Find a Career in Search Engine Optimization

But scrolling through endless pages of hits isn't practical. Most of us go through the top 10 listings, maybe the top 20. So in the last few years, companies have started competing to show up at the top of search engine results to get your attention and your business.

"The whole name of the game is to show up in those top 10 results -- trying to find ways and means to ensure that in the most widely used search engines for your particular product and your particular industry, you are there at the top," explains Ramdas Chandra, a marketing professor.

"If you have the best website in the world and no one ever finds it, it's useless!" says Internet marketing strategist Sally Falkow.

That's normal, according to one search engine expert. "It is way too early in the industry to have hard, fast definitions of what's what," says Mark Williams. He founded an advertising agency that offers web-based services.

Search engine marketers deal with the marketing side. For instance, they optimize the website's content creation and writing to ensure better listings. Some even pay search engines to place their sites higher up in the rankings.

"The Internet has revolutionized the way we do business. This is another printing press," says Falkow.

"Search engine marketing is the much bigger opportunity," admits Williams. "Search engine optimization is a career with a limited horizon.

The bad news is that it is hard to find college programs dedicated to this, whether you are interested in the techie or marketing side.

Add an e-commerce degree and you're set, Chandra says. "Most good schools now offer minors in e-commerce within which you always learn the tech side and business side of things. If you would do a program like that, you'd be well-qualified."

Another smart idea is to get hands-on experience, according Falkow. "Students need to get basic training. So they're going to have to find some cutting-edge school that teaches search engine optimization. Or they're going to have to find a place where they can do an internship in Internet and search marketing and search optimization."

"All the top people are there. They could learn a lot and could find somebody to mentor them," she says.

"Students can educate themselves by doing a little research. You've got to dig into it and live it."

Everything you wanted to know about the search engine industry
http://www.searchenginewatch.com

An interesting look at the evolution of search engines
http://www.searchenginehistory.com/