How to hire a paid search specialist

How to hire a paid search specialist, step by step

Here's a step-by-step paid search specialist hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a paid search specialist job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new paid search specialist
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a paid search specialist do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   First, determine the employments status of the paid search specialist you need to hire. Certain paid search specialist roles might require a full-time employee, whereas others can be done by part-time workers or contractors.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   You should also consider the ideal background you'd like them a paid search specialist to have before you start to hire. For example, what industry or field would you like them to have experience in, what level of seniority or education does the job require, and how much it'll cost to hire a paid search specialist that fits the bill.

   This list presents paid search specialist salaries for various positions.

   Type of Paid Search Specialist	Description	Hourly rate
   Paid Search Specialist		$19-45
   Social Media Strategist	A social media strategist is primarily in charge of handling a company or an individual's social media platforms, aiming for brand awareness and good public relations through positive online engagement. Their responsibilities revolve around developing and implementing social media strategies and campaigns for marketing, coordinating with content creators and writers, identifying new online marketing opportunities, keeping abreast of the latest trends, and ensuring that all content materials are relevant to the company... Show more	$19-45
   Search Engine Optimizer	A search engine optimizer is in charge of developing strategies to enhance a website's content and search ranking, ensuring efficiency and client satisfaction. Among their responsibilities include gathering and analyzing web traffic data, researching trends, developing content materials, utilizing relevant keywords, and producing progress reports as needed... Show more	$33-67

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Paid Search
   • Digital Marketing
   • Google Adwords
   • SEM
   • Search Campaigns
   • PPC
   • Keyword Research
   • ROI
   • Search Engine Marketing
   • Campaign Performance
   • Marketing Campaigns
   • WordPress
   • B Testing
   • PowerPoint

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Plan, implement, manage and report on Facebook advertising campaigns.
   • Work with the SEO and Dev teams to optimize the website to accomplish ROI objectives.
   • Generate all new leads, develop strategies for lead nurturing and improve ROI from all sources.
   • Utilize Godaddy software and systems and any require portal tools to achieve campaign goals, objectives and KPI's.
   • Experience working on Wordpress HTML, CSS.
   • Upload all reports, landing pages and articles into HTML format.

   More paid search specialist duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in the paid search specialist job description is a good way to get more applicants. A paid search specialist salary can be affected by several factors, such as the location of the job, the level of experience, education, certifications, and the employer's prestige.

   For example, the average salary for a paid search specialist in South Dakota may be lower than in California, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level paid search specialist. Additionally, a paid search specialist with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

   Average paid search specialist salary

   $62,694yearly

   $30.14 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level paid search specialist salary

   $41,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 11, 2026

   Average paid search specialist salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$90,441	$43
   2	Nevada	$75,273	$36
   3	Washington	$74,231	$36
   4	New York	$70,464	$34
   5	Arizona	$68,536	$33
   6	District of Columbia	$67,902	$33
   7	Virginia	$67,764	$33
   8	Maryland	$66,467	$32
   9	Rhode Island	$64,230	$31
   10	Connecticut	$64,016	$31
   11	Texas	$63,619	$31
   12	Oregon	$63,575	$31
   13	Utah	$62,704	$30
   14	Ohio	$62,450	$30
   15	North Carolina	$61,823	$30
   16	Michigan	$60,822	$29
   17	West Virginia	$60,321	$29
   18	Louisiana	$56,880	$27
   19	Iowa	$56,414	$27
   20	Massachusetts	$56,292	$27

   Average paid search specialist salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	ChannelAdvisor	$120,485	$57.93
   2	JPMorgan Chase & Co.	$95,986	$46.15
   3	Bain & Company	$84,747	$40.74
   4	McAfee	$83,015	$39.91
   5	Gallup	$80,766	$38.83
   6	Lenovo	$80,210	$38.56
   7	NBCUniversal	$72,183	$34.70
   8	M3 Global Research	$71,462	$34.36
   9	CyberCoders	$69,085	$33.21
   10	2U	$67,127	$32.27
   11	Etna Interactive	$62,863	$30.22
   12	Stream Companies	$62,274	$29.94
   13	Brafton	$59,995	$28.84
   14	AAA FACILITY SERVICES	$59,035	$28.38
   15	Basis Technologies	$57,262	$27.53
   16	Volunteers of America, Utah	$56,631	$27.23
   17	Catalyst On Line	$54,979	$26.43
   18	Lamark Media	$54,675	$26.29	2
   19	Gn Us Holdings Inc	$54,675	$26.29	1
   20	Talkspace	$54,672	$26.28

