VERB is a digital marketing and technology agency with our head office located in downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia. Our global clients offer the opportunity to work and collaborate with some of the world's biggest destinations, resorts, and travel brands—and with our employee travel credit, it's easy to experience them for yourself. We take a balanced approach to work/life and have fun at the office- or wherever we happen to be working. We are passionate about exceeding expectations and we thrive on jobs other agencies might find too big, or too difficult, or too fast.

Sounds good? Great, here's who we're looking for...

A Search Strategist (SEO Strategist), owns the SEO, GEO, and AI search strategy for their VERB partners, driving visibility across traditional search and AI-generated answers in Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Copilot. This is a partner-facing role for someone excited to take the lead: strategists are the go-to search expert for their partners, own their AI and traditional search strategies end to end, and are accountable for results. There is no hand-holding. Strategists are backed by a collaborative team, but they set the direction.

Please note: This is a temporary 12-14 month contract position covering a leave of absence.

Responsibilities

Act as the primary search contact for their partners, leading calls and presenting reports that explain the rationale behind strategy, tactics, and recommendations

Lead an integrated SEO and AI search strategy for each partner, aligning with the SEO Pod Lead and the SEO and GEO Strategy Leads

Lead Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), improving how partners are surfaced, cited,



and accurately described in AI-generated answers through entity optimization, structured data, llms.txt, and citation-ready content

Monitor AI search performance, including brand mentions, share of voice, citations, and answer accuracy, and turn findings into prioritized recommendations

Own local search strategy, managing listings, location data, and reviews in Yext and optimizing each partner's Google Business Profile

Manage day-to-day SEO and AI search activities for retainers, and pre- and post-launch activities for recent builds, coordinating with content strategists, project managers, developers, and external vendors

Apply a full range of tactics (site architecture, on-page, technical, schema, and off-page) and manage partner backlink profiles and link-building strategies

Perform keyword and prompt research, competitor research, and content and website performance analysis using Ahrefs, Semrush, Scrunch, Yext, GSC, GA4, Data Studio, and Claude

Proactively identify and implement improvements to strategies and tactics, bringing new ideas to partners without waiting for direction

Collaborate with Accounts, Performance Media, social, creative, and content teams to align search insights, SERP strategy, and content calendars across channels

Track time and manage tasks in Jira, keeping retainer hours and deliverables on time and on budget

Provide SEO and AI search training to partners,



take part in team training, and stay current on search and AI trends

Requirements

3+ years of SEO or AI search experience; post-secondary education in marketing, communications, or equivalent experience

Demonstrated knowledge of ranking factors and SEO best practices, and of how AI answer engines such as Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, and ChatGPT select, cite, and describe brands

Recent experience identifying and fixing technical SEO issues on CMSs such as WordPress and Drupal

Experience crawling sites and managing indexing in Google Search Console, using tools such as Screaming Frog, Semrush, and Ahrefs

Knowledge of robots.txt, regular expressions, schema markup, and entity optimization

Experience managing Google Business Profiles and local listings through platforms such as Yext

Working knowledge of GA4, Data Studio, or other analytics tools, and of Jira or similar time-tracking tools

Experience managing organic search for multiple partners; hospitality and tourism experience is an asset

Excited to be partner-facing: enjoys leading calls, presenting reports, and clearly explaining the rationale behind decisions

Self-directed and accountable, with the confidence to own partner strategy end to end without close supervision

Demonstrated ability to write content for SEO and AI search

Strong analytical, problem-solving, and written and verbal communication skills, with close attention to detail

Highly organized, able to manage multiple projects in a fast-paced setting, and open to feedback

Experience with social or paid media campaigns is an asset

Benefits Our perks are anything but basic V

📌 Search Strategist (Winnipeg)
🏢 VERB Interactive
📍 Winnipeg