Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Web Content Developer
💰 $50,000 - $95,000
🎯 Role Definition
The Web Content Developer is a hybrid content and technical specialist who plans, writes, edits, builds, and maintains website content to meet marketing, product, and communications goals. This role focuses on content production and delivery using content management systems (CMS), applying SEO and accessibility best practices, implementing content templates and modular components, optimizing for performance and conversions, and measuring impact with analytics. The Web Content Developer partners with designers, developers, product managers, and stakeholders to ensure web content is accurate, on-brand, accessible, and discoverable.
📈 Career Progression
Typical Career Path
Entry Point From:
- Content Specialist / Content Writer
- Junior Web Editor / Digital Copywriter
- Marketing Coordinator with web content responsibilities
Advancement To:
- Senior Web Content Developer
- Web Content Manager / Content Lead
- Digital Content Strategist
- UX Content Lead or Manager
Lateral Moves:
- SEO Specialist
- Front-End Developer (with stronger technical focus)
- Product Content Designer
- Analytics / CRO Specialist
Core Responsibilities
Primary Functions
- Develop, edit, and publish clear, SEO-optimized website content (landing pages, product pages, knowledge base articles, blog posts, microcopy, metadata) using enterprise CMS platforms such as WordPress, Drupal, Sitecore, or Adobe Experience Manager.
- Create and maintain templated page layouts, component-based content modules, and reusable content blocks to ensure consistency, scalability, and efficient content production across the web platform.
- Implement on-page SEO best practices, including keyword research collaboration, title tags, meta descriptions, header structure (H1–H6), schema markup, canonical tags, and internal linking strategies to increase organic visibility and search rankings.
- Audit, migrate, and reorganize legacy content during CMS migrations or redesigns, ensuring content quality, URL integrity, redirects, and preservation of organic traffic and SEO value.
- Build and edit HTML/CSS templates and snippets within the CMS, ensuring responsive design and correct rendering on desktop and mobile devices; collaborate with front-end developers for advanced functionality.
- Enforce web accessibility (WCAG 2.1) standards by authoring accessible content, adding alt text for images, labeling forms, ensuring sufficient color contrast, and testing with screen readers to improve inclusivity and compliance.
- Optimize page performance and load times by resizing images, implementing lazy loading, compressing assets, and recommending technical improvements to developers and DevOps teams.
- Configure and maintain content workflows, version control, approvals, and publishing schedules in the CMS; coordinate multi-step editorial reviews and rights management for regulatory or legal content.
- Write, edit, and proofread marketing copy, product descriptions, help documentation, and UI microcopy with exceptional editorial judgment, tone consistency, and brand voice alignment.
- Collaborate with UX designers and product teams to translate wireframes and prototypes into content-driven pages that support usability, conversions, and product adoption.
- Conduct keyword research and competitive content analysis to inform content strategy, topic clustering, and editorial calendar priorities that drive traffic and user engagement.
- Implement and maintain metadata, taxonomies, tags, and structured data to improve content discoverability, faceted search, and personalization across the site.
- Run A/B/n tests and personalization experiments in partnership with CRO and analytics teams to optimize headlines, CTAs, page templates, and content layouts for engagement and conversion metrics.
- Monitor site content health using analytics (Google Analytics/GA4), Search Console, and content performance dashboards; produce monthly reports and actionable recommendations to stakeholders.
- Localize and adapt content for multiple languages and regions in collaboration with localization teams or vendors, ensuring cultural relevance and translation quality across global sites.
- Manage and optimize images, video embeds, and multimedia content for web delivery, including optimizing alt text, transcripts, captions, and video metadata to improve SEO and accessibility.
- Troubleshoot and resolve content display issues, broken links, redirect loops, CMS errors, and cross-browser rendering problems, working with engineering to deploy fixes and patches.
- Maintain and update content governance documentation, style guides, editorial standards, and content templates to streamline contributor onboarding and ensure consistent quality.
- Train and support content authors, marketers, and product owners on CMS usage, content best practices, and SEO fundamentals; act as a subject matter expert for web content processes.
- Coordinate with legal, compliance, and regulatory teams to review and approve sensitive content; ensure privacy, terms, and disclosure language are correctly presented and maintained.
- Manage content tagging, metadata hygiene, and taxonomy governance to improve search, personalization, and content reuse across channels.
- Drive continuous improvement initiatives, proposing automation, tooling, or process changes (content audits, editorial calendars, content APIs) to boost team productivity and content ROI.
- Prepare and execute content migrations, rollbacks, and emergency publishing procedures as part of release management and incident response workflows.
- Maintain awareness of web standards, SEO algorithm updates, accessibility law changes, and industry best practices; proactively update content strategies accordingly.
