Top Required

Skills for SEO

Specialists
Worldwide Research

May 2020
Table of Contents

SEO Jobs Worldwide Research ..................................................... 3

The Research Geography ........................................................... 4

Most Required Skills ................................................................ 5

Top Required Skills in the SEO Industry, 2020 ................................... 6

Most Desirable SEO Skills in 2020 ............................................... 7

SEO Skills Dynamics ................................................................. 8

SEO Tools ............................................................................... 9

SEO Tools Dynamics ................................................................. 10

SEO Search Queries, 2020 ....................................................... 11

Search Query Topics, 2020 ...................................................... 12

Key Takeaways ........................................................................ 13

Expert Comments .................................................................... 14
SEO Jobs
Worldwide Research
In 2020 SEMrush Academy analyzed around
4000 SEO vacancies on Monster, Indeed
and Linkedin.

We analyzed job offers in the UK, Canada,

the USA, Australia and India to find out which
skills employers want to see in their ideal
candidates.

We reviewed job vacancies for SEO Managers

and SEO Specialists.

3
The Research Geography
Number of job offers reviewed worldwide

Canada UK
100+ job offers 500+ job offers
reviewed reviewed

USA India Australia

1000+ job offers 2400+ job offers 80 job offers
reviewed reviewed reviewed

4
Most Required Skills

45%
10%

31%Technical
Local SEO

HTML + CSS
SEO

47%
11%
Mobile SEO

On-page SEO

Google tools

36%
(GA & GSC)

Keyword
research
34% Link
8%
building
A/B testing

JavaScript

The above data represents the employer's requirements mentioned in the job offers and can differ for each particular
job offer. The percentage shows the number of mentions of a particular skill in the total number of SEO job offers.

5
Top Required Skills
in the SEO Industry, 2020
USA India Canada

1 Keyword research 42% Google tools (GA + GSC) 52% Google tools (GA + GSC) 43%

2 Technical SEO 36% Link Building 42% Keyword research 32%

3 HTML + CSS 36% Keyword research 37% HTML + CSS 29%

4 Google tools (GA + GSC) 36% On-page SEO 34% Technical SEO 25%

5 Link building 27% HTML + CSS 28% Link Building 23%

6 On-page SEO 18% Technical SEO 16% JavaScript 19%

7 Mobile SEO 14% Local SEO 14% Local SEO 17%

8 A/B testing 13% Mobile SEO 8% On-page SEO 6%

Australia UK

1 Google tools (GA + GSC) 54% Technical SEO 64%

2 Keyword research 26% Google tools (GA + GSC) 39%

3 HTML + CSS 25% Keyword research 35%

4 On-page SEO 19% Link building 26%

5 Link building 16% On-page SEO 18%

6 Technical SEO 16% JavaScript 13%

7 JavaScript 15% Mobile SEO 11%

8 Local SEO 15% Local SEO 10%

The percentage shows the number of mentions of a particular skill in the total number of SEO job offers.

6
Most Desirable
SEO Skills in 2020
Being a great SEO specialist requires a wide range of skills. All the mentioned
skills are important for an efficient SEO manager, but it is especially crucial
to be familiar with technical aspects, search engine algorithms, keyword
research and link building, and, definitely, to be able to work with tools that
provide better performance of SEO activities and facilitate the work routine
of an SEO expert.

Analytical skills and knowledge of Google tools like GA and GSC give extra
power to an SEO specialist, and are indispensable today for a professional
who keeps a finger on the pulse of the most recent SEO trends and tracks
the results and effectiveness of campaigns and activities.

Search engine algorithms are constantly changing, so it is important to

be aware of the technical aspects of SEO to be able to fix any issues and
achieve perfect visibility of a website. Knowledge of HTML and CSS are al-
most obligatory, so do not overlook them.

Among other important SEO skills are keyword research, which is a robust
SEO strategy when relevant and well done.Then link building, which helps
in staying ahead of the competition, and detecting and disavowing toxic
backlinks to avoid Google penalties.

