Applying for an SEO position

[aidanlawlor]

Hi All,

I have been at this SEO for only a couple of months with the goal of getting a job in an SEO company.

My question is....What is it that SEO companies are looking for? What do I need to know for me to have a chance at landing the job?

I am working on 2 sites at the moment and was thinking of applying for a job by showing them what i know and what I have done so far with these 2 companies. Is there a special way of presenting this data to them?

All thoughts and knowledge welcome.

Thanks again,

Aidan

[josh-riley]

I'm newer to the field (about 2yrs) and I'll say it's a great path to get on - kudos to you for looking at how to set yourself up for success by asking for feedback. Good luck!

[aidanlawlor]

Hi Andrea,

I think I am beginning to realize that results are the most important and showing the steps i took to get there.

thanks again,

Aidan

[aidanlawlor]

Great tips. thanks a million.

At the moment I am focusing on on-site optimization and link building but you are not the first to suggest that i need to get a simple HTML site coded up. Just to familiarize myself with coding in general. I'll get on that straight away.

Many thanks again. Much appreciated,

Aidan

[aidanlawlor]

Hi,
Thanks for the reply and sorry in getting back to you. I would like to ask you if you could recommend 5-10 SEO blogs that i should follow. Any suggestions?

Thanks again,

Aidan

[josh-riley]

I agree with the others and want to heavily emphasize one thing: show results. Working on sites is great (before/after); showing how you improved them (ranking, revenue, conversions, leads - real metrics) is best as it shows you know how to implement your strategy.

[AgentsofValue]

What an interesting choice of career path Aidan.

SEO is like a religion as what most people in the industry say, and so you have to provide a strategic plan of your own.

Providing them a summary of what you have accomplished, from the tools/methods you've used (analytics, keyword research tools) to results (SERP placements and conversions) could show how serious you are with your work.

You have to constantly update yourself through forum sites or SEO blogs with the latest news and issues, especially when another Panda or Penguin update strikes.

There are a number of blogs out there from SEO practitioners and experts that can guide you through just like here in SEOmoz.

So good luck with your new endeavor!

[imageworks-261290]

SEO's are looking for you to convert, and not just be able to do SEO

Things that will help your case:

• being fluent in HTML and CSS would definitely help your case, as well as having fmailiarity with CMS's like wordpress and drupal
• Being an outstanding writer
• Having experience with AdWords (and maybe even adsense)
• Being a problem solver
• Having heavy industry involvement
• Know how to get leads from twitter (or at least get followers)
• Being an expert at onsite optimization
• being able to tell which strategies are going to be able to pan out in the short run and in the long run
• knowing your SEO tools in and out

I encourage you to try to code up your own site (even if it is extremely simple) and get it up on the web. Perhaps even put your resume up