So, you want to take up a course in SEO? You’re not alone. Anybody who has ever heard about digital or Internet marketing is aware of SEO in India or have at least heard of it because nothing really happens bypassing the search engines like, Google, Yahoo and Bing. Search engines are a lot like school principals and until you don’t appease them, there is very little that you can hope to achieve.
However, the real question is – do you seriously want a career in SEO or are you simply following the crowd? If you fall in the former category, the following will interest you. So, keep reading.
SEO – what is it all about?
SEO stands for search engine optimization and it is the art and science of optimizing your web pages so that they can be easily found by the search engines. It is an art because it entails understanding of the business, consumer behavior, crafting positive strategies to woo the customers by offering them value (in the form of a solution, product or service) and receiving value in return (in the form of sales, leads or branding). As for the science part of SEO, it deals with all the latest technologies, engineering and technicalities of a website like, information architecture, code, user experience and so on.
Ever since it started getting visible in the year 2010, India has shown a steady growth of 25% to 40% per annum.
Along with it, 94.39% of desktop search traffic originating in Google from India points to the fact that search engine optimization is a necessity when it comes to the success of any business online.
Not just in India, but the demand for SEO exists worldwide thanks to voice search, localization and merger of SEO with social media, email marketing and other such digital marketing services. You can read all about it here. Put simply, so long as Internet users depend on search engine to search for information, SEO will continue to soar.
Is SEO recognized as a career?
Yes, SEO is recognized as a career and there are several International certifications from Microsoft and Google. As traditional advertising methods are slowly becoming obsolete and the number of Internet users in India is rising exponentially, SEO is being recognized as a flourishing career in top MNC’s like, Cognizant, TCS, IBM and Deloitte, as well as, e-commerce companies and startups. Any business looking to create a strong foothold in the online landscape need a website that is optimized for the search engines and this is where SEO professionals are needed.
There are more than 750,000 e-commerce businesses worldwide and that number is only increasing by the day.
All of them rely on organic SEO, as well as, paid SEO (PPC) to stay on top and trump competition. And that is just e-commerce business. There are businesses with physical stores who are promoting their store online. There are restaurants, pubs, clubs and so on, who are all marketing online to attract the crowd. And all of them need SEO!
SEO’s scope in India
If you do a quick Google search for “SEO Jobs in India”, you will get 1,000+ results from top online job portals like, Naukri, Timesjob, Monster, Indeed and so on. You will also find 1,000+ results from LinkedIn, which is considered a good job search website and networking site for professionals.
Needless to say, strength is in the numbers and there is no denying that there is a huge demand for SEO professionals in India. From freshers to experienced personnel, companies are constantly looking for talented individuals to head their SEO team or become a part of it.
Since Google keeps on surprising webmasters with its ongoing algorithm changes, companies know better than to slag and be lazy about their SEO efforts. Google is ruthless when it comes to penalizing a website and no successful digital marketing company wants to be on the bad side of the search giant! Moreover, thanks to low labor cost and available infrastructure, the UK, the US, Australia and all the big honchos are investing in the digital marketing industry in India by outsourcing their requirement. So, the scope of SEO in India is huge and it’s time that you capitalize on it.
You can learn SEO within 4 weeks if you enroll for a proper course and the rest is all about practice. You have to constantly read about the latest happenings in the industry in order to stay ahead. SEO courses will only teach you the basics, but the rest is up to you.
Do you have a knack for the online world? SEO is the perfect career for you! The demand is there and so is the money. So, get to it!
What is your opinion about the future of SEO in India? Kindly share your views below.