ContentSearch Engine Optimization

Where The Most SEO Experts Are

A quick follow-up to to my note about the increasing demand for search engine optimization specialists:

Tim Dineen, Online Marketing Manager at job search engine Indeed, found out that California is the no. 1 state for SEO jobs. Meaning: On the US west coast, you’ll find the highest density of job offers for Search Marketing professionals. His findings are based on an analysis of the @SEOjobs Twitter account (great idea, by the way!), which is populated via a feed from Indeed.

Here is his map:

Where the SEO jobs are - Tim Dineen

Onward Search did a similar analysis, which was based on the SEMPO member roster – and came to the same conclusion.

I was curious to find out about the “demand” for SEO and did a quick (non scientific) research with Google’s great tool “Insights for Search”. As the chart shows, the search volume for the query “SEO” in California has been far above the national average in the last 90 days.

Google Insights for Search - Web Search Volume: United States vs. California (United States) - for seo, Last 90 days

Conclusions: 1. There a lots of choices for California based businesses that are interested in hiring an SEO Consultant or SEO agency. 2. The competition among SEO professionals in this state will continue to increase. Hopefully, this will also lead to a more mature industry with higher education and ethics standards.

P.S. If you’re interested in becoming an SEO professional or are just curious to learn more about this industry, check out the following links:
– SEOmoz: How To Get An SEO Job?
– SEO Journal: 10 Tips To Making It In The SEO Community
– Onward Search: Where In The World Is SEO Talent?
– Reality SEO: SEO Salaries, Jobs And In-House Surve
– SEMPO: In-House Search Marketing Pays Well, But Not Dot Com Hype Levels

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1 Comment

  • Marc Baumann

    Tim,

    Thanks very much for your comment – and the clarifications. I saved the URL of your original post, but somehow it got lost when I wrote my post. I’ve updated the post and included the link.

    I am aware that your findings are referring to the number of job openings.

    The title of my post tries to reflect the overall trend that California has been a hotbed for SEO/SEM for quite some time (supply- and demand-side) – and include your latest findings in these developments.

    Even if we want to play devil’s advocate, I agree with your assessment that a ‘boom’ of SEO jobs in California does not lead to less qualified professionals.

    I think the growing SEO job market and the increased competition raises (again) the awareness that SEO is still a relatively young industry – an industry, which is challenged to establish education and implement ethics standards.

    Thanks for your interesting findings! Keep up the good work!

    Marc

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