Thread: What makes somebody a SEO professional?

Lets discuss this topic. There is nothing such as SEO Professionals in the true sense, since there are no standardizing bodies to control SEO standards. Despite that, many people label themselves as SEO Pros?

What do you think makes a person a SEO Pro?

Do you think there should be standards by which people are recognized as SEO Professionals? Take for instance, Oracle professionals are given accreditation by Oracle. Should similar body be established to give endorsements to people as recognized SEO Pros?

Indeed, this is one major problem in the SEO industry. The lack of certification or standardization leaves the door open to many less than competent people.

In my opinion, what makes one person a SEO professional is anybody who:

_ has extensive knowledge about SEO.
_ is up to date on the latest SEO changes.
_ is capable of doing SEO for himself.
_ is capable of teaching SEO.
_ has a proven track record of successful SEO work.
_ understands SEO and is capable of making sounds decision and providing useful advices not just because of what he or she heard, but based on facts and personal researches and observations.

There may be other important points, but those are the first that come to my mind.

If you're looking for a accreditation, check out the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO).

Originally Posted by Will.Spencer

If you're looking for a accreditation, check out the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO).

SEMPO is just a an organization who's only goal is to take $1000 a year away from you.

They don't have any quality filter and hence fail at providing any kind of guide as to who's an SEO professional and who's not.

SEO Pro is guy who lives from SEO but also it have appropriate knowledge.

That is it.

I probably have a knowledge but I am not SEO pro.

Originally Posted by Nicolas Prudhon

Indeed, this is one major problem in the SEO industry. The lack of certification or standardization leaves the door open to many less than competent people.

In my opinion, what makes one person a SEO professional is anybody who:

_ has extensive knowledge about SEO.
_ is up to date on the latest SEO changes.
_ is capable of doing SEO for himself.
_ is capable of teaching SEO.
_ has a proven track record of successful SEO work.
_ understands SEO and is capable of making sounds decision and providing useful advices not just because of what he or she heard, but based on facts and personal researches and observations.

There may be other important points, but those are the first that come to my mind.

Originally Posted by Hellas

SEO Pro is guy who lives from SEO but also it have appropriate knowledge.

That is it.

I probably have a knowledge but I am not SEO pro.

We banter about the term SEO as though it were a standardized definition. In many ways it is, as we understand generally what it means, but if we were task ourselves with elaborating on that, how many variances would there be?

If something is going to be standardized with certification, there needs to be more concrete guidelines. There is certification in software as the parameters of that are set by the software designers and that is verifiable.

With search engines evolving and strategies changing out of competitiveness to get ahead and stay ahead, one has to keep up with trends, yet, unlike software companies, search engines are not that open about their algorithms. Google says one thing in their white papers, and then contradicts what they say.

Certification of a general standard open to interpretation is rather like trying to certify someone as a psychic.

Perhaps (and I don't know if they do) the search engines, like software companies, could offer their own certifications specific to their search engines which an SEO could collect like a software engineer collects certifications. Rather than an SEO professional who is going to tell you the future, there would be SEO professionals who are certified in Google, MSN (bing, live, or what the hell ever their current personality may be), Yahoo!, etc.

I think the biggest standard for an SEO pro is to show results on whichever websites he/she have worked on. We cannot set standards. A slightest change can even make your website move 100+ positions. Yesterday I saw my blog moving on to the 250 + from 15th position and after changing the H1 I saw it coming back to 18 position. It is now in 19th position for sulumits retsambew keyword. So everything is result based. I think SEO pro are person who can make websites the most search engine friendly one's.

Originally Posted by sulumits competitor

I think the biggest standard for an SEO pro is to show results on whichever websites he/she have worked on. We cannot set standards. A slightest change can even make your website move 100+ positions. Yesterday I saw my blog moving on to the 250 + from 15th position and after changing the H1 I saw it coming back to 18 position. It is now in 19th position for sulumits retsambew keyword. So everything is result based. I think SEO pro are person who can make websites the most search engine friendly one's.

I doubt that your changes cause anything of that. Mysterious are the roads of Google .

SEO pro is a Guy who can bring a website in top 10 on Google, Anyhow! [For Most challenging and competitive keywords] and yes i meant ANYHOW! As simple as that.

Originally Posted by Oranges

SEO pro is a Guy who can bring a website in top 10 on Google, Anyhow! [For Most challenging and competitive keywords] and yes i meant ANYHOW! As simple as that.

Even SEO pro is helpless if he dont have enough funds that support him or if he have 10 other SEO pros that working on concurent project .