Pump up your knowledge on the basics of keyword research with

Enroll for free
this free and in-depth course from SEMrush favourite Greg Gifford

7
SEO Skills Dynamics
There have been certain changes in employers` requirements for the ideal
SEO candidate.

In 2020, compared to 2019, the percentage of SEO job offers where Google
Tools, keyword research and link building are required has increased.
JavaScript knowledge and familiarity with HTML and CSS have also become
more frequently mentioned. With the fast penetration of mobile devices
to the life and taking into consideration that mobile search is getting stronger
comparing to desktop, it is no surprise that 11% of job vacancies require an
understanding of mobile SEO basics.

47%
Google tools
42%

HTML + CSS 45%

40%

Keyword research 36%

24%

Link building 34%

20%

Technical SEO 31%

30%

18%
JavaScript
10%

11%
Mobile SEO
7%

15%
On-page SEO 28%

10%
Local SEO
7%

8%
A/B testing 2019 2020
4%

The percentage shows the number of mentions of a particular skill in the total number of SEO job offers.

8
SEO Tools
There are many SEO tools on the market that provide easier and more
effective implementation of SEO strategies.

Here are the top 5 most in-demand tools that employers want ideal candi-
dates to be familiar with. Although the ranking of the tools differs depending
on the country, the top 3 tools on the worldwide English-speaking market
are SEMrush, Moz and Ahrefs. In the US, Canada and the UK, SEMrush is
the most popular tool mentioned in job offers. In India, Moz seems to be
the most frequently named tool. In the UK, shares of mentions of Moz and
Ahrefs are almost equal.

Among other tools Omniture, Raven, Schema, Majestic, DeepCrawl,

Net Insight, Spyfu were mentioned.

USA India Canada* Australia* UK Total

26% 7% 18% 9% 22% 14%

25% 8% 13% 11% 18% 12%

19% 2% 17% 15% 19% 9%

19% 1% 6% 18% 12% 7%

13% 2% 3% 1% 1% 5%

*The data for these countries are based on a small sample and can therefore be considered only as a reference.

SEMrush is a popular and useful tool, according to the research,

Enroll for free
so visit the SEMrush Academy to take a free SEO toolkit course.

9
SEO Tools Dynamics
It is useful to see the dynamics in the required tools for SEO vacancies.

USA
In the US, the percentage of SEO jobs where knowledge of Ahrefs or SEMrush is beneficial
has risen since 2019. Other tools also showed an increase in popularity compared to the
previous year (or year on year).

25% 26%
19% 21% 19% 20%
14%
11% 11% 13%

2019 2020

India
In India, tools are not often mentioned in the description of job vacancies, although
of course knowing them is a competitive advantage for job seekers. All of the tools show
growth, although this growth fluctuates between 1 and 6%.

8% 7%
1% 2% 0% 2% 2% 1% 1% 1%
2019 2020

UK
The SEO jobs market in the UK has demonstrated growth in the demand for usage
of Ahrefs, SEMrush and Moz tools. BrigthEdge is losing its position.

22%
19% 18% 17%
14% 11% 10% 12%
4%
1%
2019 2020

The percentage shows the number of mentions of a particular skill in the total number of SEO job offers.

10
SEO Search Queries, 2020
We decided to explore what people would like to know about SEO using
SEMrush, and to identify areas that lack information.

The results show that most questions refer to SEO definitions, and to the ways
of doing SEO. So, people wonder “What SEO is”, “What does SEO stand for?”
and “How to do SEO”. Such questions as “How to improve SEO?”, “What is
SEO marketing?” and “What are backlinks in SEO” are also in the top 10 list.

