An SEO Specialist is one of the most in-demand career choices. There are thousands of job openings for the position worldwide.
If you are looking forward to pursuing your career as SEO Specialist and want to get insights into the salaries offered for the position, then this article is for you.
I have provided all the details about the SEO Specialist’s salary worldwide and in the USA. You will also come across the skills required and the career options that you will have ahead of you.
SEO Specialist Salary: In a Nutshell
If you are in a hurry and want to get a gist of the average salary of the SEO Specialist, then take a look at the following table.
| Salary | Salary range |
|---|---|
| Average Salary | $55,000 to $62,000 |
| Lowest Salary | $24,000 to $36,000 |
| Highest Salary | $90,000 to $110,000 |
Note: If you want to explore SEO and know details about what you need to consider when performing an SEO, you can check out our SEO Checklist. This guide will prepare you for your interview and give you a basic idea of how SEO works.
How much does SEO Specialist make?
The average salary of SEO specialists in the United States ranges between $55,000 to $62,000.
These numbers may vary according to your experience and the location you reside at. However, on average, most of the SEO earns within this limit.
Further, the SEO specialist can earn as low as $24,000 or as high as $100,000. It all depends on the skills you have and the experience you have gained over the past years.
Are you interested in knowing detailed facts and figures about SEO that will help you crack your interviews and secure a good position?
Check out here to get your hands on the latest SEO statistics and trends.
SEO Specialist Salary Worldwide
SEO Specialists earn the highest average salary in Switzerland. The average annual salary of the SEO Specialists there is $112076.
While the United States ranks third in the criteria of highest annual salaries of SEO Specialists worldwide.
The following table displays the average SEO Specialist Salary in different countries around the globe.
| Country | Average SEO Specialist Salary |
|---|---|
| Germany | $62,244 (Salary.com) |
| Australia | $57406 (Indeed) |
| United States | $57,005 (Indeed) |
| Canada | $56,878 (Indeed) |
| France | $49,464 (Glassdoor) |
| Spain | $44,166 (Salary.com) |
| Japan | $42,288 (Glassdoor) |
| United Kingdom | $41,636 (Glassdoor) |
| India | $3672 (Payscale) |
| Greece | $34,086 (Salary Expert) |
| United Arab Emirates | $14815 (Indeed) |
| Switzerland | $112076 (Payscale) |
Source: Uplers
Bonus: Want to know more about the SEO salary in India? I have compiled all the details about the salary earned by SEO professionals in India.
SEO specialist Salary by years of experience
The average salary for an SEO Specialist with an experience of less than a year is $51,100. Comparatively, the average salary of an SEO specialist with an experience of five to seven years is $85,500.
Besides, the average salary of an SEO Specialist with more than seven years of experience is $76,986.
The following table displays the average salary of SEO specialists with different years of experience.
| Years of experience | Average SEO specialist salary |
|---|---|
| Less than 1 year | $51,100 |
| 1 to 3 years | $62,856 |
| 3 to 5 years | $$68,447 |
| 5 to 7 years | $85,500 |
| More than 7 years | $76,986 |
Source: builtin.com
SEO Specialist Salary by Gender
The Average SEO salary for men is $63,563. While the average salary for women working as SEO specialists is $67,334
The following table displays the average salaries of SEO specialists from different genders.
| Gender | Average SEO Specialist salary |
|---|---|
| Not specified | $73,659 |
| Male | $63,563 |
| Female | $67,334 |
| Other | $49,434 |
Source: builtin.com
SEO Specialist Salary (Data collected from different sources)
To find out the average SEO specialist salaries, I went through surveys from various trusted sources.
Here’s what I found:
- According to Indeed, the average salary of an SEO specialist in the United States is $58,733 per year.
- Glassdoor’s research says, the average salary of an SEO specialist is $56,701 in the United States.
- On the other hand, ZipRecruiter states that the average annual salary of an SEO specialist is $65,435.
- While according to Builtin, SEO specialists are paid $54,809 per year on average.
