For an individual to become an SEO expert, he should have the knowledge, skills and abilities that would make his job easier. Knowledge is knowing everything that is there to know about SEO. Many are not able to differentiate between skills and abilities, but there is a subtle difference between the two; skills can be learned by acquiring knowledge, while abilities are innate. Individuals can be skilled negotiators, but only some people have the ability to create a win-win situation, without even thinking about it.

Knowledge Of SEO Experts

SEO experts should have knowledge about the technical SEO terms that are important for the execution of an SEO marketing campaign. They should have knowledge about the following things:

Keyword optimization: SEO experts should know how to carry out a keyword research, how to use those keywords in website content, URL and Meta descriptions

Website Analysis: SEO experts should know how to analyze a website, to improve its performance and make changes, which would benefit the company; before enforcing keywords, an expert would always analyze the website, redesign and rebuild it, if necessary

Information Technology: SEO specialist should know about programming, must have a good background in HTML and CSS; if they are familiar with operating systems and different hardware platforms, then it will become easier for them to do their job

Content Generation: Even if an SEO expert is not directly involved in the production of content, he should have the basic understanding of what kind of content would appeal to users and should be included in a website and the different methods of content generation

Link Building: Link building is an integral part of SEO and every expert should know how to build internal links and external links; linking increase web traffic and the number of views of a website and shouldnt be ignored
Client Management: SEO specialist should know about the work history of his client, how the business is run and what message the top management wants to send, through marketing

Skills Of An SEO Expert

An individual can acquire skills required for an SEO expert position, through knowledge. A good set of skills of an expert would include:

A keen interest in SEO

A keen interest in digital marketing

An online presence like a blog, where the individual interacts and engages with people

Committed to learning about technical skills

Being inquisitive, to understand Google algorithms better and to predict changes, before they happen

Understanding of search engines
Understanding of social media platforms, how they can be used for distribution of content and can be linked to the success of a marketing campaign

Understanding of the target audience
Analytical skills

Good communication skills

Written skills

Programming skills

Coding skills

Negotiation Skills

Understanding of Microsoft Office

Understanding of web hosting

Abilities Of An SEO Expert

There are some things that can be learned, but are innate. When people work on their existing abilities and polish them, they can do great things. Similarly, in terms of SEO, the ability to learn from others, even when employed, is something that companies should look forward to. Such people, who want to continue learning and create a learning environment, attend conferences and public speaking events, so that they can keep themselves up to date about the latest happenings.

Design Thinking

Many SEO experts know that they have to focus on the designing of a website, because if they promote quality content, but the design is not appealing or looks confusing, then there will be no return visitors. Not everyone has the ability to design or be creative in designing a website. The key here is to create a design that is user friendly and different from other websites. It is not wrong to have a normal design page, that most websites have, but introducing something new would only appeal to the user more.

System Thinking

System thinking is the ability to assess a whole situation, to develop solutions for complicated problems. The SEO expert would assess the impact of an SEO strategy, find out if any problems are likely to occur, and then come up with practical solutions for them.

Ability To Lead

An SEO expert doesnt work alone, and has people working under him. He needs to make sure that the people he is supervising are motivated to work on the tasks given to them, they have the proper guidelines and they know what is expected of them.