Which pays more, Marketing Manager or SEO Specialist?

The median advertised salary for each is in the table above, along with the 25th and 75th percentiles so you can see the spread rather than one number.

Which has more openings?

Both counts are live and computed at the same moment, so the comparison is like for like.

Postings are read from company career systems continuously; the age row shows how old the listings themselves are.

Side by side

Marketing Manager vs SEO Specialist

Marketing Manager pays more: a median of $97,500 against $88,000. Demand is comparable on both sides. Listings for Marketing Manager move faster — median age 45 days against 80.

Comparison

Side by side

Measure	Marketing Manager	SEO Specialist	Gap
Open postings	32,417	42,147	-9,730
Posted this week	1,839	2,724
Median salary	$97,500	$88,000	+$9.5k
25th percentile	$77k	$69.5k
75th percentile	$121k	$109k
Salary disclosed	2.5%	7.0%
Remote share	6.3%	5.2%	+1.1pp
Median age of posting	45d	80d
Open over 60 days	44.8%	48.1%
Visa sponsorship	23.0%	11.5%

Pay

Pay distribution

Marketing Manager

$44k$169k

SEO Specialist

$40k$152k

Freshness

How old the listings are

Marketing Manager

just posted45d median90d+

SEO Specialist

just posted80d median90d+

Demand

What each side asks for

Marketing Manager — technologies

Node.js

72.0%

Kubernetes

65.8%

HubSpot

59.6%

Airflow

53.4%

Snowflake

47.2%

TypeScript

41.0%

GCP

34.8%

SEO Specialist — technologies

PostgreSQL

72.0%

Java

65.8%

Tableau

59.6%

Kubernetes

53.4%

47.2%

Kotlin

41.0%

Snowflake

34.8%

Marketing Manager — employers

Ironbark Manufacturing

9.4%

Vantage Logistics

8.7%

Rivergate Media

8.0%

Northwind Systems

7.2%

Fairmount Legal

6.5%

Cobalt Financial

5.8%

Quarry Analytics

5.1%

SEO Specialist — employers

Northwind Systems

9.4%

Halcyon Energy

8.7%

Meridian Software

8.0%

Lakeshore Hospitality

7.2%

Aperture Labs

6.5%

Cobalt Financial

5.8%

Ironbark Manufacturing

5.1%

More comparisons

Other Marketing comparisons

Brand Manager vs Content Marketing Manager Brand Manager vs Growth Marketing Manager Brand Manager vs Marketing Manager Brand Manager vs SEO Specialist Brand Manager vs Social Media Manager Content Marketing Manager vs Growth Marketing Manager Content Marketing Manager vs Marketing Manager Content Marketing Manager vs SEO Specialist Content Marketing Manager vs Social Media Manager Growth Marketing Manager vs Marketing Manager Growth Marketing Manager vs SEO Specialist Growth Marketing Manager vs Social Media Manager Marketing Manager vs Social Media Manager SEO Specialist vs Social Media Manager

Both sides are counted the same way on the same day, so the gap is comparable even where the absolute numbers move. Salary figures use only postings that publish a range — the disclosure rate is in the table because a median over 20% of a cohort is a weaker number than one over 70%.