You don't need any coding experience to start SEO. In fact, you can do SEO without touching a single line of codes. And when you even need to deal with codes, all you'll need may be to copy-paste - and there are guides to help you accomplish that.
A little knowledge of HTML and CSS will get you going and are not as difficult as the programming languages: Python, JavaScript, PHP and the rest.
Many people just like you, read or heard about SEO and never proceed in their learning because they thought;
...oh! you must know all the coding things before you can be an SEO.❌
Some even started the learning process, and were like… I can't imagine myself sitting and learning all this syntax and + SEO again…
And they quit!
Did you know that average SEOs who make 6 figures have little or no coding skills?
Niel Patel is one of the most brilliant SEO experts in the world however, he confessed that he doesn't know much of coding.
Coding is an added advantage.
And if you're the type that loves coding and wouldn't mind learning it, that's a plus! Welcome to our world!
Don't have time for coding? just SEO? You're in the right place!
And today, I'm going to show you specific areas of SEO you can focus on without messing with a complicated line of codes - and still be an expert.
In the end, you'll discover that you can be a 360-SEO guru without knowing how to code - just like Neil Patel.
Let's begin with specific areas of specialization in SEO.
SEO Areas Of Specialization
1. Local SEO
Local SEO is about ranking your businesses on Google, Bing and some other search engines.
It's basically the process of attracting local searchers to your store or business offices by optimizing your online presence on Google and other search engines.
Examples are Google my business (GMB) and Bing Places Portal for businesses.
To successfully carry out local SEO, you don't need any coding experience from start to finish.
Let me show you how. Basically, your job as a local SEO is to:
- Register and set up businesses on Google my business, Bing Places (Bing) and other search engines.
- Research some keywords that you're going to use to optimize the business.
- Optimize your business location on a map
- Geo-tag your images on Google.
Pretty straightforward. No coding.
To learn how this works and how you can claim your business in just 15 minutes, Ahref has this video to guide you
[Insert video] https://ahrefs.com/blog/local-seo/
2. On-page Optimization
What if I told you that you could build a website without coding?
Would you ever believe it? But it's real!
With many content management systems (CMS) out there making sophisticated upgrades from time to time, you can build a website up and running without coding skills.
Now, that's even web development itself. How much more for doing SEO!
But, what about sites that do not run on WordPress and the likes?
Any changes needed to be made that are beyond ordinary HTML and CSS, you can hand it off to the developer team to implement.
Let me say this at this point…
Irrespective of the type of website, your job - what you're hired for is search engine optimization. You suggest changes and ensure the change is effected on the website.
Does the site load too slow? What may be causing it? ...and many other things like that.
You figure it out and tell the developers what to do.
No coding skill. No prior experience.
If you're working with CMS such as WordPress, you can brag as a web designer as well as an SEO.
Because there are plugins to run your work smoothly.
3. Off-page SEO
Any coding experience or knowledge?
NO!
100% of what you'll be doing here requires no coding.
Is it…
- NAP citation in the case of local SEO;
- Blogger Outreaching;
- Link building;
- Guest posting;
Again, you can do virtually every off-page related optimization without seeing - let alone touching a line of code.
That said, let's take a look at the most technical side of SEO.
4. Technical SEO
While this may sound technical to you, the technicality is as simple as implementing some of the on-page optimizations.
What is it all about?
Your role as a technical SEO revolves around the website:
- Server monitoring/migrations
- Generating Sitemap
- Creating a Robot.txt file
- Dealing with duplicate issues
- URL/site structuring
- Page speed optimization
The most difficult part is code minification and resolving W3C Validation warnings are something you can do by following a step by step guide.
In the case of code minification and compression, there are plugins that you'll only need to install and activate.
And that takes care of that!
Where there are no plugins, there are already written codes that you'll only need to follow instructions and copy-paste - to server root directory files such as the .htaccess file.
And for W3C Validation, except you want to do it. You have no business messing around with the codes - your role as a change agent is to suggest and recommend changes.
Don't let anyone scare you, SEO is NOT web development. They're two separate things.
And, while there's an overlap, whatever needs to be done on the coding side can be given to the developers to implement.
To make a great website - one that fulfils its intended purpose requires a combination of many specialists which is why SEOs don't work in a silo.
The developers have to be around to implement whatever changes are needed to make the SEO better.
A Content Writer has its own role to play as well; creating and publishing content and working hand in hand with the social media manager to maintain an online presence.
Although, as an SEO you'll also be needed to optimize the social media account for the company. This is a relatively new field called social media optimization (SMO).
If you're just starting SEO or planning to start, here is a great collection of where you can find SEO resources to aid your learning.
Including relevant people and blogs to follow and fasten the learning curve.
All for free.