Rand's post about SEW Live Seattle 2006 (below) got me thinking (and ranting) about SEO salaries. Below is an quote from what Rand said: Apparently, the lowest entry level SEO position ranges from $40-60K per year...The highest offer he recorded was $315,000 as an annual salary
sigh... I read this kind of notes about SEO salaries pretty often, and one thing that most miss is that these salary levels apply only in specific US (and some areas of Canada, GB & Germany )markets. Elsewhere huge SEO/M salaries are just a myth that should be busted...
So how to test this..., if anybody is willing to offer me an 6 figure net salary with 3 year fixed contract & accepts the fact I work from Finland (in Europe), I'd be ready to seriously consider to sell/close my business and start working for pay... Seriously... This is one time only, real offer to get an pro-level SEO with nearly 10 years experience. If I get any bids (e-mail to [email protected] with subject "Seomoz SEO Salary MythBuster!"), I'll let you know... ;)
However, I would be seriously amazed if I received even one offer..
Ps. Please note that In many European countries, including Finland, the employeer needs to pay various social fees in addition to salary.
PS2. And yes, Digg this beyond anything you've seen. I want to either get filthy rich or prove this myth busted!
This is very important post for me because i really need a good salary job :)
Hi, Im from Asia specifically from India. I'm a fresher. I'm getting Only 5k per year and this is a normal Starting salary we are getting here. I think now you can feel huge difference between us.
Hey , I dont think that this is the situation in india, Your salary is totally depend on your performance. Not where you are from in india so many peoples getting higher salaries as compared to United States. regards, Pankaj
I imagine that $300k is a "rock star" valuation, for one of the 50 or so faces you see at every SEO conference. People who are regulars on the speaking circuit have tremendous power to attract big-ticket clients, and that - not astounding meta tags - is what earns that kind of cheese.
Exactly correct - the person who was offered that number is precisely who you describe.
heh... must have been rand.. lol
Hey,
I have been a Seo for over five years now, and work for an independent ads website, and to tell you the truth a starter salary in Ireland is about €30,000 it’s ok but not great from the cost of living you face here. You can get up to €80,000 if you are the head of a Seo firm but there are only about 3 firms in Ireland. The funny thing now in Ireland is that companies are only now latching on to the idea to bring in their own Seo’s (problem) a large number of these guys do not have the skills or have invested time into good practice. They tend to take a bit of white hat some black hat mix it up with a Meta redirect and hope for the best. Also the companies that have employed them for in house work have no idea what real Seo work consists of? and the knowledge needed. So to sum it up there is no real base salary because nobody really has an idea what to pay a Seo. I think the more they need us here in Ireland the more they will pay because there are not very many Skilled Seo’s in ireland unlike the USA the brith place of all Seo's good and bad
Indeed the salary varies to great extent depending on location. As geobal suggested that he is getting 5k/year as a fresher, I am very much surprised ( provided he had USD in mind when saying "5k" and not INR ). USD 5K would be a little more than INR 2,00,000- which makes a monthly salary of around INR 18k/month. Believe me, hardly any SEO company would pay such a figure to any fresher. The standard salary that we generally see for freshers who have got basic knowledge of web dev and wants to move into SEO as trainees is around INR 6k/month or INR 72k/year = approx $1800 - Yes, that's an annual figure !! Off course, depending on the city you are in the 6k figure can go up to 10k-12k for begineers.
I am at Kolkata, which is the cheapest metro in Indiaand the salary scale is equally bad for experienced guys. People like me with around 5 yrs experience in organic SEO ( I don't have exp with PPC) and successful trackrecord in competitive industries like graphic design, pharmacy, real estate, finance would get something around INR 30k month = INR 3,60,000 = USD 9k/yr approx.
definitely this is a good salary here in Kolkata, but we are actually working for mainly US and UK based client.. so when we look at those six figure USD salaries, it definitely feels bad :(
Hi! i've just joined as SEO trainee in India with starting Salary of
5000 rupees per month i.e. 100USD PM.
So what can i expect after 1 yr of experience, 2 years and AFTER FIVE Years of Experience in SEO.
premius - ahaa a lone wolf eh? getting a few clients and doing all the seo yourself is smart business. I can't imagine doing wholesale seo or even working for someone else, it just wouldn't pay enough, I know from my personal sites it is serious work!
No other choice my man :)
A while back I was contacted by a headhunter for a major SEO Director slot. According to him the base will be in the $150,000 - $200,000 land. The job is in L.A. All the sites are blue chip sites; to include Microsoft: https://jobview.monster.com/getjob.asp?JobID=52751701&aid=26904664-2117&WT.mc_n=MKT000125. I did not iterview for it. I stopped working for others a long time ago, but, yes, some SEO positions are quite nicely compensated.
I heard about a woman in Boston who's charging $2500 a day and she's getting it. Some people are willing to pay anything to get the high SERP's.
Seems like your talking about me ogletree I'll take 5 jobs on and make $50K :P
I graduated recently and have been looking for an entry level SEO/SEM position. As far as I can tell the going rate in nyc is 30-35k and the salaries here are usually above national average. Seems like 40-60K may be a bit off.
I know a certain SEM company in Morrisville, North Carolina who pays entry level 25k... expand the range a little :)
25k is beginning to listen more like *a real* entry level salary to my ears. A bit high, but I think US markets justify that...
