Digital SEO Specialist

Salt Lake City, UT (Unknown)

$68K/yr – $78K/yrMid LevelFull time

Posted 2 weeks ago

Job Summary

Lead and own the university’s organic search program by aligning technical SEO, keyword strategy, content optimization, and data-driven reporting with campus goals across large-scale web properties.

Partner with digital research and content teams to set benchmarks and align optimization with university goals.
Design branded dashboards and run SEO experiments to demonstrate impact and drive continuous improvement.

Job Description

Responsibilities

Strategic Collaboration: Work in close, daily partnership with the Associate Director of Digital Research and Operations and the digital research team across all core SEO initiatives, establishing search performance benchmarks and aligning optimization efforts with university digital goals.
Digital Campaign & SEO Synergy Reporting: Partner with content strategy and research teams to analyze and report on organic search results, landing page performance, and organic traffic impact driven by high-traffic digital advertising campaigns.
Technical SEO & Site Hygiene: Conduct regular technical site audits across large-scale university web properties to identify and resolve issues related to crawlability, indexability, site speed, mobile usability, canonicalization, site architecture, and structured data.
Keyword & Content Optimization: Perform comprehensive keyword research and intent analysis to guide content creators, web managers, and research teams. Optimize metadata, headings, on-page copy, and internal linking structures to maximize organic visibility.
Search Analytics & Optimization: Track, analyze, and report on organic search performance, keyword rankings, backlink profiles, and conversion funnels using Google Analytics (GA4), Search Console, and enterprise SEO software.
A/B Testing & Search Experimentation: Design and execute SEO experiments, testing title tags, meta descriptions, and structural layout changes to improve click-through rates ( CTR ) and user engagement.
Branded Dashboard Development: Collaborate directly with the research team to design, build, and maintain branded, campus-partner-facing dashboards in Looker Studio and Tableau, ensuring data visualizations follow university brand standards and UI/UX best practices.
SEO & Accessibility Integration: Collaborate with web and content teams to ensure on-page SEO strategies align seamlessly with digital accessibility standards ( WCAG 2.1 Level AA) and core web vitals.

Requirements

EQUIVALENCY STATEMENT : 1 year of higher education can be substituted for 1 year of directly related work experience (Example: bachelor’s degree = 4 years of directly related work experience).
Search Engine Optimization Specialist, III : Requires a bachelor’s (or equivalency) + 6 years or a master’s (or equivalency) + 4 years of directly related work experience.
Education: Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Communications, Computer Science, Information Design, Information Systems, or a related field
SEO Experience: Experience in technical and on-page search engine optimization, with a proven track record of managing enterprise or multi-domain web environments. Higher education or agency experience is strongly preferred.
Technical Stack:
SEO Tools: Expertise in SEO and GEO tools such as Ahrefs, SEMrush, Google Search Console, and Google Trends.
Analytics, BI & Campaign Tracking: Hands-on experience with Google Analytics (GA4), Webmaster Tools, and tracking SEO impact for high-traffic paid digital media campaigns.
Dashboard Design & Branding: Experience creating branded data visualizations and dashboards (Looker Studio, Tableau) with strong design principles and brand alignment.
CMS & Web Standards: Proficiency with WordPress (including SEO plugins like Yoast), HTML / CSS , basic JavaScript understanding, and structured data implementation.
Accessibility & Operations: Working knowledge of digital accessibility guidelines ( WCAG ) and project management platforms.

Preferred

Education: Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Communications, Computer Science, Information Design, Information Systems, or a related field
SEO Experience: Experience in technical and on-page search engine optimization, with a proven track record of managing enterprise or multi-domain web environments. Higher education or agency experience is strongly preferred.
Technical Stack:
SEO Tools: Expertise in SEO and GEO tools such as Ahrefs, SEMrush, Google Search Console, and Google Trends.
Analytics, BI & Campaign Tracking: Hands-on experience with Google Analytics (GA4), Webmaster Tools, and tracking SEO impact for high-traffic paid digital media campaigns.
Dashboard Design & Branding: Experience creating branded data visualizations and dashboards (Looker Studio, Tableau) with strong design principles and brand alignment.
CMS & Web Standards: Proficiency with WordPress (including SEO plugins like Yoast), HTML / CSS , basic JavaScript understanding, and structured data implementation.
Accessibility & Operations: Working knowledge of digital accessibility guidelines ( WCAG ) and project management platforms.
Key Traits We’re Looking For: Fast & Careful, Curious, Proactive, Resilient, Collaborative, Humble

University of Utah

The University of Utah, located in Salt Lake City in the foothills of the Wasatch Mountains, is the flagship institution of higher learning in Utah. Founded in 1850, it serves over 31,000 students from across the U.S. and the world. With over 72 major subjects at the undergraduate level and more than 90 major fields of study at the graduate level, including law and medicine, the university prepares students to live and compete in the global workplace. Known for its proximity to seven world-class ski resorts within 40 minutes of campus, the U encourages an active, holistic lifestyle, innovation and collaborative thinking to engage students, faculty and business leaders.The University of Utah became a member of the PAC-12 conference in July 2011.Technology and CommercializationThe University of Utah is tops in the country for creating start-up companies from university research, according to a ranking by the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM). See http://unews.utah.edu/news_releases/u-of-utah-no-1-for-startups for more information.Forbes magazine’s recent ranking of the “Best States for Business” pointed to “an educated labor force” as a big reason Utah came in at number one. The U supplies many of the employees for companies that keep expanding their operations in Utah, such as Goldman Sachs, Adobe, Omniture, Oracle, Ebay and many others. http://pac12info.utah.edu/commercialization-of-innovation/HealthcareUniversity of Utah Health Care recently ranked first in the nation in a prestigious national study. The University Health System Consortium’s 2010 Quality and Accountability Study compared 98 of the nation’s top academic medical centers and ranked them based on core quality measures, patient safety indicators, mortality rates, re-admission rates, and patient satisfaction scores. See more about University of Utah Health Care at http://healthcare.utah.edu/index.php

Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

12K employees (464 in marketing)

utah.edu