Updated: April 3, 2023.
In this quick SEO FAQ article, you will get to know Olga’s insights and commentary on being an SEO and having/not having a degree.
Wondering if you can become an SEO without a degree? I have good news for you. The answer is YES. You can become an SEO without a degree.
If you are new to SEO, you probably have a lot of questions, such as:
- Can I become an SEO without a degree?
- Do you need a degree to do SEO?
- What degree is best for SEO?
- What degree should you get for SEO?
Can I become an SEO without a degree? [Video]
Interesting polls on education among SEOs
Brodie Clark ran a poll asking SEO professionals whether they have a University degree. The results showed that 65% of SEOs have a university degree.
Bill Slawski asked SEOs what degrees they have and if they have one.
The results are so varied! Interestingly, the majority of SEOs don’t have a computer science degree (including me).
I encourage you to review the answers to Bill’s tweet and stop worrying if you don’t have a computer science degree or don’t have a degree at all.
You can become a great SEO and do SEO without a degree. Having one may or may not help you.
I personally know great SEOs who have no degree, great SEOs with a degree, poor SEOs who have a computer science degree, and poor SEOs with no degree at all. Being an SEO and having a degree is similar to Google rankings. A degree is one of hundreds of factors influencing whether you can be a great SEO. Depending on your situation and your context, your degree or lack thereof may or may not influence whether you are or can become a great SEO.
What degree is best for SEO?
Even though I believe that a university degree is not a requirement to do SEO, if I were to choose the best degree for SEO, I would say it is computer science or information technology.
If you are interested in SEO and wondering what to major in, I would suggest one of these.
Having a good understanding of computers, how they work, how the Internet works and having basic knowledge of coding, HTML, etc. can facilitate your SEO journey.
On the other hand, keep in mind that you can learn all of these skills online for free thanks to platforms, such as Coursera or even Google which has various courses.
With that in mind, I would say that all you need is a willingness to learn and a “feel” for computers.
How you can become a successful SEO without a degree
I recommend you check my in-depth article on how long it takes to learn SEO where I describe in detail the entire success formula for becoming a great SEO.
In a nutshell, this is what you need to become a successful SEO without having a degree:
- You need to be willing to learn & experiment.
- You need to create (and break) a bunch of websites at least. I mean… create them from scratch, SEO them, observe the results, etc.
- You should read SEO books, SEO news, and listen to SEO podcasts.
- You need to fall in love with Google Search Central and LearningSEO.io. These should be your bible!
- You should not be afraid of reaching out to other SEO for help. SEOs are extremely friendly and helpful.
