Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Digital Content Strategist

🎯 Role Definition

As a Digital Content Strategist you will own the end-to-end content strategy and governance for digital channels — including websites, blogs, landing pages, email, and social platforms — with a sharp focus on SEO, user experience, and measurable business impact. You will translate audience insights and business priorities into editorial roadmaps, optimize content for discoverability and conversion, partner with product and growth teams to deliver campaigns, and build repeatable processes for content production, optimization, and measurement.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Content Writer / Copywriter with proven performance writing for web and SEO
SEO Specialist / SEO Content Writer responsible for keyword research and on-page optimization
Social Media Manager or Content Marketing Coordinator who has created multi-channel campaigns

Advancement To:

Senior Content Strategist / Lead Content Strategist
Content Marketing Manager / Head of Content
Director of Content Strategy or Director of Digital Marketing
VP of Content / Chief Content Officer (for enterprise pathways)

Lateral Moves:

Product Marketing Manager
UX Writer / Content Designer
SEO Manager or Organic Growth Manager
Content Operations Manager

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Develop and maintain a comprehensive, SEO-first content strategy and editorial roadmap aligned to business objectives (brand awareness, organic growth, demand generation, and retention), prioritizing initiatives by impact and effort.
Conduct ongoing audience research and persona development using quantitative analytics (GA4, Search Console) and qualitative inputs (user interviews, stakeholder insights) to inform content themes, tone, and channel strategy.
Perform regular content audits and gap analyses across web properties to identify opportunities for consolidation, optimization, and new content creation that improves search rankings, CTR, and conversion rates.
Lead keyword research and topical clustering to define high-value content opportunities, producing keyword maps, intent models, and brief templates for writers and designers.
Produce clear, SEO-optimized content briefs and editorial guidelines that include target keywords, meta data recommendations, internal linking strategies, schema/structured data considerations, and conversion-focused CTAs.
Partner with editorial, design, product, and growth teams to plan and execute multi-channel content campaigns (owned, earned, paid) that deliver measurable traffic, leads, and revenue outcomes.
Manage the content production lifecycle — commissioning, editing, QA, localization, and publishing — including scheduling editorial calendars in the CMS and ensuring on-time delivery against milestones.
Optimize existing content for organic performance using A/B testing, on-page SEO improvements, improved UX patterns, and updated multimedia assets to reduce bounce rates and increase dwell time.
Set and monitor KPIs for content performance (organic sessions, ranking improvements, conversions, assisted conversions) and deliver clear insights and action plans through weekly, monthly, and quarterly reporting.
Implement content governance and style guides to ensure consistency of voice, brand compliance, accessibility (WCAG), and legal requirements across all digital content.
Lead website content architecture and information design initiatives, collaborating with UX and engineering to improve navigation, internal linking, and crawlability for search engines.
Execute and prioritize technical SEO fixes in partnership with engineering and devops, including canonicalization, site speed improvements, crawl budget optimization, and structured data implementation.
Drive content personalization and segmentation strategies (audience segments, lifecycle stage) to increase relevance and conversion across email, landing pages, and site experiences.
Coordinate with localization and translation teams to adapt content strategies for global markets, ensuring cultural relevance and preserving SEO equity across localized pages.
Build and manage vendor relationships with freelance writers, agencies, and production partners; define KPIs and quality metrics to scale content production while maintaining editorial standards.
Facilitate cross-functional workshops and stakeholder reviews to align on content priorities, campaign briefs, and success metrics, acting as the single point of accountability for content initiatives.
Create and present executive-level performance summaries and strategic plans that translate content metrics into business outcomes and budget recommendations.
Manage content budgets and resource allocation for editorial projects, paid content promotion, and content tools (CMS, SEO platforms, analytics tools).
Champion experimentation by designing tests (title/meta experiments, content length variations, layout changes) and applying learnings to scale high-performing formats and templates.
Maintain expertise in search algorithm updates, content marketing trends, and competitive landscape to proactively adjust strategy and capture new organic opportunities.
Mentor and coach junior content team members on editorial craft, SEO best practices, content analytics, and process adherence to build a high-performing content organization.
Develop playbooks for evergreen publishing, seasonal campaigns, product launches, and crisis communications to speed up time-to-publish while safeguarding brand reputation.

