Will AI replace Search Marketing Strategists?
Business and Financial Operations · O*NET 13-1161.01
Task exposure index for this occupation
Averaged across the week, this work sits at the high end of the exposure scale. O*NET breaks Search Marketing Strategists into 20 distinct work activities. Weighted by how much of the week each one takes, 51% of the job sits at or above the threshold where current systems can do the task end to end. The single largest contributor is "Analyze website or related online data to track trends or usage", which scores 86 and takes roughly 14% of the week. That is the average for the job title. It is not a measurement of any particular person’s week, and the difference between the two is usually larger than the difference between job titles.
Model v1.2 · activity indices last updated 18 August 2026
What this occupation does
Employ search marketing tactics to increase visibility and engagement with content, products, or services in Internet-enabled devices or interfaces. Examine search query behaviors on general or specialty search engines or other Internet-based content. Analyze research, data, or technology to understand user intent and measure outcomes for ongoing optimization.
The most exposed parts of the job
Scored 0–100 on how completely a current system could perform the activity.
- Write computer programming code.94
About 1% of a typical week
- Analyze website or related online data to track trends or usage.86
About 14% of a typical week
- Analyze market or customer related data.86
About 3% of a typical week
- Design computer modeling or simulation programs.78
About 2% of a typical week
- Develop computer or information security policies or procedures.72
About 1% of a typical week
The least exposed parts
The same scale. These are the activities current systems handle worst.
- Coordinate resource procurement activities.26
About 3% of a typical week
- Coordinate project activities with other personnel or departments.26
About 3% of a typical week
- Collaborate with others to determine design specifications or details.40
About 2% of a typical week
- Collaborate with others to develop or implement marketing strategies.40
About 15% of a typical week
- Provide customer service to clients or users.42
About 3% of a typical week
How far off the rest is
Of those 20 activities, 5 can be performed by systems available today and 2 are outside what current approaches do at all. The remaining 13 sit in between — demonstrated in research or in narrow products, but not something you can hand over whole. We do not put dates on that middle group, because nobody can.
Compared with similar occupations
The nearest scoring roles in Business and Financial Operations.
- Search Marketing Strategists (this page)57
- Financial and Investment Analysts57
- Insurance Appraisers, Auto Damage57
- Equal Opportunity Representatives and Officers56
Why your own number is different
Two people with the title "Search Marketing Strategists" can spend their weeks on almost entirely different parts of this list, and the parts they choose move the number far more than the title does. Who signs off when the work is wrong, whether the job needs you physically present, and how fast you have picked up the tools all change it again — and none of that is in an occupation average.
The assessment asks you to divide your own week across these activities and answer fourteen questions about the parts of the job an occupation average cannot see. It takes six to nine minutes.
Score my own roleFree to take. The full report is a paid subscription — the price and its terms are on the pricing section, before you start.
Questions
Will AI replace Search Marketing Strategists?
We do not answer that, because nobody can. What is measurable is how much of the work is already doable by machine: for Search Marketing Strategists, about 51% of a typical week, across 20 activities. The other 49% is not, and what happens to the job depends on things this index does not contain — cost, regulation, who carries the liability, and what the people doing it decide to do next.
What part of this job is most exposed?
"Write computer programming code" — it scores 94 out of 100 on task automatability and takes roughly 1% of the week.
What part is least exposed?
"Coordinate resource procurement activities", at 26 out of 100. Work like that is where the hours you protect tend to be worth the most.
Where do these numbers come from?
The activity list and the time weights come from O*NET 30.3, the US Department of Labor's occupational database. The exposure score for each activity is ours, from a published model — the weights, the priors and the limitations are all on the methodology page. No language model is involved in the arithmetic.
Does this apply to my job?
Only roughly. This is the average for the title, and the number that matters is the one for the week you actually work. The assessment asks you to divide your own time across these activities and answer fourteen questions about accountability, the parts of the job that need you specifically, and how fast you have adapted. That produces a different number, and usually a more useful one.
The full model — the weights, the priors and what it cannot see — is on the methodology page.