SEO Analyst

U.S. News & World Report is a multifaceted digital media company dedicated to helping citizens, consumers, business leaders and policy officials make important decisions in their lives. We publish independent reporting, rankings, data journalism and advice that has earned the trust of our readers and users for nearly 90 years. Our platforms on usnews.com include Education, Health, Money, Travel, Cars, News and 360 Reviews.

We reach more than 40 million people monthly during moments when they are most in need of expert advice and motivated to act on that advice directly on our platforms. Our signature franchises include our “Best” series of consumer guides on colleges, graduate schools, hospitals, diets, cars, financial services and more. These guides provide an easy-to-digest list for consumers to better understand and compare when making their decisions. We continue to publish annual guides of the authoritative Best Colleges and Best Hospitals rankings on our website and in print. And our U.S. News Live flagship conferences highlight important national conversations including Healthcare of Tomorrow and Healthiest Communities.

We believe in having a broad range of talent and backgrounds at U.S. News. We strive to maintain a welcoming workplace where everyone is given an opportunity to succeed and contribute to their fullest. Learn more about our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiative.

Your role in helping us shape the future:

As a member of U.S. News, you will be involved in implementing our SEO strategy for traffic growth that helps drive the future of our business. You will be a key member of a fast-growing organization that is goal-oriented and re-shaping our future.

The primary responsibilities of the SEO Analyst will be to champion our organic traffic growth through smart, actionable search tactics and work closely with the U.S. News global SEO team to create the future SEO strategy for the U.S. News site. You will assist in the analysis and reporting and be the resident expert on Search algorithm updates and industry trends.

The SEO Analyst will work closely with various product, editorial and tech teams to improve organic performance and assist with reporting, analysis and recommendations.

Are you up to the challenge?

• Assist with the research, analysis, development and implementation of strategic action plans to accelerate the achievement of long and short-term SEO objectives for the verticals within US News.
• Conduct fundamental SEO activities: keyword research/ranking/gap analysis, competitive site/serp analysis, SEO-friendly copywriting, sitewide audits, crawl analysis, identify technical issues, improve site health and QA
• Review detailed content outlines for articles that guide the editorial staff and freelance writers based off your topic research
• Build out tracking projects to keep tabs on article-level traffic and performance
• Watch for traffic trends and search volume fluctuations and proactively recommend content updates to existing content where needed
• Help drive the SEO direction for major site changes, product launches, design updates and SEO/user optimizations
• Understand the major factors influencing organic search, crawling, indexing, and keyword ranking to help increase our search visibility and rankings
• Work closely with SEO lead, product, developers, editorial and designers to drive SEO plans
• Research and put together SEO strategies for new growth opportunities, site/content updates, new products and redesigns
• Create tickets for developers (via jira), QA changes on staging environments and follow tickets through to production
• Track site performance and traffic to identify any issues or trends
• Keep up with the digital media industry landscape, SEO best practices, algorithm changes to inform SEO strategies and tactics, and help identify new growth opportunities
  

You should definitely have:

• Bachelor’s degree
• 1-3 years of professional SEO experience with proven results
• Knowledge of SEO methodologies and best practices
• Experience with reporting/tracking tools including, Google Analytics and Google Search Console, SEO optimization platforms such as Searchmetrics, SEMrush and data-driven SEO analysis
• Proven success in creating and implementing SEO plans and strategies resulting in tangible growth in organic traffic
• Experience working with cross-platform teams to implement SEO strategies
• Advanced skills in Microsoft Excel, HTML and understanding source code
  

It would be nice if you had:

• Familiarity with Schema.org markup
• Experience with large media websites
  

What it’s like to work with us:

Talent is our best asset!

We invest in people with passion and potential who understand U.S. News’ dedication to our consumers.

• Entrepreneurial, mission-driven culture with core values of quality and integrity
• Focus on fostering personal and professional growth
• Competitive benefits including paid vacation time, medical, tuition reimbursement, and training
• Collaborative Work Environment : Fun, diverse, inclusive and ambitious co-workers
  

Other Job Info:

• These statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by employees assigned to this job. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required of employees assigned to this job.
• U.S. News & World Report strongly encourages all employees to be fully vaccinated (including boosters).
• In New York, the anticipated base salary for this position is $70,000 - $80,000 The actual base salary offered will depend on a variety of factors, including without limitation, the qualifications of the individual applicant for the position, years of relevant experience, level of education attained, certifications or other professional licenses held, interview performance, and if applicable, the location in which the applicant lives and/or from which they will be performing the job.