Keyword Search Volume *

What is SEO 41 100

What does SEO stand for 4 200

What is SEO marketing 3 430

What is SEO and how it works 3 370

What are backlinks in SEO 2 900

How SEO works 2 660

How to do SEO 2 630

What does SEO mean 2 270

How to improve SEO 1 550

How to SEO 1 280

* Sum of average monthly search volumes for US, UK, AU, CA, IN

Managing backlinks is an important SEO activity, and the analysis of top popular
search requests regarding SEO evidences this. So, why not go deeper and become
a pro backlink specialist?
Come and check out the Backlink Management Course
with Greg Gifford and you will be able to actually conduct Enroll for free
your own day-to-day link building campaign.

11
Search Query Topics, 2020
We have also divided the most popular Google queries about SEO
into several topics. According to the results, most queries are dedicated
to definitions of SEO and different areas of SEO. The second most popular
group refers to the SEO process, where users wonder how to do SEO to get
better results. Then come queries about particular SEO skills, which are
followed by questions about prices of SEO, and SEO tools that make the life
of an SEO professional easier.

Educational queries are also on the list, as users want to know how to learn
SEO on their own.

Topic Search volume *

Definitions of SEO 57 800

How to do SEO 10 850

Queries about SEO skills 6 200

Prices of SEO 480

SEO Tools 320

Educational 180

* Sum of average monthly search volumes for US, UK, AU, CA, IN

12
Key Takeaways
The most important skill for an SEO candidate in 2020 is knowledge
of Google tools (Google Analytics and Google Search Console). Around
47% of the job offers mention these skills as compulsory. And we have
a strong feeling that in the remaining SEO vacancies it is supposed to be
present by default.

Then, candidates should be familiar with HTML and CSS (mentioned in

45% of SEO vacancies). It is appreciated if a candidate has a knowledge
of keyword research (36%). In 2019 only 24% of job offers mentioned this
skill as required.

A good SEO specialist has a broad outlook and should be familiar with
link building (34%) and be good at technical SEO (31%). Mobile SEO is
logically getting more attention as the world is changing and mobile
search dominates over desktop.

Employers give more attention to special tools that can facilitate working
on SEO strategies. SEMrush, Moz and Ahrefs are the most popular ones.
Most Google queries are about definitions of SEO, the process of doing
SEO and particular SEO skills.

13
Expert Comments

Hamlet Batista
CEO in RankSense, Inc.

What can you tell us about the SEO labor market in the US?

Microsoft lists SEO, data analysis and automation as key hard skills for the next decade. Data anal-
ysis and automation are skills you master when you learn Python. At the moment, these are skills
that are more applicable for big sites, not small ones (which make up the majority). I'm glad to see
Technical SEO as a top skill.

SEMrush reviewed the top skills for SEO specialists in 5 English-speaking

countries. What is your view on the findings compared to the 2019 data?

Yes. All are relevant. Data analysis and automation should be on that list. I'm surprised structured
data is missing.

How will the SEO job market change in the next 1-2 years?
Will other capacities and skills become important for an SEO specialist,
or some skills see a fall in demand?

I think keyword research needs to evolve into "intent research" and SEOs need to be more knowl-
edgeable about structured data and how to secure SERP features. It is no longer just about the ten
blue links.

14
 Dave Davies
Duke of URL in Beanstalk
Internet Marketing

What can you tell us about the SEO labor market in Canada?

We need to consider the types of companies that are hiring agencies or in-house teams to really un-
derstand the difference in the lists. There may also be some subtle differences in communication.

If you look at the US pattern, you're seeing skills based more on national and international cam-
paigns. You're also seeing more generalized references that presume an underlying knowledge.
The Canadian market is based far more on local and smaller national campaigns, which is why
you're seeing local SEO and mobile in the list there. There also tend to be smaller budgets, and so
greater requirements for diversity of skills over specialization. An SEO may be expected to under-
stand (for example) both local SEO and mobile — of course they're not expected to specialize in
both — but the expectation may be that they will be able to do both to some degree.

