They may as well say they are Jedi Knights. (From the movie series Star Wars.)
First, define SEO Expert.
An expert is defined as “a person who has a comprehensive and authoritative knowledge of or skill in a particular area”. There is no such thing. It’s not possible for someone to be an SEO expert. Experts don’t guess at things. Experts have definitive knowledge.
Due to the cons and fluidity and rapid changes in the algorithms not even the algorithm creators can explain or share definitive knowledge of SEO.
Remember the old cliche? Just when I figured all the answers, they changed the questions.
It’s not possible to have “authoritative” knowledge about Google. No SEOs work there, and no Google employees even know enough to share how anything works. That is the Google way. They clearly share very little about how the engine works. Most SEO knowledge is gained by trial and error, and whatever you believe from Google’s red herring spokesmen and SEO industry talking heads.
“SEO Professionals” are the guys you want to work with. “A person engaged in a specified activity as one’s main paid occupation rather than as a pastime.”
I never really understood someone calling themselves an SEO expert.
Imagine if you were playing a game against someone. The person you’re competing against doesn’t tell you the rules of the game. You have to guess. The person you’re competing against changes the rules anytime they want in their favour. You have to guess at the new rules. The person you’re competing against applies the rules differently to different players on the field. The person kicks you out of the game for breaking the rules that you don’t even know.
That person is Google.
The game is SEO.