Program Manager, Search Strategy and Digital Conversion

Title: Program Manager Search Strategy and Digital Conversion

Position Type: Fulltime Staff

Search Type: External - minimum 7 days

Department: 30R003 - StudentSuccessOutreach&Opportunity

Division: 5R0000 - Student Success Engage & Oppor

Position Location: Richmond Campus

Driver Classification: Non-Driver

FLSA: Exempt

Schedule Type: Full Time (37.5 hrs per week or more)

Hours Per Week:

Additional Schedule Details: May require occasional evening or weekend work for enrollment events or major digital campaigns.

Posted Salary Grade: Exempt - G26

Retirement: KTRS

Contact Person: Dan Hendrickson

Job Summary/Basic Functions

The Program Manager of Search Strategy and Digital Conversion owns the performance of Eastern Kentucky Universitys digital environment as a conversion system from the first search result a prospective student sees through the submitted application.

This position owns the full conversion path across both the University website and CRM-hosted student-facing surfaces. Inquiry forms application portals status pages and event registration pages are conversion environments with measurable performance and they sit on a different domain and templating system than the marketing website. The Program Manager is responsible for ensuring these operate as one continuous experience rather than as a handoff where prospective students and tracking data are lost.

This position serves as the Universitys internal technical authority on search web conversion and digital measurement. The Program Manager briefs and evaluates external agency partners validates their recommendations against institutional academic portfolio priorities and ensures that agency campaign strategy and EKU digital strategy operate as one system.

The Program Manager partners closely with Enrollment Operations Web Content Information Technology Admissions and academic colleges. Success is measured in cost per enrolled student organic conversion volume application completion rate and the reliability of institutional digital reporting.

Minimum Qualifications

Education: Bachelors degree in Marketing Communications Information Systems Analytics or a related field is required. Experience may be substituted for the specific degree but not the educational level.

Experience: Three years of progressive experience in search engine optimization web analytics AI search or conversion optimization including direct responsibility for organic search performance on a large website and hands-on configuration of web analytics and conversion tracking.

Licensure & Certifications:

Preferred Qualifications:

Job Duties:

• 30% - Own EKUs organic search strategy across academic program pages admissions content and high-intent conversion paths. Conduct keyword intent and competitive research to identify visibility gaps against regional and national competitor institutions including online-first competitors. Establish and maintain technical search standards covering site architecture page speed metadata structured data internal linking and mobile performance. Prioritize optimization work and partner with Web Services and academic content owners to implement it. Identify academic programs with demonstrated search demand but no adequate destination page and drive creation of that content. Monitor indexation ranking movement and organic conversion and report on trends and required interventions. - (Essential)
• 30% - Own the mapping between search intent and destination page across both organic and paid search and maintain the keyword to landing page assignment used by agency partners. Hold the standard for whether a page is adequate to receive paid traffic and diagnose and remediate low landing page experience conditions identified in agency reporting prioritizing high-spend terms where poor page quality is inflating cost per click. Design build and test landing pages inquiry forms and student-facing CRM portal pages including the application portal and status pages. Write and revise search ad copy and ad assets in partnership with agency and internal creative staff where relevance to the destination page is the determining factor in performance. Build and deploy test variants with test methodology and results evaluation provided by the Marketing and Engagement Analyst. Reduce friction across the full inquiry to application path through form field reduction clearer page structure improved mobile experience and elimination of steps that move students sideways rather than forward. Ensure portal templates meet brand accessibility and performance standards. Establish publication standards so that new and revised digital content meets search and conversion requirements before it goes live. - (Essential)
• 25% - Own the integrity of EKUs digital measurement infrastructure. Define document and maintain the Universitys conversion action dictionary specifying what each tracked action represents how it fires and how it reconciles to a record in the CRM and student information systems. Own tagging architecture campaign parameter standards and enforcement of those standards across all University digital activity including work produced by external partners. Establish and maintain cross-domain measurement between the University website and CRM-hosted surfaces and ensure source and campaign attribution persists onto the student record so that paid and organic performance can be evaluated through to enrollment. Partner with Enrollment Operations to make application start and application submission reliably measured events. Serve as the authoritative source of data definitions for institutional marketing reporting and partner with the Marketing and Engagement Analyst who owns recurring performance analysis and dashboard development to ensure that reporting rests on verified instrumentation. Identify measurement defects determine root cause and drive remediation. Will work directly with paid media vendor on landing pages conversion optimization and ensuring seamless integration. - (Essential)
• 15% - Serve as EKUs primary technical counterpart to external digital and media agency partners. Brief agency teams on institutional academic portfolio priorities enrollment goals and program-level context required for sound campaign strategy. Review and validate agency recommendations including keyword negative keyword budget allocation and bidding proposals and escalate where a recommendation conflicts with institutional priorities or academic program realities. Evaluate agency deliverables against contracted scope and verify that campaign tagging tracking templates and parameter conventions implemented by partners conform to University measurement standards. Maintain a clear division of responsibility between agency-managed advertising platforms and University-owned web and CRM measurement and ensure no gap exists between them. Consult with academic colleges Enrollment and Student Success on digital strategy for program launches and priority initiatives. Provide internal standards guidance and training on search and conversion best practice. Maintain current knowledge of search platform changes privacy and tracking developments and AI-driven search behavior and advise leadership on institutional implications. - (Essential)

Sponsorship: This position is not eligible for visa sponsorship.

Funding Source: Institutional

Open Until Fi lled: Yes

Special Instructions:

EEO Statement

Eastern Kentucky University is an Equal Opportunity employer and educational institution and does not discriminate on the basis of age (40 and over) race color religion sex sexual orientation gender identity gender expression pregnancy ethnicity disability national origin veteran status or genetic information in the admission to or participation in any educational program or activity (e.g. athletics academics and housing) which it conducts or any employment policy or practice.

Background Check Statement

Offers of employment are contingent upon a satisfactory background check.

Required Experience:

IC