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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Web Content Specialist

💰 $45,000 - $85,000

MarketingContentDigitalSEO

🎯 Role Definition

The Web Content Specialist is responsible for producing and optimizing digital content that aligns with brand voice, user needs, and business goals. This role owns content lifecycle activities — from strategy and planning to creation, publishing, metadata management, performance analysis, and continuous iteration — and partners closely with marketing, product, UX, and development teams to deliver measurable results across web and digital channels.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Content Coordinator or Content Assistant
  • Digital Marketing Coordinator or SEO Coordinator
  • Copywriter or Junior Editor

Advancement To:

  • Senior Web Content Specialist
  • Content Strategist or SEO Manager
  • Digital Content Manager or Head of Content

Lateral Moves:

  • UX Writer
  • Content Marketing Manager
  • Product Content Strategist

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Develop and maintain the editorial calendar and content roadmap for the company website and hub pages, ensuring alignment with product launches, campaigns, seasonal promotions, and SEO priorities.
  • Write, edit, and proofread long- and short-form web copy (landing pages, product descriptions, blog posts, knowledge base articles, FAQs, and microcopy) that is clear, on-brand, conversion-focused, and optimized for search intent and user experience.
  • Conduct keyword research and competitive content analysis to inform content topics, structure, and on-page optimization strategies that improve organic visibility and search rankings.
  • Implement on-page SEO best practices (titles, meta descriptions, H1/H2 hierarchy, URL structure, schema markup recommendations, canonical tags) and maintain consistent metadata across the site to improve discoverability.
  • Manage content in the CMS (e.g., WordPress, Drupal, Contentful), including creating templates, publishing workflows, content tagging, and ensuring accessibility and responsive display across devices.
  • Optimize existing site content through content audits and gap analyses, executing refreshes, consolidations, or retirements to boost traffic, engagement, and conversion metrics.
  • Collaborate with UX designers and product teams to craft content that supports user journeys and conversion funnels, including wireframe/content alignment and testing copy variations for usability.
  • Produce content assets for multi-channel distribution (email, social, paid landing pages, partner sites) and ensure messaging consistency and SEO integrity across channels.
  • Create and maintain content style guides, brand voice documents, and editorial standards to ensure consistent quality and tone across all web properties.
  • Coordinate cross-functional reviews and approvals, managing stakeholder feedback, version control, and timely publication while maintaining content governance and quality assurance.
  • Set up and monitor A/B and multivariate tests for headlines, CTAs, and page layouts in collaboration with growth and analytics teams to validate content hypotheses and improve conversion rates.
  • Track and analyze content performance using analytics tools (Google Analytics / GA4, Search Console, Hotjar, SEMrush, Ahrefs), translating data into actionable recommendations and ongoing optimization plans.
  • Lead structured content migration projects and site restructures, including URL mapping, redirect planning, content reconciliation, and post-launch QA to preserve SEO value and avoid traffic loss.
  • Produce and maintain structured content (metadata, alt text, schema, taxonomy) to improve content interoperability, search engine indexing, and personalized delivery across experiences.
  • Develop and execute content localization or transcreation strategies in partnership with localization vendors to maintain brand consistency and SEO performance in target markets and languages.
  • Educate internal teams on SEO fundamentals, content best practices, and content publishing processes through training sessions, documentation, and playbooks.
  • Manage relationships with external writers, freelancers, and agencies: brief writing assignments, review deliverables, enforce quality standards, and measure ROI of outsourced content.
  • Coordinate with the legal and compliance teams to ensure web content meets regulatory and industry-specific requirements (disclaimers, accessibility, privacy notices).
  • Maintain a prioritized backlog of content initiatives, balancing quick wins (technical fixes, meta updates) with strategic investments (pillar pages, content hubs) to maximize ROI.
  • Monitor industry trends, search algorithm updates, and content marketing innovations to proactively evolve content strategy and maintain competitive advantage.

