Library
Content and SEO career path, levels and ladder
Updated
5 levels, from Content Executive to Head of Content. Each one is rated on the same 36 skills — what changes between the rungs is how good you have to be at each. A content ladder from content executive to head of content, covering SEO, editorial craft, digital PR and performance analysis.
- Level 1 of 5
Content Executive job description
Writes and publishes content to a brief under editorial guidance.
Read the job description - Level 2 of 5
Content Marketing Specialist job description
Plans, writes and optimizes content independently against a target.
Read the job description - Level 3 of 5
Content Strategist job description
Owns strategy, briefs and organic performance for a topic area.
Read the job description - Level 4 of 5
Content Marketing Manager job description
Leads the calendar, the team and organic growth across content.
Read the job description - Level 5 of 5
Head of Content job description
Sets content and search strategy and owns organic growth org-wide.
Read the job description
Content and SEO levels and job titles
Content and SEO titles vary a lot between companies. This table maps each level on this ladder to the content and SEO titles you will commonly see elsewhere. For how these titles line up across departments, see the job title hierarchy.
| Level on this ladder | Common job titles |
|---|---|
| Content Executive | Content Executive, Content Writer, Associate Content Designer, Associate Communications Specialist, SEO Executive, Junior SEO Specialist |
| Content Marketing Specialist | Content Marketing Specialist, Content Designer, Communications Specialist, SEO Specialist, SEO Content Specialist |
| Content Strategist | Content Strategist, Senior Content Writer and Strategist, Senior Content Designer, Senior Communications Specialist, SEO Strategist, SEO Content Strategist, Senior SEO Specialist |
| Content Marketing Manager | Content Marketing Manager, Content Manager, Staff Content Strategist, SEO Manager, SEO Content Manager |
| Head of Content | Head of Content, Head of Content Marketing, Principal Content Strategist, Head of SEO, SEO Director, VP of SEO |
Skills matrix
36 skills and 1 certification across 5 levels.
| Skill/Certification 37 | Content Executive | Content Marketing Specialist | Content Strategist | Content Marketing Manager | Head of Content |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Search Strategy4 | |||||
| BasicYou can research keywords for a brief you have been given, group them by topic, and note whether each is informational, commercial or transactional. | ProficientYou can build a keyword list for a new topic from scratch, judge intent from what already ranks, and choose the terms worth targeting over ones that only look big. | AdvancedYou can prioritize keyword opportunities across a whole content program by intent, difficulty and business value, and defend the calls you did not chase. | AdvancedYou can prioritize keyword opportunities across a whole content program by intent, difficulty and business value, and defend the calls you did not chase. | ExpertYou can set how the organization researches and prioritizes search demand, and change the method when the data shows the old one is missing real opportunity. | |
| NoviceYou can open a competitor page you are pointed at and list the topics it covers that your own site does not. | ProficientYou can explain why competitors rank for a topic and turn the biggest gaps in your coverage into briefs. | AdvancedYou can run the analysis across a content program, spot where a whole category under-serves a search intent, and decide whether a gap needs new content or an update. | AdvancedYou can run the analysis across a content program, spot where a whole category under-serves a search intent, and decide whether a gap needs new content or an update. | AdvancedYou can run the analysis across a content program, spot where a whole category under-serves a search intent, and decide whether a gap needs new content or an update. | |
| NoviceYou can fill in a content brief template with the details a strategist gives you, without leaving fields blank. | BasicYou can write a brief for a routine piece from your own research, covering the target keyword, intent, structure and required sources. | AdvancedYou can set content strategy across several topic areas, aligning it to a business goal, and coach others to write briefs to your standard. | ExpertYou can set the content strategy for the organization, deciding which topics and formats the whole function invests in, and hold that plan against pressure to chase trends. | ExpertYou can set the content strategy for the organization, deciding which topics and formats the whole function invests in, and hold that plan against pressure to chase trends. | |
| BasicYou can plan your own content production against deadlines, flag slippage early, and keep the calendar accurate without being asked. | ProficientYou can build and run the calendar for a topic area, balancing writer capacity against publishing goals, and resequence it when priorities shift. | ProficientYou can build and run the calendar for a topic area, balancing writer capacity against publishing goals, and resequence it when priorities shift. | AdvancedYou can run the calendar across the whole content function, resolve competing priorities between teams, and protect capacity for unplanned work. | AdvancedYou can run the calendar across the whole content function, resolve competing priorities between teams, and protect capacity for unplanned work. | |
| Search Optimization7 | |||||
