ABOUT SHAHZAD AKRAM
SEO experience built through doing the work
I’m Shahzad Akram, an SEO and digital growth specialist with more than 15 years’ experience across franchise businesses, lead generation and e-commerce.
I’ve built websites, grown businesses, investigated performance problems and led projects involving developers, agencies and international teams.
Today, my main focus is helping franchise and multi-location businesses connect search visibility with customer enquiries and sustainable website growth.
My current role
I lead SEO and digital growth across World Options, Mail Boxes Etc. UK and PACK & SEND UK, with responsibility for organic-search priorities and website performance across six websites.
The work spans national services, local franchise visibility and franchise recruitment. It includes approximately 191 physical store pages and 335 virtual service office pages, each contributing to a wider network.
My responsibilities bring together strategy and delivery: deciding what needs attention, coordinating improvements and reporting performance to senior stakeholders.
I work with marketing teams, franchisees, developers and external agencies to move those priorities forward.
How I got here
Starting with websites and local enquiries
My early experience involved managing websites and online lead generation for legal businesses.
That work introduced me to the relationship between search visibility and commercial enquiries. It also meant taking responsibility for the practical details: page content, website updates and helping people find the right service.
Building a lead-generation business
I later co-founded Sweetbox Media, where I built and ranked websites targeting competitive claims-related searches.
The business generated nearly £300,000 in turnover during its first two years. I personally handled SEO, websites, lead generation and commercial relationships alongside my business partner.
It gave me direct experience of building an audience and turning enquiries into a business, with responsibility for the outcome as well as the marketing activity.
Developing broader digital experience
My subsequent work included freelance SEO, website development, content and paid-search management.
These roles expanded the range of problems I worked on—from new websites needing a clear structure to established businesses needing better lead generation and measurement.
Moving into franchise and multi-brand SEO
I joined World Options as an SEO Specialist in January 2019 and moved into my current Head of SEO & Digital Growth role in December 2020.
My responsibilities grew to include additional brands, franchise networks and international website projects.
That progression has shaped my specialism in businesses where search strategy needs to work across multiple websites, locations and stakeholders.
Experience beyond the audit
I have led nine major website launches and migrations across the UK, US and Australia.
Those projects have involved platform selection, domain strategy, website architecture, hosting discussions, analytics and launch planning. I have worked across WordPress, Shopify, Squarespace and custom website environments.
My role often involves translating between different perspectives: what the business wants to achieve, what customers need and what the delivery team needs to implement.
That experience informs the advice I give. Recommendations need to account for the platform, people, budget and dependencies involved.
Building businesses of my own
Alongside employed roles, I have developed and operated my own businesses.
One of those is Shilajit UK, which I launched in 2020 and built on Shopify. My responsibilities have included the website, SEO, content, advertising and international landing pages, alongside sourcing, inventory, customer service and fulfilment.
The business reached a peak month of £43,609.44 in revenue and 1,259 orders. These are total business sales figures, rather than revenue attributed solely to SEO.
Running a business adds useful perspective to consultancy. A website sits within a wider operation, and more traffic is only valuable when the customer journey and the business behind it can support that demand.
What working with me looks like
Understand the objective first
I start by establishing what you want to achieve and what is preventing progress.
That might be local customer acquisition, franchise recruitment, a technical issue or a planned website change. The objective shapes the work.
Use the evidence available
I review relevant search data, analytics, website behaviour and information from your team.
Where tracking is incomplete or the cause of a problem is uncertain, I make that clear and identify what would help resolve it.
Set practical priorities
I help distinguish urgent problems from useful improvements and longer-term opportunities.
The plan needs to reflect what your team can deliver, with clear responsibilities and dependencies.
Stay involved in implementation
Depending on the scope, I can make changes directly, prepare briefs or work with developers and agencies.
I review completed work and help resolve questions as they arise.
Explain progress clearly
I aim to make reporting useful to the people making decisions.
That means explaining what changed, what the evidence shows and what deserves attention next.
Where I can help
Franchise SEO
Coordinate search strategy across national websites, local franchise pages and recruitment platforms.
Local & Multi-Location SEO
Improve location pages, local business information and the route to the appropriate branch.
Franchise Recruitment SEO
Help prospective franchisees find and understand your opportunity through clearer content and website structure.
Explore franchise recruitment SEO
Technical SEO & Website Migrations
Investigate technical problems and bring SEO requirements into rebuilds, platform changes and launches.
Explore technical SEO and migrations
SEO Consultancy & Leadership
Get experienced support with priorities, strategy, delivery and performance reporting.
What I write about
I use this website to share practical work, case studies and lessons from building businesses.
Topics include technical SEO, analytics, franchise growth, website development and e-commerce. I’m interested in explaining how a problem was investigated and what the evidence showed, including where the first assumption turned out to be wrong.
Let’s discuss your website
If you need support with franchise SEO, a website project or a clearer plan for organic growth, tell me what you are working on.
I’ll reply personally so we can establish whether my experience fits what you need.
Or email contact@shahzadakram.com.
You can also find me on LinkedIn.