Basically, in the US, there would be the same needs met at the agency level, but more people per-
forming the tasks. Costs would be higher, but there would be more specialization.

SEMrush reviewed the top skills for SEO specialists in 5 English-speaking countries.
What is your view on the findings compared to the 2019 data?

I have to admit that the jump in GA and GSC is a bit surprising. The only thing I can attribute that
to is a higher awareness among the management level, and so it's getting written in more. They're
probably reading the SEMrush blog or watching webinars now. :)

The rest makes perfect sense by trends. There's a lot more attention being given to the technical
aspects of SEO, and so we're seeing them rise in the lists.

I also think a lot of this is simply a case of the writers of the postings having a better grasp of what
they need, and making fewer assumptions about what applicants are bringing to the table.

How will the SEO job market change in the next 1-2 years? Will other capacities and skills be-
come important for an SEO specialist, or some skills see a fall in demand?

As we've seen above, there's a lot of focus on tech and the nuts and bolts. It's funny, because we
keep chasing what mattered a couple of years prior.

Don't get me wrong, tech is crucially important, but there's a massive lack of the skills that actually
matter in the big picture. We see in the lists the things that are easy to measure. You can ask some-
one if they have a skill, look at a portfolio item and voilà ... you're a successful interviewer.

But in context, this is (in my opinion) the wrong approach. There's nothing wrong with listing tech
skills needed of course, but where is the actual optimization and writing skills?

15
If I'm managing an SEO campaign and scheduling out the optimization of a site, is the bulk of the
time spent on keyword research or coding a top bar to announce a sale or that we're still shipping
during the COVID-19 outbreak? No.

The bulk of the time is generally spent optimizing content, and often writing content. I'm not talking
about replacing copywriters of course, but there is a large element of updating or adding descrip-
tions to products (for example) or writing up category heading content. These skills are absent
from the lists.

It's almost funny, we're focusing on the mechanics, but completely forgetting what we're trying to
rank and why (hint: it's the users).

So, in the next generation of posting I suspect we'll see a shift to more of the actual skills needed
for working on the part of the site that the user (and engines) actually see — the part that is actually
being judged as to whether it fulfills the searcher's intent(s).

To that end, the skills that will make an SEO highly competitive (to me at least) will be the ability to un-
derstand and/or calculate what intent(s) a searcher on Google may have, and fulfill those on the site.

The technical will remain important, but we're going to see a resurgence of the areas that we used
to see in job listings, hings like "content optimization" and "write compelling titles and descriptions".

As for Coronavirus, I don't think it'll really change the requirements, BUT I do believe it'll be a bit like
Miracle Grow in speeding things along.

A bunch of very pushy SEOs are firing off emails looking for work. I don't blame them, they probably
just lost clients or their job, BUT that's going to result in some very poor contract structures, and in
the end probably some very bad campaigns. So, on that side, we'll see a bigger focus in a year or so,
towards ethical and effective campaigns in how things are worded. This isn't to say that's not a focus
now, but with more companies having switched to the cheaper rate and getting burnt (not all of them,
just some), they'll be returning or seeking providers based on a different set of skills.

Basically, we can all compete on tech and claim knowledge in those areas — the difference makers
in ROI will be in marketing, comprehensive approaches, and less easily measured elements on
a granular scale, but far more easily measured when the traffic and conversion reports are run.

16
 Randy Milanovic
CEO in Kayak Marketing
Founder of Flowww Sites

What can you tell us about the SEO labor market in Canada?

If I were to guess, I'd say with a population ratio of 30+ million vs 300+ million, that the US market
may be more mature. Many SEO leaders we are exposed to are from the US.

SEMrush reviewed the top skills for SEO specialists in 5 English-speaking countries.
What is your view on the findings compared to the 2019 data?

I wonder why mobile SEO is even on the list. Why not copywriting instead? Where's copywriting?

How will the SEO job market change in the next 1-2 years? Will other capacities and skills
become important for an SEO specialist, or some skills see a fall in demand?