| BasicYou can optimize a routine page's headings, copy and images against an agreed target keyword without a checklist. | ProficientYou can structure a page for a competitive term around what searchers need, and keep the wording natural instead of repeating the keyword. | AdvancedYou can set the on-page standard your team writes to, and diagnose why a well-written page still is not ranking. | AdvancedYou can set the on-page standard your team writes to, and diagnose why a well-written page still is not ranking. | ExpertYou can set on-page practice for the organization, and test third-party AEO and GEO advice against Google's published guidance before teams adopt it. | |
| BasicYou can write titles and descriptions that earn a click without misrepresenting the page, for routine pages, unaided. | ProficientYou can write metadata for a competitive page that improves click-through without prompting, and test variants against results. | AdvancedYou can set metadata standards and templates for the team, and diagnose a page with strong rankings but weak click-through. | AdvancedYou can set metadata standards and templates for the team, and diagnose a page with strong rankings but weak click-through. | AdvancedYou can set metadata standards and templates for the team, and diagnose a page with strong rankings but weak click-through. | |
| NoviceYou can add a link to a related page when the brief tells you to. | BasicYou can add relevant internal links to a piece from your own knowledge of the site's content. | ProficientYou can design the internal linking for a topic cluster so authority flows to the pages meant to rank, and audit an existing cluster for gaps. | AdvancedYou can set the site's information architecture across topic areas, deciding how sections relate, and lead a restructure without losing rankings. | ExpertYou can own the site's overall architecture and linking strategy, and decide when a structural change is worth the short-term ranking risk. | |
| NoviceYou can run a pre-built technical checklist against a page and report what fails. | BasicYou can find common technical issues on a section of the site, such as broken links, duplicate titles, missing alt text or content absent from the mobile version. | AdvancedYou can diagnose technical issues that only show up at scale, such as crawl budget waste or rendering problems, and get them onto the engineering roadmap. | AdvancedYou can diagnose technical issues that only show up at scale, such as crawl budget waste or rendering problems, and get them onto the engineering roadmap. | ExpertYou can set the organization's technical SEO standards and audit cadence, and make the final call on a tradeoff between SEO and product goals. | |
| NoviceYou can read the field Core Web Vitals (LCP, INP and CLS) for a page from the Search Console report and say which pass. | BasicYou can identify which page elements, such as large images, are hurting a page's speed score. | ProficientYou can diagnose which specific Core Web Vitals metric is failing and why, and specify the fix in terms a developer can implement. | AdvancedYou can set page-experience targets for the site and get speed fixes prioritized against feature work. | AdvancedYou can set page-experience targets for the site and get speed fixes prioritized against feature work. | |
| NoviceYou can add a schema type someone has already chosen for a page by following an existing template, and you run the markup through a validator before it goes live while a reviewer checks your work. | BasicYou can mark up common page types such as articles and products with every property the rich result needs, and clear the validator's errors. | ProficientYou can choose schema types for a new page type and fix markup that disagrees with the visible page, not only the warning. | ProficientYou can choose schema types for a new page type and fix markup that disagrees with the visible page, not only the warning. | AdvancedYou can design structured data for a large site and keep it correct as templates change, removing markup for rich results Google has dropped. | |
| NoviceYou can read a robots.txt file and a sitemap and say which pages they let search engines reach. You make the changes someone specifies for you and confirm the result in Search Console before calling it done. | NoviceYou can read a robots.txt file and a sitemap and say which pages they let search engines reach. You make the changes someone specifies for you and confirm the result in Search Console before calling it done. | ProficientYou can find why a page is missing from the index and fix it, including pagination, URL parameters and faceted pages. | AdvancedYou can plan indexation for a large site or a migration, sequencing redirects and canonicals so traffic survives the move. | AdvancedYou can plan indexation for a large site or a migration, sequencing redirects and canonicals so traffic survives the move. | |
| Editorial Craft6 | |||||
| BasicYou can write a long-form piece from a brief, using plain language and descriptive headings so a reader can follow the argument to the end. | ProficientYou can write long-form content on an unfamiliar topic from primary research, in plain language, structured for the search intent. | AdvancedYou can write the pieces the rest of the team finds hardest, and edit others' drafts so the structure, not just the sentences, improves. | AdvancedYou can write the pieces the rest of the team finds hardest, and edit others' drafts so the structure, not just the sentences, improves. | AdvancedYou can write the pieces the rest of the team finds hardest, and edit others' drafts so the structure, not just the sentences, improves. | |
| NoviceYou can look up a rule in the style guide when asked and apply it to your own sentence. | BasicYou can apply the style guide to your own writing consistently without checking it each time. | AdvancedYou can own the style guide, adding rules for image rights, sponsorship and AI-use disclosure, and train writers and editors on it. | ExpertYou can set editorial voice and standards for the whole organization, and adapt them as the brand or audience changes. | ExpertYou can set editorial voice and standards for the whole organization, and adapt them as the brand or audience changes. | |
