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Are SEO Salaries Too Low?

Didit Editorial
Fios 1 Money & Main Street

November 21, 2013: SEO salaries appear to have peaked in 2011, according to SEMPO (the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization), which periodically studies the compensation environment. In 2011, the average salary for an SEO was $75,542; today, it is just $68,600 – a 10 percent decline.   At the same time, SEMPO reported a 10 percent rise in the number of what it calls “Entry Level Employees” working in the SEO field. (SEMPO defines “Entry Level Employees” as workers with from zero to three years of experience whose annual salary ranges from $0 to $30,000.)

Why Is This Happening?
Although SEMPO did not directly attribute the drop in average salaries to the emergence of this new class of under-experienced worker, it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that a causal relationship is present, and that average salaries are now being driven down by the influx of these “SEO newbies.”

If this is in fact the case, what does this new trend say about the health of the SEO profession? Is it, in the words of one commentator, “good news” demonstrating the industry’s “maturity” or a red flag suggesting that SEO is a declining, and perhaps even endangered profession?

Grunts and Foremen
The actual work that SEOs do on a daily basis is divided among a number of sub-specialty jobs. The unsung foot soldiers of the profession are Link Builders, Copywriters, and Specialists. These low-paid grunts account for perhaps a third of the people working in SEO. Above them in rank, salary, and prestige are strategists, managers, and directors, who set goals, oversee the quality of the work, coordinate teams, interface with clients and/or senior management, and present at SMX and SES.

Unlike other professions, say, bricklaying, there are many a lot more grunts slapping mortar on bricks than foreman standing around with clipboards. In SEO, however, higher-level managerial types have significantly outnumbered the people who’ve actually done the work.

Until now, that is.

The Effect of Large Animals on Salaries
One undeniable effect of Penguin and Panda has been to make two traditionally efficient activities within the SEO profession accomplished by “SEO grunts” – link building and content generation – less efficient. Instead of simply contracting with an offshore link network, or contracting with a content farm in Bangalore, firms must do link building and content creation by hand or risk a Google penalty.

Some might say that it’s odd that Google – often perceived as the exemplar of friction-free information flow – is making this particularly industry less efficient. But by requiring that “a human be in the SEO loop,” Google has effectively created a huge demand for “SEO grunts,” and this kind of work is very well-suited for recent college grads who can’t find other gainful work in a down economy, hence the influx of this new breed of SEO newbies.

Maturity or Obsolescence?
The disciplines associated with SEO are alive and well, even as salaries are moderating and the “SEO” acronym appears to be aging badly (just this week, a trade show changed its name to avoid the dreaded “S” in SEO). SEO salaries may have peaked, but demand remains strong for intelligent, analytical people who can work – often under extreme pressure – to make web sites more visible and accessible by whatever tactical means are legal and available.  Whatever we call the work that these people do, the market continues to demand it, so this industry will remain a good field in which to work.

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