Salaries in the SEO / SEM world always interest me. What are people in our profession earning and what SHOULD they be earning? We all know that great organic traffic is very valuable to your business bottomline. Well, apparently, we all DON’T know that… especially here in the midwest, where Advangel happens to be located.
A really good tool to gauge interactive salaries is the Salary Calculator at Indeed.com.
According to Indeed, these are the NATIONAL salary ranges for positions in SEO. For other reports that I have read, these appear to be pretty accurate.
- Online Account Director Seo – $82,000
- Seo Strategist – $57,000
- Seo Manager – $86,000
- Seo Specialist – $48,000
- Search Engine Optimization – $67,000
- Seo Analyst – $51,000
Now, I ran the same SEO jobs in the Kansas City area, here are the results:
- Online Account Director Seo in Kansas City, MO $63,000 [-$19,000, -23.2%]
- Seo Strategist in Kansas City, MO $45,000 [-$12,000, -21.1%]
- Seo Manager in Kansas City, MO $66,000 [-$20,000, -23.3%]
- Seo Specialist in Kansas City, MO $37,000 [-$11,000, -23%]
- Search Engine Optimization in Kansas City, MO $52,000 [-$15,000, -22.4%]
- Seo Analyst in Kansas City, MO $39,000 [-$12,000, -23.6%]
So, I ran the reports on SEM in Kansas City, and I found out that average Sem salaries for job postings in Kansas City, MO are 23% lower than average sem salaries for job postings nationwide.
Now, doing some research in some other Midwestern towns, the same range of percentage rings through. This tells me that clients in the Midwest DON’T REALLY UNDERSTAND THE VALUE OF SEO or SEM.
In fact, check out the other cities in the midwest:
Milwaukee, WI – 31% lower than average seo salaries
Omaha, NE – 16% lower than average seo salaries
Des Moines, IA – 14% lower than average seo salaries
Indianapolis, IN – 17% lower than average seo salaries
Columbus, OH – 10% lower than average seo salaries
Minneapolis, MN – 13% lower than average seo salaries
Cleveland, OH – 8% lower than average seo salaries
St. Louis, MO – 4% lower than average seo salaries
It appears that many of the major cities in the Midwest really don’t get how valuable that an SEO Manager can be for their business. Not only for the rankings but for the massive amounts of traffic that those rankings can bring.
This right here was a doozy… so, to back up this information, I went to a couple career/job posting sites to see what was out there in the Kansas City area there are only 2 real jobs for traditional SEO positions. However, 12 included some form of SEO expertise, where they wanted you to do all the web design, web development, Paid Search and/or some form of Social Media Marketing for them. So, be a “jack of all interactive trades” for very little pay.
Here was one listing that stuck out to me on Craigslist:
Lee’s Summit based manufacturer representative is looking for a talented and inventive individual who can redo several websites for a more professional look and feel while keeping SEO and SEM as part of the central focus.
Additionally, the selected applicant will have the opportunity to plan, propose, and implement additional marketing strategies for new and existing manufacturers.
Desired Skills:
HTML/PHP/Flash/Java Script/etc.
Graphic Design
SEO/SEM
Social/Web/Print marketing experienceThis job is a great opportunity.
Compensation: $10 / hour
Wow! You are right! What a GREEEEAAAAAT Opportunity. That $1600 a month will really get me going in the right direction in my life!!
This type of information is alarming to me. If you consider that most businesses should spend between 5%-15% of their annual revenue on marketing budget... why not include a solid SEO professional in your marketing budget?
It is our job to help inform the businesses in our community that interactive marketing is EXTREMELY valuable. If you do SEO/SEM in the Midwest and are looking for a job… consider moving to the East or West Coast.
What are your thoughts on this?
Connect with me via Twitter: @teedubya
doug on August 25, 2009
Are you factoring in Cost of Living? Your looking at a Nat’l Avg. Compare KC to anywhere in So Cal. Housing cost 40% less, groceries are around 20% less, gas/utilities less. But then think about the major Cities. NY, LA, SF – you don’t get very far on 82K living in those areas. I hate to be a bummer, but those salaries look fair for the area.
Travis Wright on August 25, 2009
While cost of living may be less… the simple fact that VERY few jobs for SEO or SEM even pop up. Most companies don’t have an in-house SEO here in KC. And Kansas City is NOT 25% lower standard of living.
But certainly, SoCal and NYC are unique locations… That is why it is a Nationwide AVERAGE… if we compare KC to NYC… the percentages are much much greater… as NYC is way ABOVE average.
Thanks for your comment, Doug!
tw
Armando on August 25, 2009
Yes, the Midwest salaries for interactive marketing is currently a joke.
David McBee on August 25, 2009
Travis,
You’re right on. As someone selling SEO/SEM, it seems like half of my sales call is EDUCATING the customer on how SEO/SEM works, rather than discussing the advantages my company offers over others. I sometimes compare it to how the cell phone sales rep must have felt ten years ago. Remember when someone had to actually sell the value of just having a cell phone? Here’s hoping that when Midwest companies catch on to the value, those salaries will increase. Thanks for an insightful article.
David
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