Regarding next year and beyond, I feel the need for technical skills will diminish as platforms get
smarter, eliminating technical issues (at least those not human-made).

17
 Rob Peck
Director of Client Services,
O3M

What can you tell us about the SEO labor market in India?

When looking towards the differences in skill sets (both desired and actual) in India as compared
to other regions, it's worthwhile understanding what the SEO industry in India has grown out of
compared to the US.

In India, a tremendously high % of college graduates are engineers or comp. sci majors; this would
inherently make them lean towards more technical roles.

With traditional BPO/KPO work historically powering much of India's growth, that work model per-
sists even in newer industries such as SEO. Many employees and employers in this market look to
clearly define work into process-driven, documented, scalable tasks as opposed to a more holistic
approach. Depending on the use case and team structure, this can be either good or bad.

SEMrush reviewed the top skills for SEO specialists in 5 English-speaking countries.
What is your view on the findings compared to the 2019 data?

Given the above, I've generally found Indian SEOs to be specialists in nature — doing very well in
specific, well-defined roles. In the US, you see more general SEOs, who take a wide view of the
whole space and loop in specific subject matter experts where needed. In India, we are seeing
a gradual shift to "all-rounders", which I believe is great both for the industry and for individuals.

One key space in India where there is a dearth of great, skilled marketers is creating high-quality con-
tent. This must improve for India to truly excel. Just an opinion, but I feel this relates two factors:

• The BPO/KPO approach mentioned above: Content is seen as a means to an end. More "the blog
article should be 500 words, and mention these keywords 3 times each", as opposed to crafting
a great story and massaging SEO around it. This approach also creates challenges in earning
high-quality links.

• The unique language abilities in India: I believe I am the only person in my office who doesn't
speak (at least) three languages. While that is an asset, it can limit the ability to get to a na-
tive-speaker level in English. However, as the vernacular web continues to grow, mastering
English is becoming less important. In the Indian job market, native-speaker level English often
opens up a wide variety of career opportunities outside of content writing, so often people who
pursue content writing as a full-time career path are not the best writers.

Aside from content writing, another skill set that is in demand is hyper-technical SEO. Like the con-
tent writing example, skilled people who really understand server responses, JS, dev. ops, etc. often
skew towards technical roles outside of SEO. There may be a cultural factor in play here - parents
will see an SEO, even a technical one, as 'just' a marketer, whereas engineers are traditionally held in
higher regard.

18
Tools like SEMrush are a key factor in the evolution of SEO. These tools make data intuitive, acces-
sible, and actionable. In many ways, this pulls back the cloak of mystery that often surrounds SEO.
SEO is not some secret sauce, but rather a mix of hard work, technical ability, marketing acumen,
and creativity. The more transparent this becomes, the better it is for the industry in general, and
clients in particular. It will evolve away from "there's the SEO guy, he's doing some weird SEO thing
I don't know about" into a multidisciplinary effort across teams. This will lead to a new demand for
all-rounders, SEO managers, and corporate trainers. The more accessible SEO becomes, the more
different skill sets can be involved, and we are all better off for it. CEOs can leverage their network
and become better link builders than link builders, they just need a little bit of training.

How will the SEO job market change in the next 1-2 years? Will other capacities and skills
become important for an SEO specialist, or some skills see a fall in demand?

One SEO skill set that is becoming less important by the hour is generating basic, vanilla reports.
Tools have made this much easier and more efficient, enabling SEOs to look towards more val-
ue-added activities.

19
 Sam Ruchlewicz
Vice President of Digital Strategy
and Data Analytics in Warschawski

What can you tell us about the SEO labor market in the US? How can you comment on the
SEMrush data about Top skills for SEO specialists reviewed around 5 English-speaking coun-
tries compared to the results of 2019? SEMrush reviewed the top skills for SEO specialists in 5
English-speaking countries. What is your view on the findings compared to the 2019 data?

