This page is for UK marketing, design and creative agencies that sell SEO or paid advertising to their clients and need a specialist to deliver some or all of it. I can work behind your brand, alongside your team as a named specialist, or on a single project such as an audit or a site relaunch. If you run a business and want to hire me for your own marketing, this is the wrong page: everything else on the site is written for you.
Why agencies bring in a specialist
The reasons are usually ordinary. A web design studio launches a client’s new site, and the client asks who is doing the SEO. A full-service agency loses its PPC manager halfway through a client contract. An agency wins more paid search accounts than its team can run properly, or takes on a migration that nobody in-house has done before.
In each case the agency keeps the client relationship and needs the work done well enough that the client never has reason to look elsewhere. That is the job: competent delivery your account manager can stand behind in front of the client.
Who this suits, and who it does not
It suits agencies that want competent delivery and are prepared to be straight with their clients about what search and paid ads can do in a given market and budget. It also suits agencies that already have account managers and want someone they can hand the technical end to without supervising every change.
It does not suit an agency looking for fulfilment at volume for a fixed low fee per client, bulk link packages, or someone to promise page one. I also work remotely from London, so I am not the right fit if you need a person sitting in your office every day.
The work I can take on for your clients
SEO audits and technical fixes
A written SEO audit with a prioritised action plan is often the cleanest first project, because it gives your client something concrete and gives you a scope for the months after. Where the problems are structural, such as pages Google cannot crawl or index, I carry out the technical SEO fixes myself or brief your developers in terms they can act on.
Ongoing SEO
Monthly work on existing pages, content briefs for your writers, and local SEO for clients who serve particular towns or London boroughs, including their Google Business Profile.
Site launches and relaunches
Design agencies are often the ones holding the risk when a client’s site is rebuilt. I can plan the redirects, check the staging site and watch Search Console after launch as part of SEO support for a website migration, so the new site keeps the visibility the old one had.
Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising
Account builds, takeovers and monthly PPC management: search terms, negative keywords, bids, budgets, ad testing and landing page feedback. I work through your agency’s Google Ads manager account, so every client account stays visible to you.
Facebook and Instagram ads
Campaign structure, audiences, creative testing and ongoing Facebook and Instagram ads management, with access granted to your agency’s business portfolio rather than to me personally.
Tracking
None of the above can be judged without working conversion tracking. I check it on every account I touch, and set up or repair GA4, Google Tag Manager and the Meta pixel where it is missing or counting the wrong things.
White-label, named specialist or one project
| Arrangement | Who the client deals with | Whose name is on the work | Usually suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| White-label | Your account manager only | Your agency’s | Agencies that sell SEO or ads as their own service |
| Named specialist | Your team, with me on calls when useful | Your agency’s, with me introduced as your specialist | Agencies that want to show clients they bring in expertise |
| Project only | Your team | Agreed for each project | Audits, migrations, account rebuilds |
Whichever you choose, the terms covering confidentiality and contact with your clients are agreed in writing before work starts.
How a subcontracted engagement runs
- A call about the account. What you sold, what the client expects and what has already been promised. If a promise cannot be kept, I say so before I start, because resetting expectations in month one is far easier than in month six.
- Access, never passwords. The client owns the accounts. I am added as a user through your Google Ads manager account, through partner access in Meta, and as a user in Search Console and GA4.
- A written review. Where the account or site stands and what I would change first, in your branding or unbranded, so you can present it as your own.
- Agreed scope and turnaround. What I do each month, who signs off changes, and how quickly I reply. I work in your project tool and your messaging channel rather than adding another one.
- Reporting before your client meeting. The figures and a plain-English commentary, in your template or dashboard, delivered with enough time for you to read them and ask questions.
- A clean handover if it ends. Notes on every account, the change log and anything half-finished, so whoever follows is not starting blind.
Client data and UK GDPR
When I work in a client’s GA4 property, upload a customer list for audience matching or handle leads from an ad form, I am processing personal data on the client’s behalf. Under UK GDPR the client is normally the controller, your agency the processor, and I become a sub-processor. Article 28 says a processor needs the controller’s written authorisation before engaging another one, so check that your contract with the client allows subcontractors, and put a data processing agreement in place between your agency and me. Customer lists should go straight into the ad platform’s own upload tool rather than travel by email.
Problems to check for when an account changes hands
- Accounts the client does not own. Ad accounts opened under the agency’s billing, so the client cannot take their history with them. I recommend moving to client-owned accounts with agency access, which protects you as much as them.
- Tracking that counts the wrong thing. Page views or button clicks recorded as leads, which sends automated bidding after the wrong people.
- Bought link packages. Links from sites that exist only to sell links, which can lead to a manual action from Google and are hard to unwind.
- Reports that avoid the point. Impressions and positions for terms nobody searches, with nothing on enquiries or sales.
- Template location pages. Dozens of town pages with the place name swapped, competing with each other and rarely ranking.
What it costs
I quote agency work per account or per project once I have seen what is involved, so you know your cost and can set your own margin. Each quote is in GBP and agreed in writing, with payment terms, before work starts. Ad spend should sit on the client’s own payment method in Google or Meta, separate from my fee and from yours, so the client’s budget and the delivery cost never get mixed up in an invoice.
Start with one account
The simplest way to find out whether we work well together is a single account or a single audit. Tell me about the account and what you sold the client, and I will reply with what I would look at first and whether I have room to take it on. I work alone, so if I cannot start when you need me, I will tell you on the first call.