SEO & SEM Specialist

The SEO Specialist is a vital member of the Cruise Critic team managing and implementing both organic and paid search programs and expanding our presence in both. The position will be ultimately responsible for building and managing our paid and unpaid search program and will be responsible for driving traffic to the site.  You’ll have the opportunity to join a dynamic growing company with significant professional development and career growth potential.  Competitive salary, benefits and performance based bonus plan.

Required Skills:
• An interest in solving problems
• Genuine curiosity about how SEO works and how to optimize a site for organic search traffic
• Passion for analyzing and using data to make decisions
• Demonstrated analytic and problem-solving skills
• Proficiency with Excel and or Access
• Familiarity with online advertising, paid search, e-commerce, an understanding of the principles of optimization for natural search, and online travel are preferred but not required.
• Passionate about search engine marketing and ambitious to develop your skills.
• BA or BS degree (preferred that degree be in mathematics, statistics, computer science/engineering, or other quantitative field.  Or significant course work in these areas)
• Ability to work well with many types of people
• Excellent communication skills
• Google Adwords professional qualification – either achieved or in progress would be a distinct advantage.
• Experience with A/B and multivariate testing a plus

Responsibilities include:
• Manage SEO efforts and optimization to insure maximum organic search traffic.
• Improve search engine rankings through hands-on optimization, testing and analysis of results.
• Manage paid search campaigns across multiple engines and multiple geographies to ensure the company’s specific goals are met.
• Build keyword lists for both SEO optimization and SEM bidding
• Responsible for day-to-day management of paid search campaigns including keyword generation, ad copy writing and testing, bid management, landing page optimization, budget management etc.
• Daily and weekly campaign performance reporting and analysis.
• Ad hoc analysis of data, strategies to recommend performance improvements.
• Working with the engineering, marketing and editorial teams to identify project areas or enhancements that will lead to overall SEO/SEM improvements.

About Us:
The Independent Traveler, Inc., is publisher of travel Web sites including Cruise Critic, the largest cruise site of its kind, reaching over five million unique visitors each year.  The Independent Traveler, Inc. is a subsidiary of TripAdvisor, the largest travel community in the world and an operating company of Expedia, Inc. We offer a rewarding and enjoyable entrepreneurial environment with opportunities for professional development and growth, competitive salary and comprehensive benefits.  We are located in central New Jersey, near Princeton.

To Apply: 
Interested candidates should respond with resume and cover letter to jobs@cruisecritic.com