This is interesting data, and some of it seems relevant and accurate. The top-mentioned skills tends
to be a lagging indicator, in that it tends to represent the skills organizations *think* are necessary
for SEO success based on their past experience. But as we all know, SEO is dynamic — and the
skills that tended to correlate with positive outcomes in yesterday’s ecosystem are unlikely to cor-
relate as strongly (or in the same way) in tomorrow’s. That’s not to say things like mastering Google
tools (GA, GTM, GSC, etc.), understanding technical SEO, and knowing how to build links aren’t
valuable — it’s just that those skills are now table stakes. In order to excel, brands should be looking
for SEOs who understand where the landscape is going (and have the skills required to succeed in
our new world).

To me, that means looking for SEOs who:

• Understand the reality of zero-click searches — this is something that is becoming increasingly
prevalent and is unlikely to go away. SEO is about more than 10 blue links these days — so you
want to hire an SEO who understands how to assess the relative value of a P0 vs. a P2 place-
ment,for instance. Branded SERPs (something Jason Bernard has talked about for a few years
now) are becoming essential. Your SERP is your new homepage — and optimizing that is a
different beast than optimizing your website.

• Understand how to craft online experiences (this goes beyond just content) for user intent,
not simply keywords. As ML + NLP evolves (and it will), the importance of keywords will decline
and the importance of intent will rise (BERT is yet another step in this direction; there will be
more). To succeed moving forward, SEOs will need to understand the intent of individual users
throughout their journey — as well as their pain points, their goals and their motivations — then
share this insight with content, social, paid media, customer service and product teams.

• Can work directly with content teams (or better yet, create content themselves), which satisfies
the needs of (1) above and facilitates task accomplishment. This means going beyond answer-
ing the main question and providing answers to questions that are likely to arise now that the
searcher has the answer to the point question.

• Has an in-depth knowledge of how search engines find, capture, process and aggregate infor-
mation, and how to leverage factors like entity-based search, the Knowledge Graph, and E-A-T/
YMYL guidelines to gain a competitive advantage. In an era of fake news, trust/credibility/repu-
tation are becoming essential — and SEOs who understand how to impact these factors will be
in high demand.

20
I personally think technical SEO is changing in some important ways: page speed, site speed and
UI/UX will become increasingly important. Other previously critical technical SEO elements (i.e. title
tags, meta tags, hreflang & canonical tags, along with things like Schema Markup, for instance) will
be automated — either internally by brands or by search engines. So, the technical SEO challenge
becomes more about (a) automating the stuff that can be automated, and (b) focusing efforts on
delivering a brilliant UI/UX.

How will the SEO job market change in the next 1-2 years? Will other capacities and skills
become important for an SEO specialist, or some skills see a fall in demand?

There is little doubt that search engines will continue to play an outsized role in shaping the digital
ecosystem, at least in the short-and-medium-term, and the importance of the digital ecosystem
to an organization’s viability and profitability is only going to increase as more of our collective lives
are pushed online (this isn’t a COVID-19 thing — this shift has been underway for over a decade;
COVID is simply another accelerant). All that points to (a) SEO looking pretty different tomorrow
than it did yesterday, while (b) SEO becomes *more* important over the next 2-5 years.

For brands trying to either (a) build a presence online or (b) maintain it in the face of rising competi-
tion, SEO is an attractive way to do that — assuming you’re willing to make the investment and take
the risk. Long-term, SEO can be (and often is) a more profitable tactic than paid media (paid CACs
are up 60% in the past 5 years), and it is no longer feasible for many organizations to grow only
though paid digital media strategies. The key for SEOs moving forward (in my opinion) is moving
from technical expertise to cross-functional, business-strategy expertise.

I don’t think the crisis will have a material impact on these changes, other than (potentially) serving
as an accelerant on them.

