Kurt Wood

I’m an independent SEO consultant based just outside London. I support my clients with SEO, content marketing, analytics and copywriting. I specialise in technical SEO for big, ugly, complex sites. I've worked with startups both in-house - I led organic growth at Cuvva for 2 years, including a $19m series A raise - and extensively as a consultant. Agency-side, I've led enterprise technical SEO accounts like Adidas, Icelandair and Specsavers. I've also been Head of SEO at Velocity Partners, a London-based content marketing agency, where I consulted for big B2B names like Calm, Trustpilot and Culture Amp. Since 2022, I've been an independent consultant. My recent projects have included: • Planning site architecture, faceted navigation logic and parameter indexation rules for an ecommerce brand • Deep technical analysis and implementation for two marketplace startups • Investigating the real impact of AI Overviews - and mapping where opportunities still existed - for a SaaS company • Mining customer call transcripts and industry media to find high-converting zero-volume search queries • Investigating “topical authority” and sentiment of linking pages to inform and measure digital PR efforts • Analysing brand mentions and popular topics of discussion across Reddit and industry forums to inform brand marketing strategy You can talk to me about: • How to define an SEO strategy that works quickly and efficiently • Smart keyword research that works for brand new startups • SEO architecture for marketplace or ecommerce startups • "Programmatic" SEO • Technical SEO • Making yourself more visible in AI search • SEO & content analytics • Making sense of messy organic data • How to make "digital PR" work on a limited budget • Content marketing strategy • Content design and UX writing • Classic detective fiction (if you need a recommendation) Thanks - look forward to hearing from you.

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  Content marketing

  I’ve worked in SEO and content marketing for 12 years. I help founders figure out how to research their target audience, develop channel strategies, plan effective content that actually drives leads, and put the right analytics in place.

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  Copywriting

  Although I mostly work on strategy projects these days, I'm an experienced copywriter, too - it's how I started out. I'm happy to talk through any problems you're having with words. And if you're looking for specialised support, I have a strong network of writers - I might be able to make an intro.

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  Link building

  These days, link building is about relevance more than quantity, and broad measures of "authority" are largely useless. Links are also harder to get through "digital PR" than in the past: everyone knows their value and nobody wants to give them out. That said, getting people to talk about and link to your site is still very important and achievable - you just need a different approach. I help founders come up with creative strategies to get high-value links without breaking the bank.

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  SEO

  With 12 years' SEO experience, I've ranked brand new domains for their first keywords, led enterprise technical SEO projects - and everything in between. I've learned SEO is more unpredictable than ever; "best practice" alone rarely cuts it. Success comes from first-principles thinking and meticulous data analysis. I help founders turn all that messy SEO data into clear, effective strategies. Before our call, I'll take a look at your site and pick out any immediate improvements.

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  KeywordInsights

  6 years of experience

  I've used KeywordInsights to cluster content and plan content more efficiently. In recent years, I've built my own set of flexible clustering tools. I'd be happy to talk through the logic and benefits of keyword clustering.

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  Reddit

  7 years of experience

  I've helped several clients use Reddit to better understand their target audience and increase their visibility. I've built a few apps of my own to scrape brand mentions, score sentiment, and analyse natural language across relevant subreddits.

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  Webflow

  6 years of experience

  Many of my SEO clients use Webflow, and I use it for my own site. I'm particularly experienced with helping founders use Webflow to create pages programmatically via an effective, scalable information architecture, including Snug and Co:Create.

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  Ahrefs

  11 years of experience

  Ahrefs is my favourite of the big all-in-one SEO tools. Like any such tools, I take its data with a pinch of salt, but it's useful for large-scale keyword research, rank tracking, traffic estimates and backlink data. I also use its SERP exports to dig into causes of ranking changes and its share of voice metrics to estimate the scale of opportunities. Happy to talk through the best ways to get the most out of Ahrefs.

