AmaWaterways River Cruises · 13 hours ago
Lead, SEO and AEO
Calabasas, CA, US
Full-time
Onsite
Mid, Senior Level
$110K/yr - $125K/yr
3+ years expAmaWaterways River Cruises is seeking a Lead, SEO and AEO to enhance their organic visibility across search ecosystems. The role involves developing and executing SEO and AEO strategies, optimizing content, and collaborating with various teams to improve the company's digital presence.
Travel
Responsibilities
Develop and execute a comprehensive SEO and AEO strategy aligned with AmaWaterways’ business objectives, guest acquisition goals, and digital transformation roadmap
Implement entity-based and semantic optimization to strengthen topical authority for river cruise destinations, themes, and guest experiences
Develop AEO strategies for visibility in AI-powered ecosystems (e.g., Google SGE, Bing Copilot, ChatGPT integrations)
Partner with Brand, Content, and UX/UI to align storytelling and page structure with search intent and user experience
Conduct keyword and intent research to identify opportunities across the guest journey (awareness, consideration, conversion)
Collaborate with Content Managers and Copywriters to optimize metadata, headings, internal linking, and structured content
Create an SEO style guide and scalable governance framework to ensure brand consistency across U.S., U.K., and EU sites
Identify and fill content gaps to support itineraries, blogs, and promotional landing pages
Oversee site architecture, crawlability, and indexation to ensure maximum visibility
Manage XML sitemaps, redirects, canonical tags, and robots.txt configurations
Implement and maintain schema markup (FAQ, Organization, Product, and Event) to enhance rich results and AI summarization eligibility
Conduct regular technical audits using tools such as Screaming Frog, Botify, or Sitebulb; partner with developers to resolve issues
Monitor Core Web Vitals and collaborate with the Front-End and CMS teams to improve site performance and accessibility
Define KPIs including organic traffic growth, booking starts, keyword visibility, share of voice, and engagement metrics
Integrate SEO performance into GA4, BigQuery, and Looker dashboards for holistic insight across the marketing funnel
Provide monthly and quarterly insights to leadership, including competitor benchmarking and emerging trend analysis
Partner with internal teams and agencies to embed SEO and AEO best practices across all digital projects, including the website redesign, Travel Advisor Portal, and mobile app
Collaborate with Paid Media to maximize organic–paid synergies and keyword efficiency
Lead cross-functional SEO workshops to train content, design, and development teams on evolving search and AI visibility trends
Stay ahead of algorithm updates, AI search trends, and multimodal optimization opportunities
Recommend and pilot new tools or methodologies (e.g., AI-driven content optimization, SERP feature tracking, conversational search readiness)
Act as the internal evangelist for emerging SEO/AEO practices, ensuring AmaWaterways remains a leader in digital discoverability within the luxury travel category
Qualification
Required
Bachelor's degree in communications, computer science, marketing, or a related field; Master's degree a plus
Three to five years of experience in SEO, with proven success driving measurable organic growth and engagement
Computer skills required: Development Software; Microsoft Office Suite; Project Management Software, Database Software, Design Software, Internet Software, Spreadsheet Software, Word Processing Software, Electronic Mail Software, Presentation Software
Expertise with SEO tools including Google Search Console, SEMrush, Ahrefs, Screaming Frog, and GA4
Familiarity with structured data, schema markup, Core Web Vitals, and website performance optimization
Working knowledge of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and CMS optimization (Builder.io or equivalent headless CMS)
Experience with emerging AEO/LLM optimization techniques and entity-based search frameworks
Strong analytical and communication skills; ability to translate technical findings into actionable insights
Excellent cross-functional collaboration skills and comfort managing vendors or agency partners
Passion for travel, luxury brand storytelling, and digital innovation
Company
AmaWaterways River Cruises
AmaWaterways River Cruises is a travel & tourism company offering riverboat holiday tours in Europe.
51-200 employees
Funding
Current Stage
Growth StageTotal Funding
unknown2024-03-04Acquired
Leadership Team
Kristin Karst
Chief Brand Ambassador & Co-Owner
Recent News
Company data provided by crunchbase