Tom
Riley.
Founder, HAKKEN
10+ years doing SEO where it actually matters. Insurance, fintech, and health — the markets where ranking means revenue and being average means invisibility.
A decade of winning
in hard markets.
I got into SEO the way most people do: by trying to rank something, failing, and becoming obsessed with why. What kept me in it was the realisation that search is the most commercially honest marketing channel on the planet. You rank, or you don't. The market tells you immediately.
My career has been built almost entirely in sectors where that signal is brutal. Insurance. Fintech. Health. Verticals where every top-ten result is a household name, budgets are nine figures, and the margin for error is zero. I spent years at Zego, one of the UK's first InsurTech unicorns, leading organic growth across delivery and taxi insurance. Before that and since, I've worked across challenger brands in regulated markets where SEO is the difference between a business that scales and one that stays dependent on aggregators forever.
I started HAKKEN because I wanted to take everything I'd built inside fast-moving companies and apply it without the internal politics, the slow sign-off cycles, or the watered-down briefs. HAKKEN works as an extension of your team, not above it. We move fast, we think commercially, and we report in revenue terms, not rankings.
Brands I've built for.
Led organic search across delivery and taxi insurance verticals. Grew non-branded organic traffic, dominated commercial-intent keywords, and reduced reliance on paid acquisition across core product lines.
Secured #1 positions for highest-intent commercial and vehicle insurance keywords. Organic clicks grew from ~60,000 to 150,000/month. 400% growth in total organic traffic over 12 months.
Embedded SEO and GEO strategy into the brand function of a high-growth corporate wellness startup. Commercially-led with a focus on ROI rather than vanity metrics.
Grew organic visitors from 4,000 to 30,000 per month in a super-competitive YMYL niche. Built topical authority and technical foundations for durable long-term rankings.
Embedded SEO at the heart of the brand function, increased Google search traffic by 300% over 6 months, and shaped an integrated search-led brand strategy.
Moved the brand to top positions on Google, established strong AI recommendation presence, and drove a step-change in digital marketing performance across SEO, social, and paid channels.
The approach.
Commercial First
Every decision traces back to revenue. Not rankings, not traffic, not DA. If it doesn't compound into a commercial outcome, it doesn't make the plan.
Extension of Your Team
I work embedded, not above. That means fast feedback loops, no slow agency sign-offs, and a shared understanding of what success actually looks like for your business.
Built to Last
Short-term spikes are easy to buy. I build organic programmes designed to compound over time and become harder to replicate with every passing month.
Work with
Tom.
One spot opens at a time. If you're building something serious in a competitive market, get on the list.