Babbel.com - Lesson Nine GmbH is hiring: SEO Strategist Freelancer (Maternity Co

We are seeking an experienced SEO Strategist freelancer (Maternity Cover) to join our team from October through the end of March. In this role, you will be responsible for supporting our multilingual content strategy and optimization efforts. This includes technical SEO work across several European markets. The ideal candidate will be fluent in either French or German; fluency in both is a plus.

About the Role:

As our SEO Strategist, you will create, publish, and refresh high-impact, SEO-driven content across multiple European markets. You will collaborate closely with the head of SEO, as well as copywriters, editors, and translators, both internal and external, to deliver content to language learners worldwide. Your expertise will help ensure our content not only ranks highly but also delivers value to users and supports our business objectives.

The SEO Strategist is also responsible for driving technical SEO excellence. This includes ensuring our websites meet and exceed Core Web Vital standards by optimizing for fast load times, interactivity, and visual stability across all devices. This role will conduct regular technical audits and resolve issues such as crawl errors, broken links, duplicate content, and poor mobile usability.

A key set of responsibilities also involves leveraging Google Search Console (GSC) to monitor site health, identify and address indexing and coverage issues, and analyze performance data to inform technical improvements. This role will also enhance site architecture, implement structured data, optimize URL structures, and maintain secure, mobile-friendly experiences. By staying up to date with technical SEO trends and algorithm updates, the strategist will ensure all content and site initiatives align with best practices to maximize organic visibility and search engine performance, and diagnose traffic drops and develop recovery strategies.

You will take ownership of French and German SEO content, working remotely with occasional in-person or virtual meetings in our New York office. This role is ideal for someone who combines creative thinking, data-driven decision-making, and technical SEO expertise.

You will:

• Research, plan, and brief SEO content for the French and German markets, using your language skills to spot opportunities and trends.
• Coordinate and optimize new and refreshed content, ensuring every page is fully optimized for on-page SEO (meta tags, headers, internal links, layout, etc.).
• Upload and optimize content in our CMS, bringing a keen eye for detail to every step.
• Meet and exceed Core Web Vitals (CWV) standards
• Conduct regular technical SEO audits
• Resolve crawl errors, broken links, and duplicate content
• Address mobile usability issues
• Leverage Google Search Console (GSC) for site monitoring
• Track and resolve indexing and coverage issues
• Analyze technical performance data
• Collaborate with web developers on site architecture
• Implement and maintain structured data (schema markup)
• Optimize URL structures
• Ensure mobile-friendliness and HTTPS
• Monitor technical SEO issues with analytics tools
• Align content and site initiatives with technical SEO best practices
• Diagnose, analyze, and structure action plans around core updates, algo changes, and noticeable changes in key metric areas associated with SEO/visibility
• Use tools like Canva to localize and optimize images for each market.
• Conduct QA on key pages, maintaining technical and on-page SEO best practices.
• Collaborate with freelance writers, editors, analysts, and other team members to keep our content pipeline strong and consistent.
• Support keyword grouping and content gap analysis projects.
• Contribute to regular SEO reporting and performance analysis across markets.
• Communicate and coordinate with teammates across time zones.

You have:

• 3+ years of experience in SEO content strategy, ideally with a focus on multilingual or international projects.
• Google Sheets & Docs / Microsoft Excel & Word, Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools, SEO Platforms (IE: Brightedge), GA or Web Analytics Tool, Screamingfrog & logfile analyzer, Semrush, and Ahrefs knowledge.
• Fluency in either French or German (both is a big plus); professional English is a must.
• Experience with keyword research, content planning, and on-page optimization.
• Strong collaboration skills and experience working with remote teams.
• Comfort using translation tools and managing freelance contributors.
• Proven ability to juggle multiple projects and deadlines with a proactive, detail-oriented approach.

Benefits

• Working at an international start-up with a strong sense of mission
• Responsibility from day one; you can make an impact!
• Strong skill and career development, frequently working closely with the VP, CEO and other managers

Salary Information:

• In New York City, the reasonable hourly range for this role is $60-80/hr with the expectation you'll be working up to 35 hours per week. Placement within this range will vary based on several factors including, but not limited to experience, education, licensure/certifications, training and skill level.

Babbel is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion.