15+ years working in SEO
Founder of Marino, established in 2015
I work directly with established businesses who are facing specific SEO challenges that threaten to harm, or already are harming, their commercial objectives. These challenges include:
My role? To diagnose what’s happened, prioritise what needs fixing first while providing senior guidance based on its commercial impact.
Clients who choose to work with me get direct access throughout the length of our working relationship, and if recommendations require sustained implementation, the wider Marino digital marketing team can support.
So, if you have some concerns about your SEO, why not give me a call today?
Who is Toni Marino? My career in SEO began long before Marino the agency was established. I have amassed over 15 years of experience across several generations of search.
The reason I view SEO through a commercial lens is in part because I have scaled businesses from the inside, most notably a UK sportswear company. It was this perspective that made me appreciate how important it was to tie organic marketing efforts to commercial goals, something that I still place on a pedestal to this day.
Where search, website structure, and even wider brand positioning are affecting one another. My consultancy packages allow you to access and tap into that senior experience directly without immediately committing to a fully managed campaign.
Work with me or the Marino Agency? Let me help you find the right support
Work directly with me if you’re looking for…
Engage Marino when you need…
Those are points that differentiate my SEO consultancy services and the wider Marino SEO offering. Both options can be used separately or in conjunction with each other over time.
Your business will face multiple moments of uncertainty or risk every single day. My role in helping you is shaped by what you’re doing to improve your SEO today and the challenges that you’ll face tomorrow.
Part of why I love offering senior SEO consultancy is the variety of problems I come across. Below are some of the problems I help diagnose.
I’d determine where the decline is happening on the site and then examine technical changes and content alterations, among other things, as performance may stem from seasonal demand or a lack of clear reporting, rather than a genuine site-wide issue.
This is a common problem usually solved by testing whether the backlink authority is being directed to the right pages. Combing through the backlinks earned is also part of solving this issue, as some may be of low value and actually harming the site’s reputation.
I would look beyond traffic and rankings and instead review the search terms attracting visitors. Through that, I can identify gaps around keyword intent and page messaging, ensuring they match up to the commercial priorities of the business.
I’ll help you look through the jargon that’s often found in presentation decks and examine what is actually being promised, good or bad, and whether these recommendations are being prioritised sensibly.
I can provide a steady hand during migrations or rebuilds by reviewing the entire migration proposal and offering my insight to help protect your online presence as well as establishing a monitoring programme post-launch.
You and I know the importance of being featured in AI-generated answers, which is why I begin diagnosing this problem by checking where and how your business appears. Reviewing whether AI platforms can actually understand your business is another key step before optimising content so it can be more easily interpreted.
Don’t expect generic, automated checklists here. My focused investigation is based on your concerns. I’ll review the health of your website and distinguish symptoms from the underlying issues that are causing them. At the end, you’ll get a prioritised list of recommendations which you or I can action.
I’ll translate my initial findings into a practical roadmap that prioritises work according to its commercial impact. In one easy-to-read report, I will define for you what should happen now, later, and what isn’t worth your time worrying about. I’ll align my strategy to your goals, whether that’s lead gen, expansion into other areas of the country or world, or product growth.
I can be on hand to support planning before the website is built so that it has the best chance of launching smoothly, and succeeding early. I advise on all key aspects of the web build and work with designers and developers to make SEO part of the project.
Mapping customer demand to various services, products and stages of the buying journey gives me the ability to plan a logical, authoritative content plan which balances search opportunities with what your business actually sells.
I identify what parts of the strategy are good and help you ask better questions of your current suppliers.
I can support your busy internal marketing team by reviewing important decisions and acting as a senior SEO resource they can speak to directly if they have questions.
My work in this area isn’t simply translating pages for a new country, it’s about examining market-specific search behaviour and managing competing stakeholder requirements. Sites operating in multiple territories are often large but with my help, we’ll mitigate at-scale issues by carefully prioritising rollout.
I tailor my training and workshops to the questions your in-house teams are facing, using your own website as the practical application. Everyone from entire marketing teams right the way through to writers, developers, and senior management will leave with agreed standards about what is right for your business’ digital presence.
