About | Tom Etherington SEO

Home » About

Tom Etherington

Freelance SEO Consultant & Advisor

I’m a freelance consultant and business advisor with 12+ years’ experience in SEO.

I’m based in the North East of England and worked at various digital marketing agencies in Newcastle-upon-Tyne from 2012 until 2024. At the age of 25, I had climbed every step of the SEO career ladder, from an intern to a director in the space of six years, and done every role possible, from content, technical SEO, and link building, to account management and strategy. I’ve had my fair share of industry recognition, including winning an SEO industry ‘Rising Star’ award in 2016 and being named as one of the North East’s Top Young Business Talents in 2022.

From 2017 to 2024, I grew and ran an industry-leading search agency with 50-60 employees, with roles including SEO Director, Operations Director, Managing Director, and CMO, and freelanced alongside these full-time roles for the last 9 years.

I’ve worked with over 100 clients in various industries during this time, in particular e-commerce and automotive, and led SEO strategies for businesses of all sizes, from local SMEs to household names, and most recently one of the biggest automotive companies in the world.

Today, I help my own clients to get the most value out of hiring a freelance consultant by demystifying SEO and showing undeniable value for their business.

Please feel free to contact me if you’re in the process of looking for SEO support.

Get in touch

Background & Education
I graduated from Teesside University with a degree in multimedia journalism, amongst the top of my class and with the highest NCTJ grades (the professional qualification for journalists). I trained in sports journalism at Darlington College, freelanced for various football publications, spent time at one of the world’s most well-known newspapers, and was a sports reporter following the club I support and covering Championship, Premier League, and international football, mixing in the same rooms as top managers, players, journalists, and TV pundits.

Around the same time, I had stumbled into digital marketing after a summer work placement at an agency in Newcastle. This internship wasn’t compulsory but I knew how competitive the job market was going to be after graduating, especially in sports journalism, so I wanted to add a few more strings to my bow.

It wasn’t intentional, but everything I’d learned throughout university and freelancing as a journalist was easily transferable when it came to digital marketing and SEO, and clients got a lot of value. It was a small agency so I had to do everything, mostly focusing on content, PR for link building, and social media, but I was very keen and made sure to learn the rest. Picking up the phone and speaking to clients was easy too, at least compared to some of the awkward situations you have to put yourself through as a trainee journalist!

I ended up winning an award from the uni for having the biggest impact on a host business during a placement, and I continued working with this agency on a freelance basis until I graduated and they offered me a full-time job. From here, there was no looking back and I progressed through two more well-known agencies in Newcastle.

Some of the clients that I’ve led SEO strategies for:

Career history

Evolved Search

July 2017 – October 2024

Evolved was my first role as a Head of SEO, before I quickly progressed to SEO Director and then a board member and shareholder – the only employee to ever do this. From 2019 onwards, I was promoted through different leadership roles, starting with Operations Director, then Managing Director to manage the full business and a team of 60 employees, before becoming Chief Marketing & Revenue Officer to oversee all things linked to revenue, in particular marketing, sales, and clients.

I grew a small unknown business into a “large” industry-leading specialist agency, which during our peak was 5+ times the size it was when I started. We won 25+ awards for our client and agency results, including Best SEO Agency in the North, UK, and Europe, we ranked in the top 20 of agencies in the North based on financial performance, and were listed as one of the best places to work in the UK and Europe based on anonymous team feedback, including 2nd in the UK in 2023.

My biggest client success started with Select Car Leasing, who still outperform every car leasing business in the UK from an organic perspective thanks to our strategy, and this case study alone led to winning more automotive clients, like Vanarama, Peter Vardy Group, Peugeot, Citroen, Vauxhall, and BYD – the world’s largest EV manufacturer. I also worked with clients in legal and financial services, like Ocean Finance and MoneySuperMarket, the gambling industry with Betway and tombola, and online retailers including River Island, Mattress Online, and Marks Electrical.

Freelance

2015-Present

I’ve been a freelance SEO consultant alongside full-time roles since around 2015 . This all started as I wanted to continue learning on evenings/weekends and make a little extra money, but it turned into something much bigger.

I get a huge amount of satisfaction from helping smaller business than what my agencies typically dealt with, and it’s helped to grow my network in the North East and UK. I’ve worked with lots of different clients and provided white label services, all of which came from generous referrals and word of mouth.

Silverbean

2014-2017

Silverbean is where I really specialised in SEO, starting as an SEO Executive, before progressing to a Consultant, then Senior SEO Consultant and team lead.

I led the SEO team’s major clients as a strategist and key point of contact, including the likes of Flybe, ScS, Rowlands Pharmacy, and Pink Boutique, whilst working alongside PPC, Affiliates, and other digital marketing specialists. I was also responsible for developing the agency’s SEO service offering, and recruited, trained, and managed a number of team members.

Geneva Digital

2012-2014

Geneva was my first real job out of university, initially starting on a summer internship, before continuing as a freelance SEO copywriter and link builder whilst I finished my degree.

I secured a full-time role as a Digital Marketing Executive as soon as I graduated and was responsible for delivering digital marketing services to all of our clients, including SEO, PPC, and Social Media. I also led the agency’s own website, content, PR, and in-house E-Commerce platform with several affiliate marketing businesses.