A fractional head of SEO does the job of a permanent head of SEO for a set number of days each month. US teams usually search for a fractional SEO director. Same job, different title, and either way one senior person owns your plan, your priorities and your numbers.
It’s fractional SEO at the senior end. I don’t hand over a report and disappear. I sit in your planning, make the calls a head of SEO would make and answer for the results.
Reads the search results you want to break into, works out which searches actually make you money and turns that into a written plan.
Most sites don’t need more content. They need fewer, better pages. I audit first, consolidate second and create third.
Crawling, indexation, rendering, redirects and site speed checked before a template or migration goes live, rather than after rankings drop.
Briefs your writers, sets your agency’s priorities and reviews what comes back, so paid hours go on the work that moves numbers.
Redirect maps, launch day checks and the watch afterwards, so a replatform doesn’t cost you rankings built over years.
Every recommendation comes with the reason behind it, so your marketers and developers get better at SEO as the work goes on.
Five things worth knowing, the headline numbers and what’s queued next.
Every task in a sheet you can open whenever you like, so nobody waits for a meeting to find out what’s happening.
A release, a migration or a traffic drop gets an answer from me, not a ticket queue.
Crawl monitoring and Search Console mining. The unglamorous work that actually compounds.
Set days each month. Suits teams that need senior direction and already have people to do the work.
More days for a fixed stretch. Suits a migration, a replatform or the gap after a head of SEO leaves.
A full time hire, and the right answer once SEO needs someone every day of the week. When that day comes, the head of SEO job description guide is a good place to start.
Weighing up a fractional head of SEO or an agency? The comparison covers seniority, cost and who owns the results.
Figures from Harry’s client campaigns at Boxhall Marketing, measured as daily organic visits and top three keyword counts. Client names withheld.
113 to 697 top three keywords over seven years. Daily organic visits from 1,400 to 9,300, peaking at 12.5K.
180 to 363 top three keywords in under two years. Daily visits from 2,900 to 7,800, peaking at 8,600.
133 to 249 top three keywords in two years. Daily visits from 1,500 to 5,900, peaking at 10,800.
The same job as a permanent head of SEO, in fewer days. They set the strategy, choose the priorities, review developer work, direct writers or an agency and report on progress. You buy a set number of days each month rather than a full time salary.
Yes. UK teams tend to say head of SEO and US teams tend to say SEO director. The work is the same, one senior person accountable for organic search.
It depends on the size of the site and how much of the work your team can carry out. I’ll recommend a number after the free consultation, and it can change as the work does.
Yes. I work alongside agencies every week. Setting their priorities and checking what comes back is part of the job.
Yes. I’m based in Beverley, England, and open to US teams. UK afternoons overlap with US East Coast mornings, and the work itself runs over video calls, shared task sheets and email.
Yes. When SEO needs someone every day, helping you find that person is part of the job, from the job description to the interviews.
A free initial consultation to work out whether a fractional head of SEO fits, how many days it would take and what month one would look like.