| BasicYou can copyedit to a house style guide, checking facts, links, image rights and any AI-drafted claims against their sources. | ProficientYou can take a full draft to publishable quality on your own, cutting and restructuring it into plain language with accessible headings and link text. | AdvancedYou can edit difficult or sensitive copy where the argument itself is the problem, and give notes that help writers improve their next draft. | AdvancedYou can edit difficult or sensitive copy where the argument itself is the problem, and give notes that help writers improve their next draft. | AdvancedYou can edit difficult or sensitive copy where the argument itself is the problem, and give notes that help writers improve their next draft. | |
| NoviceYou can prepare content for translation and check that a translated page shows dates, currencies and names in the local form, before a fluent reviewer signs off. | BasicYou can adapt a piece for another market with a translator's guidance, replacing examples and references that would not land there. | ProficientYou can localize a content set for a market on your own, using the terms people there search for and rewriting where translation falls short. | ProficientYou can localize a content set for a market on your own, using the terms people there search for and rewriting where translation falls short. | AdvancedYou can run localization across several markets, deciding what is shared and what is written locally, and keep hreflang market versions from competing with each other. | |
| NoviceYou can check a page for a named author, dated updates and cited sources, and list the ones that are missing. | BasicYou can add the sources, author byline and first-hand details a brief calls for, and flag any claim you cannot support. | AdvancedYou can set the pre-publication checks for a topic area: named authors, cited sources, first-hand evidence and disclosure of how the piece was made. | ExpertYou can set the organization's content trust standard, covering author pages, corrections and disclosure of AI use, and audit teams against it. | ExpertYou can set the organization's content trust standard, covering author pages, corrections and disclosure of AI use, and audit teams against it. | |
| BasicYou can publish and update pages in the content system by following the team's checklist, and ask a reviewer when a page does not fit the template. | ProficientYou can set up and run the publishing workflow for a topic area, including templates, roles, review steps and scheduled publication. | ProficientYou can set up and run the publishing workflow for a topic area, including templates, roles, review steps and scheduled publication. | AdvancedYou can run publishing operations across the whole content function, keeping owners, review dates and retirement rules current for the whole site. | AdvancedYou can run publishing operations across the whole content function, keeping owners, review dates and retirement rules current for the whole site. | |
| Digital PR3 | |||||
| NoviceYou can help gather the data or assets for a PR campaign someone else designed. | NoviceYou can help gather the data or assets for a PR campaign someone else designed. | ProficientYou can develop a newsworthy campaign concept from scratch, from a data story to a creative asset, and brief the team executing it. | AdvancedYou can run a portfolio of campaigns, decide which ideas are worth the investment, and improve the hit rate from what did not land. | ExpertYou can set the digital PR strategy for the organization and decide how much of the content budget it deserves against other channels. | |
| NoviceYou can check that each site on a prospect list is real and relevant, and send the approved pitch without offering payment or a link swap. | BasicYou can build a prospect list for a piece of content and write a tailored pitch for each site, without paying for or trading links. | ProficientYou can run an outreach campaign end to end and land links from sites that matter, and you drop weak prospects early. You judge a site by whether its audience is real, not by a tool's score for it. | ProficientYou can run an outreach campaign end to end and land links from sites that matter, and you drop weak prospects early. You judge a site by whether its audience is real, not by a tool's score for it. | ProficientYou can run an outreach campaign end to end and land links from sites that matter, and you drop weak prospects early. You judge a site by whether its audience is real, not by a tool's score for it. | |
| NoviceYou can pull a backlink report and describe what it shows: how many domains link in, which pages they point at, and which links are new or lost. Someone senior interprets it with you. | BasicYou can tell a genuine link from a spam one, including paid and exchanged links, and sort a profile by quality and topic. | ProficientYou can audit a backlink profile on your own and turn it into work: links to chase, links to reclaim, risks to watch. You can explain your call on a borderline link rather than pointing at a metric. | AdvancedYou can judge a profile that looks dangerous, such as inherited spam or an old paid campaign, and decide whether to disavow, clean up or leave it alone. | AdvancedYou can judge a profile that looks dangerous, such as inherited spam or an old paid campaign, and decide whether to disavow, clean up or leave it alone. | |
| Performance Analysis2 | |||||
