The role
We are a growing dental group operating a large portfolio of practice websites across multiple domains. Our digital presence is central to how patients find and choose our practices, and SEO sits at the heart of that.
We are looking for an experienced interim SEO Manager to take ownership of our organic search strategy and lead our external agency relationships. This is a hands-on, commercially-minded role for someone who can hit the ground running, bring structure and direction to agency partnerships, and deliver measurable impact across a complex, multi-domain estate.
The role sits within the Digital Marketing team, reports to the Digital Marketing Team Lead, and is engaged on a 12-week Fixed-Term Contract inside IR35, with a view to extend.
Key Accountabilities include:
Agency Leadership & Governance
Act as the primary day-to-day contact for all external SEO agencies, providing clear briefs, direction and feedback.
Set performance expectations, KPIs and reporting cadences for each agency relationship.
Hold agencies accountable to deliverables; challenge output quality and escalate where performance falls short.
Own the SEO retainer scope and ensure agency resource is deployed effectively against business priorities.
Run regular agency review meetings and present findings and recommendations to internal stakeholders.
SEO Strategy & Execution
Develop and maintain an SEO strategy that reflects the multi-domain, multi-location nature of the business.
Lead local SEO: Google Business Profile optimisation, local citation management, proximity and map pack performance.
Drive offsite strategy: link acquisition, digital PR, brand authority and third-party presence.
Oversee technical SEO: ensure the site estate is crawlable, indexable and technically sound – working with agencies and internal web teams to resolve issues.
Champion content as an SEO lever: brief and evaluate content strategies that serve both traditional search and emerging AEO/GEO demand (AI-generated answers, featured snippets, entity coverage).
CMS Migration Oversight
Provide SEO governance for an ongoing large-scale CMS migration across the full website estate.
Ensure redirect strategy, canonical structures, metadata and crawl configurations are correctly implemented pre- and post-migration.
Work closely with the web development team and agency partners to identify and mitigate SEO risk throughout the migration process.
Conduct pre- and post-migration audits to validate organic performance is maintained.
Reporting & Commercial Performance
Own SEO reporting: build and maintain dashboards that give clear visibility of organic performance across the estate.
Report regularly to the Digital Marketing Team Lead and wider stakeholders on performance, trends and strategic priorities.
Translate SEO metrics into commercial outcomes – traffic to enquiry, visibility to patient acquisition.
Monitor and interpret algorithm updates, competitor movements and market shifts, adapting strategy accordingly.
Stakeholder & Project Management
Manage multiple concurrent SEO workstreams across the practice portfolio, prioritising effectively under competing demands.
Collaborate with internal teams including Digital, Web Development and Marketing on cross-functional initiatives.
Communicate clearly with non-technical stakeholders, translating SEO strategy into language that drives business decisions.
Maintain clear project documentation, status tracking and audit trails for all SEO activity.
Agency Leadership & Governance
Act as the primary day-to-day contact for all external SEO agencies, providing clear briefs, direction and feedback.
Set performance expectations, KPIs and reporting cadences for each agency relationship.
Hold agencies accountable to deliverables; challenge output quality and escalate where performance falls short.
Own the SEO retainer scope and ensure agency resource is deployed effectively against business priorities.
Run regular agency review meetings and present findings and recommendations to internal stakeholders.
SEO Strategy & Execution
Develop and maintain an SEO strategy that reflects the multi-domain, multi-location nature of the business.
Lead local SEO: Google Business Profile optimisation, local citation management, proximity and map pack performance.
Drive offsite strategy: link acquisition, digital PR, brand authority and third-party presence.
Oversee technical SEO: ensure the site estate is crawlable, indexable and technically sound – working with agencies and internal web teams to resolve issues.
Champion content as an SEO lever: brief and evaluate content strategies that serve both traditional search and emerging AEO/GEO demand (AI-generated answers, featured snippets, entity coverage).
CMS Migration Oversight
Provide SEO governance for an ongoing large-scale CMS migration across the full website estate.
