{"id":6622,"date":"2022-10-28T12:22:47","date_gmt":"2022-10-28T12:22:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/28\/13-essential-seo-skills-you-need-to-succeed\/"},"modified":"2022-10-28T12:22:47","modified_gmt":"2022-10-28T12:22:47","slug":"13-essential-seo-skills-you-need-to-succeed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/28\/13-essential-seo-skills-you-need-to-succeed\/","title":{"rendered":"13 essential SEO skills you need to succeed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>What is the greatest skill in SEO? <\/p>\n<p>If you believe <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SemanticEntity\/status\/1574301777402413056\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">this tweet<\/a>, it\u2019s <strong>patience<\/strong>. <\/p>\n<p>Although patience is a great answer, I would never say there is a \u201cgreatest\u201d SEO skill.<\/p>\n<p>Why? <\/p>\n<p>Because SEO requires various hard skills (things you can learn or be taught) and soft skills (how you work and interact with others) to succeed.<\/p>\n<p>As I\u2019ve always found, asking many SEO professionals one question will get a wide variety of opinions. So I asked several SEO professionals what they would consider the greatest skill in SEO.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s what they told me.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_81 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/28\/13-essential-seo-skills-you-need-to-succeed\/#1_Research_and_troubleshooting\" >1. Research and troubleshooting<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/28\/13-essential-seo-skills-you-need-to-succeed\/#2_Critical_thinking\" >2. Critical thinking<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/28\/13-essential-seo-skills-you-need-to-succeed\/#3_Problem-solving\" >3. Problem-solving<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/28\/13-essential-seo-skills-you-need-to-succeed\/#4_Experimenting\" >4. Experimenting<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/28\/13-essential-seo-skills-you-need-to-succeed\/#5_Business_acumen\" >5. Business acumen<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/28\/13-essential-seo-skills-you-need-to-succeed\/#6_Adaptability\" >6. Adaptability\u00a0<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/28\/13-essential-seo-skills-you-need-to-succeed\/#7_Communication\" >7. Communication<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/28\/13-essential-seo-skills-you-need-to-succeed\/#8_Ability_to_learn\" >8. Ability to learn<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/28\/13-essential-seo-skills-you-need-to-succeed\/#9_Persistence\" >9. Persistence<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/28\/13-essential-seo-skills-you-need-to-succeed\/#10_Cross-collaboration\" >10. Cross-collaboration<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-11\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/28\/13-essential-seo-skills-you-need-to-succeed\/#11_Understanding_the_user\" >11. Understanding the user<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-12\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/28\/13-essential-seo-skills-you-need-to-succeed\/#12_Inquisitiveness\" >12. Inquisitiveness<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-13\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/28\/13-essential-seo-skills-you-need-to-succeed\/#13_Ability_to_know_what_matters\" >13. Ability to know what matters<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"1_Research_and_troubleshooting\"><\/span>1. Research and troubleshooting<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/author\/dave-davies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dave Davies<\/a>, Lead SEO, Weights &amp; Biases\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs far as greatest skills go, I have to go with the stock SEO answer: It depends. In this case, though, it really does. <\/p>\n<p>If the practitioner is content-focused, then writing skills combined with strong research abilities (both SEO and subject-based) would definitely top my list. If the practitioner is a technical SEO, then the most important skills skew to technical knowledge \u2013 but even that branches out. <\/p>\n<p>If they work as a contractor, then they likely need to have a broad understanding of different tech and a strong ability to research specifics and work with developers. If they\u2019re an in-house SEO or platform-specific contractor, then they would likely need a stronger grasp of a specific stack, and possibly deployment capabilities. <\/p>\n<p>The one skill that every SEO needs is research and troubleshooting capabilities. If they can\u2019t do that, their career will be short. Thankfully, if you\u2019re reading this, you do your research.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"2_Critical_thinking\"><\/span>2. Critical thinking<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/author\/dan-taylor\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dan Taylor<\/a>, Head of Technical SEO, SALT.agency\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor me, one of the greater skills for SEO professionals to develop is critical thinking. The SEO ecosystem is awash with noise and claims, with varying levels of data and anecdotal evidence to support them. Far too often, much of this content and advice is taken verbatim and applied to own situations without a second thought, with the expectation that the implementation will yield the same results. <\/p>\n<p>A common example in SEO happens when working with a client (and other stakeholders) on a website redesign. More often than not, the designs, and some proposed technical implementations, will be taken from other websites without considering the \u2018other\u2019 factors that go into how a website ranks. Just because eBay, the BBC, Amazon, etc. do X, doesn\u2019t mean X will work for Bob\u2019s Hardware or Bob\u2019s Finance Co. <\/p>\n<p>With critical thinking, SEOs should read a study online, see the inputs and outcomes, and then intentionally find other studies that contradict these results \u2013 and then form their own opinions and influence their strategies with application to the current client scenario.