About Grumpy Old SEO

I’m Rüdiger Dalchow, an independent SEO consultant, strategic adviser and speaker based in Nottingham, with more than 25 years’ experience in digital marketing and SEO.

What I’m usually brought in for

I am usually brought in when a business, agency or in-house team needs experienced judgement rather than more SEO activity.

That can mean pressure-testing an SEO strategy before it turns into an expensive mistake, or helping a team decide which opportunities deserve attention and which merely look impressive in a tool.

For in-house teams, I provide senior external perspective without adding another layer of process. For agencies, I support difficult briefs, technical questions, audits, pitches and client-facing strategy when a second senior opinion would be useful.

The work can also involve German and international SEO, AI visibility or the wider question of how a business is found and represented beyond standard Google rankings.

Different problems, same requirement: challenge assumptions, simplify the decision and focus attention on work that is likely to matter commercially.

If the main requirement is a larger volume of activity or a reassuring dashboard, I am probably not the right fit.

How I work

I am more interested in useful judgement than SEO theatre. Traffic is not a victory on its own, and visibility without relevance has limited value.

I have limited patience for reports, recommendations or AI-search hot takes that sound impressive but do not survive contact with commercial reality.

Good SEO work should help a business make better decisions: where search fits, which trade-offs are real and what stronger visibility would achieve.

Sometimes the right answer is more work. Sometimes it is less work, done in the right order. Occasionally it is to leave something alone.

That remains true whether visibility happens in conventional Google Search, AI Overviews, AI Mode, LLM-based answer systems or whatever name is attached to the next version of search.

The platforms keep changing.

The need for clear thinking does not.

Topics I regularly work and speak on

I advise, write and speak on strategic and technical SEO, German and international search, AI search visibility, LLM visibility, structured data and the role of organic search in business decision-making.

I am particularly interested in how AI-powered search and answer systems are changing discovery, trust, citations and brand representation.

That does not mean chasing every new label the SEO industry invents for itself.

It means understanding how a business is found, described, trusted, cited and compared when people use search systems to make decisions.

Background

I have worked in digital marketing and SEO since the late 1990s, across both in-house and agency-side roles.

At COBA Europe, I worked on international digital visibility with a strong focus on German-language markets. That meant dealing with manufacturing reality, distribution constraints, and long sales cycles rather than treating SEO as a reporting exercise.

I later joined 20i in Mansfield as SEO Manager, working across the UK and US markets. Hosting is a technically demanding and highly competitive space, which reinforced something I already believed: SEO works best when it is grounded in product, infrastructure, and customer understanding, not bolted on afterwards.

Alongside Grumpy Old SEO, I currently work as Head of Organic Strategy at Improove, which keeps me close to the practical reality of modern search, client work, internal decision-making, and the growing mess around AI and organic visibility.

Before SEO became the main job, I spent part of my working life as a professional juggler. That probably explains some of my interest in communication, audience behaviour, and my low tolerance for empty performance dressed up as expertise.

My background also includes early technical and media training in print communication, which may be one reason I still care about structure, clarity, and getting the details right.

Who I work well with

Grumpy Old SEO is built for teams that want experienced external judgement.

That includes in-house marketing teams needing a senior outside perspective, agencies wanting strategic support on difficult briefs or technical questions, and businesses that need search advice grounded in commercial reality rather than SEO ritual.

It also includes companies looking for a UK-based consultant with genuine German SEO capability.

The fit is usually best when people want useful input rather than noise.

I tend to work well with teams that are willing to think properly, challenge their own assumptions, and make decisions based on business value rather than whatever happens to be fashionable in SEO that quarter.

Speaking, workshops, and community

I also speak at events, run workshops, appear on podcasts, and host practitioner-led discussions on SEO and AI search.

That includes industry and marketing events on SEO, AI search, LLM visibility, technical SEO, strategic SEO, and the changing role of organic visibility.

I run workshops in English and German, and I host SEO Roundtable Nottingham.

This part of the work matters because it keeps me close to real conversations with practitioners, not just polished opinions published at a safe distance.

That matters in SEO. Especially now.

There is a lot of confident commentary around AI search, LLM visibility, and the future of organic discovery. Some of it is useful. Some of it is just old SEO certainty wearing a new hat.

Real conversations help keep the work grounded.

Why this site exists

Grumpy Old SEO exists because too much of the industry still confuses activity with value, presentation with insight and fashionable language with understanding.

This project is where I write, speak, and work in my own voice.

It is built around the kind of SEO advice I actually believe in: commercially grounded, technically competent, sceptical of hype, and honest about uncertainty where uncertainty exists.

Search is changing. That part is obvious.

The less obvious part is that many businesses still need the same thing they always needed: clear thinking, sound judgement, and a better understanding of where visibility actually supports commercial outcomes.

That is what this site is for.

Get in touch

If you need an experienced external perspective on SEO strategy, technical direction, German SEO, AI visibility or an awkward internal decision, get in touch.

You can also find me on LinkedIn if you want the professional version of the same story.