| NoviceYou can read traffic and ranking figures from a dashboard someone else built and check them against the source before reporting them. | BasicYou can pull traffic and ranking data for your own pages, including the Generative AI performance report in Search Console, and say whether each hit its goal. | AdvancedYou can build reporting that ties content performance to business goals, including reader feedback such as comments and survey answers, and use it to redirect the team's effort. | AdvancedYou can build reporting that ties content performance to business goals, including reader feedback such as comments and survey answers, and use it to redirect the team's effort. | ExpertYou can set what the organization measures as content success, and change it when the current metrics stop reflecting real value. | |
| NoviceYou can gather what an audit needs, such as traffic, age, rankings and duplication, into one sheet and apply the keep-or-cut rules someone else has set. A reviewer signs off your list before anything is removed. | BasicYou can audit a section of a site and recommend what to update, merge or retire, with the evidence behind each call. You check what a page is for before judging it on traffic alone. | ProficientYou can run a full audit and carry out the pruning yourself, redirects included, keeping low-traffic pages that do a job other than earning visits. | AdvancedYou can audit a site too large to read page by page, and sequence the work so risky changes come with a way back. | AdvancedYou can audit a site too large to read page by page, and sequence the work so risky changes come with a way back. | |
| Certifications1 | |||||
| Not required | Required | Required | Required | Required | |
| Delivery4 | |||||
| NoviceYou can keep your own tasks and deadlines in a current to-do list, and tell your manager as soon as work you own will be late. | BasicYou can organize a small piece of work into steps, put them in a sensible order, and finish it by the date you agreed, raising problems before they cause a delay. | ProficientYou can coordinate a small team's work on a shared goal: who does what by when, what has to wait for what, and a revised plan when things change. | AdvancedYou can keep several people's work in step across teams, agree priorities and hand-offs with them, and keep one shared task list that all of them actually use. | ExpertYou can set the everyday habits for how work is organized and followed up across the organization, and teams you do not lead adopt the routines you introduce. | |
| NoviceYou can estimate how long a task will take once the approach is clear, and you say promptly when the estimate turns out to be wrong. | BasicYou can estimate your own work with reasonable accuracy and keep a steady enough pace that other people can plan around you. | ProficientYou can estimate a whole project including its risks and unknowns, split it into stages, and defend the estimate when it is challenged. | AdvancedYou can estimate work that spans several teams, name the assumptions behind each figure, and rework the plan when those assumptions break. | ExpertYou can forecast work and staffing quarters ahead, and set the estimating method other teams use. | |
| BasicYou can stay responsible after you hand work over: you check it did what it was meant to, fix your own mistakes, and give updates before anyone asks. | ProficientYou can pick up a problem that has no obvious owner and make yourself accountable for it, including the parts nobody enjoys. | AdvancedYou can hold accountability for outcomes delivered mostly by other people, taking the blame when it fails and passing on the credit when it works. | AdvancedYou can hold accountability for outcomes delivered mostly by other people, taking the blame when it fails and passing on the credit when it works. | ExpertYou can report the organization's most exposed outcomes to its leaders as they stand, including bad news, and answer for them. | |
| BasicYou can choose checks that suit the task in front of you, catch your own mistakes before anyone else sees them, and confirm the result works once people start using it. | ProficientYou can define what good enough means for a project, put checks in place to show it has been met, and hold work back when it falls short. | AdvancedYou can set how quality is checked on complex work shared by several teams, and you spot the problems that only appear where their pieces meet. | AdvancedYou can set how quality is checked on complex work shared by several teams, and you spot the problems that only appear where their pieces meet. | ExpertYou can raise the quality bar across the organization by building the tools and habits that make the careful way the easy way. | |
| Craft3 | |||||
| BasicYou can work out what is wrong in work you did not create, and you fix the underlying cause instead of working around the symptom. | ProficientYou can break a large, ambiguous problem into pieces and weigh the options for each against the evidence. | AdvancedYou can make the call on a problem outside your expertise and explain its cost, time and risk. | AdvancedYou can make the call on a problem outside your expertise and explain its cost, time and risk. | ExpertYou can crack problems the organization has repeatedly failed to solve, and your approach becomes how others tackle that whole kind of problem. | |
| NoviceYou can apply the basics of your field to the work you are given, and ask an expert when a task goes beyond what you have learned. | BasicYou can work confidently with the tools and methods your team uses daily, and you can explain how your work serves the team's goals. | ProficientYou can advise the team on your area and apply new developments in the field where they pay off. | AdvancedYou can bring in good practice from outside the organization and make it work here, and your judgment clearly improves the work you touch. | ExpertYou can influence how the field is practiced beyond this organization, and your expertise settles questions that have stood open for years. | |
