SEO Strategist

Overview Placement Type: Permanent Salary: $75,000-115,000 Salary Start Date: Sep 21, 2026 Our client, a prominent consumer platform operating in a dynamic digital space, is partnering with Aquent to navigate a pivotal chapter of brand transformation. Dedicated to connecting individuals and fostering meaningful experiences, they are seeking passionate, hands-on operators to drive their organic growth strategy. This is an unparalleled opportunity to directly shape the future of organic content and search discoverability for a leading digital platform, impacting how millions discover and engage with its mission. Are you a builder who thrives on seeing your work directly impact organic visibility and audience engagement? We're looking for a highly skilled and proactive individual to own the end-to-end execution of the organic content engine. You will be instrumental in expanding the brand's presence across traditional search and the rapidly evolving landscape of AI-powered discovery surfaces, directly contributing to the platform's mission and growth. If you are ready to ship, iterate, and drive measurable results from day one, you will find an exciting challenge and significant influence here, making a tangible difference in how users connect with the platform. What You'll Do Edit HTML and content management system templates directly to implement on-page best practices, including title tags, meta descriptions, header hierarchy (H1-H3), schema and structured data, internal linking, image alt text, and clean URL structures. Conduct routine technical health checks (crawlability, indexation, page speed basics, broken links, redirects) and either resolve issues or coordinate fixes with relevant teams. Maintain owned digital properties, ensuring HTML is clean, semantic, and ready for deployment. Implement structured data, schema markup, and entity tagging to ensure search engines and AI answer engines can accurately read and cite content. Write, edit, and publish organic content - including blog posts, landing pages, FAQs, category pages, and pillar hubs - aligned with defined content pillars and audience segments. Directly publish content when speed, brand voice, or judgment require immediate action, demonstrating your dual expertise as a writer and strategist. Contribute to and help maintain the editorial calendar across owned channels, ensuring alignment with brand campaigns, product launches, and cultural moments. Identify content gaps, refresh opportunities, and topical authority angles, transforming these insights into published assets. Develop entity-driven content strategies that provide AI systems with clear, authoritative, structured answers, positioning the platform as a primary source. Execute keyword research, intent expansion, and competitive discovery analysis using leading analytics and platforms to inform content and on-page decisions. Structure content and markup to achieve optimal visibility on AI-powered discovery surfaces, including AI Overviews, Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). Increase brand presence across leading generative AI platforms and emerging LLM-powered discovery surfaces, utilizing clear, extractable, citation-ready formatting. Stay current on emerging discoverability tactics and provide practical, tested recommendations to the team. Serve as the day-to-day point of contact for external agency and freelance partners supporting content, search optimization, and production work. Manage deliverable timelines, feedback loops, and quality checks for agency-produced content and search optimization work, upholding standards for scope, brief, and quality. Leverage external expertise strategically while maintaining a deep, hands-on understanding of the work. Track and report on key performance indicators (KPIs) such as organic traffic, rankings, indexation, engagement, and AI-search visibility on a weekly and monthly cadence. Translate performance data into actionable next-cycle priorities, flagging risks early and routing them to the appropriate internal teams. Collaborate with Creative, Brand, Product, Legal, and other marketing functions to ensure content and on-page changes are delivered on schedule and on-brand. Support ad hoc organic growth initiatives, such as reputation and review monitoring, as directed. Must-Have Qualifications 2 to 7+ years of hands-on experience in organic growth, content, and search optimization roles at a consumer brand or agency serving consumer brands, with published work and measurable results. Working fluency in HTML and CSS, enabling direct on-page optimization edits within a content management system without developer intervention. Strong grasp of traditional search optimization fundamentals: on-page optimization, keyword research, internal linking, and technical basics (crawlability, indexation, page speed, structured data). Exceptional writing and editing skills, with the ability to adapt tone and format across various content types (blog, landing page, FAQ, category content). Working fluency in AEO and GEO, including understanding of schema markup, structured data, brand-entity strategy, and how AI answer engines select sources for citation. You possess a clear point of view on relevant signals versus noise. Hands-on experience with leading analytics and search optimization platforms, demonstrating proficiency in data analysis. Working knowledge of content management systems sufficient to maintain and update production pages, with light front-end fluency to read and adjust HTML, CSS, and component-level changes. AI fluency, regularly utilizing generative AI tools in your daily workflow for research, drafting, structuring, and QA of content, enhancing efficiency. An operator's discipline, consistently shipping on time, maintaining tight QA, ensuring clean naming and metadata, and thoroughly documenting your work. A proactive mindset, ready to audit platform presence across search and AI surfaces, identify issues, and implement fixes rapidly. Nice-to-Have Qualifications Bachelor's degree in marketing, communications, journalism, English, or a related field (equivalent practical experience considered). A portfolio of published organic content or search optimization work with measurable results (traffic lift, ranking gains, or AI-answer citations). Direct experience partnering with or working within an external marketing, search optimization, or content agency, including day-to-day vendor management. Experience leading or supporting a content management system migration onto a more automated or AI-native publishing stack. Familiarity with leading or contributing to a structured AEO/GEO program, beyond just executing within one. Exposure to reputation and review programs, including request flows and structured response operations. A genuine interest in consumer digital platforms and a well-articulated point of view on how AI is transforming search and user choice. About Aquent Talent: Aquent Talent connects the best talent in marketing, creative, and design with the world's biggest brands. Our eligible talent get access to amazing benefits like subsidized health, vision, and dental plans, paid sick leave, and retirement plans with a match. We also offer free online training through Aquent Gymnasium. More information on our awesome benefits! Aquent is an equal-opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, and other legally protected characteristics. We're about creating an inclusive environment-one where different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives are valued, and everyone can contribute, grow their careers, and thrive.