SEO specialist salary in the US
What SEO specialists are paid in the US, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with how your own pay compares. Figures from the BLS OEWS release dated May 2025.
Median annual pay
$78,760
Middle half earn
$58,350 to $108,310
People in this job, US
899,580
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Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists, national, annual pay, May 2025
- 10th percentile
- $43,390
- 25th percentile
- $58,350
- Median
- $78,760
- 75th percentile
- $108,310
- 90th percentile
- $155,480
No dedicated BLS code; SEO work is counted under marketing specialists.
Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025, SOC 13-1161. Percentiles across everyone employed in the occupation, not experience levels.
At a glance
What SEO specialists earn across the US
- About 899,580 people are employed in this occupation across the US.
- Pay varies widely within the job: the 90th percentile earns 3.6 times the 10th.
Worked from BLS OEWS, May 2025. Not adjusted for the cost of living.
Skills
What employers look for in an SEO specialist
The skills our SEO specialist resume example leads with, written for US employers.
- Technical SEO
- Site audits
- Core Web Vitals
- Crawl budget optimization
- Structured data
- Internal linking
- Keyword research
- Content strategy
- Search Console
- Google Analytics 4
See the full SEO specialist resume example, with bullets and keywords.
Negotiating
Using these numbers
Below $58,350 puts you in the bottom quarter for SEO specialists in the US. That is worth raising, with evidence of what you deliver.
The median, $78,760, is the middle of the market, not a ceiling. An offer at or near it is a fair starting point to negotiate from.
Asking for $108,310 or more puts you in the top quarter, so it needs a reason an employer will accept: a wider scope, a competing offer, or a skill that is hard to hire for.
Percentiles are not experience levels. They describe everyone doing the job, so a senior hire can sit at the median of a market full of senior people.
About the numbers
What these figures are
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics surveys employers for its Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, and these figures are from the release dated May 2025. They cover wage and salary workers in Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists, a category that is often broader than a single job title. Self-employed people are not included.
They are base pay: bonuses, equity and overtime are not included, and they are not adjusted for the cost of living.
Questions
Questions about SEO specialist pay in the US
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