21
 Harry Sanders
Director & Head of Search
in Studiohawk

What can you tell us about the SEO labor market in Australia?

Australia is behind when it comes to data analytics, and, honestly, brands here don't do a lot of it;
therefore, people with those skills are in high demand in Australia, and they are considered import-
ant skills to have in an SEO role. Items like technical SEO SHOULD be there, but most people still
think it's referred to as HTML + CSS, which just demonstrates a less sophisticated understanding
by AU brands.

SEMrush reviewed the top skills for SEO specialists in 5 English-speaking countries.
What is your view on the findings compared to the 2019 data?

Yes, I’m not surprised, data is becoming more important, as well as things like JavaScript and key-
word research is the modern market research, so it makes sense that brands want to be across this!

How will the SEO job market change in the next 1-2 years? Will other capacities and skills
become important for an SEO specialist, or some skills see a fall in demand?

I think you are going to see a lot more demand for JS SEO specialists as platforms become more
and more popular, and skills like HTML + CSS editing may become more irrelevant. An SEO special-
ist with technical JS skills, understanding of GA & GSC, and a background in link acquisition is al-
ways going to be in lucrative demand; I know of very, very few in Australia that meet that description
and are sought out because of it. I think the job market is going to be interesting as more brands
have remote working, and better links between in-house teams and agency supports are going
to become the norm rather than the exception! I think the current situation also raises awareness
around SEO and what it is, which is good for the industry as a whole.

22
 Ross Tavendale
Managing Director
in Type A Media

What can you tell us about the SEO labor market in the UK?

It's not surprising that the US market is content focused and the UK is technically focused. Due
to the sheer size of the marketplace and the lower level of competition, you can pump out lots
of content and still drive lots of traffic in the US, whereas smaller countries do not have that luxury.

This thinking has been bolstered by the prevalence of Hubspot in the US market, which encourages
the constant publishing of content as a means of driving "SEO" traffic. In the UK, the focus is more
on "optimization" than publishing, which is why you will see more technically driven people in the UK.

SEMrush reviewed the top skills for SEO specialists in 5 English-speaking countries.
What is your view on the findings compared to the 2019 data?

I'm surprised to see JavaScript and link building in the rankings as essential skills that people care
about, as they are treated more as a specialism rather than a core attribute of being a good SEO.
We will see more and more JavaScript skills being needed as Google gets better at understanding
and indexing it, and the bandwidth required to render it decreases.

Saying SEOs need to be proficient in GA and GSC is redundant; it's like saying a mechanic should
know what an engine is. I'm surprised not to find more marketing-led skill sets like analysis, reporting
and strategy setting - all of the skills seem to be very tactical and focused on junior people "doing the
work", instead of senior people understanding a situation and creating a suite of deliverables to do
the job effectively.

How will the SEO job market change in the next 1-2 years? Will other capacities and skills
become important for an SEO specialist, or some skills see a fall in demand?

The SEO job market will move to a more freelance and projects-based model, and we will see the
firms dealing with SMEs start to take on larger numbers of clients to keep revenue up. SEO agen-
cies will start to turn into what accountants currently are, and will be brought in for specialist jobs
or to train internal teams. The SEO of the future is a well-networked Jack of all trades that can
bring specialists into their organization to run projects to bring their site in line with their broader
SEO strategy.

23
 Terry Van Horne
Founder SEO Pros

What can you tell us about the SEO labor market in Canada?

I am assuming these were job ads for inhouse SEOs or SEO agencies looking for employees,
not contract SEO work. For that reason, the three anomalies — Technical SEO, Local SEO and Mobile
SEO — where there were no results in either country, and GSC & GA, where there were big differenc-
es in the percentages, are where the answers lie.

