Start by Learning, Then Build
You don’t need a degree to be an SEO. But you do need curiosity, consistency, and something to practice on. Start with your own site. Learn HTML, crawl behavior, on-page optimization, and keyword research. Then implement what you learn in the real world. Read Google’s Search Essentials. Break stuff. Fix it. Repeat. Most SEO skills come from testing and tinkering, not theory.
Master the Three Pillars: Technical, Content, Strategy
Technical SEO is about how a site is built: page speed, structure, schema, crawl logic. Content SEO is about what users want and how you deliver it—titles, layout, keyword intent, internal links. Strategic SEO is how it all fits together: site maps, campaign priorities, competitor analysis. Learn to balance all three. That’s what separates pros from plugin pushers.
You don’t need to code, but you need to understand what code is doing. And you need to think like a search engine and a user at the same time.
Freelance, In-House, or Solo Builder?
Once you have results, you can start charging. Freelance for small businesses. Apply to agencies. Launch niche sites. Build a product. SEO skills compound. The same skill that ranked a dog groomer in Vancouver can rank a SaaS in Berlin or a blog in Ohio. Choose your path. Build a portfolio. Keep learning. Show proof. That’s how you grow in this game.
It’s not about being “certified”—it’s about being useful. And if you can rank pages from scratch, you’ll never run out of opportunity.
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