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  Google Analytics

  12 years of experience

  Like all good SEOs, I more or less live in Google Analytics. I use it for day-to-day reporting, funnel building, attribution modelling, and most other use cases you can think of. I also make extensive use of Google Tag Manager to track custom events. Happy to chat through the best ways to make the most of your Google Analytics data, especially for organic channels.

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  Google Data Studio

  5 years of experience

  I've built a lot of SEO dashboards in Google Data Studio (now Looker Studio). I'm happy to chat about gathering, processing and visualising your marketing data effectively.

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  Google Tag Manager

  9 years of experience

  I've used Google Tag Manager extensively for custom event tracking in Google Analytics. If you're looking for more flexibility and precision than GA offers out of the box, I'm happy to talk it through.

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  Google Webmaster Tools

  12 years of experience

  I use Search Console (formerly Webmaster Tools) daily. Both for monitoring and analysing performance data, and for diagnosing technical SEO issues through its indexation reports - plus most other use cases you can think of. Mostly, though, I work with Search Console data through the API, and I have a set of custom scripts that exports and combines data at greater volume and with more flexibility than the GUI provides. Happy to talk through how to make the most of Search Console.

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  Semrush

  12 years of experience

  I've used all the big all-in-one SEO tools extensively. Ahrefs is my go-to - I think it's better value for money and has more flexible functionality - but I've also used Ahrefs extensively for keyword research, rank tracking, and backlink analytics. Happy to talk through how to make the most of SEMrush.

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  Wordpress

  9 years of experience

  I've worked with dozens of WordPress sites in my time, from out-of-the-box startup setups to custom enterprise solutions. Happy to help with setup, management, SEO optimisation, plugin choices and SEO considerations for custom themes

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  E-Commerce

  I've worked extensively on SEO and analytics for ecommerce brands, including enteprise brands like Adidas, Icelandair and Specsavers. I know how to solve the common technical SEO issues that undermine ecommerce brands - from large-scale cannibalisation to faceted navigation and server-side rendering - and I can help you plan for and overcome them.

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  InsurTech

  I led organic growth at Cuvva, an InsurTech startup in London, for just under 2 years - which included a $20m Series A. I understand the industry, its regulations, and its customer pain points well, and I can help you create SEO and content marketing strategies that thrive within them.

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  B2B

  SEO is a different beast for B2B brands: search volumes are lower, relevance is much more important, and the tiniest differences in the phrasing of a query can make all the difference. I have a lot of experience delivering organic growth for B2B brands, and I'm happy to help with your SEO program. I was Head of SEO at Velocity Partners, a B2B content marketing agency, where I worked with big names like Akamai, Trustpilot and Culture Amp, along with a number of fast-growing startups.

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  B2C

  I've worked on organic growth for a wide range of B2C brands. Generally, these brands were in either ecommerce/retail - including big names like Adidas, Icelandair and Specsavers - or personal finance/insurance - including fast-growing startups like Cuvva.

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  SEO

  With 12 years' SEO experience - across in-house and agency roles - I've ranked brand new domains for their first keywords, led enterprise technical SEO projects - and everything in between. I've learned SEO is more unpredictable than ever. Success comes from first-principles thinking and meticulous data analysis. I help founders turn all that messy SEO data into clear, effective strategies. Before our call, I'll take a look at your site and pick out any immediate improvements.

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  SaaS

  SEO is different for SaaS brands: search volumes are lower, relevance is much more important given the need for recurring revenue, and content marketing is essential to growth. I have a lot of experience delivering organic growth for SaaS brands, and I'm happy to help with your SEO program. I was Head of SEO at Velocity Partners, a B2B content marketing agency, where I worked with big SaaS names like Culture Amp. As a consultant, I've worked with mature SaaS startups like LoyaltyLion.

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  Personal Finance

  I've done SEO and content marketing for a wide range of personal finance brands - from long-established UK names like Leeds Building Society and St. James's Place to startups like Snug (an estate planning platform) and giffgaff gameplan.

• https://kurtwood.substack.com/p/the-ai-crisis-in-seo-is-part-of-a
• https://kurtwood.substack.com/p/how-to-meaningfully-measure-the-new