In my opinion, that is because there are fewer SEO agencies advertising in CA; they are for the most
part in-house positions. I have been subscribed to Indeed.ca (and its predecessors) for years for
this reason, and know that most of the jobs are in-house. That's why you see a nice percentage in
the US requiring Technical SEO, because an SEO agency knows that specialization. On the other
hand, an HR department or manager hiring an in-house is less likely to include it because it is not
included in their **professional** references for job requirements in the case of HR, and marketing
managers, though more likely to know Technical SEO is a specialty, in my opinion, those that would
know would be a small percentage.

Looking at the differences and similarities between the US and Canada client base, you can, to some
degree, see what I have said for years — that the Canadian market is more SMB enterprises looking
for in-house SEO to drive sales and that many of the biggest potential clients i.e. big box stores etc.
are often US based with no Canadian internet strategy beyond a .ca domain hosted in the US. So, the
requirements differ again because the types of companies (SEO agencies) and size of the companies
advertising jobs are very different. In my opinion, that explains the exclusion of Technical SEOs in
Canada. I, for instance, in 25 years have never had a Canadian client come to me for Technical SEO.

Local SEO is interesting in that for many years finding Canadian sites ranking well in the US results
was common; however, after the first personalization update by Google, it became harder and harder,
until it became near impossible to achieve. Those companies, conversely, weren't ready for a more
localized SERP. Hence, the people hiring are very aware of the differences between SEO and Local SEO,
and know it is not a given that all SEOs are proficient in Local. Also, many Canadian SEOs don't see it
as a revenue stream worth pursuing because of the difficulty in finding Local citations, the low number
of local/national outreach opportunities for the Canadian sites, and fewer sites in general to market
services to. So, as proposals get turned down, the advertisers learn that not everyone does "LOcal
SEO". All my Canadian clients were seeking to solve Local SEO issues, or wanted site design services.

When Google went to a full-on Mobile First Index requiring a responsive design, this likely affected
Canadian businesses more because they don't seem to update sites as often or as quickly. So, it’s
likely a number of sites suddenly stopped ranking and therefore were more likely to ask for Mobile
SEO as part of a new site design, since that is the reason they were not ranking. I'm betting it wasn't
mentioned in earlier studies you've done for this reason.

24
In my opinion, the GA/GSC anomalies are the result of the types of companies advertising. A com-
pany looking for an in-house SEO is likely dependent on the hire to look after GA/GSC, so it is more
of a requirement than for an SEO Agency.

SEMrush reviewed the top skills for SEO specialists in 5 English-speaking countries.
What is your view on the findings compared to the 2019 data?

Yes, it seems relevant, because it is the clearest indicator that in the last 18 months, SEO, and in
particular SEO for Google, has changed more significantly than at any other time in my career.
Therefore, people are experiencing ranking issues as a result of issues on the site, and are seeing
hires with the skills to fix those ranking issues.

The outlier here is Technical SEO, which is odd because it is the only flat service/skill requirement.
In my opinion, again, that is tied to SEO agencies’ advertisers knowing if there was a *ranking issue*
with any of the other requirements other than GSC or GA, they can all be dealt with by a Technical
SEO specialist. GA and GSC could also be related to agencies needing more employees with greater
knowledge of the GA/GSC products and, therefore, where in 2019 agencies were not seeking these
specializations, now they are.

How will the SEO job market change in the next 1-2 years? Will other capacities and skills
become important for an SEO specialist, or some skills see a fall in demand?

Other than being able to write the structured data for coronavirus and having less work likely for
years to come because of business bankruptcies, I don't see any effect from the virus on SEO skills.

I think how keyword research was/is used and implemented is changing. It isn't about prioritizing
keywords by the number of queries and relevance to business, now you must also analyze the
top-ranking sites to see what entities and concepts are being used in the query corpus to rank sites.

SEO copywriting is dead! GOOD copywriting is alive and thriving, for the simple reason that Google
now understands he, she and it refers to an entity so useless repetitive use of the entity is not as
important.

I think that writing structured data will become almost like HTML and CSS: a requirement of any
SEO, not just Technical SEOs.

25
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