Working in a web development company, I have often found it hard to come across expert SEOs needed for the job. Either I’ve had to outsource projects to freelancers or to pay some experts an exorbitant amount for their expertise. Problem is, most of the time, you don’t really need an, “expert”, all you are looking for is someone who can do basic link building, social media or technical analysis, in short, do some pretty basic stuff at a fair paycheck.
This is where companies take in some raw recruits, who don’t know a thing about Search Engine Optimization, hoping that they will be able to train these greenhorns into some sort of an expert, which is easier said than done. If you have just recently employed an SEO trainee in your company, here is a basic guide on how to put him on track to become an SEO expert.
1). Know your requirements
This is important to identify, so that you wouldn’t end up teaching him/her unnecessary stuff, and take a specific route without having to confuse him. There are three basic types of SEO guys …
- The Creative SEO: The creative one needs to be good at link baits. He has got to have a knack of social media and viral marketing. Creative SEO is probably the most valuable asset for an SEO team because these days SEO requires more and more “out of the box” thinking.
- The Link Building SEO: As the name suggests, you have got to train them on certain tools and software programs that they can use for link building, while also honing their research and communication skills.
- The Techie SEO: Needed primarily for On-Page Optimization, the techie SEO has got to have a developer’s background, or the basic know-how of HTML and CSS.
If you’re lucky enough to have an efficient newbie who can absorb the nitty-gritty of all three types of SEO, but you don’t necessarily need to train all recruits for all of these purposes, you can simply identify your objective and focus more on those particular skills.
2). Tools they’ll be needing
While working on SEO campaigns, they will need to deal a lot with spreadsheets, pie diagrams, bar diagrams, toolbars, IP checkers and some basic site metric tools. Spreadsheets are commonly used in link building campaigns. From keyword analysis to link submission to link acquisitions; spreadsheets are handy for a number of SEO tasks.
Pie diagrams and bar diagrams are important when doing analytical SEO. Generating reports, keeping a hierarchal record are to be done through spreadsheets. Train your SEO newbie in MS Excel or Open Office. Apart from that, make them familiar with page rank tools and site metric tools.
3). Provide Them with Reading Material
You should start from providing them with the reading material. Without the basic know-how, it’ll be hard for them to carry out the SEO tasks. The more they will read, the more they will excel at the day to day job. It’s only after reading that they will be able to understand the terms you speak about.
Give them briefing on daily basis, covering from the very simple definition of SEO to the jargon often used. Don’t leave them with too many books or notes to read on their own.
4). Give Them Small Projects to Start With
Now that they are familiar with the theory and the tools, the next step would be the practical implementation. However, avoid handing them a big project. Start small; and gradually take them up the ladder. Start from basic link building and move on to keyword research and site audits. Through these basic trainings and projects, they will be able to understand and connect with what they are going to work in the coming days. Encourage them to ask all questions and erase all ambiguities from their mind in this phase.
5). Teach Communication and Marketing Skills
An SEO professional will have to communicate with different people in different ways. They will have to stay in touch with industry experts, peers, web masters, clients, and so on. Also remember, that at the end of the day, SEO is a branch of marketing, and anybody looking to opt SEO as a career must be familiar with the nitty-gritty of marketing. It’s going to help in each and every aspect, from link building to website analysis.
It is not easy to train new recruits, it requires lots of time investment, but it’s totally worth investing your time (unless the trainees tend to move to another company as soon as they gain some experience). Of course, it helps if the new recruits are eager to learn.
This post was contributed by Roberto Arba, who writes for Online Printing Services.
Om Arba
Very useful article! Actually, anyone who is intelligent and knows the basics of SEO can be made into an SEO expert by providing him or her with the required tools. The Link Building SEO is the one who can easily be trained.
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Twitter: John
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You are very right! It is not easy to convert a amateur SEO learner into SEO expert. One needs to understand atleast the basics before hand. I believe that the SEO trainee himself must be interested in learning and taking up SEO as career.
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I think it is very difficult to train a techie SEO. It requires lot of logical thinking to become a techie SEO. Every now and then I see ads saying requires SEO trainees and no qualification required. But, I feel that some basic knowledge is highly essential and some basic test must be conducted before hiring.
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I would think that the techie SEO is the easiest of the three. Principals are the same most of the time and HTML adn CSS are easy to learn. The crative SEO has a much more difficult job and requires much more thorough documentation.
Twitter: myseoheadache
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I like this article, and I would have to say that a quick edit would be that no matter your SEO needs, a techie SEO is necessary. A person can be as viral as they want, but they need to understand URL structure to properly populate links.
Furthermore, the Link-Builder will have to deal with many bloggers in the company’s niche, that are very HTML-deficient. At the very least, providing the code for a proper link matching the font and color of the webpage is necessary.
