What’s an SEO Specialist? What Should They Know? And Where Can You Hire Them?

Somewhere along your journey (probably nearer to the beginning) of building an online business, you were likely told you need to take care of search engine optimization, or SEO.

The best way to do that? A dedicated SEO Specialist on the team.

SEO Specialists are the people who speak the language of the search engines (Google, Bing, AskJeeves – but mostly Google) and help these machines easily find your page and present it to their users.

SEO pros are a necessity for any business hoping to rely on free organic search and LLM traffic to drive potential users to online products. Without SEO, your only real hope for driving traffic is to go viral on social media or spend a bunch of money on ads.

Why Hire an SEO Specialist?

Ideally, anyone on your team could be your SEO Specialist with a little bit of training.

The basics are easy to learn, and Google even has its own course on SEO. This might seem simple enough; most of SEO is Google, and Google gives you the playbook for ranking on its own search engine. Why not simply train a team member in one month?

However, SEO has enough nuance and occult knowledge that it normally requires some time in the field for a professional to become sufficiently skilled. Google has regularly been caught misleading people about what actually works when ranking on its search engine. And they change the algorithm every couple of months.

Experienced SEO Specialists have been around long enough to have a sense of what Google likes and doesn’t like. They can tune out false information and help you create content that stays at the top of the SERPs even during an algorithm change.

There are also just some basic SEO tricks out there that you simply can’t know unless you’ve been in the game for a while:

Title tags need to be short
You don’t have to do an exact keyword match in the title to rank for a keyword
A great way to build backlinks is by getting on podcasts and submitting your site to directories

These are just a couple of tips an experienced SEO could give you (our head of content happens to be an SEO Specialist as well).

Which Businesses Benefit Most From an SEO Specialist?

Ironically, large, often DTC brands tend to invest the most in SEO, choosing to dominate the SERPS (search engine results pages) for free exposure. But, it’s actually the small, niche businesses with lesser budgets (especially those in B2B) that can benefit the most from a SERP boost.

If you’re selling one-off DTC products to individuals, you’re far better off running ads with an ad manager. You could reasonably expect a large number of leads to convert quickly after viewing the ad, even once.

But if you sell a premium-priced B2B service? You need to spend time entering the mind of your potential customers. Running massive ad campaigns can take way too much time and money without an assurance of conversions from enterprises with long conversion cycles.

With just a little bit of SEO magic targeting niche keywords, you could rocket your business to the top of search results for crucial keywords related to your niche.

Normal Responsibilities for an SEO Specialist

SEO Specialists are normally responsible for:

Conducting SEO audits
Performing keyword research
Building links
Analyzing web analytics
Doing basic modifications to web pages (a little bit of HTML helps)
And playing a role in a brand’s content strategy

The role also involves collaborating with the marketing team to develop and execute SEO strategies that drive organic traffic and improve search engine rankings like:

Owning content strategy and content brief outlines to aid in SEO growth.
Influencing cross-functional decision-makers to drive an impact on growth. Present growth opportunities to stakeholders and decision-makers
Improving processes to maximize growth impact from SEO activities.
Overseeing on-page optimization efforts, including title tags, meta descriptions, header tags, internal linking, and content optimization.
Collaborating with the content team to create SEO-friendly content that aligns with target keywords and search intent.
Tracking and analyzing key SEO metrics, including organic traffic, keyword rankings, bounce rates, conversion rates, and other relevant data.
Reporting on performance and conclusions to marketing team stakeholders.

Brite’s Qualifications for SEO Specialists

5+ years of experience in SEO.
Strong experience in conducting SEO audits and performing keyword research.
Proven track record in building high-quality backlinks.
Proficient in web analytics tools and data analysis.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
Understanding of HTML, CSS, and website design.
Experience with content management systems.

How to Prepare for Interviewing an SEO Specialist

Before hopping into any SEO interview, remember that SEO has black hat and white hat methods.

A black hat SEO method is any method that can game Google’s algorithms to get to the top of search results as fast as possible. While these may work for a time, they inherently degrade the quality of Google search results and can cause your site to be penalized down the line.

For example, any SEO person promising that they can pump out thousands of junk pages for you to get you ranking in days probably is risking your business reputation so they can look good for their next job.

That said, you can tell an SEO Specialist is worth their pay if they at least know of these methods. Some can even help you strike a happy middle ground between fast growth and staying compliant with Google.

