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Scotiabank
SEO Manager · 2019 - 2021 · banking · Scotia iTrade
Joined Scotiabank as SEO Manager to establish SEO inside a large, regulated bank: evangelizing the discipline from the ground up, embedding it into product roadmaps, and running an integrated SEO and SEM strategy for Scotia iTrade. Financial services is a YMYL space with a high compliance and E-E-A-T bar, so the work paired rigorous technical SEO with the stakeholder buy-in needed to get changes shipped across dev, design, and marketing.
Selected outcomes
347% YoY app completes from organic
Led SEO strategy and implementation, combining technical improvements and content optimization to drive a 347% year-over-year increase in app completes from organic search.
$9M SEM budget, +21% completes, -15% CAC
Managed $9M in annual SEM budgets for Scotia iTrade; an integrated SEO/SEM strategy lifted app completes 21% while reducing customer acquisition cost by 15%.
SEO on the roadmap, bank-wide
Evangelized SEO across the organization, securing leadership buy-in and running 10+ training sessions for dev, design, and marketing teams.
8 audits presented, 7 bought in
Conducted and presented 8 full-scale SEO audits, securing buy-in on 7 and turning them into a prioritized remediation program.
7 SEO-first migrations
Led SEO-first website migrations across 7 projects, protecting traffic and improving search visibility through each transition.
Where SEO moved the needle
Scotia iTrade
Self-directed investing · SEO + SEM- Ran an integrated SEO and SEM strategy on a $9M annual SEM budget, lifting app completes 21% while cutting CAC 15%.
- Technical and content optimization drove a 347% YoY increase in app completes from organic search.
Bank-wide SEO practice
Evangelism · enablement- Secured leadership buy-in and ran 10+ training sessions for dev, design, and marketing, embedding SEO into product roadmaps.
- Executed SEO-driven content strategies through three content projects that measurably improved keyword rankings and organic traffic.
Technical SEO & reporting
technical SEO
Implemented advanced technical enhancements, including meta tag optimization, automated sitemaps, pagination updates, and structured data (FAQ schema, table of contents, hreflang), for better indexation and search visibility.
audits & migrations
Delivered 8 full-scale SEO audits and led SEO-first migrations across 7 projects, converting findings into a prioritized, buy-in-backed roadmap.
reporting
Built SEO reporting frameworks on Data Studio dashboards, giving stakeholders actionable insight to guide ongoing optimization.
SEO/SEM integration
Unified organic and paid strategy for Scotia iTrade, using data-driven bidding alongside SEO to grow completes while lowering acquisition cost.
How I operated
Operated as the SEO function for a large, regulated bank: evangelizing the discipline, securing leadership buy-in, and running 10+ enablement sessions, then partnering with dev, design, engineering, and marketing to integrate SEO into product roadmaps and align it with business objectives.
stack, martech & tools
analytics & reporting
Google Search ConsoleGoogle AnalyticsData Studio
crawl & technical
Screaming FrogStructured dataHreflang
paid
Google Ads
capabilities
Technical SEOSEO / SEM integrationSEO audits & migrationsStructured dataSEO evangelism & trainingStakeholder buy-inFinancial services (YMYL) SEOSEO reporting