My name is Rüdiger Dalchow. I’ve been optimising websites since the late 1990s — back when SEO meant understanding how the web actually worked, not feeding dashboards.
I started with my own sites, moved quickly into client projects, and have spent the last two decades watching the industry grow louder, more tool-driven, and often less thoughtful. That background is why I’m far more interested in outcomes than tactics, and why I’m sceptical of anything that sounds too easy.
I moved from Germany to Nottingham in 2012. Since then, I’ve worked in-house and agency-side for organisations with real complexity, real budgets, and real consequences when things go wrong.
At COBA Europe, a multinational manufacturer based in the East Midlands, I supported the growth of their international digital presence, with a strong focus on SEO for German-language markets. That meant aligning search visibility with manufacturing realities, distribution constraints, and long sales cycles — not chasing keywords for the sake of reports.
I later joined 20i in Mansfield as SEO Manager, working across the UK and US markets. Hosting is a technically demanding, highly competitive space, and it reinforced something I already believed: SEO only works when it’s grounded in product, infrastructure, and customer understanding — not when it’s bolted on afterwards.
Today, I work as a Global SEO Strategy Lead at a large agency, advising on international SEO, technical strategy, and search visibility in an increasingly AI-mediated landscape.
Alongside that role, this project exists for a simpler reason: I enjoy helping smaller teams and founders understand what good digital marketing can actually do for their business — and what it can’t.
I’ve worked with Nottingham-based startups such as Circus Wunderbar and Women in Tandem, helping them build visibility, confidence, and enquiry pipelines without becoming dependent on agencies or opaque tools.
I don’t sell shortcuts. I don’t promise rankings. And I’m not interested in being a silent “SEO behind the curtain”.
What I do care about is helping people understand:
- where search genuinely fits into their business
- what’s worth investing in (and what isn’t)
- how to make informed decisions rather than outsourcing responsibility
Pricing isn’t fixed, because the value of the work isn’t fixed. It depends on the problem, the opportunity, and whether I think I can actually make a meaningful difference.
If that sounds useful, you’re welcome to get in touch and tell me about your business.
If you’re looking for a £99 miracle or someone to “just do the SEO”, I’m probably not for you — and that’s fine.
You can also find me on LinkedIn if you want the professional version of the same story.