I actually started in SEO straight after uni. My first role was with a travel group, and I was really lucky to join a brilliant digital team. Everyone took the time to involve me in their work, whether it was building new websites, writing content, or refining user journeys. It gave me the chance to get stuck into all the different parts of digital and this experience gave me the chance to 'dip a toe' into everything and build the strong multidisciplinary foundation I still lean on today.
From there, I moved through a mix of in-house and agency-side roles, working on all kinds of projects from technical audits to content strategies, UX improvements, and conversion optimisation. Over the years, I’ve worked with clients across travel, healthcare, tech and finance, and that variety has definitely shaped how I approach things today. I’ve also been fortunate to attend industry events like BrightonSEO, and several CRO conferences that deepened my perspective on what SEO should really be about, which is essentially a practice of variables and testing.
After 10 years in the industry, I just felt frustrated by the way a lot of SEO was being delivered, especially at agency level. There’s still a lot of off-the-shelf, one-size-fits-all SEO out there, clients being handed cookie-cutter SEO packages that weren’t suited to their goals. Whether it's a tick-box approach to keyword rankings or monthly reports with little context, it doesn’t always do the job clients need it to do. It’s easy to see why some people have lost trust in the industry. It can feel like smoke and mirrors, and that’s not how it should be.
I started UTOPi because I wanted to offer something that was actually useful, something grounded in real understanding, not just checklists. SEO today needs to go beyond the old models. It needs to work alongside CRO and user experience. You can’t separate these things anymore, they all feed into how a website performs, how it connects with real people, and ultimately how it supports a business’s goals.
That’s why UTOPi uses what I call the organic optimisation model, where SEO, CRO and GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) are used together, flexibly, depending on what each client’s site actually needs. It’s a core part of our service.
UTOPi’s Organic Optimisation Model is designed to reflect the direction SEO is heading in. Today, success online isn’t just about technical compliance or keywords, it’s about creating a user flow and user experience through SEO, CRO, and GEO. It’s actually looking deeper in content for thematic structure and semantic and intent clarity so that a website is targeting all levels of the buyer journey, (TOF, MOF, and BOF) . A website has to work for the user, not just for Google, but for people. That’s what we do at UTOPi, build intelligent, agile strategies that genuinely move the needle for our clients.
I had a lot of energy and ideas, but starting your own thing is so daunting, especially in a space as competitive as digital. My dad has run a creative agency, Cammegh Davies Fleming, for nearly 30 years, and that gave me a good foundation. Many of his clients hadn’t really explored organic optimisation before, so I started there, supporting existing clients and taking on a few white-label projects with other agencies.
That gave me a bit of stability while I found my feet. I spent that time really shaping UTOPi’s offering and refining our process. I used that time to really interrogate the traditional agency model and think about what small and medium-sized businesses actually need from SEO. The result of all that is our SEO Strategic Development Plan, stemmed from our framework of the Organic Optimisation Model which we now use with every client. I realised that every client needed a tailored framework that could identify what actually drives growth on their site—not what’s trendy or easy to report on. It blends SEO, CRO and GEO into one strategy, where the ratio of each methodology is entirely dependent on the website's performance gaps and user intent. It’s never a fixed formula. We look at what’s driving performance, what’s holding it back and build a plan around those findings. It’s just what’s needed, where it’s needed, making sure every task is mapped directly to website ROI.
The Strategic Development Plan itself is a
six-month roadmap, broken down into clear, prioritised phases. The highest-impact tasks come first, we’re always looking for the shortest route to meaningful gains, but we’re also strategic about protecting existing performance. So if we’re optimising high-traffic pages, for example, we’ll phase those changes in a way that avoids sharp fluctuations in rankings.I also wanted to create the plan to be flexible and accessible. More and more, we’re seeing businesses either trying to manage their own websites in-house, or working with existing web management team but with little to no organic strategy behind it. Our Development Plan supports this shift. It can be used as a self-managed - DIY SEO Plan, a consultancy-based SEO roadmap or it can be fully managed by UTOPi. The key difference is that we don’t lock clients into rigid retainers. Our fully managed plans are results-driven and our phased delivery is structured to deliver cumulative gains, regardless of who is implementing the work.
>And I think that’s what makes UTOPi’s approach different. We’re not trying to fit businesses into a service model that was built for someone else. We’re rebuilding what SEO looks like for local businesses across Dorset and Hampshire. It’s about giving people a strategic plan that finally connects the dots between visibility and real commercial value.
