What does an SEO specialist do, and how do you become one?
What an SEO specialist does: tasks, skills, tools, KPIs, how SEO is changing with Google's AI answers and how to become an SEO specialist.
In 30 seconds
- An SEO specialist gets a site into Google's top results without paying for ads.
- The job has 3 parts: content, technical and authority.
- It's measured with clicks, visits from Google and rankings, mainly in Google Search Console.
- Since 2025 Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode answer some questions directly: clear, trustworthy, well-structured content is more likely to be cited.
An SEO specialist is the person who gets a website found on Google and other search engines without paying for ads. They study what people search for (keywords), improve the content, titles and structure of pages, fix technical problems that stop Google reading them and measure results with tools like Google Search Console.
When you search for “organic green tea” on Google, the top results aren’t there by chance. Behind them there’s often the work of an SEO specialist: someone who understands what people type and prepares the site’s pages to answer better than anyone else.
What SEO is
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It shouldn’t be confused with SEA, paid advertising on search engines.
| SEO | SEA (advertising) | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | You don’t pay for clicks | You pay for every click |
| Timing | A few months | Immediately |
| Where it appears | Normal results | “Sponsored” results |
| When you stop | Visits continue for a long time | Visits stop |
What an SEO specialist does every day
- Checks in Search Console how visits from Google went.
- Looks for new keywords for product pages.
- Rewrites the title and description of a page that gets few clicks.
- Checks that new pages have been indexed, meaning read and stored by Google.
- Talks to the content team to plan the next articles.
The 3 parts of the job
Almost everything an SEO specialist does falls into one of these three parts.
- Content: chooses keywords and writes or improves copy, titles and descriptions.
- Technical: checks the site is fast, error-free and readable by Google.
- Authority: gets other trustworthy sites to talk about the site and link to it.
Words to know
- Keyword: the word or phrase someone types into Google, for example “organic green tea”.
- SERP: Google’s results page (Search Engine Results Page).
- Title: the blue headline of the result. Google measures it in pixels: beyond about 580 pixels it’s cut off with “…”.
- Meta description: the grey text under the title. It doesn’t improve rankings, but it persuades people to click.
- Search intent: what the searcher wants to do: learn, choose or buy.
Which tools they use
To start, three free Google tools are enough.
- Google Search Console: shows which searches the site appears for, how many clicks it gets and whether there are errors. See Google Search Console for beginners.
- Google Trends: shows whether a search is growing and which months it’s searched most.
- Google Keyword Planner: suggests keywords and approximate volumes. It needs a Google Ads account, but you don’t have to spend anything.
Then, with experience:
| Tool | What it’s for |
|---|---|
| Google Analytics 4 | What people do after arriving on the site |
| PageSpeed Insights | Speed and Core Web Vitals |
| Crawlers (e.g. Screaming Frog, free up to 500 URLs) | Visit the site like Google and find broken links, redirects, duplicate titles |
| SEO suites (e.g. Semrush, Ahrefs, paid) | Competitors’ keywords, links from other sites, estimated difficulty |
| Google’s Rich Results Test | Checks structured data |
SEO specialist KPIs
| KPI | What it measures | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Organic clicks | Visits from Google | Search Console |
| Impressions | How often the site appears | Search Console |
| CTR | How convincing the result is | Search Console |
| Average position for main keywords | Where the site appears | Search Console, SEO suites |
| Indexed pages | How many pages are on Google | Search Console, Pages report |
| Conversions from organic traffic | Sales or leads brought by SEO | Google Analytics 4 |
SEO and AI answers
In Italy, Google has shown AI Overviews (AI-generated summaries at the top of results) since March 2025 and AI Mode (search as a conversation) since October 2025. For SEO, some things change:
- some definition searches (“what is…”) bring fewer clicks, because the answer is already on the page;
- AI answers cite their sources with a link: clear content with verifiable data and an orderly structure is more likely to be chosen;
- clicks and impressions from these answers are counted in Search Console’s Performance report.
The basics stay the same: understand intent, write useful, trustworthy content, make the site easy for Google to read.
A step-by-step example
Five Leaf is Peacchy’s fictional tea shop. Its Sencha tea page gets very few visits. Here’s what the SEO specialist does:
- Works out who searches for what. “Green tea” is searched by lots of people, but to learn. “Sencha green tea” is searched by people who want to choose or buy: it’s the right keyword for a product page.
- Rewrites the title. It used to be just “Sencha”. Now it’s “Organic Sencha green tea, loose leaf | Five Leaf”: keyword at the start, brand at the end, under 580 pixels.
- Checks the rules. No health claims like “burns fat”: for food, in the European Union they’re only allowed if authorised (Regulation (EC) 1924/2006).
- Measures the result. After a few weeks, checks in Search Console whether clicks and position have improved.
Before: “Sencha” · “Green tea. Buy now.” After: “Organic Sencha green tea, loose leaf | Five Leaf” · “Organic Japanese Sencha, whole leaves, with a fresh, grassy taste. Great iced too. Shipped within 24 hours.”
How to become an SEO specialist
You don’t need a specific degree. You need solid basics, lots of practice and a way to show what you can do. A typical path starts with an internship or a junior SEO specialist role at an agency or company, then SEO specialist, SEO manager or head of SEO; many also work freelance. The most common specialisms: technical SEO, e-commerce SEO, local SEO, international SEO for multilingual sites.
- Learn the basics: articles like this one, Google’s free guides and a glossary.
- Practise: on a real site or a fictional one, like Five Leaf.
- Show results: describe in a portfolio what you changed and what happened next.
Is it for you?
Probably, if at least two of these sound like you:
- You enjoy writing and finding the right word.
- You’re curious about what people search for.
- You like looking at numbers and understanding why they change.
- You’re patient: results take a few months.
Sources
Which of these titles is best for the Sencha tea page?
Correct! It contains the keyword people search for, it's clear and it isn't too long.
Not quite. "Sencha" on its own is too vague, and the fat-burning claim can't be used for a food in the European Union.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need to know how to code?
No. To start, good writing and curiosity are enough. A little HTML helps, but you pick it up over time.
How long does it take to see results?
Usually a few months. It depends on the competition and how well known the site already is.
Are SEO and SEA the same thing?
No. SEO works on the normal results, SEA on paid ads. They often work together on the same keywords.
Are Google's AI answers killing SEO?
They're changing it. AI Overviews and AI Mode answer some questions directly, so certain searches bring fewer clicks. But they use web pages as their sources: clear, trustworthy, well-structured content is more likely to be cited.
Which certifications do you need to be an SEO specialist?
None are mandatory. Useful free ones include the Google Analytics certification on Skillshop and the academy courses of the main SEO tools. A portfolio with measured results counts more.
Topics:SEOMarketing rolesGoogle