SEO Manager

Workshopdigital•Richmond, VA

18h•Hybrid

About The Position

The SEO Manager works with a high degree of autonomy to develop strategies and tactics that support client goals and organic marketing performance. The role builds strong relationships with client contacts and senior stakeholders, resolves client issues, implements and tests capabilities that support client growth, and contributes to sales-process deliverables for upsells and new business. SEO Managers also help train new hires and identify ways to incorporate AI into SEO workflows to improve team efficiency. The position manages client SEO programs across local, technical, and content strategy, with a holistic search approach for mid-to-enterprise accounts. It uses analytics and third-party tools to monitor organic performance, AI tools to support research and content workflows, and conversion rate optimization to improve client websites. The SEO Manager develops and prioritizes strategies tied to business goals, manages performance against KPIs, and optimizes content for AI-generated search experiences. The role also contributes to internal communication, training, business development, special projects, beta tests, and thought leadership. The position is available as a hybrid role in Richmond, Virginia, or remotely in California, Texas, Virginia, New York, Illinois, Colorado, North Carolina, or Ohio. The expected base salary is $75,000–$80,000 annually, based on experience.

Requirements

At least 3 years of demonstrated agency experience with mid-to-enterprise-level clients.
Experience building strong client relationships and identifying, projecting, setting, and achieving client KPI goals.
Ability to prioritize workload with minimal support and meet deadlines.
Ability to create insightful, actionable, and accurate client strategy and reporting insights with minimal support.
Ability to present data and insights clearly, logically, and actionably with minimal support.
Ability to create effective meeting agendas and lead client meetings with minimal support.
Ability to deliver core training as needed.
Proven track record managing a full client workload of medium-complexity clients and some high-complexity clients.
Ability to temporarily take on additional work during crunch periods.
Familiarity with AI-native search engines and LLM-based research tools such as Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, or ChatGPT.
Ability to evaluate AI output for hallucinations or inaccuracies, particularly technical SEO recommendations and data reporting.
Advanced written, verbal, and visual communication skills.
Advanced skills in Microsoft Office and Google Workspace, particularly Excel and Google Sheets.
Advanced-level skills with SEMrush or Ahrefs.

Responsibilities

Develop strategies and tactics that support client goals and drive organic marketing performance.
Build and maintain strong relationships with client day-to-day contacts and senior stakeholders to support retention and growth.
Attend and participate in client meetings and calls; communicate effectively with varied audiences.
Prepare and present insightful, meaningful, and accurate reports and analysis.
Handle client issues independently when appropriate, and escalate concerns to the SEO Team Lead when necessary.
Proactively identify client needs, resolve issues, and deliver work within the scope of the statement of work (SOW).
Identify new opportunities to help clients meet business goals and meet or exceed client KPIs.
Manage client websites using a holistic search approach, including local, technical, and content strategies.
Conduct technical, content, and local SEO audits, including audits of complex issues.
Optimize client content for visibility in AI-generated search experiences through authoritative citations, structured data, and conversational relevance.
Use analytics and third-party tools, including AI and machine-learning features, to identify organic performance trends and anomalies.
Set up and review Google Analytics and other third-party tracking software.
Use AI tools to support content brainstorming, outlining, and drafting, and manually refine output for E-E-A-T.
Develop and refine prompts to automate repetitive tasks such as meta-tag generation, schema markup creation, and initial keyword research and clustering.
Optimize client websites through conversion rate optimization (CRO).
Manage beta tests of new services for assigned clients.
Support sales through RFPs, presentations, audits, and SOWs as needed; elevate requests for SOW changes.
Identify potential case studies and coordinate with marketing on their development.
Help train new hires, update training content, conduct team trainings, and occasionally develop original technical training content with QA.
Stay current on SEO tactics, updates, and best practices through industry reading, and occasionally contribute thought leadership content.
Provide feedback to colleagues, share relevant industry information, participate in interviews, and lead special projects.
May mentor junior team members.

Benefits

25 days of PTO, 5 days of STO, and 12 holidays.
Hybrid workspace for employees in Richmond.
Three months of fully paid parental leave.
Eight hours of paid volunteer time per quarter.
401(k) with 3% non-elective contributions.
Health benefit package with two medical plans, dental insurance, and vision insurance.
Life insurance and short- and long-term disability coverage.
Profit sharing twice a year.
Company-wide meetups in Richmond, Virginia, twice a year.
Committee membership opportunities in Community, Culture, and Health & Wellness.