Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Web Editor

🎯 Role Definition

The Web Editor owns the end-to-end lifecycle of digital content—producing and curating web pages, features, blog posts, landing pages, and multimedia assets optimized for search, usability, and conversion. This role blends strong editorial judgment, technical familiarity with CMS and HTML/CSS, data-driven optimization, and stakeholder management to deliver content that meets user needs and business goals.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Staff Writer / Digital Journalist
Content Coordinator / Content Assistant
Copy Editor / Proofreader

Advancement To:

Senior Web Editor
Content Manager / Content Lead
Editorial Director / Head of Content

Lateral Moves:

Content Strategist
UX Writer / Product Content Specialist
SEO Specialist / Search Content Manager

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Plan, assign, write, and edit high-quality web content across company sites and microsites, ensuring every article, landing page, and feature adheres to brand voice, tone, and style guidelines while meeting editorial deadlines.
Manage the content calendar and publishing schedule in the CMS; prioritize and sequence content launches to align with product releases, marketing campaigns, and seasonal initiatives.
Optimize content for organic search by incorporating rigorous on-page SEO: keyword research, meta titles and descriptions, header structure, internal linking, schema markup recommendations, and canonicalization.
Perform detailed copyediting and proofreading for accuracy, grammar, clarity, legal and brand compliance, ensuring all published content is error-free and fact-checked.
Use Google Analytics, Search Console, and/or other analytics platforms to monitor traffic, engagement, click-through rates, bounce rates, and conversion metrics; produce regular performance reports and action plans.
Conduct audience and keyword research to identify topics, headlines, and formats that drive traffic, engagement, and conversions; translate insights into publishable content briefs.
Build and maintain templates, modules, and page patterns in the CMS in collaboration with design and development teams to ensure consistency and scalable editorial workflows.
Implement content accessibility best practices (WCAG), including semantic HTML, alt attributes, descriptive link text, captioning for multimedia, and logical content structure to improve usability and compliance.
Coordinate with SEO, social, paid media, design, and product teams on content campaigns, A/B tests, and promotional strategies to amplify reach and conversion.
Manage content governance: create and maintain editorial style guides, taxonomy, metadata standards, content tagging, and archival/retirement policies to keep the site organized and findable.
Optimize images, video, and multimedia for web performance—compression, responsive sizing, lazy loading strategies—and coordinate with visual teams for on-brand assets.
Lead or participate in CMS migrations, site redesigns, and template updates by auditing existing content, mapping redirects, and enforcing migration QA to protect SEO equity.
Review and enforce legal, regulatory, and brand compliance on content (disclaimers, copyright, privacy policy references) and escalate issues to legal or compliance teams when necessary.
Collaborate with subject-matter experts and external contributors to develop technical or specialized content; edit contributions for clarity, accuracy, and audience appropriateness.
Create, manage, and optimize landing pages and conversion funnels in support of acquisition campaigns; work with product and marketing to implement tracking pixels and event tagging.
Oversee user-generated content moderation where applicable, enforcing community guidelines, and coordinating with moderation teams to maintain brand safety.
Implement and iterate on content experiments (A/B tests, headline variants, layout changes), analyze results, and scale successful tests into production improvements.
Maintain SEO hygiene by auditing for broken links, redirect chains, duplicate content, thin pages, and sitemap/indexing issues; coordinate fixes with engineering and webmaster teams.
Train and mentor junior editorial staff and contributors on CMS usage, SEO basics, editorial workflows, and content quality standards.
Create and maintain evergreen content, “pillar” pages, and topical clusters to support long-term organic traffic growth and internal linking strategies.
Respond to ad-hoc analytics requests and translate performance data into actionable content updates—refreshing outdated content, consolidating similar pages, and improving CTRs.
Monitor competitive landscape and industry trends to recommend new formats, content verticals, and distribution channels that align with audience interest and business objectives.
Maintain version control and content backups; perform regular QA on live pages (links, assets, mobile responsiveness) and resolve production issues promptly.
Support paid content and sponsored placements by ensuring editorial standards and SEO integrity while coordinating disclosure language and attribution.

Secondary Functions

Assist product and engineering teams with content requirements for new site features, in-product messaging, and help center articles.
Help define and evolve content KPIs and OKRs in collaboration with Growth and Product Analytics teams.
Document content workflows, handoffs, and playbooks for cross-functional teams to streamline production.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies to prioritize editorial work and technical fixes affecting content.
Provide input on UX wireframes and information architecture to improve content findability and on-site search relevance.
Manage relationships with freelance writers, photographers, and multimedia vendors; coordinate briefs, deadlines, and payments.
Support localization and internationalization efforts by preparing content for translation and working with localization vendors.
Keep current with updates to search algorithms and industry SEO standards; translate changes into practical editorial guidance and site updates.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Expert-level proficiency with Content Management Systems (CMS) such as WordPress, Drupal, Sitecore, or Adobe Experience Manager.
Strong on-page SEO skills: keyword research tools (Ahrefs, SEMrush, Moz), meta optimization, structured data/schema, canonical tags, and internal linking strategies.
Proven experience with Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and other analytics/measurement platforms to read and act on content performance data.
Copyediting and proofreading skills with strong command of AP/Chicago/house style; ability to produce clear, concise web copy.
Basic HTML and CSS knowledge to troubleshoot layout issues, adjust formatting, and apply semantic markup.
Familiarity with web accessibility standards (WCAG 2.1), and practical experience making content accessible for diverse users.
Experience with content tagging, taxonomy management, and metadata practices that improve site navigation and searchability.
Proficiency in image and video optimization for the web (compression, responsive images, alt text, captions) and basic familiarity with tools like Photoshop or Figma.
Experience running A/B tests and using experimentation platforms (Optimizely, VWO, Google Optimize) or coordinating with growth teams to implement tests.
Understanding of CMS template systems, content blocks/components, and template-driven publishing workflows.
Experience managing redirects, crawlability issues, and performing SEO audits using technical SEO tools (Screaming Frog, DeepCrawl).
Familiarity with basic JavaScript concepts and how scripts can impact content rendering and SEO.
Experience creating and publishing content for mobile-first and responsive design contexts.
Knowledge of paid media integration (UTM tagging, landing page setup) and collaboration with marketing/campaign teams.
Experience with editorial project management tools (Asana, Trello, Jira) and collaborative content workflows.

Soft Skills

Strong editorial judgment and attention to detail with ability to maintain tone and voice across multiple channels.
Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills—able to collaborate with designers, developers, product managers, and legal teams.
Data-driven mindset: comfortable using analytics to inform content decisions and to prioritize optimizations.
Project management skills with ability to manage competing priorities, ownership of deadlines, and clear delegation.
Problem-solving orientation with a bias for testing hypotheses and iterating on results.
Adaptability and curiosity: stays current with SEO, content marketing, and web publishing trends.
Mentorship and team-building capability to train junior editors and freelance contributors.
Customer-focused empathy: writes and edits content that addresses audience needs and user intent.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

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

Preferred Education:

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree with concentration in Digital Media, Journalism, Marketing, or a technical communications program; SEO/content certifications (e.g., Google Analytics, HubSpot, SEMrush Academy) are a plus.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Journalism
Communications
English / Creative Writing
Marketing / Digital Marketing
Human-Computer Interaction / UX (beneficial)

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 2–5 years of professional experience in digital editorial, web content, or content marketing roles.

Preferred:

4+ years editing and publishing in a CMS with demonstrable SEO results and a portfolio of published web content.
Experience leading small editorial teams or coordinating with cross-functional product/marketing teams on content initiatives.