Search Engine Optimization Manager Jobs in Atlanta, GA

The Opportunity

Search is fracturing. Google rankings still matter, but AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini are increasingly how prospective students find and evaluate professional education options. At CeriFi, we need someone who understands both realities and can build a strategy that wins in both.

This is a newly created role reporting to the VP of Digital Customer Experience. You will own search visibility across the portfolio - building the strategy, directing content production, and partnering with brand teams to execute. You won't just audit and recommend; you'll drive outcomes.

Our portfolio has real SEO assets to build on and real gaps to close. Your early wins will be concrete and visible.

What You'll Own

SEO Strategy & Execution

• Own the SEO roadmap across all CeriFi brands - balancing quick wins with structural improvement
• Audit and triage technical SEO issues across the portfolio (crawlability, indexing, site speed, structured data, Core Web Vitals)
• Manage keyword strategy by brand - mapping intent to funnel stage, product, and content type
• Build and maintain reporting in Google Search Console, GA4, and Semrush/Ahrefs to track performance and surface opportunities

AEO & GEO Strategy

• Develop and execute an AI search strategy to ensure CeriFi brands are cited and surfaced in AI-generated answers across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and Gemini, among others.
• Structure content and schema to be AI-friendly - conversational, answer-focused, semantically rich, and passage-level optimized
• Monitor brand visibility and citation sentiment in AI platforms; identify gaps and test interventions
• Translate E-E-A-T principles into content and structural guidance that serves both traditional rankings and LLM discoverability

Content Partnership

• Partner with brand content teams to develop an SEO-driven editorial calendar that maps to exam cycles, enrollment windows, and high-intent search moments
• Establish content briefs, on-page optimization guidelines, and quality standards that non-SEO writers can execute without handholding
• Identify content gaps and prioritize creation of new pages, pillar content, topic clusters, and FAQ structures that drive AI citation and organic rankings
• Champion internal linking architecture and content consolidation across brands to reduce cannibalization and improve authority distribution

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with the VP of Digital CX and Analytics/Data Lead to connect SEO performance to conversion and revenue outcomes
• Partner with engineering and web teams to ensure SEO requirements are embedded into site launches, migrations, and CMS updates
• Contribute to the broader digital growth strategy, helping leadership understand organic performance in the context of paid, email, and retention

What You Bring

Required

• 5+ years of hands-on SEO experience, with demonstrable impact on organic traffic and rankings
• Experience managing SEO through a brand migration or domain consolidation - you've done the technical and strategic work of recovering authority post-rebrand
• Genuine working knowledge of AEO/GEO - you've experimented with AI search visibility, not just read about it
• Ability to write clear, actionable content briefs and SEO guidance that content teams can actually use
• Strong proficiency in Google Search Console, GA4, and at least one SEO platform (Semrush, Ahrefs, or equivalent)
• Comfort working independently across a multi-brand portfolio without deep day-to-day management
• Strong communicator who can translate technical SEO findings into business impact for non-SEO stakeholders

Preferred

• Experience in professional education, certification prep, or continuing education verticals
• Familiarity with BigCommerce or similar e-commerce/CMS platforms from an SEO implementation standpoint
• Working knowledge of HTML, structured data (JSON-LD), and Google Tag Manager
• Experience with Screaming Frog, Botify, or similar crawling/auditing tools
• Exposure to LLM citation tracking tools or emerging GEO measurement platforms

What Success Looks Like

In your first 90 days, you will have completed a full SEO audit across priority brands, identified the highest-leverage technical and content issues, and begun execution on LegalEdge recovery and CPEdge brand migration consolidation.

At six months, organic traffic is trending in the right direction for migrated brands, a content partnership cadence is in place with at least two brand teams, and you have a documented GEO/AEO framework that the broader digital team can act on.

At twelve months, CeriFi brands are measurably more visible in AI-generated search answers, technical debt is materially reduced across the portfolio, and organic is contributing meaningfully to pipeline across core product categories.