4. Writing a paid search specialist job description

   A paid search specialist job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. Below, you can find an example of a paid search specialist job description:

   Paid search specialist job description example

   Collaborate cross-functionally to leverage data and analytics to drive our go-to-market strategies and campaigns. Responsible for planning, building, and optimizing how we engage with members through search engine marketing (SEM).
   Responsibilities Responsible for the execution of search engine marketing strategies and campaigns. Work with SEM Strategist and digital team to develop strategies for testing all SEM elements including ad copy in various markets and verticals. Drive all keyword research and strategy (Paid and organic). Coordinate with internal partners/agencies/vendors on campaign initiatives. Works with marketing team and business line management, as needed, to define creative strategy and success metrics. Communicates key marketing information to in-house and external creative teams as well as e-business departments. Manages and traffics all SEM marketing jobs; ensuring timely and cost-conscious project completion. Measures the effectiveness of marketing strategies. Implement, track, and adjust budgets and bids for paid search campaigns. Analyze and repot on campaign results, identify trends and create strategic recommendations for optimization of spend and conversion performance. Communicates and presents these results to team members and clients alike. Seeks and provides information to help business lines determine their place in the market. Understand customers and competitive sets. Qualifications
   Education/Licenses/Certifications:
   Bachelors degree required, Marketing or related field; or 6-8 years of additional relevant experience
   Google Ad Words and Microsoft Ads certification required
   
   Experience:
   2+ years Holistic SEM management (agency or client)
   Mastery of Search tools including Google Ads, Google Analytics and Microsoft Advertising (Bing Ads)
   
   Skills & Abilities:
   Familiarity working with SA360/DCM/Floodlight or similar.
   Adobe Ad Cloud is preferred.
   Proficient in text ad development, and knowledge of various paid search ad types.
   Experience in digital marketing tactics and measurement.
   Encourage, build, and maintain mutual trust, respect, and cooperation with others.
   Ability to listen to, understand, and communicate with others by telephone, in written form, electronically, or in person.
   Ability to operate a computer with relevant software applications.
   Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
   Ability to apply sound judgement to produce appropriate outcomes to a variety of situations. Including high volume and challenging situations.
   Ability to prioritize, organize, and accomplish work to achieve specific goals.
   Developing specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work.
   
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5. Post your job

   To find paid search specialists for your business, try out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important talent pools for any company is its current employees.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and your current work to ask if they know any paid search specialists they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level paid search specialists with the right educational background.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter have more than 3.5 billion users, and they're a great place for company branding and reaching potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your paid search specialist job on Zippia to find and attract quality paid search specialist candidates.
   • Use niche websites such as dice, engineering.com, stack overflow, it job pro.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Your first interview with paid search specialist candidates should focus on their interest in the role and background experience. As the hiring process goes on, you can learn more about how they'd fit into the company culture in later rounds of interviews.

   You should also ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match the ideal candidate profile you developed earlier. Candidates good enough for the next step can complete the technical interview.

   If your interviews with paid search specialist applicants aren't enough to make a decision, you should also consider including a test project. These are often the best, most straightforward, and least bias-prone ways of determining who will likely succeed in the role. If you don't know how to design an appropriate test, you can ask someone else on the team to create it or take a look at these websites to get a few ideas:

   • TestDome
   • CodeSignal
   • Testlify
   • BarRaiser
   • Coderbyte

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new paid search specialist

   Once you've selected the best paid search specialist candidate for the job, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, this letter should include details about the benefits and perks you offer the candidate. Ensuring that your offer is competitive is essential, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and you should be open to discussion. After you reach an agreement, the final step is formalizing the agreement with a contract.

   You should also follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that you've filled the position.

   To prepare for the new employee's start date, you can create an onboarding schedule and complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9 forms, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Human Resources should also ensure that a new employee file is created.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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