SEO Specialist Resume: Examples, Free Templates, and Tips

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Wondering how to harness your experience, education, and skills to create an SEO Specialist resume that will generate a ton of traffic? Look no further!

In this SEO Specialist resume guide, you’ll find plenty of tips and information on industry certifications to help you list your experience and education.

Dive deep into correct formatting tips and how to write a captivating, opening statement that will blow employers away! 

We’ll take a look at:

• Which resume format you should use
• How to create an entry-level SEO resume
• How to incorporate your existing experience, SEO and beyond, into a professional resume.
• What certifications and education you should include to stand out.
• What AI skills to include in your resume 

By the end of this article, you’ll know how to write your resume, whether you are experienced or just a beginner SEO Specialist.

To simplify the process even more, take advantage of our handy AI-powered resume builder to help you fill in any holes you have in your application.

Let’s look at a sample resume for an SEO Specialist candidate.

resume Example

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[Lilly Green]

[SEO Specialist]

[Sacramento, California | 555-999-8765| lillygreenseoresume@anotheremail.com]

Summary

SEO Specialist with 5 years of experience, including 4+ in high-quality digital marketing campaigns with expert-level implementation of SEO. Experience working for U.S. and Mexico-based agencies providing expertly optimized blogs, entertainment websites, and E-commerce platforms.  Achieved page 1 SERPs for all my clients’ competitive keywords.

Experience

SEO Specialist

Jigzaw Consulting | Sacramento, California

August 2020 – Present

• Planned and implemented SEO strategy on several websites for different industries, all of which have seen their sites move to page 1 of SERPs for targeted keywords.
• Liaised with clients and SMEs to clarify important industry keywords and effectively optimized over 800 pages with these searches in mind.
• Utilized Surfer SEO to increase organic traffic by 30% and significantly improved SERP positions by leveraging natural language processing for data-driven SEO strategies.
• Conducted site reviews, monitored with Search Console, and conducted research and analysis using Ahrefs and Semrush, improving CTR by over 35% on all projects.
• Worked closely with content writers to produce web content that follows Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines. As a result, virtually none of our pages were badly punished by the 2022 Spam update, maintaining strong positions in SERPs.

Freelance SEO Consultant

Solar Rey Partners | Los Angeles, California

August 2019 – July 2020

• Secured a competitive 12-month contract with Solar Rey Partners, a leading wellness brand, to provide expert SEO consultation and implementation services. 
• Educated existing staff on best optimization practices, leading to the client gaining page 1 positions on 24% of their target keywords.
• Achieved 31 % increase in overall CTR, as well as increased brand visibility by increasing the number of impressions for competitive keywords by an average of 65%.

Education

Sacramento State University, Sacramento, California

Master’s Degree (M.A), Digital Marketing

Bachelor’s Degree (B.A.), Communications

Skills

• Google Analytics
• Google Tag Manager
• Google Search Console
• Google AdWords
• Java
• Peoplesoft
• ASI Ticket Writer

Certifications

• Advanced SEO Certification – Market Motive, 2022
• Google SEO Fundamentals by UC Davis, 2020
• SEO Crash Course- Semrush, 2019

Languages

• Native English Speaker
• Spanish (Proficient)

>> Personal Interests <<

Social Media Content Creation

🌟Featured Content: As an SEO Specialist, you are taking big steps into a booming industry. In fact, according to a March 2023 report on Ibisworld.com, the SEO and Internet Marketing Industry has grown 14% each year since 2018. This specific industry has grown faster than the economy overall. What this means for you is that your opportunities for SEO career growth are without limits; the world is your oyster!

Choosing a resume format can be complicated. Do you opt to show your work history from most to least recent, or do you place more importance on your skills? 

Our advice is to stick with the reverse chronological format. This means that you’re emphasizing your previous positions and experience. 

What are the benefits?

• Easy to Follow: Hiring managers prefer it, and it makes it easier for them to follow your career path and progression.
• Focus on Relevant Experience: It emphasizes your most recent and relevant experience and achievements.
• Demonstrates Stability: It can demonstrate your stability and commitment to your career.

Otherwise, you can always opt to place more focus on your skills instead of your prior roles with a functional format. 

Handing in a resume when you don’t have much or any experience can feel like a lost cause, but it doesn’t have to be. Just like finding the right keywords to position websites higher, you can use the same to strongly rank your resume.

