What is an SEO specialist?
An SEO specialist, also known as a Search Engine Optimization professional, is a (freelance) expert who helps businesses improve their online visibility and relevance on platforms such as Google, Bing, YouTube, and other Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs). SERP stands for Search Engine Result Page, referring to the page of search results that a search engine displays when a user enters a specific keyword. The relevance of the page created by the SEO specialist must be closely tied to the keyword the user enters. The more relevance the page has to the keyword, the higher it will rank in Google, ultimately leading to more visitors.
Improving Google rankings is achieved through activities such as keyword research, optimizing existing pages, link building, and technical website optimization, including page load speed. These are all areas for which you can hire an SEO specialist.
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What does an SEO specialist do?
An SEO specialist ensures that more organic traffic comes to the website by continuously optimizing organic pages. This leads to the website receiving more 'relevant' visitors, which ultimately results in increased revenue for the business. This is crucial because many users do not scroll far down in the search results. Take a moment to analyze your own search behavior – do you scroll past page 2 in Google? Here are the key tasks that an SEO specialist performs daily.
Keywords research
A good (freelance) SEO specialist will need to conduct keyword research as one of the initial steps. Without keyword research, they won't know what to write or optimize the page for. This is necessary to ensure that the right visitors can find the page in search engines and that it is relevant.
During keyword research, competition is also considered. It would be a waste to start optimizing for specific keywords that would compromise feasibility. So it is searching for an SEO specialist to find the right keywords to get good results. Many online marketers use professional tools such as Ahrefs, Semrush and Google Search Console during this research.
On-Page SEO
On-Page SEO verwijst naar de optimalisatie van de daadwerkelijke inhoud en structuur van een website. Denk hierbij aan de weergave in Google, interne linkbuilding en structuur. Later in dit artikel zullen we hier dieper op ingaan omdat hier veel verschillende werkzaamheden onder vallen.
Off page SEO
All activities that take place outside of the website but still significantly impact its performance and relevance are referred to as Off-Page SEO. Link building plays a crucial role in Off-Page SEO, where the SEO specialist seeks to acquire high-quality backlinks to the website. Social media is also part of Off-Page SEO. A freelance SEO marketer will do everything in their power to implement a strategy that generates the most traffic.
Technical SEO
All technical aspects that can influence search engine performance fall under the category of technical SEO. This includes considerations such as website indexing, speed, and security.
Please note that SEO is not the same as SEA
Frequently, the terms SEO and SEA are confused, but they are entirely different. An online marketer could immediately list the differences, but someone less familiar with the field might not know.
An SEO specialist indeed performs different tasks than a SEA-specialistWith SEO, you aim to achieve high organic rankings in search engines. This requires a lot of time and effort but can yield long-term benefits. SEA, on the other hand, involves advertising in specific search engines, where you can immediately secure a top position for specific keywords.
Een SEO resultaat in Google
Een SEA resultaat in Google
The main differences between SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and SEA (Search Engine Advertising)
|
SEO |
SEA |
|
Organic traffic |
Paid traffic |
|
Geared toward the long term (sustainable) |
Focused on the short term |
|
Many expensive tools are needed for analysis |
Few tools needed for good results |
|
Requires more knowledge. |
Requires relatively little knowledge |
In addition to these differences, an SEO specialist and a SEA specialist do share one clear similarity. Both aim to achieve the best possible positions in search engines and ensure the highest possible relevance for the visitor.