Here's a follow-up to original question; what kind of an company can/could pay 40-60k (or way more) for entry level SEO jobs? And why? I can only think of larger companies with nationwide or internationally successfull business scheme...
I think that we need to see job duties and a little about performance before we can compare salaries.
One person might be in total charge of SEO for an important and competitive domain. But another might be working under close supervision. Both of these are doing SEO work but very large difference in responsibilities.
I agree... anyhow, If you consider entry level jobs rand mentioned the 40-60k salary is IMO huge, not to mention higher ones I've read on some recruit forums.
Also as said previously, the differences in geography and politics affect hugely on what can be considered as good income. In scandinavian standards, 60k annual salary is very good; and usally only mid level executive people or senior something with 6+ yrs experience can seriously expect to get something like that (if even then)...
I think that a lot of the salary issue is dependent on who you know. Joe polled between 30-50 people in the industry that he knew and asked for the salary ranges of themselves, their employees and the folks they work with/around.
I'd say that $40-60K entry level is most likely for folks in SF, LA, NYC, Boston, Chicago. It also more than likely applies to folks who already know the SEO game somewhat.
I believe Jim Boykin had a salary poll a while back...
56% of his readers made more than $50K from SEO in 2005 (based on 121 votes).
I believe Jim Boykin had a salary poll a while back...56% of his readers made more than $50K from SEO in 2005 (based on 121 votes).
that's a nice read... especially since most of jims readers have 2-7+ years experience, it gives some ground for comparison...
In San Francisco $40K would be a laugh if you have any idea what you're doing in SEO. Entry level could easily get you $45-$50, but if you can talk a good talk you could probably get more. From what I've seen people desperately need SEO and are willing to pay. No - I shouldnt say people, I should say big companies.
Mid-level out here for an experienced SEO might range from $70K-$100K.
And if you really know your sh** and have a proven stellar track record, you've got companies by the you know whats, you can expect upwards of $110K+.
Might be worth noting that when I graduated college in Philadephia, $50K was the high range for what could be expected of salaries in multimedia. I moved to SF immediately after graduating and my first starting salary was $45K. For making Flash animations...
So 2K, maybe you start looking for a job around here...
I think the bigger question is how much is it worth to the company? If an experienced SEO can generate an extra 5-10 million in profit a year, aren't they worth a heck of a lot more then the figures here?
There is so much opportunity in this space I think its why its realistic and expected that the salaries should be higher. SEO/SEM is a highly complex aspect that for one to do effectively you need not only strong quantitative skills but also effective understanding of consumers, marketing principles, user behavior, web technologies, database technologies, etc. There have been many posts lately about the many hats seos and sem manager wear.
Lets imagine a case where you have a company spending 3 million on search advertising a year. A 10 percent reduction in cost is worth 300K a year in earnings to the company, and that is just making current spend more efficient. If an SEO can cause an increase in customers/revenue, they are both lowering the spend and increasing the margin, and any position which directly effects the bottom line of the company is going to be and should be worth more.
good point!
I am in complete agreement with you on this subject - things work differently here in Europe and there is more to a figure than meets the eye, epsecially when it comes to salaries.
In the US salaries are bigger but there are more expenses as social services arae reduced to an absolute minimum.
In any event $300K for an SEO sounds like a very lot of money to me - I don't see many companies out there willing to spend that kind of money on a yearly basis for in house SEO -I too tend to believe it's a myth ...
Sante
Here is what you do. You find a good seo in another country that will work for $10k a year. Get a job that pays $60k a year then have the guy in the other country do your work for you. Then you can play world of warcraft all day in your cube. but seriously.
If you go and ask everybody you know with a job what they make you come up with a higher avg than if you asked everybody that was looking for a job. Some of the best in the business would never work for a company anyhow. They work at home. I personaly would not work for somebody for less than $150,000. I make that much working a few hours a day in my underwear.
So 2K, maybe you start looking for a job around here...
;)
...the issue I went after was that huge SEO salaries outside specific US areas (+ few other areas worldwide) are a myth.
When stating average industry salaries the wording should be more carefull. Otherwise we *poor bastards* living in niche areas must explain day after day why we pay so little etc questions to possible job candidates who read the seomoz but have no idea about the economical realities of industry.
I think the bigger question is how much is it worth to the company? If an experienced SEO can generate an extra 5-10 million in profit a year, aren't they worth a heck of a lot more then the figures here?
I agree, if an seo can truly generate such a sum, then he/she is entitled for a fair share. Anyway, how real (or surreal) it is to generate such sums. In european markets I'd say 0.001% percentage possibility, in US markets?
Very true, I am guessing I am the only one here from the middle east, I live in Jordan, companies over here don't even have a good grasp of what is SEO and what is it that we actually do, salaries would be around 12K to 20K tops per year for an SEO position.
A 3 figure salary is a max of $999 in my books! Are you sure you weren't intending a higher bid? Maybe I have misunderstood you here...
Well, it looks like it is time to start pushing up the SEO fees is those are the stats out of those countries!
It would be nice to have a poll for SEOMoz readers to show which bracket they fit into; that might just bust your myth.
damn... I was thinking in thousands all the way ;)
Making a comparison by poll is not that easy (but it could be fun). For example living expenses vary hugely in various cities and countries; and they affect to what is really left on the pocket. But I do think that 100k (or more) would suffice more than well anywhere in the world ;)
...and no bids so far ;)