I debated publishing this more than almost any other article I’ve written. And if you’ve been around for a while, you know that’s saying something.
I’ve been incredibly fortunate that the SEO community has supported SEOJobs.com. As a result, I receive quite a few direct messages from people looking for advice on landing their next job, breaking into freelancing, or figuring out what comes next in their careers.
After we get past the pleasantries, I almost always ask the same question.
- “So… what makes you special? Why should someone hire you instead of the other 300 applicants?”
Unfortunately, more often than not, the answer is “I’ve been doing SEO for X years.”
If we were accountants, lawyers, or doctors, years of experience would carry much more weight. But I’ve met SEOs with two years of experience that I’d hire tomorrow over people with 15.
Ten years ago, simply knowing SEO made you valuable.
Today, it’s the minimum requirement.
Companies aren’t struggling to find SEO talent anymore. They’re choosing between them. And when there are hundreds of qualified applicants, being competent isn’t what gets you hired. Being memorable is.
You don’t need to become famous
Whenever I talk about standing out in your career, someone inevitably responds with some version of, “I don’t want to become a conference speaker.”
I understand where that comes from because personal branding often gets tied to an all-or-nothing proposition. Either you quietly do your job, or you spend your life chasing followers, speaking engagements, and internet fame.
The reality is much less intimidating than that. I even wrote about my personal non-stage speaking journey to build my brand.
Standing out in today’s hiring market doesn’t require thousands of LinkedIn followers, keynote presentations, or becoming the next Rand Fishkin. It simply requires giving people a reason to remember you after they’ve interviewed twenty other candidates who all sound the same.
Competency is expected. Evidence is remembered.
If you’ve ever been involved in hiring, you know how quickly resumes start to blur together. Everyone is “passionate about SEO.” Everyone is “data-driven.” Everyone has experience with technical SEO, content optimization, stakeholder management, enterprise websites, and the same handful of industry tools.
None of those things is bad. In fact, they’re exactly what I would expect from someone applying for an SEO role. The problem is that they don’t separate you anymore because they’re the baseline for getting an interview, not the reason you get the offer.
The same thing often happens during interviews. Candidates have prepared for the common questions, polished their success stories, and can explain canonical tags, internal linking, or crawl budgets (and now a bit of AI) without missing a beat. By the fifth or sixth interview, everyone begins sounding…
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