SEO & Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Specialist

Marcus Thomas, LLC; Warrensville Heights (OH); Remote; USD 41,000 - 83,000; Full time

Job summary

Marcus Thomas, LLC invites an experienced SEO specialist or independent consultant to join our Search and AI Discovery team on an ongoing freelance basis. You will drive SEO, GEO and AI optimization across brands and report to our VP.

The role is hands-on, requires independent work, and entails delivering clear, prioritized recommendations for content, UX and technical optimization. 15-20 hours per week with flexible scheduling.

Qualifications

• Hands-on SEO experience across traditional and AI-driven search.
• Experience analyzing AI responses and optimizing for LLMs.
• Ability to translate insights into actionable recommendations.

Responsibilities

• SEO strategy and execution for brands across engines and AI platforms.
• AI search, AIO/GEO and LLM optimization initiatives.
• Technical SEO audits, structured data, and schema implementation.
• Content and entity optimization to improve discoverability.

Skills

SEO expertise

AI optimization

GEO

content strategy

local search

technical SEO

structured data

entity relationships

Job description

About the Role

We're looking for an experienced SEO specialist or independent consultant to join our Search and AI Discovery team on an ongoing freelance basis. Working closely with our VP, Search and AI Discovery, you'll take on assigned SEO and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) work that helps client brands grow their visibility across traditional search engines, AI‑powered search experiences and large language models (LLMs), including Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, ChatGPT, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Perplexity and other emerging platforms. This is a hands‑on role for someone who can contribute quickly without extensive training and manage assigned tasks and projects independently. The work brings together SEO, AI optimization (AIO), GEO, content strategy, local search and technical optimization, including structured data and entity work. Day to day, you'll analyze websites, search results, content, structured data, local visibility and AI responses, then turn those insights into clear, prioritized recommendations for content, development, UX and marketing teams.

The ideal candidate brings deep, hands‑on SEO expertise and practical experience analyzing or improving how brands show up in AI‑driven search. The strongest candidates treat SEO and AI optimization as one connected discipline and are comfortable asking why a competitor appears in an AI answer instead of our brand or why a page isn’t ranking or indexing correctly. AI search is changing quickly, so this role suits someone experimental who likes testing hypotheses, challenging conventional SEO assumptions and evolving their approach as search behavior changes. This is a search and optimization role, not a prompt engineering or AI development role. The engagement is ongoing at 15-20 hours per week, so it’s a good fit if you enjoy limited‑hours work and collaborating closely with a team that values your expertise.

Opportunity for Growth

As our SEO and GEO search optimization business continues to grow, this opportunity may expand to include additional hours or potentially transition into a full‑time position. Any future expansion will depend on client needs and business growth.

Key Responsibilities

SEO strategy and execution

• Conduct keyword, topic, competitor, SERP, search‑intent and content gap research to identify opportunities to grow organic visibility, qualified traffic, engagement and conversions.
• Develop and execute SEO recommendations for landing pages, blogs, product/service pages, resource hubs and other digital experiences that support each brand's broader strategy.
• Optimize title tags, meta descriptions, headings, content structure, internal linking, anchor text, images and other on‑page elements.
• Monitor rankings, traffic, conversions, indexing and organic search performance for assigned brands.
• Translate SEO findings into clear, prioritized recommendations for content, development, UX and marketing teams.

AI search, AIO/GEO and LLM optimization

• Support strategies to improve brand visibility within AI‑generated answers, AI search results and LLM recommendations.
• Monitor and analyze how brands and competitors appear across ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Perplexity and other emerging AI platforms, including brand mentions, citations, cited domains/pages, prompts, topics and competitive visibility.
• Identify content gaps that prevent brands from being selected, referenced, cited or recommended by AI systems.
• Optimize content for both traditional search retrieval and AI answer retrieval, including clear answer structures, definitions, comparisons, FAQs, supporting evidence and strong entity relationships.
• Evaluate how third‑party sources, publishers, directories, reviews, forums and other external websites influence brand visibility within AI‑generated answers.
• Test emerging AIO/GEO tactics, share what you learn and recommend approaches the team can scale.
• Stay current on developments in AI search, generative search, LLM discovery, retrieval systems and evolving optimization practices.

Technical SEO and structured data

• Conduct technical SEO audits covering crawlability, indexability, rendering, response codes, canonicalization, redirects, duplicate content, internal linking, XML sitemaps, robots.txt directives and site architecture.
• Identify technical barriers, including JavaScript rendering issues, that limit search‑engine and AI‑system access to important content.
• Develop and validate structured data recommendations using Schema.org and JSON‑LD, including appropriate schema types.
• Collaborate with developers to translate technical findings into actionable requirements.

Content and entity optimization

• Help shape content strategies based on search demand, audience questions, competitive gaps and emerging AI discovery behaviors.
• Create content briefs that incorporate keywords, entities, questions, semantic relationships, internal links and user intent.
• Improve content so important information can b