This interview is with Kev Wiles, Fractional SEO Director at Kev Wiles.

Kev Wiles, Fractional SEO Director, Kev Wiles

Kev, for those who aren’t familiar with your work, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your journey to becoming an expert in the digital marketing space?

I started out in SEO around 2006 for a small local company, helping them acquire new leads and sales online. I’m completely self-taught, so I have learned a lot from leading online publications such as Moz and Distilled. Since then, I’ve continued to work throughout various SEO agencies learning the core skills needed to help brands develop SEO strategies for Google before joining Halfords.com to learn SEO for them on a range of e-commerce websites.

Your career path, particularly your focus on SEO and freelancing, sounds fascinating. Could you share some pivotal moments or decisions that shaped your trajectory?

My freelancing career gained momentum during COVID-19, when I made the leap from my role at Halfords.com with the goal of helping e-commerce brands in the UK and US migrate to Shopify. This initial focus on supporting businesses during a challenging time opened doors to working with large UK retail clients, which not only enriched my experience but also led to valuable referrals to other brands. A pivotal moment in my journey was speaking at major e-commerce events across the UK, where I shared insights on how SEO can drive business growth, reinforcing my dedication to helping brands thrive online.

You mentioned experimenting with new tools and techniques on your portfolio of websites. Can you share a specific example of an experiment that provided valuable insights or changed your approach to SEO?

I decided to test the implementation using Shopify to develop a facet-navigation structure for key collections, allowing me to scale organic traffic around longer-tail, more commercially-driven search terms. The goal was to increase visibility in the SERP visibility and overall revenue from longer-tail terms, which required less link development than other high-volume search terms within this category.

Execution

Using Shopify, I set up custom filter rules, which allowed filter-based landing pages to become indexable and have unique SEO attributes while keeping a clean URL structure, such as /collections/collection-name/sub-collection. Each filtered collection page was optimized with unique metadata and targeted on-page SEO to make it crawlable and indexable, allowing it to function as a landing page for specific, high-conversion search terms while also ensuring we didn’t bloat the site by allowing multiple filter variations to be accessible, which likely had no value to Google and the user, such as price filters or sub-collection+sub-collection.

Results and Insights

This facet-navigation structure improved our site’s organic visibility for these long-tail keywords, resulting in a steady increase in traffic to the collection pages, increasing revenue over the first 6 months by +167%. More notably, conversion rates were higher on these pages than on broader category pages, given the better match to user intent.

Key Takeaway

Facet navigation has always been a key way to grow e-commerce-based brands, particularly for brands looking to capture niche or intent-specific searches. By leveraging internal linking and on-page optimization within the Shopify environment, we were able to create a flexible, scalable system that directly increased both traffic and conversions.

You emphasize open communication and collaboration with clients, especially when adapting to changes. What are some practical tips for effectively communicating complex SEO concepts or strategies to clients who might not have a technical background?

When communicating SEO strategies & updates to all of my current clients with limited technical knowledge, I use a few key approaches. Typically, however, anything I feel is rather complex is explained over a Loom video to avoid any room for error around misinterpretation.

Use Visuals and Simple Explanations: Visual aids like flowcharts help break down intricate processes like site crawls or backlink audits. This way, clients can visualize how SEO components connect without needing to dive into technical specifics. In ClickUp, I add visual timelines and project updates, allowing clients to see progress at a glance.

Set Clear Objectives and KPIs: I translate SEO goals into business outcomes that resonate with clients. Instead of explaining technical SEO in-depth, I focus on what clients care about, which is always tied back to revenue.

Share Progress through ClickUp Dashboards: To provide transparency, I set up ClickUp dashboards showing project milestones and completed tasks. Clients can see where we are in the process without being overwhelmed by details. I’ll also highlight what’s coming up next, reinforcing the roadmap and keeping the focus on strategic goals.

