Are you looking for a Job in SEO?

Category Industry | 30 comments »

After putting together the ‘How to learn SEO’ post, I got to thinking that many folks that learn SEO ultimately want to do it for a living. As such I rounded up a bunch of websites for finding work in the world of Search optimization (and search marketing) – on the flip side, if you’re looking to hire SEO staffers or freelancers, the list will work out as well. This post started life some 6 months back and since then the economy has done little but head earthard bound – the time seemed right to polish and publish… (If you know of any great resources I have left off the list, let me know and I shall add them in. ).

 

Loking for work in Search engine optimization;

 

The usual suspects; To get us rolling some of the better known websites in the search marketing world have their own job boards – so let’s look at those;

SEO Gadget has a great listing of UK centric SEO jobs…. and they keep it up to date! (woo hoo)

SEOmoz Marketplace – they have a few more recent postings than some of the others. Worth checking out

Top SEOs Jobs – a fairly active board with jobs in the UK and USA, defnately worth watching

Marketing Pilgrim Jobs – another active job board with international listings

Search Engine Watch Boards – not a whole lot of active jobs, but considering the location the employers are likely above the average level of knowledge.

SEO Book Jobs – a few jobs here, nothing major but worth having in the list

 

Search Specific Resources

Jobs in search – this site had a smaller offering of positions but seem like a pretty good site, so we’ll include it on the list.

SEO Vacancies – another nice looking and well put together site that is mostly tailored to the European market.

SEO Consultants - has a job board, but it doesn’t seem all that active… a secondary locale at this point, (Dave ducks Edward’s wrath).

SEM Recruitment – this site has a small offering of jobs and is primarily the UK market from what I noticed. A secondary stop fer sure…

 

Full time Gigs

There are far more gigs online for in-house and agency SEO jobs than freelance by a long shot. So we’ll look at some of the more well known sites and some niche ones geared to the search world.

Monster Jobs – I did a quick search from a few locales and there are certainly some leads here for those looking for leads. They have jobs from around the world; probably worth keeping in the loop.

Craig’s List – I searched a few major Canadian, US and European countries and found a reasonable supply of jobs to look at. When trying some less popular locales though, it gets spotty as you might imagine.

Career builder – a good selection of jobs, mostly from the US though. If your looking for a job state-side, a good place to look.

It Jobs Online – has leads for jobs in the UK market. Looks like mostly full time gigs.

 

Freelance Projects

All in all, there didn’t seem to be a whole lot of work out there for the freelancers out there (don’t wait for your ship to come in, swim out and get it). And what I did find seemed to have some less than palatable budgets and client knowledge levels. Now, this may not be as big a problem for SEOs that are just breaking into the business as a low paying gig is better than pro-bono, when establishing a client portfolio. And if your company has a competitive price point, U might find something… tread lightly.

Elance – does seem to have a fresh slew of projects for the freelancer and the knowledge level and (starting?) budgets seem more reasonable than some other freelance sites.

oDesk – there are a steady stream of potential projects, but once again the budgets seem a little low. An interesting element is tests they have for providers which buyers can use to qualify peeps (took it and I’m top 10% he he) – I like that part ;0)

iFreelance – not a lot of jobs, but a nice site that you could keep and eye on. With so few good ones out there, might as well make the list.

Digital Point – while the services area of DP is active, it might be a tad dicey as far as quality leads. Seems like a bit of a friggen free-for-all in there… enter at yer own risk ;0)

Get a Freelancer – from the looks of things the jobs are 3rd world priced and buyers don’t seem all that knowledgeable with choice snippets such as; “I need long term seo solutions to bring up my page rank in google”. – for a guy with a $250 budget.
If suppose if yer starting out it’s better than pro-bono (maybe), but it does seems dicey around here.

Guru – look like a reasonable selection of projects with mid range budgets. Probably good for those starting out in SEO… (and you can search full time gigs as well)

Also check out the Site Point marketplace and All Freelance if yer still on the hunt.