A white hat SEO method is any method that Google (or any search engine) explicitly states should help your website and content rank online. Generally, these methods take a bit of time and require careful keyword research, high-quality writing, and meticulous backlink outreach.

This goes without saying, but the majority of an SEO Specialist’s recommended methods should be white hat.

When interviewing an SEO Specialist, you want to make sure that they:

Have realistic timelines
Are open to experimenting with new methods
Ask for realistic budgets to solve problems ($100,000 to create 5 blogs a week for a year is not normally necessary for most brands).

Questions to Ask When Interviewing an SEO Specialist

How do you typically build an SEO strategy from scratch for a new website?
How do you approach keyword research differently for top-of-funnel vs. bottom-of-funnel content?
How do you diagnose and fix crawlability and indexation issues?
Can you explain how you’ve used tools like Google Search Console, Screaming Frog, or Sitebulb in past audits?
How do you handle duplicate content problems and canonicalization?
What’s your go-to process for improving site speed and Core Web Vitals?
How do you approach schema markup and structured data for better SERP features?
How do you decide which pages to optimize first when taking over an existing site?
Can you give an example of a content optimization that significantly improved rankings?
How do you balance optimizing for search engines vs. user experience?
What’s your preferred method for building high-quality backlinks today?
How do you evaluate the quality of a potential backlink source?
How do you approach digital PR to boost organic authority?
How do you track and attribute the impact of SEO efforts on revenue?
Can you share an example where data analysis led you to pivot your SEO strategy?
How do you report results to non-technical stakeholders?
How did you adapt your SEO strategies after a major Google algorithm update?
Can you tell me about a time you improved organic performance without adding new content?

SEO Red Flags

Overemphasis on outdated or black hat tactics (e.g., keyword stuffing, mass directory links).
No mention of collaboration with developers, content teams, or designers.
Lack of familiarity with modern ranking factors (Core Web Vitals, AI-driven search changes).
Overemphasis on one aspect of SEO
Inexperience with tools like GA4
Inexperience with SEO tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, etc.

Interested in Hiring an SEO Specialist For Your Business?

Book a call with us below if you’re ready to get your SEO in order with an SEO Specialist. We’re more than happy to discuss how one of our skilled remote candidates could aid your business as it grows!

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FAQs

Why choose Brite over other recruiting agencies?

We are not traditional recruiters. We are experienced start-up CMOs and VPs of Marketing with a track record of building global remote teams. We understand what it is like to build and grow something from the ground up. We help founders build in-house teams by hand-matching them with pre-vetted senior talent.

How does Brite recruit?

Each candidate undergoes a 5-step intensive interview and technical vetting process. As operators, we globally look for proven experts with passion and drive. Our rigorous screening process ensures we get the best. We only accept people into the network who we’d want to work with and learn from ourselves. We accept less than 1% of applicants.

What is Brite’s 5-step screening process?

Step 1: Screening & English assessment. The first step of the screening process is a comprehensive English language and communication interview evaluation. We also screen candidates based on their experience to ensure they have the required skill set for the role.
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Step 2: Analytical test. We test each applicant's analytical skills via a proprietary test we developed over the years as hiring managers.
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Step 3: Behavioral interview. Each candidate is interviewed by the Brite team, who are expert operators in their functional domain. Our screeners provide specific live exercises, looking for problem-solving ability, depth of experience, communication ability, and creativity.
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Step 4: Cultural fit interview. If the candidate passes through the first three steps of the process, we evaluate each candidate for cultural fit for our clients.
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Step 5: Client interview. We hand-select 3-4 candidates representing the top 2% of applicants and introduce them to our clients at this stage. Our clients do their own screening to decide which candidate to hire.

How long does it take to hire?

We match you with hand-selected 3-4 candidates that match your criteria in as quickly as 48 hours. Most clients complete the entire recruiting process in under four weeks.

Where do you hire?

We are location agnostic. The location depends on the needs of our clients. We recommend you a recruiting strategy based on your time overlap and salary budget requirements. We successfully hired top-tier talent from LATAM (Argentina, Colombia, Chile and Mexico), Eastern Europe (Poland, Ukraine, and Turkey) and East Asia (India, Pakistan and the Philippines).

What roles can I hire for?

We specialize in marketing roles, especially in digital marketing. We have successfully placed candidates in roles like Performance Marketing Manager, Email Marketing Manager, SEO Manager, Digital Marketing Manager, Marketing Analytics Manager, Marketing Operations Manager, Account Based Marketing Manager, CRM Admin, Marketing Designer and Product Designers.