The Ultimate Guide to Becoming an SEO Freelancer in 2021

Unless you've been living under a rock, you have likely come across the terms "SEO” and “SEO Freelancer". Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a marketing strategy that involves optimizing online content in such a way that it is visible on top search engine results when users query terms related to your content. Put simply, SEO ensures that your content is found online and this, in turn, helps generate revenue for you.

SEO Freelancers are experienced individuals who excel in optimizing content for the internet. Their job is to ensure that their client’s website turns up on the first page of search engine results.

In recent years, companies have realized the importance of SEO and are currently paying top dollar to improve their website rankings. Becoming an SEO freelancer is not an easy journey and is one that requires enormous dedication and patience. In this brief guide, we will take a look at how you can become a successful SEO freelancer in 2021.

What Does an SEO Freelancer Do?

As mentioned before, SEO freelancers are responsible for crafting and optimizing the content on websites. In particular, they utilize various strategies and techniques to ensure that their content is more likely to appear in top search results. Successfully optimized content will drive traffic to your website and subsequently increase your site ranking. Common strategies employed by SEO freelancers include:

Keyword Research: The purpose of keyword research is to discover specific words or phrases that people type into search engines. By strategically placing popular keywords in your content (in headings, titles. paragraphs), you increase your chances of landing your content in top search results.

Content Creation and Promotion: SEO Freelancers are also tasked with creating engaging content (both written and visual). Creating content that assimilates with keywords and follows predefined structural formats massively increases website ranking. Promoting content on other platforms and social media sites also increases visibility.

Link Building: While ranking websites, search engines are also on the lookout for external links that refer back to your content. The more backlinks that link back to your content, the more likely your content will rank higher in search indices. SEO freelancers often create backlinks by promoting content via guest posting, internal links, and various other methods.

Competitor Analysis: As the term suggests, competitor analysis involves analyzing the content of your competitor which may, or may not, rank higher than yours. By analyzing your competitors you can identify problems that exist in your content which, when remediated, could lead to better results.

Steps to Becoming a Successful SEO Freelancer

Start Learning the Basics

The best way to become an SEO expert is to learn, learn, and learn. Try to soak up as much SEO knowledge as possible from various sources all around the internet. However, it is equally important to have a solid foundation and a strong grasp of important SEO concepts. For this, we recommend taking online classes and courses that cover the basics of search engine optimization. Learn about SEO from the following resources:

Online Classes and Courses from reputable websites such as Coursera, Udemy, Udacity, etc.

Books and reader manuals on SEO writing

Website resources from popular sites such as Taskshift and Moz

Subscriber newsletters from industry experts

Create a Portfolio to Showcase Your Skills

Once you’ve covered the basics, it’s now time to start building up that portfolio. When clients are on the lookout for promising SEO freelancers, they will definitely want proof of your expertise. A portfolio will provide you the option to showcase your skills to prospective clients which in turn could lead to future jobs. Your portfolio should include:

Your personal details (Name and contact information)

Projects you have completed (these can be personal projects or projects undertaken for clients)

List of clients you have worked for alongside the positive reviews they left behind

Performance statistics for websites you have worked upon

Examples of link-building and content promotion

Purchase SEO Tools

You can’t be an SEO expert without having the proper toolset at your disposal. Freebies can only get you so far, invest in advanced SEO tools and uncover hidden potential that you never knew even existed. Many paid tools are well worth the price tag and can provide a detailed overview of your website SEO ranking and health. Popular tools you should consider purchasing include; Ahrefs, Moz Pro, Majestic, SEMrush, Screaming Frog SEO Spider, etc.

Join a Freelance Marketplace

With basic knowledge of SEO practices, a portfolio to boast your skills, and powerful tools to back you up, you are now ready to join an online freelance marketplace and start working as an SEO freelancer. Consider joining popular online marketplaces such as TaskShift, Upwork, and Freelancer.

