like Google Analytics and trends.
- Free version of this plugin is available
- A bigger learning curve makes it difficult to use for new users.
- SE Ranking - All-in-one SEO software
- Free trial.
- Incredible and reliable features.
- Vigilant client support.
- Accurate keyword research.
- API Access.
- Schema Pro - WordPress Schema Plugin
- Multiple schema types
- Free training and demo available
- Easy configuration of schema markup
- The plans are pricey.
- Twinword - Discovering relevant keywords
- Provides accurate keyword data
- Automated keyword grouping
- Relevant keywords
- SEOtesting - Get your SEO research simplified
- Easy to understand and use the tool
- Accurate SEO test reports
- Real-time SEO testing
- High-performing SEO solutions
- Needs a Google search console account for operation.
- SEOprofiler - Cloud-based marketing software
- Daily track of ranking
- SEO audits
- On-page and off-page SEO optimization
- Mobile as well as local SEO solutions
- The free plan offers limited features.
- SERPWatcher - SEO rank tracking
- In-depth information about tracked domain and keywords
- Data extraction from desktop and SERP analysis
- Minimalist UI
- Time taking tracking process
A SaaS (Software as a service) platform that provides users with opportunities to fulfill their SEO requirements. It offers features like keyword research, SEO and content marketing, strengthening links, analysis of market competition, website monetization, advertising, social media tools, and many more. You can also avail of services for PPC, content, and Social media marketing.
A group of SEO tools for keyword search, SERP for required location, track rankings, find backlinks, and website authority checks. It is a good value for the money paid and supports the user with SEO abilities.
An influential keyword research tool that assists its users to search for long-tail keywords that the user can base their content upon. It offers tried and tested methods for keyword research with SERP analysis, rank tracker, backlink analysis, and site audit.
A WordPress SEO plugin that helps you integrate some of the powerful SEO tools like ahrefs, semrush, etc. with your WordPress website. This helps you customize your web pages and control the indexable pages. The plugin offers you multiple features like in-built modules, keyword ranking tracker, smooth migrations, snippets that support 20+ schema types, and many more.
WordPress plugin that partially automates your internal link-building process. It is an AI-based tool that finds inbound as well as outbound links that can help your site rank higher on the SERPs. Further, you can also make the most out of the features like Internal link reporting, and getting traffic data from the Google Search Console. The starting price is $77/year.
An SEO optimization software that pulls you on the road to success with useful SEO optimization features like detailed keywords analysis, keyword tracking, content tools, team management features, auditing tools, and performance monitor. It turns your data into goals that further get converted to good results. Use coupon code "WITTYSPARKS" for 25% OFF.
A tool that simplifies the keyword research process for your content. You can get tons of keyword ideas with highly accurate keyword difficulty scores. The advanced version of this tool provides features like keyword filtering and SERP analysis. You can easily find high-ranking keywords here even if you are a beginner at keyword research.
A simple tool for monitoring and improving your search exposure. It provides opportunities for increasing the on-page as well as off-page SEO on your website. The tool will also interpret the data collected from the Google Search Console and Google Analytics in order to rank your website higher on SERPs.
All-in-one growth hacking tool for content marketing, SEO, PPC, and all the aspects of digital marketing. It offers various features for link building, PPC, and on-page and off-page SEO optimization. You can conduct an elaborate competitor analysis, and research organic keywords using the tool. It also gives you an overview of the high-ranking pages on the search engine and their SEO strategies. Minimum price is $55/month.
A powerful WordPress plugin for SEO that conducts real-time SEO analysis for your site and helps you optimize your SEO in order to boost the traffic on your WordPress website. It can also help you improve your social sharing. Building HTML and XML Sitemaps, adding Google structured data types, etc. are some additional features of this plugin.
Non-fussy, high-performing SEO software that provides accurate tools for users to speed up their SEO game. It offers features like accurate keyword rank tracking, organic search campaigns, detailed website audits, social media management, and backlink checking and monitoring.
WordPress plugin that helps to create schema markup with no coding experience required. This Schema markup when put into the website returns useful SEO information for the users. This helps marketers and other professionals to improve their SEO and rank higher on the SERPs.
An AI-based keyword research tool that gives you a concise list of keywords that aligns with your business requirements. It also detects trending topics in the industry and provides grouped keywords that might work well to rank you higher on the SERPs.
An online SEO research tool that helps you increase search traffic by testing and experimenting with different SEO strategies. It performs SEO split tests, time-based SEO tests, Group SEO tests, long-tail keyword reports, custom annotations, find CTR opportunities, etc. that can help you enhance your SEO performance.
All-in-one cloud-based SEO tool with features like keyword research, webpage SEO optimization, link analysis, and building, SEO audits, website analytics, and much more that can help you rank higher on the SERPs.
An SERP mining tool that tracks the ranking of the keywords included in your content. This tool allows you to track the keywords a website ranks for and evaluate performance data so that you can put in the required effort to improve your SEO strategy.
FAQ’s
How long does it take to become an SEO expert?
There is no fixed time limit! But it surely is not a couple of weeks’ task. You’ll have to continuously work on mastering it.
Do I need to learn SEO tools?
SEO tools help you in creating optimized Content for better ranking. Although they are not mandatory, they are surely helpful.
Are SEO courses helpful?
If you take them from certified agencies, they surely are as they add value to your resume.
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