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Senior SEO leadership for in-house teams

You own SEO inside a large company, and the CFO, the dev team and the agency all want something different. I bring senior judgment without the full-time hire.

  • 12+ years in SEO
  • Speaker, BrightonSEO
  • Bylines: Search Engine Land

Services for In-House SEO Teams

Fractional SEO Leadership

Best for:Teams that need roadmap ownership and executive-level direction before they can justify a full-time head of SEO.

  • Roadmap built around business impact and tied to revenue
  • Team enablement and stakeholder communication
  • Performance accountability that holds up in front of the CFO

Typical timeline: Ongoing, scoped monthly

Enterprise SEO Audit

Best for:Large or complex sites where the question is what's costing revenue and what to fix first.

  • Technical findings ranked by business impact, not by tool severity
  • Quantified revenue impact for the biggest issues
  • Implementation-ready recommendations your developers can pick up

Typical timeline: Scoped per site, fixed fee agreed in writing

AI Readiness for SEO

Best for:Leaders who need to explain AI search to the board without hype or alarm.

  • LLM visibility audit and content structure assessment
  • Which of your traffic is exposed and which isn't
  • A board-ready framework for communicating the impact

Typical timeline: Scoped per site, fixed fee agreed in writing

Hourly SEO Coaching

Best for:A sounding board for agency evaluation, a tough stakeholder or a decision you don't want to make alone.

  • Direct access to a senior practitioner by the hour
  • Agency and vendor review
  • Team development and crisis response when you need it

Typical timeline: No minimum commitment

SEO Training for Marketing Teams

Best for:Marketing generalists on your team who need to run SEO day to day, so every decision doesn't route through you or an agency.

  • Private workshops built on your own site and Search Console data
  • Curriculum from SEO 101 to technical SEO, AI search and reporting
  • Reusable slide decks, checklists and templates for the team

Typical timeline: Scoped by team size, starting level and goals

Learn more about SEO Training for Marketing Teams

What I understand about In-House SEO Teams that generalists don't

I've sat in your seat.

I've worked in-house at Epic Health Care and ACTIVE Network, so I know how initiatives stall and how budget gets approved.

I lead with the business case.

Executives hear revenue, risk and cost of inaction first. Technical depth supports the argument; it never opens it.

I govern your agency, not replace it.

Your agency and developers keep doing the work. I set the standard, review the output and hold everyone to it, so accountability stays where it already lives.

One senior practitioner, start to finish. No junior analysts drafting your deliverables.

Clear steps, flat pricing, no surprises

  1. Intro call

    Thirty minutes on your team, your stakeholders and what's blocking progress.

  2. Scope and NDA

    NDA first, then a flat-rate scope agreed in writing.

  3. Analysis

    I work the data and talk to the people who touch the site.

  4. Readout

    Findings written so you can forward them to your CFO unedited.

Pricing
Flat-rate project pricing. No hourly surprises.
Confidentiality
NDA by default, before we discuss specifics.
What I need from you
Read access to analytics and Search Console, and an introduction to the developer or agency lead who will act on the findings.

Evidence you can use without a client list

12+Years in SEO
20+Years in web development
50+SEO due diligence engagements
20+Brands consolidated into one parent domain
  • Seen at & published in
  • Google
  • BrightonSEO
  • SMX Advanced
  • Search Engine Land
  • Search Engine Journal

Most of my work is under NDA. If you need confidentiality, it's already the default.

Further reading

Search Engine Land

11 essential SEO elements you should be tracking

A tracking checklist for teams building reporting that holds up in executive reviews.

View my author bio on Search Engine Land ↗ (opens in new tab)
Search Engine Journal

10 Ways to Think Like Googlebot & Boost Your Technical SEO

The mindset I use on technical audits of large, complex sites.

View my author bio on Search Engine Journal ↗ (opens in new tab)
johnmcalpin.com

How Often Does Google Change Title Tags? SEO Data Study

Original research with sample size and method stated: 24,886 observations, 76% rewritten.

Read article

Questions In-House SEO Teams teams ask

We already have an agency and an in-house team. What do you add?

They execute. I bring judgment on value and risk that sits with the CMO and CFO, and I govern the people doing the work.

Is fractional leadership just part-time attention?

No. I own the roadmap and the outcomes, not just a deck handed off at the end. You work with me directly, not a junior delegate.

Can you help me make the case to my CFO or board?

Yes. I translate findings into revenue at risk, cost and payback so the argument works in a budget meeting.

How is hourly coaching different from fractional leadership?

Coaching is on-demand access with no minimum commitment, good for a specific decision. Fractional leadership is ongoing ownership of the roadmap and results.

Do you work with our developers directly?

Yes. Recommendations arrive implementation-ready, and I'll review the work before launch so fixes don't create new problems.

Need senior SEO judgment on your side?

Tell me what's stuck and I'll tell you which engagement fits.

Book a call

Also working with: Private Equity Corporate Development