 

Using Social Spaces

Track down as many SEO and search marketing types as you can and add them to your network. Some of the most known locales are;

Sphinn – one of the few internet marketing centric social media websites, get in there and mine the profiles for Twitter, FaceBook and other connection points. A great place to start

Twitter – I have seen a few people use Twitter as a tool for finding work. Don’t jump in and start spamming, but do try and leverage what contacts you have made. You can check my profile for peeps to add (almost exclusively marketing types in mine); SEO Jobs – Canada SEO Jobs – UK SEO Jobs

Mixx – while not as popular a stomping ground as Sphinn, there are a few groups you can join to start networking more, namely the Learning SEO and SEO 2.0 groups; SEO 2.0 – Learning SEO Basics

LinkedIn – is another great locale for networking and watching for jobs that come up (quite often actually). First off I’d be sure to get hooked up with the Marketing Jobs group
Also join some of the other search related groups on LinkedIn; Internet Marketing – Marketing and communications network – Pro Marketers – Search Marketing Salon – Digital Marketing

There are likely more, I shall consult with some social media mystics and report back with more here… (it’s bloody 2am my friend)

 

More reading to help find a job in SEO;

Jobs in SEO; seekers retrain now – Search Engine People

The 5 Web Resources You Need to Find a Job in Search - Search Engine Watch

Where the SEO jobs are – Eposure Online

Search expert forced to live under house - SEM Portland

ToddMintz talks resumes – SEO Factor

Searching for Jobs in search – Bruce Cay Blog

This week in search marketing staffing - Onward Search

SEO salaries; in-house survey – Reality SEO

SEO Job Search – Reality SEO

Jill Whalen Q&A on Whether Companies Should Take SEO In-House – Reality SEO

Rand Fishkin of SEOmoz PayScale.com Video on SEO Salaries – Reality SEO

 

There we have… shall add some more as I get the time… best of luck to all!!

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What not to ask when hiring an SEO

Category General, Industry | 26 comments »

Are you looking to hire an SEO consultant or in-house staffer? Then do me a favour, don’t even bother asking an SEO about what keywords they have ranked in the past… and screw the references while we’re at it ok? No really, I mean it.

After an idea born on Twitter took grasp and I found myself writing a resource post on places to find work in SEO, I read a lot of job postings. And the variety of questions, il informed employers and business folks were asking, had me shaking my head. Allow me to explain…

Why rankings and references are dirty signals

Yes, we all know that these are things to ask a potential SEO… but let me burst that bubble right here and now. No one is going to show their failures and all rankings were not created equal.

For example;

Rankings – that SEO company you’re thinking of hiring is showing you all kinds of pretty first page rankings, or even worse ‘#1’ rankings (which is a bit of a stretch). Why? Because without the accompanying analytics, it means little or nothing. Any seasoned SEO has targeted terms they thought were killers just to find out the traffic (and conversions) were minimal compared to other terms in the program.

This means that your prospective SEO company are going to show you magical SERPs that may or may not be successful. And I’d add that any trustable company isn’t about to start showing you their clients data due to non-disclosure agreements. So what does this leave you? Not enough to be getting excited when hiring an SEO.

References; I was listening to a career coach on the boob-tube the other day whom used to be in the HR dept and read thousands of resumes. What he said about references makes as much sense here as anywhere;

“People aren’t going to put the problem people in there. I spend very little time looking at them because these are people they know speak highly of them”

The cards are stacked essentially. I can easily drum up a ton of people to sing my praises, but it is not ultimately going to show the truth, or at least the full picture. Thus this is another area you should put minimal weight on.

How would I hire someone?

I really find talking to them is the best way to go about it. One wants to see what type of grasp and enthusiasm they have for the project. This once more highlights the need to be an educated consumer and at least learn the basics of SEO. It enables you to more readily understand what you’re looking for and what constitutes common practices.

To me, flowery rankings and slanted referrals make for a ‘noisy signal’. Sure, I’d ask what query spaces they’re played in. What they’re favourite tools and methods are… strength’s and weaknesses. These are important factors when hiring an SEO; experience and knowledge.

I will come up with a ‘Questions to ask an SEO prospect’ in the near future – seems a good idea.

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