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How many levels do content and SEO ladders have?

Data collected on

We read 9 content and SEO ladders that public employers and companies publish for their own staff and counted their levels. The median is 4 levels for content and communications specialists who do not manage people, and 4 is the most common count. Every source is linked below, and the data is free to download.

Key findings

  • Ladders run from 2 to 6 levels. The median is 4, and 3 of the 9 ladders use exactly 4.
  • 4 of the 8 ladders that use job titles have a Senior level. Its median position is step 3 from the bottom.
  • 8 ladders publish a separate track for managers. The 7 that say where it starts put it between step 3 and step 5, and the median is step 3.
  • In all 3 ladders that have both a Senior level and a placed manager track, management starts at the Senior level or later.

How many levels content and SEO ladders have

Each bar is the number of ladders with that many levels for content and communications specialists who do not manage people.

  • 2 levels2 ladders
  • 3 levels2 ladders
  • 4 levels3 ladders
  • 5 levels1 ladder
  • 6 levels1 ladder

Which titles the ladders use

The bars cover the 8 ladders whose levels are job titles. The other one uses grades or scope names instead of job titles, such as “Developing/Skilled - grade 5/6” or “Independent - grade 7”. One ladder can use several of these words.

  • Associate3 of 8
  • Senior4 of 8
  • Staff2 of 8
  • Principal2 of 8

A word counts wherever it sits in the title, as in “Communications Specialist, Senior”.

Where the manager track starts

This chart shows the step, counted from the bottom of each ladder, where the first people-manager role sits. It covers the 7 ladders that say where it starts. Of the rest, 1 has a manager track but does not say where it starts and 1 does not say whether it has one.

  • Step 35 ladders
  • Step 41 ladder
  • Step 51 ladder

Download the data

One row per ladder: its name, who publishes it, the source link, the number of levels, the level names, the manager track and the step it starts at.

Download the CSV

All 9 ladders

Levels for content and communications specialists who do not manage people, lowest first, as each publisher names them.
LadderLevelsLevel namesManager track
Boise State UniversityPublic employer3
  1. Communications Specialist, Associate
  2. Communications Specialist
  3. Communications Specialist, Senior
Separate, from step 3 (level with Communications Specialist, Senior)
California State UniversityPublic employer(read from the Internet Archive copy)4
  1. Marketing Communications Professional I
  2. Marketing Communications Professional II
  3. Marketing Communications Professional III
  4. Marketing Communications Professional IV
Not stated
East Tennessee State UniversityPublic employer3
  1. Communications and Marketing Professional 1
  2. Communications and Marketing Professional 2
  3. Communications and Marketing Professional 3
Separate, from step 3 (level with Communications and Marketing Professional 3)
GitLab5
  1. Content Writer
  2. Content Writer & Strategist
  3. Senior Content Writer & Strategist
  4. Staff Content Strategist
  5. Principal Content Strategist
Separate, from step 4 (level with Staff Content Strategist)
Skylight6
  1. Associate content designer
  2. Content designer I
  3. Content designer II
  4. Senior content designer
  5. Staff content designer
  6. Principal content designer
Separate; start not stated
State of WashingtonPublic employer4
  1. Communications Consultant 1
  2. Communications Consultant 2
  3. Communications Consultant 3
  4. Communications Consultant 4
Separate, above the top level (step 5)
UK Government Digital and Data ProfessionPublic employer2
  1. Junior content designer
  2. Content designer
Separate, above the top level (step 3)
University College LondonPublic employer(read from the Internet Archive copy)2
  1. Developing/Skilled - grade 5/6
  2. Independent - grade 7
Separate, above the top level (step 3)
Virginia TechPublic employer4
  1. Associate General Coordinator, Content Development
  2. General Coordinator, Content Development
  3. Senior General Coordinator, Content Development
  4. General Consultant, Content Development
Separate, from step 3 (level with Senior General Coordinator, Content Development)

How we did it

We read 9 content and SEO ladders that their publishers use for their own staff: 2 from companies and 7 from public employers, on their own sites or in documents they publish. We kept only those whose levels we could read as text. We left out templates written by individuals, professional bodies’ standards and ladders only for events, social media or internal communications teams.

None of the published ladders is only for SEO. More than half of the public employers here publish no ladder only for content roles. They file these roles under a general communications or marketing ladder, so for those employers we used that ladder as the closest fit.

Levels are the steps a content or communications specialist can climb without managing people, lowest first. Interns and trainees are left out. When a ladder splits one title into numbered steps, each with its own expectations (like “Content designer I” and “II”), each step counts. Pay bands inside one level do not. A level above both tracks that the ladder does not open to individual contributors is not counted.

The manager track starts where the ladder puts its first people-manager role: the same band or level number, the same row of its table, or the step where it says the tracks split. When that role sits above the top level, it counts as the next step up. When a ladder has a manager track but does not place it, we do not guess.

Title shares only count ladders whose levels are job titles. A word counts when it appears as a whole word anywhere in a level’s title, so “Communications Specialist, Senior” counts as Senior. Senior Staff or Senior Principal would count as Staff or Principal, not Senior.

This is a sample of the ladders people chose to publish, mostly from public universities and governments, and some are several years old. It shows what public ladders look like, not what every employer does. Where a live page was gone or blocked automated reading, we read the Internet Archive copy, and the table says so.

We store only public facts: how many levels a ladder has, what the levels are called and where the manager track starts. Each ladder belongs to its publisher, so follow the links for the full text. None of them has reviewed or endorsed this study, and Competrace is not affiliated with them.

Spotted a mistake, or a public ladder we missed? Email support@competrace.com with the link, and we will update the data.

See levels with their skills

The study counts levels. To see what each level needs, browse our content and SEO career path with the skills each level expects, or read what a career ladder is.

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