Report with Impactful Metrics: Rather than overwhelming clients with data, I focus on high-impact metrics, like organic traffic, rankings, and conversions, and I explain why each metric matters. By keeping reports concise and relevant, clients can understand SEO’s tangible impact on their business without getting bogged down in technicalities.

Managing client expectations in a dynamic field like SEO can be challenging. Can you share a strategy or framework you use to set realistic expectations with clients from the outset?

To set realistic expectations with clients in SEO, I focus on a framework that prioritizes revenue-impacting metrics from the outset. In initial meetings, I work to gain an understanding of the client’s business objectives, target audience, and any previous SEO initiatives.

This conversation is essential because it allows me to position SEO not as an isolated tactic but as a strategic lever that directly supports their broader goals, whether that’s increasing organic traffic in specific high-conversion areas, supporting PPC in reducing CPC costs, or working with merchandise teams to launch new products.

Once I’ve defined SEO goals in line with their business needs, I emphasize that SEO is a process that builds over time. Many clients are eager for quick results, so I utilize a “Swim Lane” approach which allows me to work on larger projects while also delivering quick wins on a super-tactical level. I also discuss the nature of algorithm changes and market shifts, underscoring that SEO is a dynamic, evolving field and that flexibility will be required to respond to these changes effectively.

To build trust, I establish a communication rhythm early on. Through regular updates in tools like Slack and ClickUp, clients are always aware of progress, upcoming tasks, and any shifts in strategy, creating a transparent environment where they feel involved in each stage.

You highlighted the importance of continuous learning in SEO.  What are some of your go-to resources or learning methods for staying updated on industry trends and algorithm changes beyond the ones you already mentioned?

For me, I am a huge fan of Learning SEO and IMG.Courses as online-based learning platforms; however, I also think having your own sites on various different tech stacks is key to hands-on learning. I actually run a range of e-commerce sites, some on Shopify and others on the likes of WooCommerce and Magento to ensure I have a solid grasp of not only e-commerce SEO and changes that are happening but also of those specific platforms and the SEO quirks that go hand-in-hand.

Freelancing offers flexibility but also comes with unique challenges. Can you share a  mistake you made early in your freelancing career and the lesson you learned from it?

Early in my freelancing career as a Fractional SEO specialist, one of my biggest mistakes was overcommitting to too many clients at once. The flexibility of freelancing was appealing, and I wanted to build a strong client base quickly. However, I soon found that handling multiple high-demand clients without a structured workflow led to inconsistent communication and missed deadlines, which affected the quality of my work and client satisfaction.

Building a successful freelance business requires more than just technical skills. What advice would you give to aspiring SEO freelancers on developing their business acumen and attracting clients?

On reflection on the core areas, I’d focus on networking and the quality of work you’re delivering. Networking is essential; it opens doors to connections, referrals, and ongoing work, which is crucial in the early stages of freelancing and long-term success. Attending industry events, engaging in online communities, and building genuine relationships with clients have all contributed to establishing my presence and credibility in SEO. Quality, however, for me is the one area in which I can see you either becoming successful or quickly losing clients. Ensure you have clear systems in place and your communication is on point.

Looking ahead, what are you most excited about in the future of digital marketing, and how do you plan to adapt your skills and strategies to stay ahead of the curve?

For me, I’m most excited about the changes we’re likely to see throughout 2025 in relation to e-commerce, SEO, and platforms such as TikTok and Social Search. I think we’ll see a whole raft of changes from Google and just how users are searching, which will mean SEO will need to change more than it has probably done in the last 5 years. In terms of skills, I still believe the pillars of SEO will remain important, so ensuring I have a consistent learning plan will be vital, but so will ensuring my communication with clients is consistently improving.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge and expertise. Is there anything else you’d like to add?

If you’re just starting out in SEO, I’d highly recommend you get stuck in, develop your own sites, and test. There are a lot of opinions in SEO: the good, the bad, and the ugly. I believe the only way to really know what will work and where search is going is to have your own sites you can test and refine these strategies on.