Role and Skills of an SEO Manager (Explained by SEO Managers)

 

SEO is one of the most multifaceted marketing disciplines. It's linked to a slew of other factors, including marketing channels, product, and development. SEO managers are on hand to ensure that everything runs smoothly and in line with the marketing plan and corporate goals.

But, on a daily basis, what does an SEO manager do? What are the most crucial abilities you'll need to succeed as one? How much money can you anticipate to make? We have the answers.

I contacted some of my Twitter and LinkedIn acquaintances who had SEO manager jobs listed in their profiles. Thank you very much to the SEOs who assisted me in putting this post together:

On a daily basis, what does an SEO manager do?

If you're seeking for a career with a variety of responsibilities, you've hit the jackpot. I compiled a long list of duties and activities from the responses of the article contributors. When I interviewed SEO managers, I discovered that they all agreed that no day is the same.

The daily schedule varies depending on whether you work in-house for a single company or for a multi-client agency. For example, in-house work tends to be more tactical, but agency work tends to include more meetings and strategic planning.

To make sense of it all, I categorized the daily tasks into four groups. And we're going to start with...

Management

Well, of course. SEO managers are in charge of both stuff and people. In small businesses, SEO managers are frequently in control of the whole SEO department and report directly to the CMO. A head of SEO can be found in the middle of larger marketing teams.

Management is a broad phrase that can be interpreted in a variety of ways. So, here's a sample list of managerial responsibilities you can encounter in this position:

1. Attending meetings with customers and team members
2. Organizing the tasks of the team, answering queries, and resolving issues
3. Managing the education, training, and motivation of the team
4. Collaboration with stakeholders
5. Making pitch decks for new clients (if you work for an agency)

Strategy

A search engine optimization strategy is a battle plan that directs all SEO-related actions toward improved search engine exposure. Managers plan numerous SEO strategies as part of the strategy and ensure that they are correctly performed. SEO managers also ensure that all of these activities are part of a larger marketing strategy.

Tactics

Tactics are the methods through which you carry out your plan in order to achieve success. All of the SEO strategies, hacks, efforts, actions, and other words that can be found in the context of taking action are included here.

It all comes down to the reality that as an SEO, you may do thousands of various things. However, in general, if an SEO manager is involved in tactical activities, he or she would be penalized. Those are usually the more advanced tasks that they excel at in comparison to others on their team. Alternatively, they may be reviewing other people's work, such as content plans, outlines, drafts, or planned technological changes.

The breadth of SEO managers' tactical work is determined by the resources available for the planned SEO effort. If the manager manages a small staff, they'll probably do more hands-on SEO work than someone who manages ten SEO specialists.

Reporting

When I say reporting, most of us immediately think of SEO report decks (or Google Data Studio dashboards if you're feeling fancy):

These are often created once a month to report on what has changed, improved, or deteriorated. That isn't something you do every day. However, if you operate in an agency with a lot of clients, preparing the first report could as well be a regular occurrence.

Then there's the issue of ad hoc reporting. It's not always about providing information to clients or stakeholders. Rather, it's about reporting to your coworkers or checking on your own development. Two of the contributing SEO managers indicated that they examine their reporting tools every day.

Rank tracking was referenced the most in terms of specific reports:

Then I looked for branded mentions all over the internet:

What are the most crucial abilities for an SEO manager?

This is the second question I posed to our panel of experts. Soft skills were mentioned the highest, despite the fact that excellent SEO expertise and skills are a given. I compiled some of the responses and came up with the top five abilities a person needs to be a great SEO manager:

Ability to communicate

A clear winner that shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. Many of the aforementioned daily responsibilities rely around communication.

Here's an example of what communication abilities in SEO mean:

1. Being able to communicate sophisticated SEO principles in plain terms that non-SEOs can comprehend
2. Assigning duties in such a way that everyone understands what they should be doing and why they should be doing it.
3. Being able to constructively exchange feedback
4. Having empathy towards team members
5. Negotiation abilities and the ability to "sell" the value of SEO to stakeholders are essential.

Critical thinking and a data-driven perspective

I absolutely concur with Abby's viewpoint:

Any marketing function requires an affinity with, or at least an interest in, data.

This is particularly true in the field of SEO. Without knowing what data to look at, what it represents, and what to make of it, you can't do much. And it has a lot to do with critical thinking.

These are abilities that most marketers should work on, based on my own experience of interviewing numerous marketers. To be a strong SEO manager, you need be familiar with Google Analytics, Search Console, and an all-in-one SEO toolset like Ahrefs, as well as be able to develop excellent SEO reports based on the information provided by these tools.

Curiosity and a continual desire to learn

Over time, the fundamental concepts of SEO have remained the same. Google, on the other hand, keeps everyone busy with its algorithm upgrades and SERP modifications. Meanwhile, SEO tools continue to add new functionality, and skilled SEOs are constantly coming up with better answers to many of the issues we face.

And if that isn't enough to persuade you of the value of ongoing learning and inquiry, consider this: It's inevitable that some of your ideas may fall flat. In SEO, there are no guarantees, but you'll have plenty of chances to learn from your failures. Yes, failures within your team are also a part of your obligations.

Time management, prioritization, and delegating abilities are all important.

Even if you're not a manager, you've probably experienced the stress of being constantly bombarded with messages, deadlines, and meetings. This is your chance to build effective systems and make sense of the chaos.

As you advance, not only will things become more chaotic, but you'll also be partially accountable for other people's chaos. However, by effectively managing time, prioritizing critical activities, and delegating work to others, you may make things work for you rather than against you.

Technical abilities

If these aren't your obligations as an SEO professional, you might be able to get away with merely learning the basics of technical SEO. However, because SEO managers are generally the ones who approve technical SEO updates and communicate with developers, they need go beyond the basics.

At all SEO levels, a basic HTML orientation should not be taken for granted. In addition, here's a list of additional technical abilities that may be useful:

• At the very least, a rudimentary understanding of JavaScript SEO is required.
• Understanding how to use schema markup
• Understanding Core Web Vitals and how to increase page speed
• Analyzing log files

What is the average salary for SEO managers?

Finally, there's the subject of money. It's obvious that you won't be able to work as an SEO manager after completing your first SEO training. It necessitates a significant amount of knowledge and expertise, both of which are markers of a prosperous career.

According to many career and HR databases, the typical income of SEO managers in the United States is over $75,000. Good candidates, on the other hand, can expect to earn at least $100,000. (I arrived at this conclusion after speaking with SEOs in the United States and analyzing a number of job advertisements.) In the most prominent technical centers, you could go even higher.

The average remuneration in the United Kingdom appears to be around £40K ($55K). Because SEO salaries in the United Kingdom aren't particularly enticing (yet), I can only encourage you to ask for more.Of course, there will be significant differences between London and the rest of the country.

I've also been keeping a watch on remote job ads because this is a job that would be appropriate for 100% remote work. These positions start at $40K but can easily exceed $100K. No matter where they are in the world, the top applicants can get paid in the United States.

Finally, some thoughts

Being an SEO manager is a challenging and rewarding job. However, we haven’t mentioned what comes after that. In many companies, SEO roles don’t go beyond this level, but the finish line can be a manager becoming the head or director of SEO.If an SEO wants to advance in their career, they should extend their horizons and focus on marketing in general. The ultimate goal is to become a CMO. As a result, that's an extra talent you should work on (besides the top five mentioned in the article).

Thank you once again to Abby, Sugan, John, and Axel for sharing their knowledge and experience.

Do you have any questions?  feel free to drop a comment, or Please contact me via Twitter.