| Detail | For this role |
|---|---|
| Department | Marketing |
| Level | Manager |
| Reports to | Head of Digital Marketing |
| Direct reports | SEO Specialist, SEO Executive, Content Writer |
| Experience | 6 to 9 years in SEO, including 2 years leading an SEO team or program |
SEO Manager job description template
Copy this job description, replace the text in square brackets and post it on your careers page or a job portal.
Job title: SEO Manager
Department: Marketing
Reports to: Head of Digital Marketing
Location: [City], [office, branch or site]
About the role
An SEO Manager is responsible for how much valuable traffic and business a website earns from search engines without paying for ads. They set the SEO strategy, own technical health with developers, plan content with writers, build authority through links and digital PR, and track rankings, traffic and conversions. The role sits in the digital marketing team of e-commerce, publishing, education, travel, healthcare and B2B companies, and leads the SEO specialists and executives.
Key responsibilities
- Set the yearly SEO strategy with target keyword themes, page types, and traffic and conversion goals for each section of the site.
- Run technical audits and prioritize fixes for crawling, indexing, site speed, mobile usability and structured data with developers.
- Plan content with the content team, including keyword research, briefs, internal links and refreshes for pages that are slipping.
- Approve migrations, URL changes and redesigns only after an SEO checklist and a redirect plan are ready.
- Build authority through digital PR, partnerships and quality backlinks, and reject link schemes that risk penalties.
- Manage local SEO for branches or stores, including business profiles, reviews and location pages, where the business needs it.
- Track rankings, organic traffic, conversions and Search Console issues weekly, and explain changes to stakeholders.
- Follow search engine updates and competitors' SEO moves, and adjust priorities when they affect the site.
- Train writers, designers and developers on SEO basics so that new pages are built right the first time.
- Set weekly priorities for the SEO specialists and executives, and review their work.
Requirements
- Graduate degree in any discipline, with engineering or computer science helpful
- An SEO certification from a recognised course is an advantage
- A proven record of growing organic traffic for a sizeable site
- 6 to 9 years in SEO, including 2 years leading an SEO team or program
KRAs and KPIs for a SEO Manager
Key result areas for the appraisal form, each with a KPI you can measure every month or quarter.
| Key result area | How to measure it |
|---|---|
| Organic traffic | Non-branded organic sessions growing each quarter at the planned rate |
| Organic conversions | Leads or orders from organic search at or above the monthly target |
| Priority rankings | At least 60 percent of priority keywords ranking on the first page by year end |
| Technical health | Critical crawl and indexing errors fixed within 14 days of detection |
| Page experience | At least 90 percent of key page templates passing Core Web Vitals on mobile |
| Safe site changes | No organic traffic loss above 10 percent after any migration or redesign |
Skills and tools
Tools used day to day: Google Search Console, Google Analytics 4, Screaming Frog, Ahrefs or Semrush, PageSpeed Insights, Bing Webmaster Tools, Looker Studio.
Reporting line and career path
Next roles: Head of Digital Marketing, Head of Growth, Digital Marketing Manager
Interview questions for a SEO Manager
- Organic traffic dropped by a third after a site migration. What do you check first?
- How do you decide which technical fixes the developers should take up this sprint?
- How would you plan SEO for a new category with 5,000 product pages?
- What makes a backlink valuable, and which links would you refuse?
- How do you show leadership that SEO work caused a change in revenue?
- The design team wants to remove large blocks of text in a redesign. How do you handle it?
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What does an SEO manager do?
An SEO manager grows the traffic and business a website earns from search engines. They set the SEO strategy, work with developers on technical fixes, plan content with writers, build quality backlinks, protect rankings during site changes and report organic traffic and conversions.
What is the difference between an SEO manager and an SEO specialist?
An SEO specialist does hands-on work such as audits, keyword research, on-page fixes and link outreach. An SEO manager sets strategy and priorities, negotiates developer time, approves site changes, leads the team and explains results to leadership in business terms.
How long does SEO take to show results?
Technical fixes and improvements to existing pages can show results in a few weeks, while new content and authority building usually take three to six months or longer, depending on competition. An SEO manager sets expectations with leadership and reports early signals such as indexing and rankings along the way.