A1 SEO

A1 SEO Glasgow is a rebrand of GMS Digital.

I started GMS Digital in 2014, offering SEO, paid search, social media management, email marketing, content creation, web design and even the odd graphic design job or two. It was hectic!

Five years on GMS Digital focused entirely on SEO and paid search with the analytical knowledge to backup up our campaigns with ROI focused reporting. We have dropped all other services to consolidate our offering. This is why A1 SEO was born.

A1 SEO Specialises in the following:

- Scalable whitehat outreach
- eCommerce SEO
- Technical SEO auditing
- SEO Strategy
- Local SEO
- On Page SEO
- SEO Copywriting
- Whitelable SEO

SEO Consultant

Director

A1 Assets Glasgow Ltd

Focusing on assets acquisition and management of both digital and traditional assets. Mainly high growth e-commerce stores, profitable affiliate websites and properties with strong yield and good capital appreciation potential.

My Voyage Scotland

A personal blog offering hyperlocal travel guides in Scotland.

Owner

Links For You

BiP Solutions Ltd

- Technical SEO Management of 29 different websites. Focus on surfacing app side content to the front end to create semi-dynamic content. Implementation of Cloudflare and other server side optimisation to speed up the websites.

- Link Building Strategies for ~15  websites. Identifying existing 'linkable assets', researching and briefing new linkable assets. Manual whitehat outreach powered by Buzzstream.

- Google and Bing Ads management for 6 websites. Optimisation of 2 on-going accounts and complete setup of 4 accounts.

- Conversion Rate Optimisation setup and training on 8 websites using Google Optimize.

- Analytics management for 29 different websites. Initial bold restructuring plan implemented. Conversion rate optimisation involving navigation of external subdomains, Pardot, Google Ads and Salesforce integration.

Search Manager

GMS Digital

I started GMS in 2014 during the summer as a not for profit marketing company offering free marketing services to up and coming musical artists, start-ups and charities. I later transformed GMS into a full service digital marketing company. 

The business originally encompassed web design, web development, social media marketing, PPC (AdWords, Bing and Social) and SEO. However, in early 2017 the business dropped web design, development and social media marketing services to provide a stronger search (PPC and SEO) offering.

As a digital marketing specialist I carry out on-line marketing actives including strategy and planning, search engine optimisation (SEO) and pay per click search marketing (PPC).

My other duties include day to day maintenance of business operations alongside making sure new and existing relationships are nurtured for mutual benefit.

Digital Marketing Consultant

AIMS Media (Acquired by fatBuzz)

At AIMS Media I came is as the Digital Marketing Manager, with a focus on Search Engine Optimisation. During this role I consolidated the agency's SEO offering and helped build a small SEO team from scratch. This allowed the agency to compete for larger projects and service them efficiently.

The work I carried out at AIMS Media fed into the owner's exit plan, allowing the owner to exit the business in January 2019.

Digital Marketing Manager

West Coast Foods

Alongside my digital responsibilities at West Coast Foods, I grew the Skinni Range brand.

Following the launch of the new Skinni Range website, I managed a full rebrand, creating and consolidating up-to-date brand messaging, improving core products, extending the product line and growing the Skinni Range at the bottom line through new and existing channels.

Skinni Range Brand Manager

This role was my first real test of digital execution. Whilst still in my final year at university I owned the entire digital ecosystem for the business and took the website from a low 6-figure asset into a thriving 7-figure powerhouse within my first 4 months.

Head Of Digital

Kuka Studios

Advancing my skills in digital marketing whilst working for an award winning marketing and web design agency in Scotland. Kuka Studios is a formidable agency, priding itself in constantly putting client's needs first. Working for an agency that had been in the business for almost a decade has allowed me to learn from some of the best in-house digital marketers Scotland has to offer. My main responsibility is technical search engine optimisation with content writing and managing a constantly growing list of PPC accounts alongside other day-to-day client work. On top of my constantly developing digital marketing expertise I am further enhancing the web design and development skills that go hand in hand with my current digital duties.

Digital Marketing Specialist

Formal Party

Public Relations Manager

I help business owners and marketing teams make more money via their website by leveraging search engine optimisation (SEO).

We are a highly specialised digital marketing firm that focuses 100% on SEO.

No "maybes".

No "it depends".

No bullshit.

Just results.

We know what works.

Working with a specialised SEO team means your marketing money is not watered down by meaningless deliverables designed to add the perception of value over value itself.

Every penny you spend with A1 SEO goes directly towards making your website rank higher in Google and other search engines.

Fancy a chat?

DM me for a chat - I'm super approachable.

I also run a small property portfolio, a suite of ecommerce sites and a travel business.

Back in the early days of A1 I was doing SEO for £300-500 a month.

And I thought we were absolutely killing it.

Then I got an inquiry from a company in the payday loans market. 

And I didn't really want to work with them.

So I did what any reasonable, balanced and fair business owner with a chip on his shoulder would do…

I sent them a proposal so high they'd fuck off.

I quoted them a £6,000 retainer for two sites.

And hit send on the email thinking I’d never hear from them again.

Then they emailed back saying “cool, let’s do it” and I felt the same way I did when I found out Santa wasn’t real.

I was questioning EVERYTHING.

Because this made me realise I'd been massively undervaluing what we could deliver.

When you start out in business you charge on what you feel you can justify.

And that means you play it embarrassingly safe with your pricing.

I was thinking "£500 is loads for a bit of SEO work”.

The payday loans company was thinking "£6K is fuck all if we rank for these terms”. 

We were both right.

Just operating in completely different realities.

Have you ever massively under-priced your work because you didn't realize what it was actually worth?

Graham Grieve

Putting businesses at the top of Google since 2014 📈

I spent 6 months viewing properties before I bought my first one.

I’d spot a bit of mould, a dated kitchen or a carpet from the 70’s and pass on every deal. 

Then one day I’d had enough of messing about and pulled the trigger on my first investment property.

Which turned out to be in a worse state than all of the other ones I’d passed on. 

But as soon as I bought that first property, everything started snowballing.

I bought another, and another then started buying up other landlords' portfolios and my portfolio just expoloded.

After £100,000s of mistakes I'm finally starting to get the hang of it.

I can look at a portfolio deal and run the numbers in my head.

I understand bridging, refinancing, stress tests, and retained interest (kind of...).

I couldn't do any of that when I was spending 6 months looking for the “perfect property”.

The biggest mistake I made wasn't in failed due diligence or using the wrong financial product.

It was the 6 months of fannying about instead of getting stuck in. 

I’ve always learned by doing.

And in all honesty, I can’t think of a better way to learn.

Building a property portfolio will punch you in the face repeatedly.

But so will building a business. 

And you’re get absolutely leathered when starting out in property reglardless of how prepared you are.

So you might as well get it over with and start rolling with the punches.

I have a weird relationship with burnout.

And sharing it might get me “cancelled”.

But fuck it, here goes. 

When it comes to myself, I'm very much a "man up and push through” kinda guy. 

But with my team? Completely different story.

Our culture is very much "people before everything”.

Writers and creative types are at such a high risk of burnout. You need that approach.

But for me personally?

Just get your head down and swim through the shit.

If what you want is on the other side then this is the price you have to pay.

The last time I was approaching burn out was around this time back in 2023.

I got more stressed. 

I couldn’t switch off. 

My energy levels started to dip.

Then Christmas came around and I ate chocolate and cheese for a week while barely moving. 

And when I came back I felt brand new. 

No life coach or meditation retreat or new morning routine required. 

I know this is probably wrong for a lot of people, but for me personally:

I hate the term "burnout" because it sounds like you've been working so hard that you give up.

For me, burnout is literally just feeling a lot of pressure and being stressed out.

And that shit isn't meant to feel comfortable.

If you're pushing out of your comfort zone, if you're trying to grow your business beyond where it is now, it's GOING to be uncomfortable.

The discomfort is a signal you’re doing something right.

It’s like training for a marathon.

Which I know fuck all about.

But I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to feel tired, sore and knackered at some point during your training.

My solution to burnout is getting through it and coming out in a better place.

I'm not saying ignore your mental health or push yourself into a breakdown.

But I am saying that feeling stressed and overwhelmed when you're building 
something big isn't burnout.

It's just what building something big feels like.

And if you're waiting for it to feel comfortable before you push forward, you'll be 
waiting forever.

What's your take?

Is burnout something to fix, or something to get through?

One of the stranger things I’ve done during my career 👇

I used to have these blue light filtering glasses before I needed an actual prescription.

If you, like me, stare at a screen all day every day you’ll likely know exactly what I’m talking about.

Anyway…

I ended up working with a large SAAS firm.

And their team were all highly intelligent individuals.

So I thought I’d wear glasses to look more technical and fit in with them. 

I'd put them on before meetings like I was getting into character.

Ridiculous, I know.

But here's the thing - it kind of worked.

And thus the concept of client glasses was born - glasses worn solely infront of clients with no real function other than to look smarter.

Now I fully got what was coming to me.

Skip by a few years and like most people starting at screens, I started getting these bad headaches.

So I did what most guys do, convinced myself the end was near and got my affairs in order.

But my wife convinced me to go for an eye test.

Of course…

It turns out needed glasses.

Proper ones this time (karma really is a bitch).

I get roasted (and in a few instances copied) by my colleagues off the back of this story.

I'm an SEO Guy Who Sends Direct Mail Letters.

I've spent eleven years building my life around digital marketing.

Helped make over fifty millionaires through SEO in the last six years.

And the number one marketing channel for my property business?

Popping letters in the fucking postbox.

I've added hundreds of thousands of pounds of equity to my property portfolio by doing the most old-school, non-digital thing imaginable.

---

SEO people look down on ads.

Ads people dismiss SEO.

And digital guys shit all over traditional channels.

But the people who do this are just having a circle jerk inside an echo chamber.

And they’re all fucking idiots.

---

Here's something most SEO people don't know:

Traffic that doesn't originate from Google organic search is one of the biggest factors in Google's algorithm.

One of the biggest ranking factors is traffic from OUTSIDE Google.

Facebook traffic, Pinterest traffic, even P0rnh|_|b* traffic - Google wants to see it.

(*...maybe, never tested it.)

Because if people are clicking through to your page from other sources, there must be value there.

It's a signal for virality and quality that their algorithm might be missing.

So SEO people turning their nose up at ads from a strategic standpoint?

Idiots.

And ad people dismissing SEO? 

Fine, I'll just keep all the traffic to myself and my clients. 

I've personally made more money from direct mail letters than most "digital marketing experts" make their clients.

Because I'm not married to a channel.

I'm married to what works.

And if I don’t fully understand a marketing channel I’ll learn about it before I have an opinion on it. 

I don't understand astrophysics.

But that doesn't mean it's not a thing that works.

Same applies to every marketing channel.

Our data tells us that Americans think our free SEO video audits is going to be shit.

So we're going to charge them for it.

Our video audit converts brilliantly in the UK.

But in the States? People are suspicious of it.

"It's free, so it must be shit”.

Capitalism on steroids over there.

Any non-reciprocal exchange and people get suspicious.

So we're considering making it a paid offer instead.

Which is mental to me.

Same work. Same value. But slap a price on it and suddenly it's worth something.

Here's what our "free" audit actually includes:

An SEO expert spends an hour researching your site.

Then creates a 15-20 minute bespoke training video showing you exactly what's wrong, what you need to do, and how to do it.

It's not a lead magnet.

It's not some automated report with generic recommendations.

It's genuine high-value work we give away upfront.

And it works perfectly in the UK because people see the value and think "fuck doing all that myself, just do it for me."

But in the US, that same value gets dismissed because there's no price tag on it.

The psychology is fascinating.

In the UK, free = generous.

In the US, free = there must be a catch.

This is why our ads work though.

