Why Major Companies, like Meta, OpenAI, and Anthropic/Claude are Hiring SEOs

SEO is recognized as the priority by biggest LLM companies. What are they doing right?

During the recent months, amid never-surprising rumors that SEO is almost dead, a few of the leading technology companies have started hiring for the leading SEO positions:

>>> JOIN US to discuss this topic LIVE on Linkedin

Meta posted an SEO lead position looking:

…To enhance our web marketing footprint globally. As SEO Strategy Lead, you will be responsible for increasing search visibility, traffic, and conversions across Meta’s B2B and B2C web properties. You will lead and manage a team of SEO specialists, collaborating with various cross-functional teams and leaders to integrate SEO practices across all Meta products and apps

Open AI posted a content strategist position:

We are seeking a full-funnel ‘growth athlete’ with deep expertise in SEO, web strategy, and CRO to help scale ChatGPT consumer and business growth initiatives

Anthropic is now also looking for an SEO lead to:

define and execute the technical SEO roadmap, drive site experimentation and conversion optimization, and make strategic recommendations that shape how we invest in organic growth [and also] define our strategy for emerging search experiences like AI Overviews and answer engines.

What does this mean?

Well, there’s one main thing right on the surface here: The three biggest corporations that drive AI technology and innovation totally recognize the importance of SEO for growth and product discoverability.

I am sure, they all know that organic discoverability is going to change, and like I said many times, SEOs are going to be the only ones figuring this change out. We’ve (SEOs) have been bridging the gap between machine thinking, sellers, and consumers for years now.

But there’s much more into this: All of these companies get it. SEO is no longer an island. It should be integrated into the organization. SEO needs to be part of conversion rate optimization, design, product development, etc.

If there’s one single factor that has driven SEO change, it was this. In most companies, an SEO department was a tight group of weird people, and no one knew what they were doing.

SEO has matured beyond that. My audit kick-off calls all start with “describe your brand’s value proposition and explain your product positioning.”

Wil Reynolds said it best:

Your job as a marketer is going to be more than ever looking for information that can help AI know who you are that your company has buried somewhere and surfacing that. Become a scavenger, find valuable info and get it published and take more ownership of your brand citations.

SEO is no longer about strings of keywords and backlinks (both are still important, but secondary). It is much more cross-channel and product-driven these days. If you are still looking for SEO “to optimize your pages for keywords”, you are just a little behind!

Ask me how SEO for AI can work for your business.