Secondary Functions
- Support analytics and reporting requests by producing custom content performance extracts, traffic segment analyses, and SEO impact assessments for marketing and product stakeholders.
- Assist in cross-functional sprint planning and content backlog grooming within Agile frameworks; estimate content tasks and dependencies for development cycles.
- Participate in user research sessions and usability testing to gather content insights and iterate on copy and information architecture.
- Contribute to the organization’s content strategy and roadmaps by identifying content gaps, prioritizing new content initiatives, and aligning with business objectives.
- Help maintain and extend the content component library and documentation for designers and developers to speed up production and ensure brand consistency.
- Provide hands-on support for CMS upgrades, plugin management, and content deployment processes in coordination with web operations and IT teams.
- Aid in tagging and integrating content with marketing automation, CRM, and personalization platforms for improved audience segmentation and campaign measurement.
- Review and triage content requests from internal teams, translating business needs into clear content specifications and acceptance criteria.
- Conduct periodic content audits and health checks to identify outdated, duplicated, or low-performing content and recommend archival or consolidation strategies.
- Serve as an on-call content publisher during product launches, campaigns, and high-traffic events to ensure timely updates and rapid issue resolution.
Required Skills & Competencies
Hard Skills (Technical)
- Content Management Systems (CMS): expert-level experience with WordPress, Drupal, Sitecore, Adobe Experience Manager (AEM), or similar enterprise platforms.
- On-page SEO: metadata optimization, header structure, schema.org markup, canonicalization, XML sitemaps, and use of tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, or Moz.
- Front-end basics: proficient in HTML5, CSS3, and familiarity with JavaScript/DOM for content-level edits and troubleshooting.
- Web accessibility (WCAG 2.0/2.1): experience applying accessibility standards, ARIA attributes, alt text, and assistive technology testing.
- Analytics and tracking: Google Analytics (Universal/GA4), Google Search Console, Google Tag Manager, and experience creating content performance dashboards.
- Content migration and CMS templates: experience with content migration planning (CSV, XML, APIs), templating systems, and component-based page building.
- Basic image and multimedia editing: Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, or equivalent tools for preparing web-ready assets.
- Versioning and collaboration tools: Git basics for content repos, or CMS-native version control; familiarity with Confluence, Jira, and Trello.
- A/B testing and CRO tools: experience with Optimizely, VWO, Google Optimize, or similar experimentation platforms.
- Structured data and metadata management: experience implementing JSON-LD, schema markup, and managing taxonomies and tagging systems.
- Localization and translation management systems (TMS): familiarity with Lokalise, Smartling, Transifex, or standard workflows for multilingual content delivery.
- Basic SQL or data-query skills (helpful) for extracting content performance data or performing content inventories.
Soft Skills
- Strong copyediting and proofreading with impeccable attention to grammar, tone, and brand voice.
- Excellent communication skills to liaise with cross-functional teams, stakeholders, and external vendors.
- Project and time management: ability to prioritize competing deadlines, manage editorial calendars, and deliver on schedule.
- Analytical mindset: comfortable interpreting analytics data to make content decisions and demonstrate ROI.
- Detail-oriented with high standards for quality, consistency, and accessibility.
- Collaborative and diplomatic: able to balance stakeholder input and technical constraints to deliver practical solutions.
- Problem-solving and troubleshooting skills for fast issue resolution during site incidents or campaigns.
- Adaptable and continuous learner, staying current with SEO, CMS, and web technology changes.
- Customer-focused: understands user intent and crafts content that meets audience needs and supports conversion paths.
- Initiative and ownership: proactively identifies content gaps, proposes improvements, and drives projects to completion.
Education & Experience
Educational Background
Minimum Education:
- Bachelor's degree in Communications, Journalism, English, Marketing, Information Technology, Web Development, or related field; or equivalent practical work experience.
Preferred Education:
- Bachelor's degree plus certifications in SEO, UX Writing, Content Strategy, or Web Accessibility; or an associate degree plus demonstrable CMS and front-end experience.
Relevant Fields of Study:
- Communications
- Journalism
- English or Creative Writing
- Marketing or Digital Marketing
- Human-Computer Interaction / UX Design
- Computer Science / Web Development
Experience Requirements
Typical Experience Range:
- 2–5 years of hands-on web content development, CMS management, or digital content production in a corporate, agency, or product environment.
Preferred:
- 3–5+ years with proven experience in enterprise CMS platforms, SEO-driven content production, accessibility compliance (WCAG), content migrations, and measurable improvements in organic traffic or engagement metrics. Experience collaborating with engineering and design teams and using analytics to drive content decisions is strongly preferred.