We provide massive value upfront.

Show them exactly what they need to do and how long it'll take them.

Then ask: "Do you want us to do it for you? Yes or no?"

Compare that to the "super shortcut digital bro" approach:

Download this PDF. Book a call. Get pressured into a sale.

No actual value delivered until after they've paid.

Our way isn't a shortcut.

It's fucking hard work.

An expert spending an hour+ on every single lead that comes through?

That doesn't scale easily.

But it IS scalable. It IS teachable.

And it's done us right from the day we turned those ads on.

Because when you lead with genuine value, the right people convert.

And the wrong people self-select out.

The people who take the free audit and try to do it themselves were never going to be good clients anyway.

The people who see what's involved and say "yeah, you do that" - those are our people.

So now we're testing whether Americans will pay £50-100 for that same audit.

And honestly? I think they will.

Because sometimes people value things more when there's a price attached.

Even if the actual value is identical.

Mental, isn't it? Same audit, same value, but Americans will probably pay for it just because it has a price tag.

Have you noticed different markets respond completely differently to the same offer?

From 2019 to 2023 we had no systems, a tiny team, and we were growing faster than we could hire.

I was writing content, building links, taking client calls, fixing issues, hiring, writing SOP’s, and closing deals. 

Now I've got an account management team.

A full management structure running every part of the business.

Our marketing machine is generating high quality leads at scale. 

And our sales team is closing deals consistently. 

We've got 462 processes documented (all with video walkthroughs). 

There's nothing in this business that can surprise me anymore.

And you know what?

I miss the chaos of those early days. 

We're in that awkward middle stage now.

Not a small business anymore, but not a big business either.

Things move slower. There are managers who get pissed off when I jump in and break shit.

I can't just fuck about with things like I used to.

The business is more stable.

I've removed myself from all day-to-day operations.

Which is supposedly the dream, right?

But nobody talks about how fucking boring and unfulfilling that actually is.

Everyone tells you to "work yourself out of the business”.

Build systems, hire managers, create processes.

And yeah, you should do all that.

But they don't mention the part where you succeed at it and then think "fuck, now what”?

We went from £95K to £1.4M in five years. 

Almost doubled last year alone.

But there's something about that mental 2019-2023 period that I genuinely miss.

And I know how this might sound like "oh poor me, my business runs without me".

But nobody prepares you for how weird it is to actually get what you were working toward.

I miss the adrenaline of not knowing if we'd pull it off.

And the chaos of wearing every single hat in the business.

I'd have burned out completely if we'd kept going like that.

But fuck me, it made me feel alive.

This is the part of scaling nobody prepares you for.

The actual loneliness of "making it."

Have you ever succeeded at something and then thought "fuck, now what?"

Want to improve your SEO rankings for Black Friday? 

It’s too late (unless you’re looking at Black Friday 2026).

We get people coming to us in October saying "Black Friday is next month, we need to start working on SEO”.

And we have to tell them the work had to start back in January.

Because that's what gets you Black Friday results.

SEO doesn't work on a one-month turnaround.

We need to look at your numbers, group your data together, and let the results dictate what we do next.

That’s an iterative process.

So there’s no “Black Friday SEO Blast” package that’ll get you ranking number 1 during the busiest online shopping period of the year,

But a lot of our ecommerce clients will do 60-70% of their annual sales in this quarter.

The guys we work with aren't playing around though.

They've been in this game a long time.

They know the work they did with us at the start of this year has set them up for a HUGE Black Friday. 

And I see similar patterns in the enquiries we get from clients. 

This time of year we get a lot of inquiries.

But that's mostly because the UK shuts down for 8 weeks over summer.

So it's only after the first couple weeks of September that UK businesses are caught up and ready to do deals again.

And a lot of the time they are scrambling to have a big push for Q4.

Compare that to US companies who are always looking to do deals year round and the principles are the same. 

I remember reading this quote from Naval that summed this up perfectly:

“Pick an industry where you can play long term games with long term people”.

I can’t put it any better than that.

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