An SEO specialist lives, breathes, sleeps, and dreams SEO. An SEO specialist loves the web and the breadth of information it contains. An SEO specialist thrives when applying his or her skills to connect people with that information.
SEO is not about bending search engines to one’s will. It is about streamlining indexation and providing search engines with what they need to rank a website appropriately. It is about driving the creation of the content that will allow a website to rank for relevant searches.
An SEO specialist understands this important distinction and applies it everyday. Furthermore, for a true specialist, SEO is their driving passion and their career. What sets an SEO specialist apart from the novice or enthusiast are the following:
An SEO Specialist is Constantly Monitoring Changes
The specialist is not required to know, without fail, exactly what is happening with the algorithms of every major search engine. However, the specialist is constantly monitoring for changes, checking search engine results pages, and staying in touch with the greater SEO community as a knowledge network.
Uses Search for EVERYTHING
One cannot effectively increase ranking in search engine results without using thee search engine results themselves, constantly. An SEO specialist should rarely contribute a direct visit to a website. Search.
Is an Early Adopter
Sticking with what the specialist knows, in terms of new tools, websites, and features of search, is a tried and true way of making an SEO specialist irrelevant and ineffective. SEO specialists were early adopters of Google+, Quora, Pinterest, Google+ Local, and Yahoo Axis.
Can Build a Website
No one can fully or effectively optimize a website if they do not understand how it is built. An SEO specialist must have a strong knowledge of HTML4/5, CSS, JavaScript, and a server-side scripting language. An SEO specialist must also understand basic server concepts with experience with Apache, nginx, or IIS as a foundation.
Actually Optimizes
All SEOs are concerned with website optimization, but an SEO specialist actually optimizes. The specialist has their own testing ground where he or she can immediately implement new tactics and use strategies and measure the results. An SEO specialist’s website never returns a last-modified HTTP header that’s more than a week in the past.
Shares Knowledge
An SEO who refuses to share their knowledge does little for their credibility and trust as a service provider. The SEO specialist shares knowledge openly, with the awareness that being open with that knowledge does not diminish their value, but rather, enhances it.
Questions Strategies and Tactics
Finally, an SEO specialist always questions SEO strategies and tactics, both old and new. As search engine algorithms constantly change and adapt to the current state of the web, so must the SEO. As SEO who has used an identical strategy for years without questioning its continued viability is no longer a specialist.
What is an SEO specialist? A person whose passion is for organic search and optimizing web content to perform within that medium; whose skills are appropriate for the task as hand; and whose overwhelming interest in the subject drives them to constantly research, question, and share knowledge with others.
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