Week 1 — Onboarding & Audit
We start working immediately — auditing your current organic and AI visibility performance, understanding your team's existing workflows, and identifying the highest-impact priorities.
Fractional GSO
Senior generative search leadership, without the full-time hire.
An SEO director costs £120k-£170k a year before benefits, equity, and a 60-90 day ramp. Fractional GSO gives you direct access to senior search and generative search expertise — embedded in your team, working your priorities — at a fraction of that cost and with no ramp time.
25-40%
Cost of a fractional GSO lead vs. the fully-loaded cost of a full-time SEO director hire
0 days
Ramp time — fractional engagements start working in week one, not month three
35%
More organic clicks for brands cited in AI Overviews vs. those that aren't
5+
Years average experience of the senior practitioner embedded in your team
Why fractional GSO
Senior expertise, embedded — not outsourced
Most companies face the same choice: hire a full-time SEO/GSO lead at significant cost and risk, or hand everything to an agency that runs campaigns at arm's length. Fractional GSO is the third option — senior leadership embedded directly in your team, working your priorities, without the overhead of a full-time executive hire.
The hiring problem
An SEO director costs £120k-£170k in base salary alone. Add benefits, recruiting fees, and a 60-90 day ramp before they deliver anything, and the real first-year cost is closer to £180k-£220k. Most companies can't justify that for a function still finding its shape internally.
The agency problem
Agencies run campaigns. They don't sit in your planning meetings, align stakeholders, or build internal capability. You get reports and recommendations — but the strategic thinking happens outside your team, and institutional knowledge never transfers in.
What fractional GSO actually is
A senior practitioner — not a junior account manager — embedded in your team for a set number of days per month. They join your Slack, attend your planning meetings, own your GSO strategy and roadmap, and work directly with your existing marketing and content people.
Why now specifically
Search is changing faster than most internal teams can track. A fractional GSO lead brings current expertise in AI citation tracking, entity optimisation, and generative search strategy — without you needing to hire, train, or keep pace with a discipline that's evolving month to month.
What's included
A senior GSO lead, embedded in your team
Fractional GSO engagements are scoped around a set number of days per month — typically 2 to 6 — working as an extension of your existing team.
Strategy & Roadmap Ownership
You get a named senior practitioner who owns your GSO strategy end to end — prioritising work, setting the roadmap, and adjusting based on what's actually moving the needle, not a quarterly review cycle.
AI Visibility & Citation Tracking
Ongoing monitoring of your AI citation share across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews — with monthly reporting that covers both traditional and generative search performance in one view.
Stakeholder Communication
Plain-English reporting and presentations for leadership — translating search performance into business outcomes that resonate with stakeholders who don't live in SEO tools.
Embedded Team Integration
Joins your Slack or Teams, attends your marketing planning, and works directly with your content, design, and development teams — not as an external vendor, but as part of how your team operates.
Content & Technical Direction
Direction for your content team on what to write and why, and technical guidance for your development team on what to fix and in what order — based on real prioritisation, not a generic checklist.
Capability Building
Unlike an agency engagement, the goal includes building internal capability over time. Your team learns the methodology, not just the outputs — so the function gets stronger even as the fractional arrangement evolves.
How a fractional GSO engagement starts
Week 2 — Strategy & Integration
Your fractional lead joins your team communication channels and planning meetings, and the GSO roadmap is set based on the audit findings and your business priorities.
Ongoing — Embedded Delivery
Your fractional lead works your agreed days each month — directing content and technical priorities, tracking AI visibility, and adjusting the roadmap as results come in.
Monthly — Reporting & Review
Plain-English reporting on traditional and AI search performance, presented in a format your leadership team can act on — with the roadmap reviewed and adjusted each month.
Fractional GSO FAQs
What does a fractional GSO engagement actually involve?
A senior search and generative search practitioner works an agreed number of days per month — typically 2 to 6 — embedded in your team. They own your GSO strategy, direct content and technical priorities, track AI citation performance, and report to leadership in plain English. It's the strategic ownership of a full-time hire, scoped to fit alongside your existing team.
How is this different from a normal agency retainer?
An agency retainer typically means a team working on your account from outside — running campaigns and sending reports. Fractional GSO means a named individual embedded in your team's day-to-day — in your planning meetings, your Slack, working alongside your existing people. The relationship is closer to a part-time hire than a vendor.
How many days per month is typical?
Most engagements run 2 to 6 days per month depending on the size of your team and how much execution support you need alongside strategic direction. We'll scope this based on an initial audit and conversation about your current setup.
Can fractional GSO work alongside our existing agency or in-house team?
Yes — this is one of the most common setups. Fractional GSO provides the senior strategic layer while your existing agency or internal team handles execution. We direct the work; they implement it. This is often more cost-effective than adding a senior hire on top of existing resources.
What happens to the AI visibility tracking if the engagement ends?
All tracking, reporting, and documentation transfers to your team. Unlike an agency relationship where institutional knowledge often leaves with the agency, fractional GSO is built around capability transfer — your team should be stronger at the end of the engagement than at the start.
Is fractional GSO suitable for companies without an in-house marketing team?
It works best where there's at least some internal marketing or content capability for the fractional lead to direct. For companies with no internal team at all, our standard SEO Strategy or GSO service lines — which include execution — are usually a better fit.
Work with a fractional GSO lead
Get senior GSO leadership without the full-time hire
We'll start with a conversation about your current team setup, your priorities, and whether fractional GSO is the right fit — or whether one of our other service lines would serve you better.