AI SEO, in my view, is the work needed to help your business be seen and ultimately recommended within AI-generated results and answers across any number of platforms.
When beginning any sort of AI search consultancy, the immediate goal is to understand how your brand is currently represented and examine what your competitors are doing to appear instead of you.
While it is of course a new and important way for audiences to behave online, the fundamentals of AI SEO, or GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation), aren’t too dissimilar from traditional SEO.
The goal is to ultimately be understood and cited, whether it’s Microsoft Copilot, Perplexity, or on a traditional Google search results page.
Reviewing how AI search engines see you starts with your customers.
I comb through the prompts and questions they are asking ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini and pick away at what your competitors are saying to be featured.
Through this I can understand if your core services or the location of your business is expressed consistently. I can also see if content on your site answers important questions clearly enough to be referenced.
Away from your site, my review includes examining the broader reputation signals your business is putting out there. All this helps me to identify the gaps between your traditional search visibility and what’s needed to be found on AI recommendations.
So, what could come out of these reviews? Well, there are a number of strategic recommendations I could suggest, such as:
As with traditional search engines, AI platforms, such as Google AI Overviews, still need accessible, well-organised information that they can easily and credibly cite to their audiences.
They also need to access sites with little to no technical problems so that useful information can be found and presented to audiences.
Links from credible sources, reviews from customers, and strong original content remain core pillars of AI SEO and my consultancy work in this field.
The search interface has changed, but the need to demonstrate your relevance and trust has not.
A great starting point. With a one-off audit or review, I can hear your concerns and provide an independent assessment. I’ll supply my findings and recommended actions and you can decide how best to act on them.
Got a migration, redesign or ranking recovery project on the horizon? I can help by being involved across all the key milestones with the scope of my involvement tied to a specific project or decision.
I can be on hand for regular, direct access for your business whether with you or your wider team or suppliers. This package is handy if you want senior expertise but are not ready to fully outsource your campaigns just yet.
Here, I lead the diagnosis and strategic direction and the Marino agency supplies the specialists who will carry out the work. All the while, you’ll continue to have direct access to me.
1. Understand the commercial objective and current concern
I’ll begin by establishing what you’re trying to achieve and why SEO is a concern for you now.
2. Review the website, data, previous activity and competitive environment
I’ll then let the data dictate the solution by reviewing your website and its associated analytics, as well as any upcoming business changes.
3. Diagnose the most important barriers and opportunities
Once the numbers are in, we can then diagnose and separate the issues you should be worried about versus the background noise.
4. Prioritise recommendations according to impact, urgency and feasibility
I’ll balance your priorities against cost, urgency, and the resources you have to create a list of actionable recommendations.
5. Produce a clear strategy, roadmap or set of decisions
I’ll give your teams or suppliers a clear set of to-dos that they can get on with immediately.
6. Work with the relevant internal teams, developers or suppliers
Part of working with me as a Manchester SEO consultant is that your team has direct access to me throughout the implementation period.
7. Review progress and adjust priorities where further support is required
I’ll continue to work with you after the main consultancy work is done by tracking metrics connected to the original objectives and, if needed, reviewing priorities if the evidence requires it.
Selected SEO results and consultancy experience
Modern Garden Rooms came to me several years ago to support their SEO efforts and wider digital strategy.
Working in an industry that boomed post-lockdown, Modern Garden Rooms wanted to remain a leader in this increasingly competitive sector. Targeting high-intent commercial searches, we ensured they had a strong digital presence across each and every one.
The result was a 60% increase in revenue and a 22% higher conversion rate.
increase in revenue
higher conversion rate
Avg. organic traffic increase
For the last seven years I have been in charge of their SEO.
In that time I have helped A1S navigate several website migrations and platform changes while keeping them in strong positions for commercially important terms such as ‘fire curtains’ and ‘fire shutters’.
SEO was a significant contributor to sustained digital visibility and helped the business reach annual sales of just over £9 million.
increase in revenue
higher conversion rate
Avg. organic traffic increase
Vislink came to me wanting a total digital transformation involving a new website, SEO, and PPC.
