Do You Need to Know Technical SEO to Be an SEO?
Short answer: Yes.
Nuanced answer: Also yes. Here’s why.
For years, I avoided technical SEO. It wasn’t because I didn’t see its value—it was fear. Fear of not knowing enough, fear of making mistakes, and, let’s be honest, fear of JavaScript. Every time an issue came up, I passed it off to someone else. I convinced myself I could focus on other areas of SEO and still succeed.
That illusion shattered when I met a client who was confident—no, smug—about his understanding of 'his' Single Page Application (SPA).
“No, you’re wrong. Our SPA is fine,” he said with a smirk.
I tried everything to convince him otherwise—evidence, external support from respected experts like Jamie Indigo and Googler Martin Splitt , even a collaborative effort with 📱 Cindy Krum. Nothing worked. His smirk wasn’t just frustrating; it was haunting.
Did he know something I didn’t?
The seed of self-doubt took root, and soon it wasn’t just the client I questioned. It was myself.
When Avoidance Catches Up to You
That experience wasn’t just professionally draining—it was personally damaging. I withdrew, spoke less in meetings, and doubted everything I thought I knew. My boss and colleagues had my back, but the damage was done.
I realized I was partly to blame. I had avoided technical SEO for years, and now I was paying the price. My lack of hands-on experience left me unable to argue with conviction.
At that moment, I faced a choice: continue to run from technical SEO or confront my fear head-on.
I chose the latter.
I embraced technical SEO and shared every step of my learning journey publicly. What started as a personal growth challenge became a way to help others who felt the same fear I did.
So, Do You Really Need Technical SEO?
To be an effective, employable search marketer, the answer is yes.
Being an SEO means more than just knowing keywords, content strategy, or analytics. Hiring managers and clients increasingly want generalist specialists—people with depth in key areas and enough breadth to tackle a range of problems.
Technical SEO is one of those key areas. It’s foundational. Avoiding it isn’t just risky—it limits your growth.
Lessons Learned (the Hard Way)
I’ve learned that SEO isn’t static. Tactics cycle in and out of relevance. What’s old becomes new again. The key isn’t to know everything—it’s to know which levers to pull, when, and why.
Avoidance caught up to me. My ignorance fed my imposter syndrome, which impacted my boss, my team, and my personal life. I swore never to let that happen again.
Now, I’m upskilling in areas where I’m still weak—like speed optimization and machine learning. I don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but I do know that problem-solvers will always be in demand.
What About You?
What are you running from? And more importantly, what are you going to do about it?
If it’s technical SEO, I’ve got something to help you. My Technical SEO Checklist has been downloaded 2,750 times and maintains a 5-star rating. It covers crawling, rendering, indexing, and ranking issues, giving you a clear framework to tackle problems with confidence.
As a reader of Journal of an Enterprise SEO, you can use the code el26o2u for 25% off any of my Gumroad digital products. Whether it’s my homepage schema markup templates, ecommerce optimization checklists, or EEAT-supporting schema templates, you’ll find tools to make your life easier.
Your career is shaped by the gaps you choose to fill. Don’t let technical SEO be the one that holds you back.
So, what action will you take today?
Digital Marketer
1wVery informative Daniel!
AdTech AI | Data Analytics | Paid Media Automation | Google Ads | ABM
3wI think I got into JavaScript just because of your post