| ProficientYou can pick up an unfamiliar area fast enough to be useful in it, and you turn what you learned into something others can reuse. | ProficientYou can pick up an unfamiliar area fast enough to be useful in it, and you turn what you learned into something others can reuse. | AdvancedYou can judge which new ideas are worth the team's time and which are not, and you make room for the people around you to learn too. | AdvancedYou can judge which new ideas are worth the team's time and which are not, and you make room for the people around you to learn too. | ExpertYou can set what the organization invests its learning time in, and the material and practice you create outlive your involvement. | |
| Communication4 | |||||
| BasicYou can explain your work so your team can act on it, and play a request back in your own words before you act on it. | ProficientYou can explain a complex topic to people with very different backgrounds, adjusting the detail to the audience without talking down to them. | AdvancedYou can bring disagreeing groups to agreement on the facts and the next steps, and help colleagues frame a difficult or sensitive message. | AdvancedYou can bring disagreeing groups to agreement on the facts and the next steps, and help colleagues frame a difficult or sensitive message. | ExpertYou can set how the organization communicates by creating the forums and norms that teams use to share information. | |
| BasicYou can work well with people in other roles, share context and credit, and take criticism of your work without defending territory. | ProficientYou can build working relationships beyond your own team and get things done through people who do not report to you. | AdvancedYou can align teams with competing priorities on a common goal, surfacing the conflict early instead of letting it harden into resentment. | AdvancedYou can align teams with competing priorities on a common goal, surfacing the conflict early instead of letting it harden into resentment. | ExpertYou can remove the barriers that stop teams working together by putting in place routines and forums they use across the organization. | |
| BasicYou can document your own work well enough for a colleague to follow it unaided, such as a how-to guide or a handover, and keep it current as things change. | ProficientYou can write for a defined audience, whether a proposal, a policy, a report, or a decision record, and make the reasoning as clear as the conclusion. | AdvancedYou can own the documents behind a large piece of work, coordinating contributions so that people who were not involved can carry it on. | AdvancedYou can own the documents behind a large piece of work, coordinating contributions so that people who were not involved can carry it on. | ExpertYou can set the writing standard the organization works to, and documents you wrote are still in use long after you have moved on. | |
| NoviceYou can keep your manager and immediate team informed of your progress, and you raise an issue before someone else discovers it. | BasicYou can identify who is affected by your work and keep them updated at a level of detail and a frequency that suits them. | ProficientYou can win support for a proposal, reset expectations when the plan changes, and turn down a request with a reason the other side accepts. | AdvancedYou can hold senior and external relationships, negotiate between competing demands, and deliver unwelcome news without losing trust. | ExpertYou can represent the organization in its most important relationships and set how it engages with everyone who depends on it. | |
| Leadership3 | |||||
| NoviceYou can act on direction well, seek feedback on how you work, and be open about what you need help with. | BasicYou can spot a problem and propose a way forward unprompted, and you take a small leading role such as running a working group. | ProficientYou can lead one piece of work shared by several people, on your own team and beyond, and make calls that they act on. | AdvancedYou can lead across team boundaries, build the credibility that makes people follow you by choice, and create room for others to lead. | ExpertYou can set direction for the whole organization, make hard calls under real uncertainty, and carry the decisions nobody else wants to own. | |
| NoviceYou can share what you have just learned with your peers and help a newer colleague find their way around. | BasicYou can help someone new settle into your team's work, answer their questions patiently, and give feedback specific enough to act on. | ProficientYou can mentor someone over months, tell them the uncomfortable thing they need to hear, and adapt how you teach to how they learn. | AdvancedYou can develop other mentors, coach people through career decisions rather than tasks, and lift the capability of a whole team. | ExpertYou can shape how the organization grows its people, and those you developed are themselves named by others as strong in their field. | |
| NoviceYou can explain why the work you were given matters and who it is for. | BasicYou can connect your team's work to its goals and question a task that does not appear to serve them. | ProficientYou can look a year ahead in your area, name what will matter by then, and turn that into work people can pick up now. | AdvancedYou can set direction for an area, choose deliberately what not to do, and defend that choice when it is challenged. | ExpertYou can shape the organization's strategy, and the bets you argued for are visible in where it ended up. | |
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