Search Engine Optimization Manager

Key Responsibilities

• Define and execute the overall SEO strategy for the newsroom, focusing on sustainable growth across Google Search, Google Discover, and Top Stories.
• Lead content optimization and editorial SEO practices, including headline strategy, structured data implementation, internal linking frameworks, entity optimization, and content freshness signals.
• Drive Google Discover growth through trend identification, editorial planning, headline experimentation, image optimization, and audience-interest analysis.
• Work closely with the editorial team during breaking news cycles to provide real-time SEO guidance on story angles, keyword demand, headline positioning, and update cadence.
• Implement and maintain structured data strategies (NewsArticle, LiveBlogPosting, FactCheck, VideoObject, etc.) to maximize eligibility for rich results and enhanced SERP features.
• Improve Top Stories visibility by optimizing publisher authority signals, content recency, headline clarity, and technical news SEO requirements.
• Identify opportunities through competitor intelligence, analyzing competing publishers’ performance across Google Search and Discover.
• Monitor and resolve technical SEO issues, including indexing challenges, crawl efficiency, canonicalization, duplicate content, Core Web Vitals, and site performance.
• Collaborate with product and engineering teams to implement scalable SEO solutions such as automated schema generation, internal linking frameworks, crawl optimization, and page template improvements.
• Analyze large-scale traffic trends and content performance using GA4, Google Search Console, and enterprise SEO tools to identify growth opportunities.
• Establish SEO dashboards and performance tracking frameworks to monitor traffic sources, Discover visibility, ranking improvements, and content ROI.
• Build and maintain topic authority and content clusters for high-value news categories.
• Ensure the site aligns with Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines and evolving search quality standards.
• Guide the editorial team on AI search trends, entity SEO, and evolving search behavior.

What We’re Looking For

• 8+ years of experience in SEO, with strong exposure to news or large-scale content publishing environments.
• Demonstrated success in growing traffic from Google Discover and Top Stories.
• Strong expertise in editorial SEO, news algorithms, and real-time content optimization.
• Solid understanding of technical SEO fundamentals, including indexing, crawling, site architecture, structured data, and performance optimization.
• Experience working with large publishing CMS platforms (WordPress or custom newsroom CMS).
• Proficiency with Google Analytics 4, Google Search Console, and SEO tools such as Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Screaming Frog.
• Strong data analysis and reporting skills, with the ability to translate insights into actionable newsroom strategies.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with editorial, product, and engineering teams.
• Experience managing SEO workflows within fast-paced news publishing environments.
• Strong understanding of search intent, audience demand signals, and trending topic identification.