Hi, I'm Jake Gauntley
You can read more below about my:
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My SEO career in a nutshell
I am a search engine optimisation specialist with experience stretching back over a dozen years.
I've been in my current role at KINESSO UK- a global performance marketing agency, formerly Reprise Digital - since 2017 and work with some of the brightest minds and biggest brands in the UK and beyond.
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In that time I have led award-winning campaigns for globally-recognised brands, helped to develop SEO capabilities within huge corporations and shared marketing insights on a number of stages, podcasts and webinars.
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My SEO experience covers being part of in-house and agency teams (with a little bit of freelancing thrown in for good measure). When I first started in the industry, I was unwittingly working in the murky waters of grey/black hat SEO. I didn't know what I was doing at the time and was once told by a prospective employer that I shouldn't admit to having had that role - so please don't tell anyone or post that fact on the internet.
Digital marketing agency experience
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​​2017 to present - I am Senior SEO Account Director at KINESSO UK (formerly Reprise Digital) - a global performance marketing agency based in London. I've been in this role for over five years and manage a team who deliver best-in-class global SEO strategies. My responsibilities include (but are not limited to) ensuring continuous performance growth, building healthy, productive and profitable agency-client relationships, maintaining high standards of work across all deliverables, and developing SEO capabilities within the department.
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2016 to 2017 - I was part of the SEO team at Silverbean- a digital marketing agency in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
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2015 to 2016 - I was part of the Content & SEO team at Visualsoft - a leading UK ecommerce agency in Teesside.
My time as an in-house SEO
2013 to 2014 - My first "proper" SEO job was part of an in-house Content & SEO team at a luxury fashion retailer based in Teesside where I worked on four ecommerce sites within our portfolio. My role was initially focused on SEO-led content writing but provided me with a spring-board to expand my horizons and learn about topics across all areas of search marketing.
Tools & interests
Tools: I am comfortable working in a wide variety of SEO tools including Semrush, Ahrefs, Pi Datametrics, Majestic, Moz, Screaming Frog, Lumar (formerly Deep Crawl), Brightedge and more.
As part of my job I regularly use the Microsoft Office and Google tool suites to create high quality professional documents, and work in a number of project management tools including Asana and Trello.
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Particular areas of interest: Client relationships and account management, SEO strategy, using data to tell effective and impactful stories, people management, and personal and organisational development.
Education
I hold a degree in Multimedia Journalism with First Class honours from Teesside University.
During my studies I also acquired National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) qualifications in: Court Reporting, Essential Media Law, News Production, News Reporting, Shorthand and Public Affairs.
Life outside of work
I've played drums for over 20 years and played professionally for a short while in Austria's Alpine après-ski bars and smoky nightclubs.
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I enjoy playing football (my preferred position is goalkeeper, but I can put a shift in outfield when needed) and reading about football history and fan culture around the world.
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Other interests include crisp German lagers, stroking my cat and exploring bars and restaurants around the world with my wife.