I primarily worked alongside their established internal Head of Marketing, offering leadership where needed and providing a roadmap. Through my consultancy we were able to connect SEO decisions with the wider Vislink digital footprint.
Our work saw Vislink report a 20% increase in leads and 37% increase in revenue growth.
increase in revenue
higher conversion rate
Increase in leads
WR Partners are a large professional services firm providing their accountancy services across multiple locations.
I helped redevelop their website by making SEO and PPC as the two foundations. The number of services they offered meant the site architecture was large and worked across complex service structures.
Working together, we achieved average organic traffic growth of 400% and, even more importantly, a 50% increase in leads.
Avg. organic traffic increase
higher conversion rate
Increase in leads
Over the past 15 years I have supported businesses across:
And within these sectors I’ve worked with internal marketing teams, senior decision-makers, as well as existing agencies, across organisations ranging from growing businesses to established international organisations.
While every industry and business is different, the underlying SEO challenge remains fairly similar and that is to understand where the opportunities lie and decide which actions deserve to be prioritised.
That 15+ years of experience helps me assess new markets quickly and ask more useful questions, which helps avoid applying the same formula to every website. Working with me means getting recommendations shaped around your organisation.
So, if you’re currently experiencing an SEO issue or there is a big decision on the horizon that you’d like to talk about with someone who has been there and done it, why not give me a call today?
Get in touch and it will be me who answers the phone and it will be me who is ready to help you from the off.
"*" indicates required fields
People like me diagnose performance issues and advise what should be prioritised. We also help support significant changes to your website be that to do with audits or migrations or with your internal teams. My role is about helping you make better decisions, ultimately.
An SEO consultant helps to define problems and offer an independent review, whereas an agency suits sustained, multi-disciplinary delivery. The right choice for you depends on what capability you have internally.
Hiring me should come before a rebuild or migration is planned. Similarly, if growth has stalled and it’s affecting performance, I can provide fresh eyes on this problem. If you’re looking to commit more budget to SEO but need an independent view – I can also help with that.
An audit provides a snapshot and offers up priorities whereas ongoing consultancy helps teams implement and measure the recommendations. Some projects may only need an audit, though those looking at more complex changes may require continued assistance.
Links are only part of the puzzle when it comes to SEO success. The quality of the content as well as the internal linking on the site, among other things, can all limit the site and make even a strong backlink profile not as potent.
It all depends on your needs. A one-off audit that is clearly defined will cost less than a migration or an ongoing advisory relationship, as a general rule. Once the initial discussion has taken place I will put together a scope of work we can agree on.
My consultancy work is designed to produce decisions and priorities quickly, but doing the work to make it happen can take longer. Optimising for organic search takes time but is one of the most sustainable ways to establish a long-term online presence.
Yes, me working as a consultant doesn’t mean I replace your agency. I can review your strategy, challenge assumptions if needed, and prioritise what needs to happen next.
Yes, I can provide direction and workshops if required. With a consultant, your internal team retains its knowledge and delivery capacity, and support from me can be arranged around projects or through an ongoing advisory relationship.
An AI SEO consultant assesses and improves how your brand is understood and recommended across AI search. It’s not simply the use of AI writing tools and includes entity recognition, authority building, and content writing that can be picked up by ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.
It starts by understanding what questions customers ask and which brands currently appear for them. Then I’d look to strengthen the information on your website and create new content which looks to feature sections referenced in ChatGPT results.
Results can vary between platforms and prompts, and any sort of measurement should identify trends and gaps rather than pretend AI results are completely fixed forever. I establish a baseline and monitor brand mentions, recommendations, among other things so that we have something to benchmark against.
Absolutely, all the key aspects of traditional SEO apply to its AI counterpart. Having a technically sound website that presents a wide range of useful content creates the trust and authority websites need to appear in search results.
I can provide consultancy but internal teams and existing suppliers are the people who will implement the recommendations. Where required, Marino can deliver the roadmap.
I am based in Manchester but I work with organisations across the UK and the rest of the world.