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/author\/john-mcalpin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">John McAlpin<\/a>, Director of SEO Strategy, Cardinal Digital Marketing<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMost experienced SEO professionals will likely say that the most important skill is a soft skill. I\u2019d say that\u2019s pretty spot-on. <\/p>\n<p>In my opinion, the most important SEO skill is critical thinking. Not everything in SEO is black and white. There\u2019s always a middle ground. It takes real detective skills to find the answers.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"3_Problem-solving\"><\/span>3. Problem-solving<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/author\/elmer-boutin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Elmer Boutin<\/a>, VP of Operations, WrightIMC<\/p>\n<p>\u201cProblem-solving and the ability to see the big picture. We often get so bogged down in the minutia of various SEO tasks that we miss the big picture of what\u2019s going on between the website, the search engines, the potential visitors, and the business the website represents. <\/p>\n<p>Taking a step back and looking at things from end to end can help us solve problems more than fretting over things like meta description length or figuring out the optimum time to release a blog post.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/author\/corey-morris\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Corey Morris<\/a>, Chief Strategy Officer, Voltage\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe greatest skill in SEO is <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/become-seo-problem-solver-385340\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">problem-solving<\/a>. It rarely goes according to plan. <\/p>\n<p>Adapting, finding new ways, and exploring all resources for technical, on-page, IT, UX and off-page factors are all critical to success. Using a checklist, and checking boxes, won\u2019t get you far.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"4_Experimenting\"><\/span>4. Experimenting<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/author\/himani-kankaria\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Himani Kankaria<\/a>, Founder, Missive Digital<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe greatest skill in SEO is experimenting. One thing that works for one business or industry is not necessarily what would work for another. You cannot judge that without testing. <\/p>\n<p>Also, most of the projects have different audience buying and browsing perspectives, technologies for the website UX, content, how we build the navigation, etc. So you need to keep checking what works for your website, client, or employer because SEO is ever-evolving, and one cannot learn or unlearn new or outdated things without experimenting. Sometimes, we learn from someone else\u2019s experiments, so experimenting is a super duper skill in SEO.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"5_Business_acumen\"><\/span>5. Business acumen<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/author\/datatrond\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Trond Lyngb\u00f8<\/a>, Founder, Search Planet\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs an SEO consultant specializing in enterprise-level SEO consulting for enterprise ecommerce companies and omnichannel retailers, I value SEO strategies that are not SEO strategies for Google, but SEO for business performance results, productivity and economic growth. <\/p>\n<p>A solid understanding of business, business processes, workflow automation and cross-functional alignment is worth gold in this segment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/cmediarelations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Connie Chen<\/a>, SEO Specialist, Moving Traffic Media<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCommercial awareness (ROI) and soft skills because you need to be able to translate the work that you\u2019re doing into measurable impact for your stakeholders. You must also know how to distill technical ideas into concepts that make sense to those stakeholders.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"6_Adaptability\"><\/span>6. Adaptability\u00a0<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/author\/maria-white\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Maria White<\/a>, Head of SEO, Kurt Geiger<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSEO is a spectrum. As such, it is hard to dominate all skills (Technical, Data, Content, PR, Story Telling, Management and more). These skills change as Google and search evolve. Every Google algorithm shapes the way we do SEO. <\/p>\n<p>Given that the only constant is change, then the best skill to succeed is the ability to adapt. Changes are the norm when working in an agency: new clients, bigger clients, various budgets, fast pace and more. If, along with that, we add constant changes to the algorithm that involves changing the way we work, then here is where only those with the ability to adapt will not only survive but they will thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/author\/holly-miller-anderson\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Holly Miller Anderson<\/a>, Lead SEO Product Manager, Under Armour<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe greatest skill in SEO is adaptability. SEO is a learned skill from technical to content. But adaptability is a choice.