The following table displays the average, lowest, and highest salaries SEO specialists earn according to various trusted resources.
| Sources | Lowest SEO Specialist Salary | Average SEO Specialist Salary | Highest SEO Specialist Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indeed | $37,941 | $58,733 | $90,921 |
| Glassdoor | $33,000 | $56,700 | $97,000 |
| ZipRecruiter | $24,500 | $65,435 | $100,500 |
| Builtin | $38,000 | $54,809 | $130,000 |
Highest Paying Cities for SEO Specialists in the United States
The highest average salary of the SEO specialists was recorded in the Federal Way, WA. It has an average annual salary of $80,300 and the average monthly salary of $6,691 for SEO specialists.
The following table displays the cities with the highest average annual and monthly average Salaries of SEO Specialists.
| City | Monthly Salary | Annual Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Federal Way, WA | $6,691 | $80,300 |
| Santa Clara, CA | $6,554 | $78,655 |
| San Francisco, CA | $6,515 | $78,186 |
| Washington, DC | $6,414 | $76,977 |
| Los Angeles, CA | $6,400 | $76,806 |
| San Jose, CA | $6,339 | $76,079 |
| Fremont, CA | $6,307 | $75,684 |
| Marysville, WA | $6,265 | $75,182 |
| Oakland, CA | $6,258 | $75,098 |
| Jersey City, NJ | $6,245 | $74,950 |
Sources: Uplers, ZipRecruiter.
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Which skills affect the SEO specialist’s salary?
Becoming an SEO specialist requires various skills to help you land a job. If you are a beginner and want to learn SEO skills from an SEO expert, you can check out here to find an expert who will help you to work on and excel in your SEO Skills.
Plus, to help you out, I have listed the top skills necessary to become an SEO specialist below. You can practice these skills will the help of an SEO expert and grab your dream job.
The basic SEO skills required to become SEO Specialist is:
- Keyword Research
- Link building
- On-page optimization
- Off-page optimization
- Technical SEO
- Content strategy development
- Search Engine Optimization
- Google Analytics
- Web content management
- Search Engine Marketing
- WordPress management
- Digital Marketing
- Editing
- Web Analytics
- Account management
- And much more
Note: If you want to learn in detail about the basic skills required to become an SEO specialist, you can refer to these pages:
What are the Career Paths for SEO Specialists?
SEO specialists can grow in careers and be promoted to the position of SEO manager, marketing manager, or SEO analyst. Also, other positions can be assigned to SEO specialists within the company.
Besides that, SEO managers can be further promoted to the positions like Search Engine Optimization Directors, Marketing Directors, Directors of Digital Marketing, etc.
If you are an experienced SEO specialist and also have decent communication skills, you can try your hand at being a virtual SEO assistant as well!
Note: If you are interested in starting your career as an SEO specialist, you can check out the following lists of top SEO companies worldwide. These lists will help you to find the best SEO company where you can start your career as an SEO specialist.
Conclusion: SEO Specialist Salary
That was all about the SEO Specialist’s salary from my side.
To wrap it up, the average salary of an SEO specialist is $55,000 to $62,000. On the other hand, the highest salary is $90,000 to $110,000.
SEO plays a crucial role in page ranking and increasing the authority of a website. Hence, SEO specialists have gained a huge demand over the past years.
You can check out our website for other articles related to SEO.
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FAQs
SEO is a good-paying job and provides great career options. The average salary of SEO lies between $40,000 and $80,000. The highest salary can be greater than $100,000 per year.
SEO specialists are in huge demand today. SEO specialists are required in all different business niches and play a great role in optimization and other roles. The average salary of an SEO specialist lies between $55,000 to $62,000.
To start your career in SEO, you can follow these steps: Learn the basic concepts of SEO and the working of search engines, Understand SEO concepts and strategies, and learn to implement them practically. Next, you can participate in SEO training programs or grab an internship. Besides, keep learning and stay updated with the latest trends in the SEO industry. Also, learn and use different SEO tools.
To grab an SEO job, you need to have knowledge about keyword research, link-building, critical thinking, communication skills, social media efficiency, data analysis, etc. You must also know about web designing, editing, WordPress, web analysis, etc.
You can learn SEO basics within two to three months, depending on the time you spend learning and the time you take to adopt new information. However, you will need 9 months or one year to learn advanced SEO techniques. Besides, SEO is a changing industry, and you will have to keep yourself updated with the latest trends and knowledge.
