SEO Manager (Cape Town, Johannesburg)

Job description

About Black Snow Agency

Black Snow Agency is an integrated digital agency working with SMEs, mid-market businesses and established brands across South Africa and international markets. Our work spans financial services, technology, telecommunications, e-commerce and other growth-focused sectors. Our integrated team brings together strategy, SEO, paid media, content, creative, web development and analytics. SEO is a core part of our digital offering. We focus on measurable organic growth that contributes to qualified traffic, leads, conversions and revenue - not rankings in isolation.

The role

We are looking for an experienced, hands-on SEO Manager to manage organic search performance across a portfolio of Black Snow Agency clients.  You will work closely with our digital lead, client service, content and web development teams to plan and execute SEO strategies across technical SEO, content, on-page optimisation, authority building, local SEO and AI search visibility.

This is a senior hands-on agency role. You will be expected to understand the technical side of websites, identify issues, brief developers clearly and QA implementations once completed.

You will also contribute directly to client strategy, reporting and performance discussions.

Why Black Snow Agency

You will work directly with senior agency leadership and an integrated team across SEO, performance media, development, content and creative.  Our client portfolio ranges from growing South African businesses to established brands and international projects. You will have the opportunity to influence how Black Snow develops its SEO, AEO and GEO capabilities as organic search increasingly moves beyond traditional search engines.

Most importantly, we measure SEO against commercial performance. Rankings matter, but qualified traffic, leads, conversions and revenue matter more.

Key responsibilities

• SEO strategy and execution
• Manage SEO performance across a portfolio of client accounts.
• Develop and execute SEO strategies aligned with each client’s commercial objectives.
• Conduct comprehensive technical and on-page SEO audits.
• Identify and prioritise technical SEO issues and opportunities.
• Produce clear implementation briefs for developers and QA completed work.
• Manage keyword research, search intent mapping and competitor analysis.
• Develop topic and content strategies based on organic search opportunities.
• Create detailed SEO content briefs for writers and content teams.
• Optimise existing website content, metadata, headings, URLs and internal linking.
• Manage local SEO strategies, including location-based optimisation and Google Business Profile opportunities.
• Analyse competitors to identify content, keyword and authority gaps.
• Monitor rankings, organic traffic, engagement, conversions and lead performance.
• Establish account benchmarks, targets and SEO performance forecasts.

Technical SEO

You should be technically confident and able to understand how websites are built and how development decisions affect organic performance. You do not need to be a developer, but you must be able to communicate effectively with developers and understand the technical implications of their work. This role calls for working knowledge across the following areas:

• Website architecture, URL structures, crawling and indexation
• XML sitemaps, robots.txt, canonicals and redirects
• Core Web Vitals and overall website performance
• Structured data and schema markup
• Mobile SEO, and website migrations and redirects
• eCommerce and other CMS platforms
• Google Search Console and GA4, including conversion tracking

AI search, AEO and GEO

Search is changing beyond traditional Google rankings. The SEO manager will help develop and execute Black Snow’s approach to AI-driven search. Responsibilities include:

• Apply AEO and GEO principles across client websites.
• Optimise content for Google AI overviews and AI-powered search experiences.
• Improve client visibility across platforms such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity.
• Understand entity optimisation, structured content and authority signals.
• Monitor how clients and competitors appear within AI-generated results.
• Identify opportunities to improve brand visibility and citations within AI search platforms.

Content and authority

• Identify new organic content opportunities.
• Work with writers to produce content aligned with search intent and commercial objectives.
• Review SEO content before publication.
• Analyse content performance and recommend optimisation opportunities.
• Develop link acquisition strategies focused on quality and relevance.
• Work with PR, publishers, journalists and relevant industry websites to earn authoritative backlinks.
• Avoid low-quality or purely volume-driven link-building practices.

Reporting and client management

• Contribute to monthly client SEO reports and internal performance reporting.
• Translate SEO data into clear commercial outcomes.
• Report on organic traffic, conversions, leads, visibility and growth opportunities.
• Participate in client strategy and performance meetings.
• Present SEO results and recommendations to clients.
• Manage SEO-related client follow-ups and actions.
• Identify accounts that are underperforming and recommend corrective action.

Internal coordination

• Coordinate SEO requirements with developers, designers, content writers and client service.
• Ensure monthly SEO deliverables are completed on time and to the required standard.
• Review work before it is published or presented to clients.
• Follow and improve Black Snow’s SEO processes and SOPs.
• Help develop new SEO processes as search platforms and technology evolve.

Requirements

• 3-5 years of hands-on SEO / AEO and GEO experience.
• Digital marketing agency experience is strongly preferred.
• Proven experience managing multiple SEO accounts simultaneously.
• Strong technical SEO knowledge.
• Hands-on experience with Google Search Console, Microsoft clarity and GA4.
• Experience with SEO platforms such as SEMrush, Ahrefs or similar.
• Strong understanding of keyword research, search intent and content strategy.
• Experience briefing and working directly with developers.
• Experience briefing writers and reviewing SEO content.
• Experience with link acquisition and digital PR-led authority building.
• Working knowledge of AEO and GEO and how brands can improve visibility within AI-generated search results.
• Ability to analyse SEO performance beyond rankings and connect activity to leads, conversions and business outcomes.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills

Nice to have

• Experience working with financial services, technology or telecommunications clients.
• Experience with WordPress and website migration projects.
• Exposure to international SEO, particularly UK and European markets.
• Understanding of Google Ads and how paid and organic search strategies can work together.
• HubSpot or similar CRM experience.
• Experience with Looker Studio and automated reporting dashboards.
• Google certifications or other relevant digital certifications.

What we're looking for

• Analytical and commercially minded.
• Highly organised and comfortable managing multiple accounts.
• Technically confident.
• Strong at identifying problems and proposing practical solutions.
• Comfortable taking ownership of SEO performance.
• Able to explain technical SEO concepts to clients and non-technical team members.
• Comfortable challenging an approach when the data indicates something needs to change.
• Curious about how search, AI and digital discovery are evolving.
• Comfortable working independently while collaborating closely with an integrated agency team.

Remuneration
Market-related salary based on experience and technical capability. Performance incentives may apply.

To apply
Send us: Your CV with a short overview of an SEO campaign or account you are particularly proud of;

• The commercial results achieved.
• Examples of technical SEO challenges you have personally identified and helped resolve.
• Any experience you have with AEO, GEO or AI search optimisation.

Posted on 20 Aug 13:59, Closing date 18 Oct