Ensure redirect strategy, canonical structures, metadata and crawl configurations are correctly implemented pre- and post-migration.
Work closely with the web development team and agency partners to identify and mitigate SEO risk throughout the migration process.
Conduct pre- and post-migration audits to validate organic performance is maintained.
Reporting & Commercial Performance
Own SEO reporting: build and maintain dashboards that give clear visibility of organic performance across the estate.
Report regularly to the Digital Marketing Team Lead and wider stakeholders on performance, trends and strategic priorities.
Translate SEO metrics into commercial outcomes – traffic to enquiry, visibility to patient acquisition.
Monitor and interpret algorithm updates, competitor movements and market shifts, adapting strategy accordingly.
Stakeholder & Project Management
Manage multiple concurrent SEO workstreams across the practice portfolio, prioritising effectively under competing demands.
Collaborate with internal teams including Digital, Web Development and Marketing on cross-functional initiatives.
Communicate clearly with non-technical stakeholders, translating SEO strategy into language that drives business decisions.
Maintain clear project documentation, status tracking and audit trails for all SEO activity.
Skills and Experience
Essential:
3–5 years of SEO management experience, in-house or agency-side.
Proven track record managing external SEO agencies: setting briefs, holding to account, driving results.
Strong technical SEO knowledge: crawl management, indexation, Core Web Vitals, structured data, redirects, log file analysis.
Experience working across multi-domain or multi-location website estates.
Local SEO expertise: GBP, map pack, local citations and proximity signals.
Solid offsite strategy experience: link building, digital PR, brand authority.
Understanding of content’s role in SEO – including AEO/GEO: featured snippets, entity optimisation, AI search visibility.
Strong reporting skills: GA4, Google Search Console, SEMrush/Ahrefs or equivalent.
Commercial acumen: ability to connect organic performance to business and revenue outcomes.
Experienced managing multiple projects and stakeholders concurrently.
Desired:
Experience managing SEO through a large-scale website migration or replatforming project.
Background in a regulated industry – healthcare sector experience particularly valued.
Familiarity with the dental or wider healthcare patient acquisition landscape.
Experience working in a group or franchise business model with central and local digital tensions.
Exposure to CMS platforms such as WordPress, Sanity or similar.
Comfortable presenting to senior stakeholders and contributing to digital strategy at leadership level.
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Additional InformationWe are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity, equity and inclusion in our workplace. We are committed to creating an environment of mutual respect and are dedicated to providing equal employment opportunities regardless of race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, pregnancy or maternity, marital or civil partner status, disability, age, or nationality.
Skills Required
- 3-5 years of SEO management experience, in-house or agency-side.
- Proven track record managing external SEO agencies: setting briefs, holding to account, driving results.
- Strong technical SEO knowledge: crawl management, indexation, Core Web Vitals, structured data, redirects, log file analysis.
- Experience working across multi-domain or multi-location website estates.
- Local SEO expertise: Google Business Profile, map pack, local citations and proximity signals.
- Solid offsite strategy experience: link building, digital PR, brand authority.
- Understanding of content's role in SEO including AEO/GEO, featured snippets, and entity optimisation.
- Strong reporting skills: GA4, Google Search Console, SEMrush/Ahrefs or equivalent.
- Commercial acumen: ability to connect organic performance to business and revenue outcomes.
- Experienced managing multiple projects and stakeholders concurrently.
- Experience managing SEO through a large-scale website migration or replatforming project.
- Background in a regulated industry, healthcare sector experience particularly valued.
- Familiarity with the dental or wider healthcare patient acquisition landscape.
- Experience working in a group or franchise business model with central and local digital tensions.
- Exposure to CMS platforms such as WordPress, Sanity or similar.
- Comfortable presenting to senior stakeholders and contributing to digital strategy at leadership level.
What We Do
PortmanDentex is one of the largest dental groups in the UK and a leading provider of privately-focused dental care. With a mission to reimagine group dentistry and wellness, the company operates over 370 practices across the UK and Ireland, providing exceptional dental care for more than 1.5 million patients annually.
