Meet the Team

Kevin Gibbons

Director of Search

A leading light in the search industry, SEOptimise founder Kevin Gibbons has over 10 years' web experience. He has specialised in the field of search engine marketing since 2003, advising a wide range of industry sectors on increasing their online visibility by using the latest search engine marketing techniques.

A highly respected expert blogger on the latest developments in search engine marketing, Kevin writes regularly for SEOptimise, Econsultancy, Search Engine Watch and Search Engine Land and has spoken at industry events such as SMX London and a4uexpo. At SEOptimise Kevin oversees the search marketing team, the strategy of online marketing projects, client account management and promotes the business within the search industry.

Kevin graduated with an honours degree from Oxford Brookes University, where he studied Business Information Systems. Before forming SEOptimise Kevin developed web-based projects for some of the country's biggest brands including The Carphone Warehouse, BuyEpson, Boots and Corus Hotels.

“SEO is an exciting and challenging industry to work in, and seeing SEOptimise going from strength to strength is extremely rewarding. With the team rapidly growing and our client portfolio expanding all the time, SEOptimise looks set to continue to prosper for many years to come!”

Stuart Tofts

Commercial Director

Award-winning entrepreneur Stuart Tofts is director of SEOptimise. With a background in sales and marketing, Stuart has worked in product management in the IT sector for 10 years.

Before joining SEOptimise Stuart started his own company – the innovative dry cleaning business Purple Label – which won Oxfordshire Small Business of the Year in 2006. A year later, Stuart sold Purple Label to join Kevin Gibbons in building SEOptimise. Together, Kevin and Stuart have gained a considerable reputation for high-quality, ethical standards in both practice and product. SEOptimise is now a leader in the field of search engine optimisation.

Stuart is a Management and Mathematics graduate of the University of Leeds. He is a Cisco Certified Design Associate (CCDA) and Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA). At SEOptimise Stuart heads up the company’s business development, marketing and financial management. Stuart helped secure SEOptimise’s status as a Google AdWords qualified company.

“I'm proud to have seen SEOptimise grow into the influential, market-leading company it is today. It's expanding all the time and the great results we're achieving for our clients show that our hard work is paying off.”

Marcus Taylor

Head of Social Media

Marcus is head of social media at SEOptimise and is a regular speaker at industry events such as SMX & SMM. Marcus is heavily involved in online marketing projects for a wide range of companies, and has presented training sessions for the likes of Reed Elsevier and Oxford Brookes University. He is the co-author of a book on networking called Get Noticed, and also runs a popular music industry blog, which he has built into an authority within the music industry using social media.

Marcus contributes to a number of high profile blogs, including Social Media Today, The Wall, and Pick the Brain. He has been responsible for a number of viral social media campaigns, and his blog posts have been referenced in a number of publications including The Huffington Post, The Guardian, Forbes, The Metro, The Star, and This is London. Outside work, Marcus enjoys kick-boxing, skydiving and playing the drums.

Matthew Taylor

SEO Executive

As an experienced SEO Executive, Matthew handles one of the largest client portfolios in the agency, managing clients of all sizes across an array of sectors. With a background in consultancy, sales management and freelance web design within a number of different industries, including retail, hospitality and financial services, as well as a BSc (hons) in Business Development and the CIW Master Web Designer qualification, Matthew brings a wealth of varied experience to the team.

With a keen interest in design, Matthew has created and marketed a large volume of both written and graphical material on behalf of clients. He brings a strong knowledge of web design to the clients he works on, as well as utilising his sales experience to gain a deeper understanding of online marketing.

Outside work, Matthew enjoys sport, regularly playing cricket, football and golf. In addition to this Matthew is also known to participate in more unusual activities such as flying, white water rafting and canyoning.

Rachel McCombie

SEO Executive and Copywriter

Rachel holds a BA Classical Archaeology and Ancient History degree from Oxford University and a Diploma in Copywriting. She oversees copywriting at SEOptimise, ensuring that all content produced by SEOptimise is delivered to the highest standards. In addition to this, Rachel is an experienced search marketer, working on a number of SEO projects at SEOptimise. Rachel also writes press releases and newsletters for SEOptimise, as well as managing the SEOptimise blog. In the wider online community she is a respected travel blogger with her own Rome blog, as well as publishing on numerous other travel blogs. She spends her free time reading voraciously, baking cakes and travelling between Rome and her cosy cottage in the Cotswolds as often as she can.

