The Evolution of SEO and What It Means for Job Seekers
Posted: August 16, 2011
Five years ago SEO focused mainly on the technical aspects of building a website and left marketing and promotion to someone else. Today, everything’s integrated and those marketing concepts are becoming more and more important.
Browsing through tech and marketing job listings, it seems that more and more companies are moving away from filling specialized positions and seeking some kind of internet god(dess). One job ad I’m looking at right now is for a Social Media/SEO/Blogging Specialist. Can you truly specialize in three different areas?
Another is for a Web Developer Intern, who must have skills and/or experience in XHTML, HTML5, Java, CSS3, Facebook app development, Photoshop, PHP, analytics, SEO, and content creation. Is this the online job landscape of the future? It’s overwhelming to browse through these postings and think that you might be unemployable unless you can (quickly) become an expert in design, writing, marketing, and programming.
I asked Lisa Barone, co-founder/Chief Branding Officer of Outspoken Media and Small Business Influencer award nominee, a few questions on the convergence of social media and SEO and what this means for jobseekers.
Do you think the skills required in SEO positions have changed over the last five years?
Lisa: Most definitely. Five years ago SEO focused mainly on the technical aspects of building a website and left marketing and promotion to someone else. Today, everything’s integrated and those marketing concepts are becoming more and more important. We still must create sites that are technically strong, of course, but content marketing and conversion optimization are now regular parts of the SEO conversation in ways they weren’t before.
Looking at recent job postings, many are looking for a "jack-of-all-trades" to perform a range of duties that might encompass SEO, social media, PR, web design, etc. Do you think small businesses can find one person to do it all?
Lisa: Are you going to find one person to SEO your site from a technical standpoint, have the eye to design it, and then have the conversion skills to get someone to take action? No. This perfect SEO/marketing lovechild doesn’t exist. Or at least, you’re not going to find someone who does all of these things well. To some degree you’re going to have to make choices: What’s most important to your business goals right now? What will help you the most? What can you realistically do in house and what can you outsource? They’re not always easy questions to ask, but you need to ask them.
What suggestions do you have for small to medium companies with big tech staffing requirements and a small budget?
Lisa: We’re five people at Outspoken Media, so I can definitely appreciate how hard it can be to build your staff the way you need it while still being able to keep the lights on. For us, we allow our team to focus on their core strengths and then we partner, outsource or crowdsource anything else we need. For example, if you need a lawyer to review your contracts — see if there’s someone locally you can partner and barter services with. If you’re a design firm, maybe there’s a PR firm in your area who you can exchange services with. These types of partnerships are great for everyone.
If there’s not, then you may want to outsource specific tasks using services like Mechanical Turk, oDesk or Elance. Here you can create projects, allow people to bid on them, and extend what you’re able to do.
Do you have any tips for job seekers to help them develop the skills they'll need for the types of jobs we may see five or ten years from now?
Lisa: My advice would be to take a look at the search engines, where they seem to be headed, and then decide where you would go if you were them. This is something I’ve heard Greg Boser from Blueglass advise a number of times and, while others have surely said the same thing, I think he puts it in a way that really connects. If Google was yours, what would you do with it? What would be important?
Social media sites and specific ranking factors are going to come and go, but at the end of the day, it’s about creating a good experience for a user. That’s what the search engines ultimately value and it’s one of the few things you really have control over. Decide how you’re going to do that. I have a degree in Journalism so I may be biased, but I think the ability to convey a compelling message and grab people with a strong call to action and engaging content will also be skills in demand. I’d start there — it’s Marketing 101.
Biz Tip Source: Talentzoo
Author: Miranda Miller is an author, online Marketing Manager, Internet skills trainer, speaker, social media addict, and all-around geek.