SEO and PPC Jobs Roundup: Salaries and Roles Open Right Now
Latest SEO and PPC job openings for August-September 2026, including salaries from $15/hr to $131K/yr, remote roles, and what employers are actually hiring for.
Search Engine Land's job board, pulling listings from SEOjobs.com and PPCjobs.com, shows a healthy spread of SEO and paid media roles posted between August 25 and September 4, 2026. Salaries range from $15 per hour for a part-time link outreach contractor to $131,000 per year for a senior content manager at DigitalOcean. The mix of roles reveals two clear themes: demand for technical SEO freelancers and a new category of "AEO" (answer engine optimization) appearing in enterprise job titles for the first time.
What happened
| Role | Company | Salary | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sr. SEO Content Manager | DigitalOcean | $105,000-$131,000/yr | Remote US |
| Organic Growth Strategist | Private | $90,000-$95,000/yr | Remote US |
| Associate Director, SEO Specialists | OuterBox | $85,000-$105,000/yr | Remote US |
| Senior Content Marketer, SEO | Animalz | $70,000-$85,000/yr | New York / Remote |
| Senior Paid Search Strategist | OuterBox | $75,000-$90,000/yr | US (residency required) |
| Paid Media Specialist (iLawyer) | EverService | $50,000-$60,000/yr | US (residency required) |
| SEO Specialist | Amplifyed | $80,000/yr + bonuses | Remote US |
| Technical SEO (freelance) | Chek | $60-$80/hr | Remote worldwide |
| Link Outreach and Directory Submissions | FoundCite | $15-$20/hr (5-10 hrs/week) | Remote worldwide |
| Senior Manager, Global SEO & AEO | Stanley Black & Decker | Not disclosed | Remote US |
| SEO Content Consultant | get on top | Not disclosed | Linz/Vienna, Austria |
| Senior SEO Strategist | Proven Marketing Now | Not disclosed | Remote worldwide |
Why it matters
The Stanley Black & Decker listing is worth noting on its own. The company is hiring for “Global SEO & AEO,” where AEO stands for answer engine optimization, the practice of making content more likely to surface inside AI-generated answers. Until recently, that appeared mainly in agency blog posts. Seeing it in an enterprise job title from a large industrial manufacturer signals it is moving from buzzword to budget line.
The FoundCite listing is also telling. The company describes its core product as measuring how often AI assistants name a brand when buyers ask for recommendations, then producing content to close the gap. They are hiring a part-time contractor to build referring domains and directory presence, the same link-building basics that have always mattered for Google, now being applied to AI citation signals. That context is useful if you are thinking about your own organic search strategy.
On the PPC side, both EverService (iLawyer Marketing) and OuterBox posted roles requiring US residency, not just US time zones, which has become a more common restriction as client confidentiality requirements in legal and finance verticals tighten.
What does “AEO” mean in a job title?
Answer engine optimization refers to structuring content so that AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Overviews pull from it when generating responses to user questions. It overlaps with traditional SEO but puts more emphasis on structured data, authoritative sourcing, and brand mentions across the web. The appearance of AEO alongside SEO in a Stanley Black & Decker job title suggests enterprise teams are treating it as a distinct discipline requiring dedicated resource.
We have covered related shifts in how AI models pull context from the web, and the same dynamics are now reshaping what search marketers are expected to own.
Our take
The salary range in this batch is wider than usual. A $15/hr link outreach contractor and a $131,000/yr DigitalOcean content manager are both “SEO jobs” in 2026. That gap reflects how fractured the discipline has become: technical auditing, content strategy, AI citation optimisation, and link acquisition are all branching into separate specialisms.
For business owners hiring search marketing help, the practical implication is to be precise about what problem you need solved before writing a job description or briefing an agency. “SEO” as a single line item no longer covers the same scope it did three years ago. If you are not sure where to start, it helps to get a clear picture of your current visibility gaps first. Our team does this as part of our SEO service, including how you are showing up (or not) in AI-generated results.
The Proven Marketing Now listing, which is specifically focused on home services businesses like plumbers and HVAC contractors, is a reminder that local SEO still drives real lead volume for trade businesses. That is a category where a well-run campaign can move the needle quickly, as shown in some of our own client work.
What to do about it
- Audit what your current SEO hire or agency actually covers: technical, content, links, or AI citations. Most cover one or two, not all four.
- If you are a job seeker, add “AEO” to your working vocabulary now. Enterprise clients will start asking about it in briefs.
- If you are building a team, check whether the $60-$80/hr freelance technical SEO model (like the Chek role) fits your needs better than a full-time hire at $85K-$105K.
- Review how your brand appears in AI assistant responses, not just Google rankings, and treat that as a separate metric to track.
Search marketing is splitting into sub-disciplines fast. Know which one you actually need before you hire for it.
Frequently asked questions
What is AEO in SEO job titles?
AEO stands for answer engine optimization. It refers to structuring content so AI tools like ChatGPT or Google AI Overviews cite it in generated responses. Stanley Black & Decker included it in a Senior Manager job title posted August 30, 2026, making it one of the first major enterprise brands to formalise it as a distinct role.
What do SEO jobs pay in 2026?
Based on listings posted in late August to early September 2026, salaries range widely: from $15-$20 per hour for part-time link outreach work to $105,000-$131,000 per year for a senior SEO content manager at DigitalOcean. Mid-level specialist roles typically fall in the $70,000-$95,000 per year range.
Are most SEO jobs remote in 2026?
Most of the roles in this batch are fully remote. Several are open to worldwide applicants, including the Chek freelance technical SEO role and the FoundCite link outreach position. PPC roles at EverService and OuterBox require US residency.
What is FoundCite and what do they do?
FoundCite is a product that measures how often AI assistants mention a brand when users ask for recommendations, then helps produce content to increase that visibility. As of August 2026 they were hiring a part-time contractor for link outreach and directory submissions at $15-$20 per hour.
