A small, honest NI SEO agency, built in public

The honest bit first

I'm not twenty years deep in this. I've been building and ranking sites properly for one to two years. That's actually relevant, because the rules for getting found on Google have changed a lot recently, especially with AI answers showing up at the top of search results. I learned on the new rules, rather than spending years doing the old ones and having to unlearn habits.

What that gives you: someone who understands what's working on Google right now, including the bits most NI agencies haven't caught up with. What it doesn't give you: a hundred-client case-study deck. I'd rather you know that on day one than find out at month six.

What I've actually done

Three things that aren't agency talking points:

• A UK-wide directory I built and rank on Google. A niche arts and crafts site. It ranks for terms that bring real traffic. Nobody hired me to do it. I built it, I rank it, and it works. That's proof I can do the work, not a sales pitch.
• Local Google work for a family catering business. A real Northern Ireland business, with real reviews and a Google Business Profile that ranks for the searches that matter. Not a household name, not a fancy client logo. Just the kind of local business Rank NI is built to serve.
• This site itself. Rank NI is also the proof of the work. It loads in under two seconds, gives Google all the technical bits it needs to understand the business, and is full of the specific Northern Ireland detail that generic UK websites miss: how most NI homes heat with oil, what changed for electricians under the new EICR rules, what Storm Éowyn meant for roofers, what the Windsor Framework changed for NI accountants. If you want to know whether I can build a strong site for your business, look at the one you're reading.

Why Rank NI exists

When I built this site, I checked Google for fifteen NI-specific searches that a tradesperson or accountant might use to find a marketing agency. Not a single NI-based agency turned up in the top ten for any of them. The top ten was mostly UK-wide companies using the same template page swapped between trades, with nothing real about Northern Ireland on the page. That's a gap, and it's the one Rank NI is built to close.

Most NI agencies are generalists. They'll do work for a plumber on Monday, a hairdresser on Tuesday, and a software company on Wednesday. That works, but it means the content always sounds generic, because nobody can know every trade well. A specialist who only writes for plumbers and heating engineers writes pages your customers recognise as their own language. That's what Rank NI is.

Why these five trades, and only these five

Plumbers, electricians, roofers, clinics, accountants. Each one has real Google search volume in NI from customers who are ready to book. Each one has a professional body or registration the content has to respect: Gas Safe and OFTEC for plumbers, NICEIC for electricians, the NFRC for roofers, the GCC and HCPC for clinics, ICAEW and ACCA for accountants. And each one is the kind of business where word-of-mouth eventually hits a ceiling. You need strangers finding you on Google, and that's where this kind of work pays back.

I won't take on a Belfast restaurant, a software company, or a hairdresser, however nice the budget. The whole point of specialising is the depth it gives you.

How I work

• No rank guarantees. Anyone who promises you the number-one spot on Google is either lying or about to break Google's rules with your business attached.
• No twelve-month lock-ins. Three-month rolling. If the work isn't producing real enquiries, you can walk.
• Real enquiries, not ranking screenshots. Reporting tied to phone activity, form submissions and new client enquiries. Plain-English monthly summaries, not a dashboard you'll never read.
• Custom-quote pricing. No fixed packages because no two trades need the same work. Honest range: most NI small businesses pay between £500 and £2,000 a month, depending on how competitive your area is and where you're starting from.
• I'll tell you if we're not a fit. Including the six specific situations where this kind of work is the wrong choice entirely.

The stuff I'm still building

Being honest about what isn't here yet, because it matters:

• A long named-client roster. Coming. Until then, the directory and the catering business are the working proof.
• Video case studies. When real client results land, they'll go up in full.
• NI council and chamber partnerships. In progress.
• Google Partner certification. On the list, although it's free and most NI competitors list it whether or not it means anything in 2026.

If transparency about being early-stage puts you off, I'd rather you find that out now than be the first client to discover I oversold myself. If it doesn't put you off, because you want a practitioner who'll actually do the work rather than pass it to a junior, then we should talk.

How I stay current

Search changes fast, especially with AI now answering questions directly inside Google. I follow the industry's research closely so the work I do for you reflects what's actually working now, not what was working three years ago. I read the leading SEO publications daily, track what Google is changing each month, and pay particular attention to how AI search engines like ChatGPT and Google's AI answers decide which businesses to mention.

The short version: most NI agencies are still selling the 2020 version of this work. I'm not.

Where I'm based

Northern Ireland. I work with businesses across Belfast, Lisburn, Bangor, Derry, Newry, Coleraine, Ballymena, Antrim and everywhere between. Most of the work happens over phone and email because that's faster, but I'm happy to meet in person in Belfast for the kind of conversation a phone call can't really do.

Want to talk?

The audit is real. Book a free 10-minute look at where you're at. I'll tell you the three biggest things costing you calls, and if I think this kind of work isn't right for your situation, I'll tell you that too.