Analyzing digital marketing salaries and job demand gives us a peek into how the industry is changing. And our research has spoken: SEO jobs and salaries are increasing, content jobs are in high demand, and SEO skills are more necessary than ever.
Our Inbound Marketing Jobs and Salary Guide is back — with 2017 job data around 11 inbound marketing titles and a breakdown of salaries by job title and cities in the United States, Australia, Canada, and the UK. Take a look at the full report now:
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Here’s what we discovered:
1. 22% Increase in SEO Jobs Since 2012
In 2017, there’s been a double-digits surge in SEO jobs in the top 20 cities in the United States.
2. Content Demand Overtakes SEO Demand
While SEO jobs are at an all-time high, content positions are more coveted in 2017.
Content positions outnumber SEO positions by 400%.
3. Half of All Content Jobs Now Require SEO Skills
When looking at content marketing job descriptions, 46.7% of them required some SEO knowledge or skills.
What Industry Experts Say About This Shift
Last year, we saw a decline in both SEO jobs and salaries. This year, our data confirms our predictions from 2016: we’re seeing SEO become more of a skill or requirement for marketers, rather than a job title.
Even more so, we’re seeing brands create value for their customers by having SEO and Content teams work together.
Here’s what the experts believe this means for the future of digital marketing:
Rand Fishkin: SEO Will Continue To Grow More Broadly
“For a long time, folks worried about whether social would overtake search as a traffic channel, whether mobile would lead to the death of search, and whether Google would cannibalize so much traffic with instant answers that search’s ROI would fade.
Over time, as search traffic and the value of SEO have weathered (and even grown in spite of) these fears, businesses have come around to making SEO a channel of consistent investment. In my opinion, growth of salaries, of job opportunities, and of job requirements around SEO skills will continue at a pace similar to digital marketing more broadly for the foreseeable future.”
“In my opinion, growth of salaries, of job opportunities, and of job requirements around SEO skills will continue at a pace similar to digital marketing more broadly for the foreseeable future.”
-Rand Fishkin, Moz
Larry Kim: Content Shouldn’t Be Oblivious to Search Best Practices
“A long time ago, when the Web was relatively new, there was a big distinction in marketing job titles concerning web marketing vs. regular marketing, because it was new.
20 years later, marketing obviously includes the Web but I don’t see people calling themselves Web marketers anymore. Perhaps something similar is happening with the SEO and Content Marketing job descriptions: that it’s increasingly obvious that marketing content shouldn’t be oblivious to search best practices, so there’s less of a need to specifically call attention to it.”
“It’s increasingly obvious that marketing content shouldn’t be oblivious to search best practices, so there’s less of a need to specifically call attention to it.”
-Larry Kim, Wordstream
Robert Rose: We’re Going to See a Scramble for Content Talent
“Today, there is only one thing keeping brands from rivaling the capabilities to build audiences like media companies – and that’s talent.
Over the coming years, we’re going to see a scramble for content talent like we’ve never seen. This study is living proof to the high demand for content marketing, SEO, and storytelling talent that will transform what marketing looks like over the next 5 years.”
“Today, there is only one thing keeping brands from rivaling the capabilities to build audiences like media companies – and that’s talent. Over the coming years, we’re going to see a scramble for content talent like we’ve never seen.”
-Robert Rose, Content Marketing Institute
Want to dig into the data more? Make sure to download the infographic and get salary data for inbound marketing jobs (including Director of Marketing and Social Media Manager) by title and city!
About the Author: Esther Chung
Esther is the Content Marketing Manager at Conductor. When she's not deciding what to eat for lunch, she helps to manage and edit content for Conductor, the leading enterprise Organic Marketing platform.
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