I Analyzed 52 SEO Manager Job Listings. Here’s What They Do and How You Can Become One

It's more common for me to collaborate with other teams.

For the most part, I’ll provide strategic direction and recommendations to clients which they will then implement. I’ll collaborate with different teams (e.g. content managers, developers, etc.) to ensure we’re aligned and happy with the actions. There are some edge cases where I’ll get more hands-on (e.g., updating metadata, adding internal links), but most of the value in my roles lies in the strategy!

When it comes to content, I’m lucky enough to be surrounded by a team with a wide range of expertise. I’ll generally be the one to scout topic or title opportunities before directing it to the most suitable team member. Regarding technical SEO & onsite changes; if it’s something that can be done within our CMS then I’ll go ahead and do it. Anything hard-coded or things like speed tweaks or fixing CLS then I’ll brief the changes in with the dev team.

At NOVOS, we operate mostly on a consultancy basis. This means that we’re recommending changes for SEO, but instead of implementing, we work with our client’s tech teams and marketing teams to have our recommendations implemented.

I would say both collaborating with other teams and reporting to stakeholders. Some people are very tech and market-savvy, some are not :) so it takes time.

Within my role it's a bit of a combination of collaboration across other departments keeping things aligned, as well as identifying and building new strategies to ensure all our clients are kept at the forefront of search.

On the whole, the majority of my time is spent identifying SEO opportunities and developing recommendations to achieve them. But it varies a fair amount depending on the client/website. Some clients will want more comprehensive reporting and more regular meetings, whereas others want to get our recommendations and get on with it.

In general, most of my time is spent analysing data to guide our strategy. This might be backlink analysis on a competitor, working through search query data on Search Console or looking at index reports to see how search engines are interacting with our pages.

For my role, there is a definite split between team management and client focussed work. I would say when it comes to working with clients, identifying new opportunities and communicating with the client are the most prominent areas that I work with.

I’d say working out the strategy & developing it on-going is what takes up most of my time, followed by the preparation for different client meetings.

It really depends, but usually at the beginning of each month reporting on each client, preparations for the monthly meetings with the clients take a bit of time. On Monday-Tuesdays I usually focus on site health checks and then the rest of the week is meetings, BAU tasks, working on strategies, reviewing work/helping others, etc.

I’d say that bigger picture thinking/long term vision is super important. In SEO, it’s so easy to get bogged down in fine details when putting together a strategy, so it’s vital to know how to prioritise tasks in a roadmap and figure out what makes most sense to tackle first from a wider business perspective.

I think some of the most important skills in SEO are the “soft skills”. Being inquisitive and able to pivot quickly is key as rankings, guidelines and algorithms can all change overnight.. and often do! Alongside that, having clear communication skills is important for securing SEO buy-in from stakeholders, and educating other departments how their actions tie into wider SEO strategy.

For me, it has got to be strong communication and awareness. Without this things can easily go missed and with SEO being such a rollercoaster at times, this provides clarity across what is happening from an business point of view as well as from a larger SEO & Google view.

I think that empathy and emotional intelligence are the most important skills in my role. The foundation of SEO expertise and being data-driven is of course important, but I do think that my ability to relate to people has helped me to grow in this role.

While there are so many important qualities, like being a good listener, and being helpful and honest, I’m going to stick with being resilient. Sure, one can solve a problem, work out a strategy that works, or know how to talk to clients, but if you don’t follow through, if you don’t stay consistent, that mindset won't lead to success as an SEO manager.

I think you should definitely have an analytical mindset, sometimes you just need to turn the logic on and your issue is sorted. Communication skills are very important too, not just when you work with other teams or people within your team, but also clients. Attention to details can't go unnoticed - one little thing can take a turn of events.

Considering it’s all anyone has been talking about for the last year or so, I’d say it’s pretty important! Jokes aside, I think there’s been so much noise about AI tools over the last year that sometimes the benefits for SEOs may be slightly exaggerated or seen as a “silver bullet”, when actually their use cases are still pretty specific.

I think everyone in SEO should hold some knowledge of how AI tools are being used and how they obtain and serve their responses.

I think it's definitely a bonus as it can really save you time on some areas such as writing HTML code but would still need to be checked over manually.

Yeah, it's important. ChatGPT came in handy for both monotonous (e.g., meta description, ALT text in bulk) and complex (Python script for a specific task; you need to have programming knowledge though to verify) SEO tasks.

My degree was in modern languages, so I wouldn’t say it is “important” to my role. But it’s definitely helpful on some occasions, for example if I’m working on a multilingual website and performing tasks such as competitor analysis, keyword research or content ideation in other languages.

As someone who doesn’t have a degree; I’d say it’s definitely not important! So much of the job is about testing, trial and error, and incremental gains. There’s been an increase in the number of digital marketing and adjacent degrees in recent years, which I’m sure are great, but I don’t think anything beats hands-on experience when it comes to SEO.

I don't have a degree. I think in something such as SEO which is so fast paced and ever changing, it's more important to gain experience and be within the industry constantly pushing and testing methods.

Not really. The main things that I got from my degree was independence and drive - but my degree shockingly barely covered any online marketing options.

In terms of actual knowledge, not really. I graduated in 2018, having studied Marketing and Advertising and some core concepts that I’ve learned stayed relevant but one could easily learn the same things from an online YouTube video. I barely did any *real* practical work during my classes and had to self-study most things.

Definitely a no :) I did study digital marketing modules as part of my degrees but we never went deep about SEO or any other channel really. When I was hired first as a graduate I was learning about SEO and how it works from the very beginning. LinkedIn courses, online articles and videos, personal diggings, people I worked with, my managers' experiences taught me all I know today.

Yeah, I have a bachelor's in computer science and am currently pursuing my M.S. in marketing.

Each client is matched with a pod consisting of an account manager, an SEO specialist, and an outreach specialist. This ensures that the client receives a well-rounded service, with each member bringing their unique expertise to the table.

Starting as an intern worked out great for me and is certainly a path I’d recommend. Coming out of school I had no idea what SEO was – I'd never heard the term and hadn’t even really considered how or why Google gives the results that it does! Going into an internship and starting “at the bottom” allowed me to build up my knowledge through working on small scale projects, with plenty of time for training and soaking up the overall “vibe” of the industry - and the amazing people within it.

I'd absolutely recommend this! I did my degree on the basis that there was a year in industry, and this is where I learned the absolute most about marketing throughout my time at university. It was also one of my first experiences in the type of workplace you can expect to be in the SEO industry, which taught me a lot.

Internships I undertook were crucial to my professional development. That’s where the real knowledge came from. Plus I got to make important connections with people in the industry.

Yes, for sure. As an intern you work on many different projects that help you shape your interests and the area you want to focus on after the internship is over.

Within my current position, I hope to continue to grow the SEO team and slowly build up from there looking to have a number of managers with seperate teams below, potentially moving into more of a lead / partner role.

Outside of my current position, I do some freelance and consultant work, and doing this really supports me testing and identifying new opportunities that I can bring back into CreativeFolks and further test and measure across a wider number of clients. I would always recommend others to look at starting something on the side to allow them to further their skills and bring up new opportunities for themselves.

I have a strong passion for product marketing. I have managed paid, email, programmatic, and social media marketing for other brands in the past. Therefore, I am excited about the prospect of working in product marketing or leading an entire marketing department in the future.