Job Description
Off-page SEO Manager
Our smart thinking, expert team is looking to recruit an Off-page SEO Manager to support Varn as we continue to grow our business. Varn is the largest and longest-established specialist SEO agency in the South West, based in the beautiful town of Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire, just outside Bath.
The Role:
We are looking for someone who can take responsibility and lead on the delivery of off-page SEO and digital PR campaigns for clients, comfortable with client facing responsibilities and team management.
With a background in content creation, off-page SEO or digital PR and a minimum of 2 year’s general search marketing experience, you will work with our clients, potential clients and our internal teams to help Varn deliver best-in-class SEO and content.
The Off-page SEO Manager will plan and implement off-page SEO strategies and be comfortable with competitor research and campaign ideation and outreach. In addition to this, you will also work directly with our clients, keeping them up to speed with how their campaigns are performing and proactively reaching out to develop new ideas.
You will work closely with the Head of Client Services, the Off-page SEO Manager and the wider Varn team. You will also be responsible for helping to train and line-manage junior Off-page SEO team members.
Wider duties:
- Monitoring our clients’ off-page SEO performance and data
- Making contributions to wider SEO strategies which reflect the client’s business objectives, website performance, and available resources to achieve tangible results
- Developing and maintaining strong relationships with clients, including presenting ongoing work in regular meetings
- Keeping up to date with industry developments to ensure continuous development of our off-page SEO knowledge. Contributing proactively with thought leadership, creating and writing content to help share Varn’s expertise within SEO and search marketing.
- Line-managing 1 to 2 members of the junior Off-page SEO team, helping them to develop and meet their agreed performance goals
- Contributing to an environment that fosters open communication and trust with all team members, clients and other stakeholders
Who are you?
- You have at least 2 years of hands-on experience in successfully implementing digital PR/outreach campaigns with measurable results.
- You have the ability to think creatively around problems and interpret clients’ requests
- You have experience using outreach tools like Pitchbox and SEO reporting tools like SEMRush.
- You ideally have experience in developing and building long term client relationships within an agency or consultancy. You can confidently express yourself while discussing ideas with clients and team members
- You are able to work well under pressure and carefully manage your own time
- You like data, pay close attention to detail, and feel at home analysing data and putting together interesting stories from large data analysis
- You have experience in mentoring, supporting and directing junior team members, or are keen to learn to line-manage others
- You are a friendly, honest and hard-working individual who enjoys working alongside and contributing to a wider team
Who are we?
At Varn, our values are really important to us. So, if you feel an affinity to the things that are important to us, then you are probably exactly the person we need to have onboard:
- EXPERIENCED EXPERTS > We know that we know our stuff, be it search marketing, optimising websites, conducting technical audits and all the SEO activity in between. This means our expert team is truly at the core of our business: Are you someone who will take enormous pride in being part of our expert team?
- RESULTS DRIVEN > We want to deliver results for our clients, so the work we do must deliver value and have a positive impact on the businesses we work with, otherwise, it’s all just SEO talk. We like talking, but we like ROI more: Are you someone who will help us get the results our clients demand?
- HELPFUL PARTNER > It is really vital that we work alongside our clients as a helpful partner, not just a supplier: Are you someone that looks beyond a ‘to do’ list, and is proactively thinking how best to deliver the best outcome for clients?
- TRUSTWORTHY & ETHICAL > We take enormous pride in the fact you can unquestionably trust Varn to help, to do the right thing and we will always be open and honourable with clients: Are you someone who believes integrity and honesty is vital?
- HAPPY PEOPLE > We are a friendly bunch and we want you to love working for us. Are you someone who thinks life is simply too short not to make it fun? If so, then you will fit right in.
- CARING TEAM > Our team cares deeply about our community, our environment and each others’ wellbeing. Are you someone who wants to do good, as well as do good business?
Required skills
Key Responsibilities of this role will include:
Off-page SEO specific duties:
- Ideation
You will lead the campaign ideation process, including playing an important part in the idea generation process. - Content-Driven Link Acquisition
Collaborate with the internal or client’s content team to create high-quality, shareable content (e.g., research studies, infographics, whitepapers) that attracts natural backlinks. Promote and distribute this content to authoritative websites to secure backlinks. - Content Outreach/Digital PR
Reach out to industry-related websites, blogs, and online publications for guest post opportunities and, ideally, link placements. Promote content via targeted outreach to acquire backlinks from relevant sources. Foster relationships with webmasters and content managers to secure valuable link placements. Maintain our media contact list and develop tactics to reach journalists. - Link Building
Develop and execute a strategic link-building plan to acquire high-quality, authoritative backlinks. Identify, evaluate, and secure backlinks from relevant industry websites, blogs, and publications. Regularly monitor the link profile and ensure the acquisition of diverse, natural backlinks. - Brand Mentions & Reputation Management
Track brand mentions online and convert unlinked mentions into backlinks. Monitor and manage brand reputation, ensuring that positive mentions are leveraged for SEO benefit and negative ones are addressed. - Competitor Backlink Analysis
Analyse competitors’ backlink profiles to uncover link acquisition opportunities. Identify strategic gaps in competitors’ link profiles and develop tactics to surpass them in link acquisition. - Monitoring & Reporting
Track the success of off-page SEO initiatives, including backlink acquisition, using SEO tools like SEMrush, or Looker Studio. Regularly report on the progress of link-building campaigns and their impact on organic rankings.
Benefits
Your Benefits:
- Salary of £29,000-£39,000 depending on experience
- Opportunity to be part of a growing agency
- Company wide bonus scheme (up to 10% annual bonus)
- Access to our woodland office, our mobile Camper Varn office and Woolacombe (Devon) beach view workspace, so you can work outside and be inspired in new places.
- Up to 28 days off per year (including 20 standard days, 3 day Christmas close down, 1 day holiday for your birthday and up to 4 days long service bonus)
- Pension scheme
- Training and development opportunities
- Fun working environment