SEO Specialist (Newsroom SEO) – 6-Month Contract

We are strengthening TheNews21s digital backbone.

Were looking for a serious Newsroom SEO professional who understands Google News, Discover, and investigative journalism not generic SEO or marketing.

Please read carefully before applying.

About TheNews21

TheNews21 is an independent investigative and analytical newsroom based in Maharashtra, focusing on governance, politics, infrastructure, and public-interest journalism.

As we expand our investigations and publishing scale, we are strengthening our search and discovery backbone through a dedicated SEO transformation roadmap.

This role is strictly for newsroom SEO professionals, not generic digital marketers.

Key Responsibilities

1. Technical SEO (News Website Focus)

Conduct full SEO & indexing audit (GSC, sitemaps, crawl errors)

Fix indexing issues and Core Web Vitals (LCP, CLS, INP)

Optimise robots.txt, canonicals, redirects, and URL structure

Implement structured data: NewsArticle, Author, Breadcrumb, Organization

Improve mobile performance and page speed

Build and clean category architecture

Create pillar pages for investigative series

2. Content & Editorial SEO

Optimise headlines, meta descriptions, tags, and internal linking

Guide newsroom on SEO-friendly editorial workflows

Image optimisation (alt-text, compression, WebP)

Build content clusters around investigations and explainers

Improve Google Discover visibility for long-form stories

3. Google News SEO

Prepare and manage Google News Publisher Center

Fix feed and policy issues

Ensure structured data compliance for news content

Improve visibility in Top Stories and News surfaces

4. Authority & Trust Building

Ethical backlink and citation strategy (no PBNs or paid link farms)

SEO optimisation of investigative PDF reports

Digital PR and attribution-based link support

5. Reporting & Monitoring

Weekly SEO performance reports

Monthly Search Console, Discover & traffic analysis

Clear deliverables and measurable progress tracking

Required Skills & Experience

Proven experience with news or publishing websites

Strong technical SEO (indexing, schema, sitemaps)

Hands-on WordPress experience (TagDiv / SmartMag / JNews preferred)

Knowledge of E-E-A-T, Google News & Discover algorithms

Strong command of GSC, GA4, Ahrefs/SEMRush, Screaming Frog

Not Acceptable

Social media managers who think SEO = hashtags

Digital marketers who only know ads

Keyword stuffers

Backlink sellers / PBN users

Candidates with no newsroom SEO experience

Compensation

25,000 40,000 per month (based on experience)

For exceptional candidates, negotiable for the 6-month contract.

How to Apply

Email:

Hashtags:

#Hiring #SEOJobs #NewsSEO #JournalismJobs #DigitalNews #GoogleNews #MediaJobs