SEO Employment Barometer 2024: salaries, trends and the impact of AI

Every year, FePSeM (Federation of Search Marketing Professionals) publishes its employment barometer, a benchmark study on the evolution of the SEO market in France. The 2024 edition, which marks the last study exclusively dedicated to natural referencing before expanding to the entire Search Marketing field, provides a detailed assessment of the sector's dynamics, compensation levels, the impact of remote work and the changes related to artificial intelligence.

Download the 2024 barometer

Methodology of the 2024 Employment Barometer

The survey was conducted between September and November 2024, via an online form which gathered 314 complete responsesThe questionnaire included between 55 and 70 questions according to respondents' profiles and covered a variety of topics:

Profiles of SEO professionals (age, gender, experience, education, type of employment)
Salaries by various criteria (seniority, level of education, location, certifications...)
Impact of remote work on company organization and employees' perceptions
AI adoption and its influence on professionals' daily lives
Market trends and forecasts for 2025

A detailed profile of SEO professionals

The study reveals a sector still largely male, with 66.9% men and 33.1% women. The average age of respondents is 35 years.

Geographic distribution and work environment

Work environment :
- 66% live in major cities
- 24% in intermediate urban areas
- 10% in rural areas
Type of employment :
- 133 respondents work in an agency (owners and employees combined)
- 82 are employees at the advertiser
- 78 are freelancers
- 12 employees work for a software vendor
- 9 employees work for a website publisher

Salaries: persistent disparities

The average salary in SEO in 2024 is €44.4k/year, up from €40k/year in 2021However, several notable gaps remain:

Men: €47.5k/year
Women: €39.4k/year (20% gap)
Freelancers: €68.8k/year (men) and €37.8k/year (women)
Employees at the advertiser : salaries above average
Agency employees : lower pay
Île-de-France: better pay
Pays de la Loire: region where wages are lowest

While the age gap between men and women is small, the pay gap is huge, whether they are employees or freelancers. Several hypotheses: women are not in managerial positions (and therefore less well paid); they work on skills that are less valued (content versus technical, for example); they do not dare to negotiate their salary or ask for better pay.

Data also show that seniority plays a key role: after 5 years of experience, salaries increase significantly.

Salaries by age

18–24 years : €22.7k/year
25–35 years : €41.9k/year
35–45 years : €49.3k/year
45–55 years : €54.6k/year
56 years and over : €51.8k/year

Between men and women, the pay gap only narrows from age 45 onward. The difference is particularly large between 18 and 24 and between 35 and 45.

Remote work: an essential criterion

Remote work has become a standard in the SEO industry :

88% of employees would refuse a job that does not offer remote work.
46% of employers now offer positions 100% remote.

Clearly, companies that do not offer remote work no longer appeal to employees. Fortunately, there are not many of them! In any case, it's a selling point to highlight if you are recruiting.

Artificial intelligence: threat or opportunity?

AI is omnipresent in SEO, and perceptions vary depending on experience and specialization:

51% of professionals regularly use AI
25% say they can't do without it

Specialists in Paid Search (Google/Bing Ads) are particularly enthusiastic about AI, while the Website publishers remain more skeptical. We also note that men are more confident than women about the impact of AI on their jobs.

Impact of AI on SEO