It’s definitely come with its own challenges. There are still some outdated assumptions about what women can or should be doing in business, especially in more technical spaces. I’ve had to work hard to be taken seriously at times, even with years of experience behind me.
I did start out with a clear plan, but the reality has been far from linear and, in hindsight, I’m grateful for that. The moments where I’ve had to pivot or adapt have often led to the most valuable growth.
In the early days of building UTOPi, I encountered the kind of subtle scepticism that maybe many women in business will recognise, not dismissive but a neutral reception. At times I couldn't distinguish whether it was due to people’s general mistrust of SEO as a discipline. Other times, it stemmed from a deeper, more ingrained bias about who gets to speak with authority in technical spaces. There’s a prevailing assumption that technical expertise should sound a certain way, assertive, more jargonised. And when you challenge that expectation with a more relational, insight-led tone, it can sometimes be misread as lacking authority.
But once this initial barrier is broken down and I explain how the UTOPi Optimisation Model works it's nearly always had buy-in. Bringing such a different approach to traditional SEO hasn't been the easiest task, particularly as a woman challenging long-established agency models. These early challenges sharpened my thinking and shaped how I communicate UTOPi’s value. I’ve had to be deliberate in breaking down misconceptions about the industry, like the reliance on cookie-cutter audits, automated tool reports and in doing so, I’ve found that what really earns people’s attention isn’t just technical depth, but clarity, transparency, and a commitment to results.
But I’ve also had incredible support. The networking community across Bournemouth, Poole and Hampshire has been amazing. I’ve met so many brilliant people through it and it’s really helped build my confidence in bringing UTOPi forward. What I love most is that people are open about their wins and their struggles, and it feels like a space where everyone genuinely wants to help each other grow.
SEO has historically been a male-dominated industry, particularly when it comes to technical SEO and that can be tough. There was one particular instance at an agency where I was leading a strategy session and a client refused to acknowledge any of my points until a male colleague reiterated them. That kind of thing still happens, unfortunately.
A lot of it goes back to the roots of SEO, which were very technical. In the early days, it was all about making a website work for search engines — crawlability, indexability, server setup. And that placed a lot of weight on developer input, which has historically been a male-dominated area.
But things are shifting. SEO today is just as much about experience, content, usability, structure, intent. Google is increasingly focusing on the actual quality of a site from a human point of view. Even in the latest March 2025 update, John Mueller talked about how human raters now assess whether Google’s algorithm is surfacing the right sites. That is a huge acknowledgement.
It means that strategy, user understanding and actually the creativity of user or helpful tools are now at the centre of SEO and that opens the door for more diversity in the industry. It’s no longer just about who can write the best code, it’s about who can build the best experience.
I keep a close eye on the usual suspects - Google’s updates, the big industry blogs, a few trusted YouTube channels and podcasts. But the truth is. Where SEO is a practice at the end of the day, for example 3 out of 5 times the same test or variables implemented on one website is going to have the same effect as the other. Whether that’s pulls from other rank factors, the industry it’s in or legacy factors, it’s about learning from previous experiences what has worked, what hasn’t running live tests and sharing that information within the SEO community.
There are always new theories and interpretations popping up, and I think that’s part of the fun.
No one has all the answers and with SEO, that’s kind of the point. You have to read between the lines, make connections, test ideas, and see what works in the real world. I usually listen to podcasts while I walk the dog, and then when I’m back, I’ll try applying something I’ve just heard to a live project. It’s a constant cycle of learning and experimenting.
The hardest part was getting past the fear — of it not working, of people not understanding what I was trying to do. That inner voice can be loud when you’re doing something on your own.
But once I started getting feedback, that changed. It reminded me why I started in the first place. I wanted to create something that didn’t force clients into rigid boxes, but instead gave them what they actually needed: a flexible, strategic approach to organic growth.
Not really. Even the things that didn’t go as planned have been useful. They’ve shaped what UTOPi is today.
That said, I did make life slightly harder for myself by setting a personal goal to become a pro bikini bodybuilder in the same year I launched the business… and got a puppy. It was chaos, but somehow, I pulled it off. I competed in four shows, earned my pro card, launched UTOPi, and now have a very happy, full of beans 1 year old puppy.
If anything, that experience just reinforced the idea that progress happens when you keep moving forward, even when it feels like a lot.
I’d say you’re not alone and your hesitation probably comes from experience. But there’s a better way to approach it. SEO doesn’t have to be a mystery. It needs to work in tandem with your content, your UX, your brand, and your business goals.
That’s what we focus on at UTOPi. No one size fits all packages just strategic, flexible optimisation based on what your website really needs to grow.
