In any career, there are always new skills to learn or processes to refine, and agencies are the perfect space for search engine optimization (SEO) professionals to sharpen their talents while continuing to flourish.
Whether it’s for a short stint or the defining point of a career, working at an agency can be a rewarding time for any professional. Here are some of the benefits SEOs gain by working at agencies.
Navigating Multiple SEO Journeys
The main draw to agencies is the ability to work with multiple clients, each with different SEO challenges and strategies that require specialized solutions. Some are focused on bolstering their existing content, while others are in the first steps of a full-blown SEO strategy.
Having varying levels of SEO challenges among clients ensures that each day’s work is not the same. For one client, you will be conducting keyword research for an upcoming set of content, while another client’s needs require you to create recommendations for an optimized navigation experience. With each deliverable, you become more accustomed to client preferences, such as content and communication styles, in addition to general best practices across multiple SEO processes. Over time, this allows you to iterate on future SEO projects and find ways to better meet client-specific demands.
Having multiple clients also gives you exposure to the effects of SEO in multiple industries. What might work well for a traditional ecommerce client might not be as effective for a tech or healthcare-focused industry, or a large content publisher. This is a great opportunity for you to broaden your horizons and find industry-specific solutions to SEO problems.
Working with different clients also flexes your creative muscles, since you’ll be potentially writing copy that speaks to different audiences or adheres to strict branding guidelines. This might seem intimidating at first, but over time, this becomes second nature, and your ability to easily satisfy the requirements of each project and client is a valuable asset that other agencies and companies highly value.
Looking at the Big Picture
With clients relying on you for expertise, it only makes sense to have everything you need to provide a wide range of SEO solutions, which usually means access to multiple tools to provide context and clarity on specific strategy direction. While there are a few staples in the industry, using other resources and software outside of the usual suspects can provide valuable context in addition to sources of truth.
For smaller companies, the lineup of free tools from Google is enough to get an idea of their current SEO standing, so much so that it can be hard to push for access to additional monitoring or analytics tools.
With agencies, it’s easier to get access to more monitoring and analytics software like Screaming Frog, Semrush, and other SEO platforms and developer tools because clients rely on the agency to help paint a picture of a brand’s SEO status. Gaining expertise with these tools not only helps you understand the nuances of each software package, but it can also tell you their importance in the process, and more importantly, their worth in specific SEO strategies.
Keep in mind, this isn’t about using as many tools as possible; it’s about finding out which ones are best suited to inform your efforts and which ones can help you uncover new ways to maximize SEO efforts for each client.
Working Under the Hood
Speaking of tools, working at an agency gives you great exposure to technical SEO, a crucial backbone for any brand looking to improve their SEO for the long run. There are many elements that fall into technical SEO, including crawling, indexation, overall site speed, schema markup, and server header statuses.
Being able to spot these issues and creating a plan to fix them only adds to your value for clients and stakeholders, especially if you plan to move in-house at some point.
The Fountain of Knowledge
Perhaps the most important reason why working at an agency is important for any SEO career is the people. SEO teams are made up of people who have years or even decades of combined experience. Don’t be afraid to lean on them and ask for advice. They can provide insights and best practices that they know work with similar clients or scenarios that can make it even easier for you to meet client demands, perform tasks more efficiently, and learn new SEO skills.
What would take years to learn by yourself can be accomplished more quickly thanks to the combined experience of your coworkers.
A Rewarding Journey
Whether it’s a starting block, another stepping stone, or the pinnacle of your career, the time spent by SEO professionals at an agency is rewarding in many ways. Learning new tools, refining existing skills, and leaning on experience are just some of the ways you can grow as an SEO professional and as an effective member of your team.
As you continue to grow in your career, think about joining the agency side, even if it’s just a blip in your long career. The experience and knowledge gained from a dedicated team can help you reach new heights as an SEO professional.