You also need to know how to focus on your strengths. That means you should mention key information throughout your resume, such as:

• Certifications from Google Ads/equivalent
• Your knowledge of on-page and off-page SEO techniques
• Understanding of platforms such as Semrush or Ahrefs
• Your ability to analyze and report on SEO performance, including organic traffic, ranking, and conversions
• Internships, projects, or freelance work you participated in as an SEO Specialist. 

We’ll break down each resume section and explain how you can impress a hiring manager as an entry-level SEO Specialist.

Example Entry-Level SEO Specialist Summary

You can start your resume with a bang by writing a summary statement, which should be no longer than 2–3 sentences. 

For an entry-level SEO Specialist, the statement should focus on:

• Your knowledge of SEO techniques and tools
• Any experience you have in the field, whether from studying, personal projects, volunteering, or an internship. 

It’s a chance to show that you understand the job requirements, the skills needed, and your enthusiasm to contribute to the company’s success.

Let’s have a look at how you should write yours, and what you shouldn’t do.

While this mentions the desire to learn and contribute, it still lacks any specific information about the applicant’s qualifications or what they can offer the company.

An introduction like this will have an excellent application-to-interview conversion rate. It’s results-oriented and demonstrates the applicant’s enthusiasm to grow in the field of SEO. It states the applicant’s relevant skills and how they can contribute to the company’s success.

Entry-Level SEO Specialist Skills

It’s good to scatter your skills throughout your resume, but a skills section is where you can summarize it all into one space neatly. 

Since you’re new to the SEO game your skills may be more on the basic side. However, if you still choose the correct words they can impress any hiring manager.

You can list them in a table, or bullet-pointed list, depending on how much space you have.

Making the Most of Your Education Section

If you’re already applying for work as an SEO Specialist, you probably have your degree or completed relevant coursework. 

In this section, you’ll want to keep your education entries concise. 

Include:

• Name of the university, or college, and location
• GPA, if it was in the 3.6 – 4.0 range
• Relevant SEO or marketing projects
• Degrees(s) you earned

This is an example of an SEO Specialist with no experience. If you have more work experience in SEO, you do not necessarily need to include your GPA, coursework, and projects.

Example

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Education

Bachelor of Science in Marketing

Georgetown University, Washington DC

2018-2022

• Relevant coursework: SEO Techniques, Marketing Analytics, Consumer Behavior, Digital Marketing
• GPA: 3.8
• Completed marketing internship with a focus on SEO, collaborating with SEO team conducting keyword research, optimizing website content, and monitoring website performance using Google Analytics.
• Developed and executed a comprehensive SEO strategy for a local non-profit organization’s website. This project involved in-depth keyword research, on-page and off-page optimization, and content creation. Successfully increased the website’s organic traffic by 40% within a 6-month period.

How to Describe SEO Experience as an Entry-Level Candidate

You likely have some sort of experience you can use to demonstrate your SEO knowledge and abilities. 

Maybe you’ve done an internship, or you have relevant experience from a related field.

If you’ve worked in any of the below,  you won’t look so inexperienced, as they relate to SEO:

• Marketing: Shows your knowledge of target audiences, messaging, and branding
• Copywriting: Emphasizes your ability to write engaging and optimized content
• Data Handling: Displays your ability to analyze and interpret data, which is crucial for SEO success
• Analytics: Demonstrates you can track and measure web traffic, engagement, and conversions

Don’t forget that freelancing also counts as experience! Over 73 million Americans freelanced in the U.S. in 2023. If you’ve freelanced as an SEO Specialist, you can outline the job and what you achieved in your resume.

Example

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Freelance Project

Freelance SEO Specialist

Self-Employed

October 2022 – Present

• Conducted keyword research and on-page optimization for small business clients, resulting in a 15% increase in organic traffic for all clients over 6 months.
• Established a monitoring system, resulting in the creation of monthly performance reports that identified improvement opportunities, leading to a 20% increase in client satisfaction.

Listing Google or Other Certifications on Your Resume

In the information and digital industries, certifications are one thing that can help you continuously learn and develop. They will attract attention to your resume if you lack a little work experience or want to show you are up-to-date on training. 

When listing any of these additional certifications on your resume, make sure to include the following: 

• Name of certification
• The organization that certified you
• Year you completed it 

This example only has the bare-bones information. It does not state the year the course was completed, so the employer would not know if the candidate’s knowledge is up-to-date.

This is better as it also includes the course provider, dates, and course details.

