Mid level
SEO Specialist job description
The generalist engine of most SEO teams: owns on-page work, keyword and content planning, and the first line of technical diagnosis. Typical band $62,000 – $85,000.
SEO job titles are not standardised. The same words describe wildly different jobs depending on company size, sector and whether search sits inside marketing, growth or engineering. That ambiguity costs both sides: employers get the wrong applicants, and candidates accept roles whose scope they misread.
These 12 job descriptions are written to remove that ambiguity. Each one sets out what the role genuinely owns, what employers require, how performance is measured, what it typically pays, and a copy-and-adapt template. Hiring managers can publish from them; candidates can use them to decode an advert before applying.
Every SEO role at a glance
Levels and bands are United States estimates for orientation. Reporting lines are the most common arrangement, not the only one.
| Role | Typical level | US band | Usually reports to |
|---|---|---|---|
| SEO Specialist | Mid level (2–5 years) | $62,000 – $85,000 | SEO Manager or Head of Marketing |
| SEO Manager | Senior (5–8 years) | $95,000 – $135,000 | Head of SEO, Director of Marketing or VP Growth |
| SEO Analyst | Mid level (2–5 years) | $62,000 – $88,000 | SEO Manager or Head of Analytics |
| Technical SEO Specialist | Senior (5–8 years) | $85,000 – $120,000 | SEO Manager, Head of SEO or Engineering Manager |
| SEO Content Writer | Entry to mid level | $48,000 – $78,000 | Content Lead, SEO Manager or Editorial Director |
| Link Building Specialist | Mid level (2–5 years) | $55,000 – $85,000 | SEO Manager or Head of Digital PR |
| Head of SEO | Leadership (8+ years) | $140,000 – $195,000 | VP Marketing, CMO or Chief Growth Officer |
| Local SEO Specialist | Entry to mid level | $50,000 – $78,000 | SEO Manager or Marketing Manager |
| E-commerce SEO Manager | Senior (5–8 years) | $90,000 – $130,000 | Head of SEO, Head of E-commerce or Digital Director |
| SEO Consultant | Senior / independent | $85,000 – $160,000 equivalent | Client leadership, or self-directed |
| SEO Intern | Internship / placement | $18 – $28 per hour | SEO Specialist or SEO Manager |
| SEO Strategist | Senior (5–8 years) | $85,000 – $125,000 | Head of SEO, Client Services Director or Head of Growth |
Not sure which of these fits you? The career path matcher takes twelve questions, and the job title level estimator maps an existing title onto this ladder.
Writing an SEO job description that works
Five things separate SEO adverts that fill quickly from the ones that sit open for months:
- Publish the range. A visible salary range materially increases both application volume and application quality, and removes the late-stage mismatches that waste everyone's time.
- Scope one job, not three. Adverts that ask for technical SEO, content strategy and digital PR in one mid-level role read as a company that does not know what it needs. Strong candidates skip them.
- Name the stack and the scale. The CMS, the analytics setup, roughly how many URLs, and who owns implementation. Specialists self-select on exactly these details.
- State how success is measured. If the role has a number, say what it is. If it does not have one yet, say that too — candidates prefer honesty to vagueness.
- Describe the process. Number of stages, what each one involves, and the timeline. Unstructured, open-ended processes lose the candidates who have other options.
Job descriptions by role
Twelve roles covering the full SEO ladder from intern to head of search.
Senior
SEO Manager job description
Owns the organic search channel: strategy, roadmap, budget and, usually, a small team or set of agency relationships. Typical band $95,000 – $135,000.
Mid level
SEO Analyst job description
The measurement side of search: builds the reporting, finds the patterns, and turns them into recommendations other people execute. Typical band $62,000 – $88,000.
Senior
Technical SEO Specialist job description
Owns everything between the crawler and the rendered page: indexation, architecture, performance, structured data and migrations. Typical band $85,000 – $120,000.
Entry to mid level
SEO Content Writer job description
Writes content that satisfies a search intent well enough to earn the ranking and good enough to be worth reading once it does. Typical band $48,000 – $78,000.
Mid level
Link Building Specialist job description
Earns the external references that establish authority — through digital PR, partnerships and outreach rather than purchased placement. Typical band $55,000 – $85,000.
Leadership
Head of SEO job description
Owns organic search as a business line: the strategy, the team, the budget, and the number it is accountable for. Typical band $140,000 – $195,000.
Entry to mid level
Local SEO Specialist job description
Owns visibility in map packs and location-based search across one location or hundreds. Typical band $50,000 – $78,000.
Senior
E-commerce SEO Manager job description
Runs organic search for a catalogue: category architecture, product indexation, and the revenue that comes from both. Typical band $90,000 – $130,000.
Senior / independent
SEO Consultant job description
Diagnoses and prescribes rather than executes: brought in for judgement, usually against a specific problem or decision. Typical band $85,000 – $160,000 equivalent.
Internship / placement
SEO Intern job description
A structured first exposure to real SEO work, with supervision and a defined learning path. Typical band $18 – $28 per hour.
Senior
SEO Strategist job description
Decides what to do and in what order, and builds the case for it — usually across several brands, markets or clients at once. Typical band $85,000 – $125,000.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between an SEO specialist and an SEO manager?
A specialist executes within a plan; a manager owns the plan, the budget and usually people or agency relationships. The clearest test is accountability: if the role is held to an organic traffic or revenue number, it is a management-level role regardless of the title on the advert.
Do SEO job descriptions require a degree?
Most do not, and the ones that list one rarely enforce it. SEO hiring is portfolio-led: demonstrable results, tool fluency and clear reasoning outrank formal qualifications at nearly every employer. See do you need a degree for SEO.
Can I use these job descriptions for my own hiring?
Yes. Each page includes a template written to be copied, adapted and published. Replace the bracketed fields, delete what does not apply, and keep the salary range visible.
How are the salary bands on these pages calculated?
They are aggregated United States estimates compiled from public salary trackers and live job-ad ranges, cross-checked against BLS occupational data. They are orientation figures, not offers. Full detail is in our salary data methodology.
Sources and further reading
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists — official occupational wage and projected-growth data for the SOC code most SEO roles fall under
- Payscale — SEO Specialist salary research — self-reported pay by experience band, available per country
- Glassdoor — SEO Specialist pay trends — employee-reported base pay and percentile ranges
- ZipRecruiter — SEO salary data — job-ad derived ranges, including metro-level breakdowns
- Indeed — SEO specialist salaries — aggregated posted salaries and employer-reported figures
Figures on this page are aggregated market estimates compiled from the sources above and are intended for orientation, not as an offer, guarantee or valuation. See our salary data methodology.