30 years internet marketing experience
SEO | CRO | Reporting
Hi! I’m Stu. I’m an online marketing specialist from Portsmouth with nearly 30 years experience covering SEO, CRO, data and reporting.
A bit about me
Who am I?
I built my first website in 1997 aged 17, formally graduated with a degree in Multimedia Technology and Design in 2003, and then kept going. My career has touched design, build and email marketing but with SEO, CRO and reporting I finally found my niche.
From one-man-bands, through SMBs, to multinational corporate entities, I’ve worked with them all. I also spent several years working with partners in the property sector (amongst others), adapting and building techniques that helped those sites to rank.
I was an SEO specialist for a decade before taking on and running the CRO Service at Vertical Leap. I now continue to run the CRO service but I also work to helkp other departments optimising their workflows by using AI to assist with audits and other tasks.
Skills and specialities
AI and automation
Like it or loathe it, AI is a crucial tool for for marketing and those that don’t use it will be left behind.
I’m working with teams to help them optimise their workflows and automate repetitive SEO and CRO tasks using Claude.
AI doesn’t just speed up work – it allows us to go deeper, analyse greater datasets and identify problems, solutions and apply scientific principles.
Learn how I’m using Claude, MCP Servers and APIs to join up all the dots in my blog series about AI-powered SEO and CRO.
CRO
There’s no point driving traffic to your website if it doesn’t convert.
I led the CRO service at Vertical Leap, and continue to lead and develop the SMB CRO service in the Accelerate division at GAIN.
We use performance and behavioural data to find opportunities to improve conversion rates. We use this to build hypotheses, which we test though A/B experimentation. AI is used to sift through large datasets and assist with analysis, auditing, and experiment builds.
SEO
AI Overviews, GEO and LLMs have had a dramatic effect on the SEO industry, and I’m here to help people make sense of it.
Being found online is still critical for every business, even though the methods may have changed.
SEO is still a fundamental means of driving traffic and it also underpins AI. Again, I’m developing AI techniques to use help SEO teams sift through large datasets and go deeper in their auditing.
Data and reporting
Interactive reports are essential for understanding site performance and finding what to improve.
PowerPoint-style Looker reports for presenting to the board, single page reports and 90 page deep dives – I specialise in full end-to-end reporting that tells a story, not meaningless stats and confusing grids.
My journey began with Power BI before switching to Looker Studio.
Experience where it matters
The key to success
Keeping things simple.
Internet marketing is dominated by specialists trying to reverse-engineer how search engines work. This leads to lots of people putting forward theory as fact and using their own home-brewed terminology. No wonder people get confused. Working with a huge variety of websites, I’ve learnt that plain speaking works best. Not dumbing down but keeping things easy to follow.
Analytics & reporting
Intelligent insights at your fingertips
Looker Studio is a fantastic tool for building reports, but it’s often overused. Clients aren’t interested in page after page containing endless tables of data, they want insights and recommendations. Design your reports to show if you’re hitting your business goals – and the steps that lead up to that.
Growth & scaling
Organic search and conversion rate optimisation specialist
My focus has traditionally been organic search and conversion rate optimisation, but I also work with paid search specialists.
Frequently asked questions
Got questions?
Common questions
Do you build websites?
I specialise in internet marketing – promoting websites and working with developers rather than making them myself. That said, I do have experience of building WordPress websites and have enhanced PHP sites.
Who do you work with?
Through my work at Vertical Leap and GAIN, I’ve worked with sole traders, SMBs, corporates.
What software / tools do you use?
Too much to list but to name a few – Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools, Microsoft Clarity, Hotjar, Google Tag Manager, Looker Studio, Convert, VWO, Unbounce, Screaming Frog, Beam Us Up, Semrush, Ahrefs, Power BI
Say hello
If you’d like to know more, please reach out.