SEO Specialist (Generative Engine Optimisation Focus)
Apply Digital
Contract
Remote
United States and Canada
SEO
ABOUT APPLY DIGITAL
Apply Digital is a global experience transformation partner. We drive AI-powered change and measurable impact across complex, multi-brand ecosystems. Leveraging expertise that spans across the customer experience lifecycle from strategy, design to engineering and beyond, we enable our clients to modernize their organizations and maximize value for their business and customers.
Our 750+ team members have helped transform global companies like Kraft Heinz, NFL, Moderna, Lululemon, Dropbox, Atlassian, A+E Networks, and The Very Group.
Apply Digital was founded in 2016 in Vancouver, Canada. In the past nine years, we have grown to ten cities across North America, South America, the UK, Europe, and India.
At Apply Digital, we believe in the “One Team” approach, where we operate within a ‘pod’ structure. Each pod brings together senior leadership, subject matter experts, and cross-functional skill sets, all working within a common tech and delivery framework. This structure is underpinned by well-oiled scrum and sprint cadences, keeping teams in step to release often and retrospectives to ensure we progress toward the desired outcomes.
Wherever we work in the world, we envision Apply Digital as a safe, empowered, respectful and fun community for people, every single day. Together, we work to embody our SHAPE (smart, humble, active, positive, and excellent) values and make Apply Digital a space for our team to connect, grow, and support each other to make a difference.
We are seeking a highly experienced and strategic SEO Specialist who is deeply knowledgeable in SEO, and proactive regarding the emerging field of Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO). This is a focused role dedicated purely to maximising organic and AI search visibility, requiring both strategic foresight and hands-on execution ability. You will be responsible for leading SEO/GEO projects, ensuring our clients have a strong presence across AI search and traditional organic search.
Core Responsibilities
The SEO Specialist will manage the full lifecycle of SEO and GEO efforts, acting as both a consultant and implementer.
Strategy & Insight
- Define, develop, and execute comprehensive SEO and GEO strategies for enterprise clients across our global base.
- Analyse how Generative AI is influencing search evolution and available tooling, and integrate this understanding into actionable strategies.
- Provide guidance on how to optimise for information queries, emphasising the goal of being "cited" or "mentioned" in a generative answer and increasing the share of voice.
- Develop proactive GEO strategies specifically designed to protect and solidify brand authority, ensuring clients dominate the AI source pool for their branded terms.
- Implement strategies for Entity-Based Optimisation, ensuring client entities are clear, well-defined, and connected across the digital ecosystem.
- Frame brand visibility and authority within AI interfaces as a key metric for success, articulating the value of being consistently cited in AI Overviews to skeptical clients or CMOs as a major brand awareness and top-of-funnel win.
- Lead and contribute to SEO projects, collaborating on website build projects to ensure SEO is baked in from the start, and optimised throughout the process.
Execution & Technical Implementation
- Ensure technical SEO fundamentals (crawlability, page performance, site architecture) are robust.
- Drive the implementation of structured content, especially for facts, figures, FAQs, and how-tos, recognising its central role in AI search and answering queries.
- Develop content strategies that shift focus from traditional snippets to comprehensive, multi-faceted content designed to address follow-up questions (Query Fan Out).
- Execute content strategies focused on conversational and long-tail query patterns, creating detailed Q&A sections and comprehensive guides that answer complex, multi-part questions a user would ask an AI.
- Provide guidance and advice on both technical SEO fundamentals and on-site SEO to internal and client teams, including developers, designers, and other stakeholders.
- Monitor proxy metrics for GEO success, such as tracking brand mentions in AI-summarised sources, monitoring changes in zero-click search share, and focusing on branded and non-branded search share-of-voice.
Knowledge, Skills & Abilities
- Proven experience in SEO, with a track record of delivering successful projects, leveraging AI tools and suites to enhance performance.
- Deep understanding of GEO/Generative Engine Optimisation, including how it fundamentally differs from traditional SEO.
- Expertise in executing strategies to enhance E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness).
- Ability to implement concrete actions to build E-E-A-T, such as showcasing author credentials, citing original research, and securing backlinks from authoritative institutions.
- Strong technical SEO knowledge, including site architecture, crawling and indexing, structured data, and avoiding technical obstacles to optimisation.
- Knowledge of how LLMs rely on traditional search engines (like Google or Bing) to find their sources.
- Client-facing experience, with the ability to confidently present and discuss complex SEO/GEO strategies, insights, and results.
- A commitment to staying current with the rapidly changing landscape of AI search, including developments like Google’s SGE expansion, new AI overview features, and data from early studies.
- Solid understanding of SEO data sources and metrics, and the ability to analyse these to make data-driven recommendations.
Requirements and Qualifications
- 5 years+ of direct SEO experience (agency or client-side).
- Strong client and stakeholder communication skills, essential for advising and aligning internal and external teams.
- Experience of working with large-scale commerce websites.
- Understanding of agency work (from agency or client-side experience).
- Excellent spoken and written English.
- Ability to use data analysis tools (web analytics, SEO suites, etc.) to drive decision-making.
LIFE AT APPLY DIGITAL
At Apply Digital, people are at the core of everything we do. We value your time, safety, and health, and strive to build a work community that can help you thrive and grow. Here are a few benefits we offer to support you:
Great projects: Broaden your skills on a range of engaging projects with international brands that have a global impact.
An inclusive and safe environment: We’re truly committed to building a culture where you are celebrated and everyone feels welcome and safe.
Apply Digital is committed to building a culture where differences are celebrated and everyone feels welcome. That’s why we value equal opportunity and nurture an inclusive workplace where our individual differences are recognized and valued.
For more information, visit the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) section of our website. If you have accommodation needs at this stage of the recruitment process, please inform us as soon as possible by emailing us at [email protected].
We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.