SEO/AEO Intern

Golden Hippo • Los Angeles, CA

7h • $18 - $20 • Hybrid

About The Position

The SEO/AEO Intern will assist in implementing cutting-edge, organic visibility strategies designed to capture market share across both traditional search engines and generative AI answer engines (Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini). By executing data-driven optimization workflows and auditing AI brand mentions, the intern will develop a dual-threat foundation in advanced SEO & Answer Engine Optimization (AEO). This critical role ensures our brand properties remain highly discoverable, authoritative, and cited during leadership's planned absence.

Requirements

• Analytical & Strategic Mindset: Exceptional ability to interpret multi-platform data sets (search patterns, click-less impressions, AI citations) and translate them into actionable optimizations.
• AEO & Format Savvy: Clear understanding of how LLMs and information retrieval systems weigh factors like "information gain," factual density, and semantic structure.
• AI Tool Literate: Familiarity with leveraging GenAI platforms (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, or Perplexity) for research, optimization, or basic prompt engineering.
• Strong Communication & Collaboration: Ability to seamlessly communicate insights across content and development workflows.
• Platform Experience: Experience navigating WordPress (preferred) alongside industry-standard tools like JIRA, Google Search Console, Google Analytics, and SEO suites (Ahrefs, Semrush).
• Bachelor's degree, or equivalent related experience

Nice To Haves

• SEO / Marketing experience (preferred)

Responsibilities

• Conversational Keyword & Intent Research: Move beyond flat keyword volume to analyze conversational, multi-layered user queries and extract natural, question-based search intent.
• Syntactic Restructuring for AEO: Optimize content using an "answer-first" architecture, crafting concise, high-density direct answers (40–60 words), explicit tables, and structured FAQ sections that AI LLMs can easily parse and ingest.
• Advanced Schema & Technical Optimization: Assist in deploying machine-readable technical elements, including structured data (FAQPage, HowTo, and Product Schema) to drive rich snippets and direct AI engine citations.
• AI Visibility & Citation Tracking: Monitor and analyze brand presence, citation share, and entity authority across major generative search summaries and traditional SERPs using Ahrefs Brand Radar or other similar tools (i.e. Profound).
• AI-Assisted Content Strategy: Utilize AI tools to scale content discovery and identify optimization gaps while strictly maintaining human oversight for quality control, E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness), and brand voice.
• Backlinking Authority Building: Support efforts to build entity authority and consistency across third-party databases, knowledge graphs, and industry citation, primarily through backlinking opportunities.
• Core Web Vitals: Support our brand websites Core Web Vitals scores and show consistent improvement Month-over-Month (MoM).
• Optimize Site Health: Using Ahrefs, ensure our brand websites are 95% or higher site health per Site Audit Tool within Ahrefs.

Benefits

• Charity sponsorships with positive impact on communities worldwide.
• Professional development opportunities with mentorship and continuous learning programs.
• Fully stocked kitchen and free on-site gym (for Woodland Hills, CA office).
• Virtual and in-person company events (annual holiday party, happy hours, virtual cooking nights).

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Part-time
• Career Level: Intern
• Education Level: Associate degree