Search Engine Marketing Analyst

The Toronto Star is Canada’s largest daily newspaper and is read in print and across desktop, mobile and tablet platforms by more than 6 million readers every week. Online, thestar.com is one of the most-visited newspaper websites in Canada.

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We strive to be a leader in building and cultivating an employee community framed around fairness, support and opportunity. We believe that what makes us different, makes a difference. And as a team, the diversity of our backgrounds, interests and experiences is what enriches our work, and our workplaces. We welcome all, and we strive for an inclusive culture that allows individual growth and shared success.

As an SEM Analyst at the Toronto Star, you will be responsible for the end-to-end success of our SEM Accounts. The SEM Analyst will manage campaign build, identify test opportunities and optimizations with the goal of driving sustainable growth for our clients. Reporting to the Performance Media Director, the successful candidate in this role will thrive in a fun, fast-paced environment, with the opportunity to work with some of the top media partners in Canada. This individual must have a strong understanding of Google Ad Words, Google Analytics, Google Merchant Account, etc. Success in this position is measured by account performance and client satisfaction, while providing optimization and analytical insights to the client service team. As a highly motivated, collaborative self-starter you will be responsible for managing deadlines and delivering outstanding results. You are encouraged to bring your expertise and thought leadership to support exciting brands and drive innovation, with the goal of increasing ROI.

This Role is a Hybrid Role

• Develop, manage and ensure success of Paid Search campaigns for a variety of clients
• Understand and manage SEM audits, budget pacing and changes
• Devise and execute methods to track, report, analyze and improve SEM performance
• Collaborate with Performance Media Director and other in-house marketing teams
• Develop hypotheses and run new A/B tests to optimize campaign objectives; scale winning tests to achieve maximum ROI
• Present and communicate SEM strategies and projects to clients and/or internal stakeholders
• Keep up-to-date with latest SEM trends, strategies and algorithm changes
• Manage campaign set up and execution across all types of search campaigns, including Performance Max and Google Shopping ads
• Leverage and optimize smart-bidding features to maximize client objectives
• Build, manage, and optimize complex performance driven campaigns.
• Provide daily pacing and performance of your campaigns and highlight any areas of concern to the Performance Media Director
• Pull reports, prepare meaningful creative and performance insights and recommendations.  Along with the ability to communicate these effectively in presentations to clients and stakeholders. 
• Monitor the goals and KPIs for a portfolio of clients to ensure on-time and complete delivery of campaigns. 
• Support Performance Media Director with client pitches
• Be an expert in paid media capabilities and action best in class solutions for your clients
• Stay abreast to trends and developments within the digital media landscape
• Ability to strategize and implement complex site tagging and pixeling
• Ability to identify and implement audience targeting and suppression opportunities

• 2+ years of experience working in SEM
• Strong understanding of SEM trends and best practices
• Experience with Google Performance Max campaigns
• Passion for SEM and digital marketing
• Ability to create, justify, communicate and implement SEM strategies across teams
• Data-driven and analytical mindset
• Strong attention to detail
• Project management skills
• Experience with tagging, floodlights, pixeling

Desirables

• Certifications: Google Ads, Shopping Ads, Google Analytics
• Experience with and/or understanding of code (e.g., HTML, CSS, JavaScript)
• Experience with and/or understanding of other marketing channels (e.g. Social, SEO, Digital and Traditional Media)

AODA
We are committed to providing an inclusive and barrier-free recruitment process ensuring equal access to employment opportunities for candidates, including persons with disabilities. In compliance with Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act and Ontario Human Rights Code we will endeavour to provide accommodation to persons with disabilities in the recruitment process upon request. If you are selected for an interview and you require accommodation due to a disability during the recruitment process, please notify the hiring manager upon scheduling the interview of your requirements.