Secondary Functions

  • Support cross-team analytics requests, produce custom content performance reports, and provide insights that inform broader marketing and product decisions.
  • Contribute to the organization’s SEO and content strategy roadmap by identifying opportunities for new content formats, topical authority initiatives, and site architecture improvements.
  • Assist in sprint planning and agile ceremonies for content-related deliverables; break down content work into user stories and acceptance criteria for engineering and design partners.
  • Help maintain content inventory and taxonomy, tagging content for reuse in personalization, marketing automation, and product documentation systems.
  • Participate in user research sessions, content discovery interviews, and persona development to ensure content addresses real user needs and pain points.
  • Provide content support for rapid campaign launches, product incidents, or PR responses, drafting timely web updates, and coordinating fast approvals.
  • Conduct periodic accessibility checks and remediation recommendations for content (alt text, heading structure, readable language) to support inclusive design goals.
  • Mentor junior content staff and interns, providing editorial feedback and guidance on SEO and CMS best practices.
  • Liaise with IT and development teams to prioritize technical content fixes, performance optimizations, and site health issues affecting indexability or user experience.
  • Create content readiness checklists and pre-launch QA procedures to ensure all pages meet SEO, UX, and brand standards before publishing.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Expert knowledge of on-page and technical SEO fundamentals: keyword research, metadata optimization, URL structure, hreflang, robots.txt, sitemaps, and canonicalization.
  • Proficiency with CMS platforms (WordPress, Contentful, Drupal, Sitecore) including templating, content modeling, and workflow management.
  • Strong copywriting and editorial skills with demonstrated ability to craft persuasive, scannable web copy and content that converts.
  • Experience with analytics and SEO tools: Google Analytics / GA4, Google Search Console, SEMrush, Ahrefs, Moz, Screaming Frog, or equivalent.
  • Familiarity with basic HTML and CSS for content formatting, troubleshooting display issues, and liaising with development teams.
  • Experience running and analyzing A/B tests and conversion optimization experiments using tools like Optimizely, Google Optimize, or VWO.
  • Knowledge of structured data/schema markup (JSON-LD), accessibility standards (WCAG), and SEO implications of site architecture.
  • Competence in content audits, content lifecycle management, and content migration best practices including redirect mapping and preserving SEO equity.
  • Experience using collaboration and project management tools (Asana, Jira, Trello, Confluence) to manage content projects and stakeholder reviews.
  • Ability to create content briefs, editorial guidelines, and style guides that scale across teams and external contributors.

Soft Skills

  • Strong stakeholder management: ability to mediate feedback, prioritize competing requests, and deliver content on tight timelines.
  • Analytical mindset with the ability to translate data into clear content hypotheses and actionable optimizations.
  • Excellent communication and presentation skills for training sessions, performance reviews, and cross-functional alignment.
  • Detail-oriented editor who ensures accuracy, consistency, and brand voice while maintaining speed and throughput.
  • Creative problem-solving and adaptability to changing priorities, algorithm updates, and new content formats.
  • Collaborative team player who partners effectively with marketing, product, design, engineering, and legal teams.
  • Project management skills to manage multiple content streams, deadlines, and external contributors simultaneously.
  • User-centered thinking with an emphasis on usability, accessibility, and content clarity.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor’s degree in Communications, Journalism, Marketing, English, Digital Media, or related field (or equivalent professional experience).

Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor’s or Master’s degree with coursework or certifications in SEO, digital marketing, UX writing, or content strategy.
  • Certifications such as Google Analytics, HubSpot Content Marketing, or SEMrush Academy are a plus.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Communications
  • Journalism
  • Marketing
  • English / Creative Writing
  • Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) / UX

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 2–5 years of hands-on experience in web content creation, CMS management, and SEO-driven content optimization.

Preferred:

  • 3–5+ years in content roles focused on SEO and web publishing, or equivalent agency experience producing measurable organic results.
  • Demonstrated track record of increasing organic traffic, improving conversion rates, and managing content migrations or large editorial programs.
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