Setting direction
Translating commercial goals into an SEO strategy, a realistic roadmap and priorities that teams can act on.
Hello, I'm
WilliamHarvey.
SEO Leadership & Strategy · Technical SEO · AI & Automation
I develop organic growth strategies, bring people together to deliver them, and still enjoy getting hands-on with technology, software and automation.
UK-basedInternational experienceStrategic and hands-on
THE CONNECTING THREADSEO & organic growthPeople & deliverySoftware & automationCommercial thinking
01 / About
A bit about me.
I'm a UK-based SEO strategist, technical specialist, developer and entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience in organic growth, technology and building businesses.
My work spans setting SEO direction, managing and developing teams, influencing senior stakeholders and working alongside product and engineering colleagues. I've also co-founded, grown and exited digital businesses, which keeps my thinking firmly tied to customers, performance and commercial value.
I enjoy being involved from strategy through to delivery: identifying the opportunities that matter, agreeing priorities, helping teams make progress and stepping into the technical detail when it helps.
Alongside SEO and growth, I continue to build software and explore how AI and automation can make good teams more effective.
02 / Leadership
Good teams make the difference.
I've worked with teams and stakeholders across countries, time zones and disciplines. The aim is always the same: give people a clear direction, make good decisions together and create the conditions to deliver meaningful work.
Bringing people together
Connecting SEO, content, product, engineering and commercial stakeholders, so decisions are shared and work moves forward.
Helping teams grow
Supporting specialists, sharing knowledge and creating space for people to take ownership, challenge assumptions and improve their work.
My view: leading well is less about having all the answers and more about clarity, trust, judgement and follow-through.
03 / Expertise
Strategy, people and the technical detail.
A broad mix of search experience, commercial judgement, team leadership and practical development.
SEO strategy
Building organic growth strategies, identifying opportunities, prioritising investment and measuring the impact on the business.
Global SEO
Working across markets, languages and large website estates while balancing central standards with local requirements.
Leadership & delivery
Managing specialists, aligning stakeholders and working across disciplines to move initiatives from decisions to delivery.
Technical SEO
Crawling, indexation, architecture, hreflang, web performance and working with engineers to make complex improvements.
Software development
Designing practical tools, applications and integrations with Python, JavaScript and APIs.
AI & automation
Exploring intelligent systems and automation that improve decision-making, reduce routine work and help teams scale.
04 / Career & leadership
Leading organic growth at scale.
I've worked at both strategic and operational levels, leading SEO programmes, partnering with senior management and helping distributed teams turn priorities into measurable improvements.
Global enterprise · Information management
Aug 2024 – Jun 2026Iron Mountain
Global SEO Lead
I led the global organic marketing channel across 60+ country websites, setting direction, managing a global SEO team and agency partners, and overseeing strategy through to delivery.
The work was genuinely international. I collaborated with US leadership on strategy and performance, while working closely with development teams in India and colleagues across India and Sri Lanka.
- Owned strategy, roadmaps, governance, reporting and continuous improvement.
- Led SEO and AI Search initiatives, including automation, machine discovery and content optimisation.
- Used Agile stand-ups, clear ownership, prioritised backlogs and monthly planning to support delivery.
- Stayed hands-on with technical investigations, analysis, reporting frameworks and team training.
2025 Global Marketing Star of the YearRecognised by Iron Mountain's Global Marketing Organisation in 2026 for performance and contribution throughout 2025.
Consumer insurance · Multi-brand group
Oct 2022 – Aug 2024Staysure Group
SEO & technical development management
Mar 2023 – Aug 2024
Group Technical SEO & Developer Manager
Led technical SEO and supported development leadership across Staysure's brands during organisational change. Worked with senior leadership, product owners and the Sri Lanka development team to set priorities, unblock work and keep delivery moving.
Continued to work directly on Core Web Vitals, crawling and indexation, technical analysis, reporting and development roadmaps.
Oct 2022 – Mar 2023
Group SEO Manager
Owned group-wide SEO strategy, performance and team leadership across consumer insurance brands. Connected organic growth to customer acquisition and commercial results, working with senior stakeholders and cross-functional teams.
Managed SEO priorities, budgets and roadmaps while remaining hands-on with technical SEO, analytics and performance improvements.
05 / Entrepreneurship
Building businesses, not just strategies.
Co-founding and growing businesses has shaped how I think about customers, revenue, operations and the real-world impact of marketing and technology.
RichWeb Media
Co-founder · Marketing / SEO Director
Co-founded and directed an SEO and digital growth business serving enterprise, agency and high-growth clients across the UK and US.
I advised senior leadership teams, led organic search strategy, managed specialist consultants and agency partners, and helped turn commercial objectives into delivery plans. The work ranged from executive-level decisions to hands-on technical problem-solving.
Strategy · Client leadership · Technical SEO · DeliveryBroadband Expert
Co-founder · Director
Co-founded and scaled Broadband Expert across three markets before successfully selling the business to Clear Link Technologies.
My role covered organic customer acquisition, revenue growth, market launches, product decisions, partnerships and operations. It gave me direct experience of building a business from its early stages through to acquisition.
International growth · Revenue · Product · ExitThat commercial experience continues to influence how I set SEO priorities, lead teams and decide which technical problems are worth solving.
06 / Leading delivery
Turning direction into progress.
The most useful strategy is one that people can execute. My role has often been to connect the commercial goal with the teams, decisions and technical work needed to achieve it.
How I work with teams01
Decide what matters
Focus on the problems and opportunities with the greatest impact, not the longest backlog.
02
Make work achievable
Bring the right people into the conversation, agree ownership and address blockers early.
03
Show what changed
Measure results, communicate clearly and use what we've learnt to make the next decision better.
07 / Selected work
Things I've built.
I still enjoy developing tools and exploring new technology. These projects are examples of the hands-on side of my work.
Current development
DMCI — AI-powered intelligence
Developing an intelligence platform that combines data processing, AI agents, semantic retrieval and governed evidence to help organisations investigate complex market and content questions.
In development01Collect evidence
02Understand context
03Investigate questions
04Verify answers
Advanced Hreflang Module
A browser extension designed to help SEO professionals investigate and validate international hreflang implementations more efficiently.
View in Chrome Web Store ↗Regex Manager
A practical tool for managing and reusing regular expressions, making repetitive technical and SEO workflows easier.
View in Chrome Web Store ↗More tools, scripts and experiments on my GitHub profile ↗
08 / Recognition
Recognised by Google's Search community.
Google Search Product ExpertGold level · Product Experts programme
I was invited by Google to become a Gold-level Search Product Expert in recognition of my contributions to Google's Search support forums, where I helped website owners and SEO professionals solve search-related problems.
The programme gave me opportunities for specialist learning and knowledge-sharing, including:
- Training and in-depth discussions with Google employees.
- Two three-day events at Google's Mountain View headquarters in California.
- Meeting other Gold-level Product Experts from around the world.
- A further Product Experts event in London.
See an example of my Google Search community contributions ↗
09 / Working with people
How I like to work.
I value straightforward conversations, shared ownership and giving capable people the room to do good work. I enjoy coaching, learning from others and working across teams without turning every decision into another meeting.
I still like to stay close to the detail. For me, understanding how the work gets done makes for better decisions and stronger teams.
Set a clear direction.
Give people ownership.
Remove the blockers.
Deliver, learn and improve.
10 / Connect
Let's talk.
Always interested in conversations about SEO, organic growth, leading teams, building useful products and the possibilities of AI and automation.