Secondary Functions

Audit and optimize CMS workflows, taxonomies, and templates to improve editorial efficiency and maintain SEO best practices during content publishing.
Support content-related analytics requests, dashboard creation, and exploratory analysis to uncover content-led growth opportunities.
Collaborate with paid media and performance teams to align creative and messaging for paid-to-owned content journeys and measurement.
Contribute to content tool selection and onboarding (SEO platforms, CMS enhancements, content intelligence tools) and manage vendor relationships.
Train cross-functional teams on content guidelines, SEO basics, and CMS usage to scale content literacy across the organization.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies with product and marketing teams to prioritize content work in two-week or monthly cycles.
Support governance around content lifecycle, including archival policies, revision control, and content retirement to prevent content decay.
Assist in legal, privacy, and accessibility reviews for sensitive or regulated content to ensure compliance before publication.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

SEO strategy & execution: on-page optimization, technical SEO basics, keyword research, and SERP feature optimization (featured snippets, knowledge panels).
CMS proficiency: experience with WordPress, Drupal, Contentful, Sitecore, or similar headless CMS platforms including template management and editorial workflows.
Web analytics & reporting: strong command of Google Analytics 4, Google Search Console, Looker/Looker Studio or other BI tools to create dashboards and analyze content performance.
Content auditing & workflow tools: experience with Screaming Frog, SEMrush, Ahrefs, SurferSEO, Copyscape, or similar tools for audits and competitive analysis.
Content production: ability to write and edit SEO-optimized copy, create content briefs, and maintain editorial style guides.
Conversion optimization: familiarity with A/B testing platforms (Optimizely, VWO), CRO principles, and creating experiment hypotheses tied to content changes.
Basic HTML/CSS and metadata management for editing templates, meta tags, and schema markup.
Information architecture & UX collaboration: experience influencing site structure, taxonomy, and navigation to improve findability and engagement.
Localization and international SEO knowledge for multi-market content strategies.
Experience with marketing automation and email platforms (HubSpot, Marketo, Pardot) to support content-led nurturing.
Optional but valuable: SQL for querying content and performance data, and basic familiarity with front-end performance impacts on SEO.

Soft Skills

Strategic thinking: ability to translate business goals into a prioritized content roadmap with measurable outcomes.
Editorial judgment: strong copy-editing skills, attention to detail, and a clear sense of voice and tone for different audiences.
Data-driven decision making: comfort interpreting analytics and deriving actionable insights that inform content experiments and optimizations.
Cross-functional collaboration: proven experience working with product, design, engineering, paid media, and legal teams.
Project management and organization: able to manage multiple high-priority projects, deadlines, and contributors.
Stakeholder management: excellent communication skills to present strategy and influence senior leaders.
Creativity and storytelling: craft compelling narratives that resonate with target audiences and support brand differentiation.
Adaptability: thrive in fast-moving environments and pivot content plans based on performance and market signals.
Leadership and mentoring: experience coaching writers and coordinating freelance or agency partners.
Problem solving: proactive approach to identify root causes and implement scalable solutions for content challenges.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Communications, Journalism, English, Media Studies, or related field.

Preferred Education:

Master's degree in Marketing, Digital Media, Communications, or an MBA with a focus on marketing strategy is a plus.
Professional certifications such as Google Analytics, HubSpot Content Marketing, SEMrush/SEO certifications are desirable.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Marketing
Communications / Journalism
English / Creative Writing
Information Architecture / UX Design
Digital Media / Media Studies

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 3–7 years of progressive experience in content strategy, content marketing, or SEO-focused roles.

Preferred:

5+ years managing content strategy for mid-market or enterprise web properties with demonstrable results in organic traffic growth and conversion improvements.
Experience running cross-functional content programs involving product launches, multi-platform campaigns, and international/localized content.
Proven track record using data and experimentation to influence editorial decisions and achieve KPIs tied to revenue or user acquisition.