Daniel Bianchini

Senior SEO Executive

Daniel joined SEOptimise in February 2011 from a London search marketing agency, which he helped to establish. Daniel brings a vast amount of experience from the eCommerce industry, where he worked for large brands including Mothercare, Currys, PC World and Blacks Leisure Group. Daniel is an experienced search marketer currently working on a number of SEO projects at SEOptimise.

As well as working for SEOptimise, Daniel is co-founder of an Oxford based online marketing group called Oxon Digital. The group meets on a bi-monthly basis to discuss and share the latest online marketing information and techniques, with a mini conference being planned for early next year. Away from work Daniel is a massive football fan, with Manchester United being his team of choice. He also plays golf, badminton and squash, as well as having a keen interest in music.

Tamsin Mehew

Paid Search Executive

Tamsin holds a MPhysPhil Physics and Philosophy degree from Oxford University and works on paid search advertising for SEOptimise. Tamsin contributes to the analysis and optimisation of all paid search accounts, with experience of B2C advertising as well as B2B marketing. Tamsin is a Microsoft Advertising Accredited Professional, has taken the Google Analytics Individual Qualification, and has passed all Google AdWords exams with an average score of over 90%.

In her spare time, Tamsin enjoys science fiction, fantasy and role-playing games, and is the 5702nd best Magic: the Gathering player in Britain (which is less impressive than it sounds).

Shaad Hamid

Paid Search & SEO Executive

Shaad is an experienced paid search marketer with a first class honours degree in International Business Management at Oxford Brookes University. He is a Google Adwords Qualified Professional and works on paid search campaigns across a number of clients from varying sectors. Before joining SEOptimise, Shaad was responsible for paid search and social media campaigns at Oxford Brookes University Business School. He also currently manages all Facebook advertising campaigns at SEOptimise.

In addition to paid search, Shaad also works on a number of SEO projects. In his spare time he loves playing cricket, cooking authentic Sri Lankan dishes and cycling.

Pritha Bardhan

Senior Account Manager

Pritha studied Mechanical Engineering at Brunel University and initially started her working career as a Graduate Trainee at Rolls-Royce Plc developing military aero engines. After two years, the bright lights of the marketing agencies and London beckoned. She has over 10 years’ account management agency experience, working at high-profile integrated marketing agencies including TMW and AIS across a plethora of industry sectors, notably Financial Services, Telecommunications, IT, Education and Charities. She has also worked with a number of top blue-chip brands, including Lloyds TSB, Barclays, O2, Epson and RSPB.

At SEOptimise, Pritha organises resourcing with the Search Team, and works closely with and project manages SEOptimise’s larger clients. She ensures that clients’ deadlines and expectations are met and exceeded.

Outside work, Pritha has many interests, including yoga, knitting, going to music festivals and travel.

Carla Nadin

Business Development

Carla has worked in business development for over ten years, giving her a wealth of experience in selling B2C and B2B across a wide range of business types and industry sectors. In previous roles, Carla has been involved in new business sales, existing business and account management, and was later involved in website development and marketing. This led to a new interest in search and social media marketing, something that Carla quickly realised was going to be an imperative element to all businesses in today’s increasingly competitive marketplace. Armed with the ‘Dummy’s Guide to…’ books, she set about trying to learn more, applied to SEOptimise, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Carla completed her BA (hons) in Fine Art last year and has interests in art and design, reading, writing, painting, music, comedy, cooking, friends, shopping and travel.

Daniel Braddock

Business Development

Daniel started his career in Business Development in the fulfilment and distribution industry, before quickly gaining an interest in the world of digital marketing. Starting out for a full service marketing agency, Daniel was responsible for finding new business opportunities for extensive and integrated marketing campaigns, before joining SEOptimise to channel his skills towards a much more focused product offering.

Much to his dislike, Daniel has been dubbed with the title ‘Dan 2.0’, due to the earlier arrival of another Dan to the SEOptimise team. Still, he battles through the patronisation, and is striving for the correct exposure that SEOptimise deserves. When he’s not writing proposals and finding events to speak at, you can normally find this chap on the football pitch, or with a mug of tea in one hand, a Wii remote in the other, whilst wondering what to cook for dinner.