Twitter: simplastics
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You definitely will not make it far without a “techie Seo” on your team. It’s easy to build links (time consuming, but not hard work). Re-doing the code of the website is not as simple. It certainly will require someone with some kind of programming history…
I found your article,” How to Transform an SEO Trainee into an SEO Expert – A Basic Guide ” extremely accurate, having developed one myself recently. I think the most important thing for me was to communicate. They are thirsty for information so I had to make time every day to outline the importance of the tasks and show examples of how they help create money.
Thanks everybody for liking the article, i’d still say that creative SEO is the most valuable, mainly because you can teach someone HTML and PHP but you can’t infuse creativity into anybody
Twitter: shivachettri
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Hi Roberto,
I actually have worked as a seo trainee myself in a company, bad thing they did not follow any of the above steps you have mentioned, they would just hand over a project and I and my team mates who were just trainee like me had to learn by ourselves what to do and how to do it. But well, your tips certainly are the best way one can turn a seo trainee to an expert.
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Thanks for your article. I’m fairly new to SEO and I have to say that 2 things. 1. I’m finding SEO on page way easier than link-building.
2. I love it.
Very interesting article! You will not make it far without a “techie Seo”. Actually, anyone who is intelligent and knows the basics of SEO can be made into an SEO expert by providing him or her with the required tools. It’s easy to build links (time consuming, but not hard work). Re-doing the code of the website is not as simple. It certainly will require someone with some kind of programming history…
It takes a lot of studying to become good at seo, there is just so much to learn, and google doesn’t make it easy with them always changing their algorithm. I think with the right info most people can get pretty good at seo and link building.
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We are in the process of considering hiring an SEO trainee. We have found it helpful to go to the local university to ask the professors what students they know of that have the SEO skills we are looking for.
I’ve only started learning SEO quite recently to promote my own site, but the more I learn about it the more I’m thinking it’s a field worth getting in to. I’m currently based in Ireland and have found my website creeping up the rankings and although I’m in to photography, which is what my website is about, I’d also like to think I could have another string to my bow. There is a lot to learn though and looking from you’re point of view I can see more clearly what would be expected of me so thanks, a very helpful blog, my next step is to find out a bit more about some link building software that you mention!
Twitter: TechieSaves
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Being a SEO expert is not an easy job as one may think. It’s a lot of work and a lot of patience required in doing this job. I would never reccommend this job to an active person.
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Hi, I enjoyed this article and learned some of the nuances or SEO and shared some of the info with a back link on one of my blogs.
Seo seems to be constantly evolving and outpacing the rate of which I learn, thank you so much for helping me play some much needed catch up!
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It’s not that difficult to get from being a SEO trainee to a SEO advanced. There is a lot of free info on the net, you just have to take the time to read it and filter it. This is the toughest part: filtering the information. If you have someone that can help you in that direction then you’re all set.
Now on becoming an SEO expert I must say I’ve got some reserves. To be an “expert” you must have knowledge and experience and be on top. Being on top means you are the one that is testing out new things and instead of searching for information you are the one that is creating that information. Being an expert means you are always up to date regarding what works and doesn’t work with SEO.
great article!.. Basic information is needed to be an expert, a little bit of knowledge and patience then you never know that you’ll already there!
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Nice tips. it is better to have one or some elementary course for people who work in 3 requirements you introduce. I mean let our staff to work and learn in all 3 groups. ‘The Creative SEO’,'The Link Building SEO’ and ‘The Techie SEO’, at least for knowing fundamental of each group and then, based on their score and interest, push them to special one.
Twitter: novelphotogifts
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Very right. We are looking to get a SEO intern (trainee) for our company and some of these pointers we will need to implement.
I am not an SEO expert but my sites rank on the 1st. Page of Google, Yahoo and Bing.
I use a system that includes Backlinks, keyword optimization and some other white hat
tricks. After reading your post I will be using this info to teach my outsources – Thanks…
I have been leaning SEO techniques and I would have to say the creative SEO is the hardest. How to be creative, you either have it or don’t. I can see someones ideas but then I have to come up with some myself. Much more involved then the other two.
Nice.
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Thanks for your submission.
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Very interesting article, i myself work for a web development company and have experience with seo, in my personal opinion i would say link building is the easiest technique to learn for a new seo trainee. Its pretty much the same procedure on all sites and unlike onpage optimisation if you make a mistake you can just try again with no adverse consiquences.
good idea on the part of using excel sheets for link building for these “trainees”. I never quite thought of that! I use a lot of freelancers so i think this are all good suggestions.
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work for a web development company and have experience with seo, in my personal opinion i would say link building is the easiest technique to learn for a new seo trainee. Its pretty much the same procedure on all sites and unlike onpage optimisation if you make a mistake you can just try again with no adverse consiquences.
Very right. We are looking to get a SEO intern (trainee) for our company and some of these pointers we will need to implement.
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