The Ultimate Guide to Becoming an SEO Freelancer in 2021

Unless you've been living under a rock, you have likely come across the terms "SEO” and “SEO Freelancer". Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a marketing strategy that involves optimizing online content in such a way that it is visible on top search engine results when users query terms related to your content. Put simply, SEO ensures that your content is found online and this, in turn, helps generate revenue for you.

SEO Freelancers are experienced individuals who excel in optimizing content for the internet. Their job is to ensure that their client’s website turns up on the first page of search engine results.

In recent years, companies have realized the importance of SEO and are currently paying top dollar to improve their website rankings. Becoming an SEO freelancer is not an easy journey and is one that requires enormous dedication and patience. In this brief guide, we will take a look at how you can become a successful SEO freelancer in 2021.

What Does an SEO Freelancer Do?

As mentioned before, SEO freelancers are responsible for crafting and optimizing the content on websites. In particular, they utilize various strategies and techniques to ensure that their content is more likely to appear in top search results. Successfully optimized content will drive traffic to your website and subsequently increase your site ranking. Common strategies employed by SEO freelancers include:

Keyword Research: The purpose of keyword research is to discover specific words or phrases that people type into search engines. By strategically placing popular keywords in your content (in headings, titles. paragraphs), you increase your chances of landing your content in top search results.

Content Creation and Promotion: SEO Freelancers are also tasked with creating engaging content (both written and visual). Creating content that assimilates with keywords and follows predefined structural formats massively increases website ranking. Promoting content on other platforms and social media sites also increases visibility.

Link Building: While ranking websites, search engines are also on the lookout for external links that refer back to your content. The more backlinks that link back to your content, the more likely your content will rank higher in search indices. SEO freelancers often create backlinks by promoting content via guest posting, internal links, and various other methods.

Competitor Analysis: As the term suggests, competitor analysis involves analyzing the content of your competitor which may, or may not, rank higher than yours. By analyzing your competitors you can identify problems that exist in your content which, when remediated, could lead to better results.

Steps to Becoming a Successful SEO Freelancer

Start Learning the Basics

The best way to become an SEO expert is to learn, learn, and learn. Try to soak up as much SEO knowledge as possible from various sources all around the internet. However, it is equally important to have a solid foundation and a strong grasp of important SEO concepts. For this, we recommend taking online classes and courses that cover the basics of search engine optimization. Learn about SEO from the following resources:

Online Classes and Courses from reputable websites such as Coursera, Udemy, Udacity, etc.

Books and reader manuals on SEO writing

Website resources from popular sites such as Taskshift and Moz

Subscriber newsletters from industry experts

Create a Portfolio to Showcase Your Skills

Once you’ve covered the basics, it’s now time to start building up that portfolio. When clients are on the lookout for promising SEO freelancers, they will definitely want proof of your expertise. A portfolio will provide you the option to showcase your skills to prospective clients which in turn could lead to future jobs. Your portfolio should include:

• Your personal details (Name and contact information)
• Projects you have completed (these can be personal projects or projects undertaken for clients)
• List of clients you have worked for alongside the positive reviews they left behind
• Performance statistics for websites you have worked upon
• Examples of link-building and content promotion

Purchase SEO Tools

You can’t be an SEO expert without having the proper toolset at your disposal. Freebies can only get you so far, invest in advanced SEO tools and uncover hidden potential that you never knew even existed. Many paid tools are well worth the price tag and can provide a detailed overview of your website SEO ranking and health. Popular tools you should consider purchasing include; Ahrefs, Moz Pro, Majestic, SEMrush, Screaming Frog SEO Spider, etc.

Join a Freelance Marketplace

With basic knowledge of SEO practices, a portfolio to boast your skills, and powerful tools to back you up, you are now ready to join an online freelance marketplace and start working as an SEO freelancer. Consider joining popular online marketplaces such as TaskShift, Upwork, and Freelancer.