Salaries in SEO vary significantly—a result of the fact that it’s possible to perform SEO at both very large and very small scales. Part-time freelance SEO Specialists, for example, may take home $20,000 a year working only a few hours a week, while someone at the head of a large SEO firm can expect to earn a six-figure salary.
People falling under the catch-all title SEO Specialist can earn between$55,000 to $80,000. For more junior positions, like SEO Researchers, the salary ranges from $30,000 to $60,000 and $35,000 to $75,000 for Content Writers. Link Builders also exhibit a wide range of salaries, from $35,000 on the low end to $100,000 on the high end.
At the median, an SEO Specialist earns $49,000 a year, with SEO Managers’ median salaries sitting significantly higher, at around $63,000.
At the high end are SEO Directors—who typically earn between $70,000 and $120,000—and SEO Team Managers and Campaign Managers, in the $50,000 to $100,000 range.