As a candidate with less experience, it is also a good option to include the course content description, so the employer knows exactly what technical skills you have learned.

If you’ve been working for at least a few years you may feel that applying for and finding a job will be a piece of cake. However, this isn’t always the case, especially if you have a bland or sloppy resume.

You’re going to need to understand how your work history will benefit each section of your resume and how you can present all your qualifications on your application. 

To start, you’ll need a strong resume summary to show off the years you’ve worked as a Search Engine Optimization Specialist.

SEO Specialist Resume Summary Example

You’ve been working in search engine optimization for a number of years now, so you’ll want to lead off with that. 

Remember, this statement should grab the hiring manager’s attention. 

Let’s look at how to write a summary the right way and also what you should avoid.

It’s not awful, but it can be vastly improved!

For example, the statement about wanting to further develop skills and make a positive impact on website performance is vague.

This example is concise and highlights the applicant’s experience and skills in developing and implementing successful SEO strategies. 

The mention of conducting keyword research and using tools further demonstrates proficiency in SEO.

SEO Specialist Work History Section: Experienced Candidates

As an experienced SEO Specialist, your work history is one of the most important parts of your resume. 

It’s essential to talk about your achievements and responsibilities in a way that highlights your skills and expertise in the field. 

One effective way to do this is by including quantifiable data in your experience section. These could include metrics such as:

• Increased organic traffic by a certain percentage over a period of time.
• Achieved a certain ranking for a targeted keyword.
• Improved website loading speed by a certain amount.
• Increased click-through rates on a certain page or section of the website.

Including this information in your experience section not only provides concrete evidence of your abilities as an SEO Specialist but also helps to differentiate you from other candidates. 

Here’s how it should look:

Example

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SEO Specialist

Johnson Marketing

January 2021 – Present

• Conducted in-depth keyword research and analysis to identify optimization opportunities, driving a 25% increase in organic traffic growth over a 12-month period.
• Optimized website content and meta tags, improving search engine visibility and achieving first-page rankings for 45% of targeted keywords.
• Increased organic traffic by 50% over 6 months through effective on-page optimization and link-building strategies.

Experienced SEO Specialist Skills

It’s highly likely that you’ve picked up new talents along your SEO career journey, and you should be able to include a more specific set of skills. 

Have a look at the different technical skills you should mention now that you’ve been working in search engine optimization for several years.

Take advantage of our customizable resume templates to ensure that your list of skills doesn’t end up looking like a list of spam words.

It’s advisable to weave your soft skills throughout your resume and focus more on your technical skills in your skills list.

SEO AI Skills to Mention in Your Resume

To add to your other analytical and technical skills, you should mention how you use AI to improve your productivity.

Ensuring employees can use the latest tools is essential for hiring managers, so it’s a good idea to mention any of the following:

• Machine learning
• AI implementation
• AI ethics
• AI strategy and consulting
• AI toolkits

Here’s how you can mention these skills and AI tools in your experience section:

Example

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Experience

• Utilized AI tools like Clearscope and Surfer SEO to improve organic traffic by 30% and significantly improved SERP positions by leveraging natural language processing for data-driven SEO strategies.

Experienced SEO Specialist Education Section

By now you should have enough credentials that your education section does not need the same emphasis as your skills or experience. 

That doesn’t mean you should completely ignore it. 

Luckily there are plenty of resume examples, including the sample above that can give you a good idea of how to include your education in your resume. 

You may have decided to take some advanced analytics courses that can fit into the “other” or “certifications” section of your resume. You can see examples of this earlier in the article.

Adding these details can still give you the extra points needed to land an interview.

With this information, you have everything to write your resume. Remember that it’s always critical to think about the number of years you’ve worked, the skills you’ve developed, and your concrete achievements when creating your resume.

The key will be to remember the following:

• Spend time researching positions that you are applying for, and craft your opening statement to match. As an SEO, you know all about using the right keywords!
• Mention SEO AI tools and skills where you can demonstrate your proficiency in these new technologies.
• Look at peers, or even other SEO Specialists’ portfolios/resumes on LinkedIn or other professional platforms and see what keywords make them successful. 
• Utilize grammar tools to check your document and make sure you proofread it yourself.
• If you want to bulk up your SEO resume with more knowledge and experience, review which up-to-date and relevant certifications you can take.

By using our tips and resume-building tools, you’ll be able to see your application rank at the top of employers’ lists in no time.