SEO Architect Contractor

We are ThinkShout, a Portland-grown, certified B Corp dedicated to delivering exceptional web development, design, user experience, and strategy to the nonprofits and forward-thinking organizations that inspire us. While we’re based in Oregon, most of us work remotely from all over the country. 

We love building beautiful solutions for the organizations that inspire us, including websites for the World Resources Institute, Amnesty, and Freedom House. Our team brings exceptional web development, design, UX and strategy skills to the work we do on both new and existing sites. 

Our culture encourages growth, doing the right thing, and collaborating with the team to make good solutions into great ones. This is a place where you’ll find interesting puzzles to solve and a team that cares about building the right thing. We work primarily with nonprofits, and use technology to create positive impact locally, nationally and around the world. We take pride in the work we do, and care about the people impacted by the things we build. 

We are looking to establish an ongoing relationship with an expert in technical SEO for project work and consultation throughout the year. You will report to our VP of Product Design and Project Managers for individual projects. The VP of Product Design will onboard you to projects and review your deliverables, but otherwise, the role has a lot of autonomy. Some projects will be as little as ten hours, and some will be tens of hours. The frequency of client meetings will vary depending on the project and can be adjusted in collaboration with the project manager. You can expect to work with various clients, including American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). We’re looking for someone with leadership skills who enjoys collaborating across production teams and can lead client-facing conversations confidently. It is worth repeating, this is a very technical focused role, not a marketing focused role, so the SEO focus is for large websites with complex taxonomies and information architecture and lots of content.

Requirements

What You'll Be Doing:

• SEO Strategy: Develop comprehensive SEO strategies tailored to a range of clients' specific business objectives and target audiences. 

• Technical SEO Expertise: Leverage a deep understanding of technical SEO to identify opportunities and implement solutions that drive website performance, organic traffic and search engine rankings. Specific skills include:
• Tag Management Systems (TMS): manage GA4 tags, configure and track goals to measure critical conversions.
• Event Tracking: set up custom events to track user interactions and goals.
• XML Sitemaps and Robots.txt: Create and optimize XML sitemaps and manage the robots.txt file to control search engine crawlers.
• Structured Data Markup: Knowledge of schema markup and its implementation for rich snippets and enhanced search results.

• Keyword Research and Content Optimization Capabilities: Conduct in-depth keyword research to identify valuable search terms and optimize website content accordingly. Collaborate with client content teams to ensure content aligns with SEO objectives and effectively targets relevant keywords.

• Data Analysis and Reporting: Monitor and audit SEO performance metrics, track KPIs, and provide regular performance reports to clients. Utilize data insights to refine and optimize SEO strategies and drive continuous improvement.

• Client-Facing Comfortability: Serve as clients' primary point of contact regarding SEO initiatives, leading conversations, and providing strategic insights. Collaborate closely with clients to understand their goals, answer queries, and provide recommendations to enhance organic search performance.

What We're Looking For:

• Proven experience as an SEO Director, Architect, Manager, or similar leadership position focusing on strategic SEO planning and execution for various clients, including non-profit organizations.
• Prior experience leading and managing SEO strategy for an agency.
• A solid understanding of Analytics Canvas, Big Query, and other emerging GA4 platforms  
• Strong analytical skills, with the ability to interpret Google Analytics 4 and SEMRush data, draw insights, and make data-driven decisions.
• Familiarity with SEO tools and platforms like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, SEMrush, or Moz.
• In-depth knowledge of search engine algorithms, ranking factors, and industry trends.
• Experience in presenting SEO performance reports and strategic recommendations to clients.
• Demonstrated success in developing and implementing effective SEO strategies that drive organic growth.

Benefits

Based on expertise and experience, the hourly range for this contractor role is $85-$105/hr.

How to Apply:
Please submit a resume (no more than 2 pages) in PDF format and if applicable, include links to your online presence, portfolio, or personal website. We request that you do not submit a cover letter. In its place, we have a few questions for you to answer in the job application. These questions help us learn more about you and are an integral component of the interview process. 

If you are selected to move forward, you can expect a 20-min interview with our VP of Product Design.

Equal Opportunity Employer:

At ThinkShout, we're committed to diversity and inclusion. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and walks of life. ThinkShout is made up of people with a variety of backgrounds and lifestyles. We are honest and recognize that our company isn’t as diverse as it should be. We’re trying to change that. If you aren’t sure whether you qualify, please apply anyway. We would much prefer to have an extra application to consider than for you to screen yourself out. 

We don't discriminate against employees or applicants based on gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, race, religion, age, national origin, citizenship, disability, pregnancy status, veteran status, or any other differences.

Also, if you have a disability, please let us know if there's any way we can make the interview process better. Please send us an email at jobs@thinkshout.com with the subject line “SEO Architect Contractor - Accommodations”. We're happy to accommodate.