Owner of agency, Ignite Search, and general digital marketing guru, Cheech Foo, has a few tips for those students looking to pursue a career in Search Engine Optimisation – SEO.

With LinkedIn reporting that SEO is ranked second in terms of top skills to have in 2017 and IAB reporting a 24% growth in search marketing in 2015-16, the future is bright for those looking to pursue SEO as a career.

Below are three crucial tips on how graduates can improve their chances of getting into this industry.

Display passion and commitment to the profession

For high performance SEO agencies, it’s not enough to say that you are wanting to get into the industry because you have the right skills.

Employers are looking for those who have gone the extra mile to showcase their dedication to the field.

Some examples are:

• Seeking out SEO knowledge and display self-taught knowledge where possible
• Setting up your own website and conduct SEO for the purposes of experimentation and curiosity
• Helping family or friends who have a website to optimise and improve their online performance
• Keeping up with industry trends via blogs and online publications and taking note of major algorithm changes over the years. Suggestions include the official Google Webmaster tool blog, as well as the leading SEO industry blog Search Engine Land.

To be one step ahead of other candidates, I encourage you to consider undertaking some or all of the above.

Get familiar with the tools that are being by SEO professionals

SEO is a field of digital marketing in which a variety of software and programs are used to assist with the delivery of work.

To make a lasting impression on your potential new manager or boss, learn to get very familiar with the following tools:

• Google Analytics – It’s free to signup and setup, and is used extensively as a website performance tracking tool. To go the extra mile, consider attaining the Google Analytics Individual Qualification
• Google Search Console – Another free tool from Google. This allows you to monitor the health of your website from the search engine’s point of view. Again, very easy to get going and a great insight into what’s important to SEO professionals
• Microsoft Excel – SEO is in large part a data driven marketing discipline, especially if you looking to work in an SEO agency that are consulting for businesses with large and complex websites. It is highly recommended to learn basic Microsoft Excel functions if this tool is entirely new to you. If you already have a basic grasp of Microsoft, then go further and look into aspects like advanced functions and pivot tables.

Continuous Appetite for Learning

Last but not least is continuous learning.

SEO as a service offering is an ever changing landscape. Google, the dominant search engine in Australia has stated in the past that it conducts in excess of 300 algorithm changes a year.

That is why graduates are encouraged to adopt the mindset of always learning the best practices to and show their potential employer supporting evidence that you are willing to absorb new information quickly and then apply it to actual client projects.

Students are more than welcome to reach out to Cheech at [email protected] for any additional queries they may have.