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"7_Communication\"><\/span>7. Communication<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/author\/casey-markee\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Casey Markee<\/a>, Owner, Media Wyse<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSEO requires an ability to clearly explain concepts and objectives, usually in many different ways, to many different people. Your ability to do so, professionally and emotionlessly, is a big part of your daily success.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"8_Ability_to_learn\"><\/span>8. Ability to learn<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/author\/chris-smith\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Chris Silver Smith<\/a>, President, Argent Media<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe greatest skill in SEO is the ability to learn. One constant in SEO is change \u2013 one must learn new things and flex to adapt to new ways constantly.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"9_Persistence\"><\/span>9. Persistence<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/author\/ludwig-makhyan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ludwig Makhyan<\/a>, Co-founder, MAZELESS\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPersistence is the greatest skill, where you don\u2019t get disappointed by failures and continue to learn, push to improve, engage with other teams and cooperate for the greater success of the business you represent.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"10_Cross-collaboration\"><\/span>10. Cross-collaboration<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/author\/jon-clark\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jon Clark<\/a>, Managing Partner, Moving Traffic Media<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCross-collaboration is an incredibly valuable skill. SEO is one of the few skills\/roles that sits at the crossroads of nearly every department in an organization: design, development, content, UX, PR, marketing, engineering, quality assurance, analytics, and more.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"11_Understanding_the_user\"><\/span>11. Understanding the user<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/author\/mike-grehan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mike Grehan<\/a>, SVP of Corporate Communications, NP Digital<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe greatest skill of an SEO is to fully understand the \u201cinformation need\u201d of an end user. They don\u2019t start their research as a consumer or a B2C customer or B2B, or anything other than a human being trying to solve a problem. Help Google to help them \u2013 and Google will surely help you!\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"12_Inquisitiveness\"><\/span>12. Inquisitiveness<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/author\/mark-jackson\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mark Jackson<\/a>, President and CEO, Vizion Interactive<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAn inquisitive mind. In SEO,\u00a0 you can be a technically gifted and super bright person or a content marketing expert, but if you lack an inquisitive mind, you may not be looking at a project from all the possible angles.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"13_Ability_to_know_what_matters\"><\/span>13. Ability to know what matters<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/author\/olaf-kopp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Olaf Kopp<\/a>, Co-founder and Head of SEO, Aufgesang<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe greatest skill in SEO is \u201cranking experience.\u201d You can do a lot in SEO. But only 20% of that ensures 80% of success. Only with enough experience in knowing which tasks are effective, in which case makes the difference between good and average SEOs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/joedevita\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joe Devita<\/a>, Managing Partner, Moving Traffic Media<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe ability to stay focused on the optimization signals that matter rather than be distracted by all the noise.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/essential-seo-skills-388876\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">13 essential SEO skills you need to succeed<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Search Engine Land<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is the greatest skill in SEO? If you believe this tweet, it\u2019s patience. Although patience is a great answer, I would never say there is a \u201cgreatest\u201d SEO skill. Why? Because SEO requires various hard skills (things you can learn or be taught) and soft skills (how you work and interact with others) to succeed. As I\u2019ve always found, asking many SEO professionals one question will get a wide variety of opinions. So I asked several SEO professionals what they would consider the greatest skill [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"h5ap_radio_sources":[],"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-seo-blogs"],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":false,"author_link":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/author\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6622\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}