First Place SEO
First Place SEO, Built on Real Business Experience
Paul, the founder, owned and ran a multi-million pound company. He also held director roles in large businesses, where he was responsible for growth year on year. So our plans target commercial searches, the ones that turn into sales. The aim is a clear return on what you spend.
No obligation, and we will tell you upfront if your competitor is already with us.
Answer summary
First Place SEO is a London SEO agency founded in 2024. We work with one business per niche in each area and have supported over 100 businesses across the UK with SEO, web design and PPC marketing.
Paul founded First Place SEO in January 2024 and leads every client account. We meet clients by phone, on Google Meet or at their premises. Opening hours are Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. The agency has five stars from over 300 Google reviews.
The owner behind the agency
The work is scoped. The outcome is measured.
You came here to find out who we are. The real question is whether you can trust us with your budget.
- Business background
- Paul owned and ran a multi-million pound company, so he knows how SMEs work.
- Leadership experience
- Director roles across sales, marketing, operations and consulting.
- Agency founded
- First Place SEO started trading in January 2024.
Read more Show less We price SEO against an agreed scope because no agency can know the final result in advance.
First Place SEO prices work against an agreed scope. That is the honest way to do it. No agency can know in advance where a site will rank, how long each gain will take or how many enquiries will turn into sales.
The scope sets out what we will do, how often we will do it and what it costs. Paul's business background decides what comes first. He looks at what an enquiry is worth to you, which services matter most, how strong your market is and whether you can take on more work.
Each month you get a report on the work done and the results we can measure. First Place SEO started in January 2024. The agency is young. The business experience behind it is not.
Any target, forecast or timescale discussed is an estimate based on the information available at the time. It is not a guarantee of rankings, traffic, enquiries, sales or revenue. The final proposal and service agreement set out the campaign scope, fees, responsibilities and reporting.
What we will not promise you
Three promises we refuse to make
Most agencies start by telling you the last agency over-promised. Very few then tell you what they will not promise. Here are ours.
01
No guaranteed rankings.
Nobody can promise a position on Google. Google decides. Anyone who says otherwise is guessing or selling.
02
No guaranteed timescale.
How fast results come depends on your site, your market and your competitors. You get an honest estimate at the start, then a monthly report that measures progress against it.
03
No pretending traffic equals revenue.
It does not. When a campaign goes wrong, the cause is often not the SEO. It is a phone nobody answers, a broken enquiry form or nobody following up. More traffic tends to show up a problem in how the business runs before it adds revenue.
How we are set up
You get the specialist, not a middle layer
First Place SEO is founder-led. Paul leads every client account himself, with no layer of account managers in between. That is deliberate, and it changes three things for you.
Your specialist does the work
The person on your call is the person who leads your account. Nobody passes notes between you and someone you never meet.
The account manager stays on your account
Paul is your account manager, and he stays on your account. He does not hand you over once the contract is signed. He joins your monthly review and reads the same Search Console and Semrush data you see.
One client per niche, per area
If a plumber in Islington is already with us, a second plumber in Islington cannot join. Other agencies run this policy too, so it is no magic trick. It matters because nobody ever asks us to rank two businesses against each other.
Where AI search fits
AI answers are eating your clicks
What changed
Search is not ten blue links any more. When Google puts an AI summary at the top, far fewer people click through to any website.
What the study found
Pew Research Center tracked 68,879 real Google searches by 900 adults in March 2025. When an AI summary appeared, people clicked a normal result 8% of the time. Without one, they clicked 15% of the time. More than a quarter ended their browsing session on the spot.
What it means
That study is American. We expect UK searchers to behave in much the same way. Being cited inside the AI answer now matters as much as ranking below it. Nearly nine in ten of those summaries cited three or more sources, so there is room to be one of them. That work is part of every plan as standard, never an upsell.
Client proof
Proof you can check for yourself
First Place SEO has five stars from over 300 Google reviews. Since January 2024 it has supported more than 100 UK businesses. The reviews are public, so you can read every one, including any that are not five stars.
- Founded January 2024
- Founder Paul, who leads every client account
- Serving London and businesses across the UK
- Meetings By phone, on Google Meet or at your premises
- Opening hours Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm
- Telephone 020 7112 8794
- Google reviews Five stars from over 300 reviews
We look at your site and tell you what we would fix first. No charge, no pitch deck.
Where to go next
Skip the sales page if you want
You do not have to talk to anyone yet. These pages explain how we work, where we work and what it costs.
What Paul wishes more owners knew
The thing owners work out too late
Rankings are a leading indicator
Rankings feel like the product. They are not. Rankings are a leading indicator. Booked work is the lagging one. The two can move in opposite directions for months. That is why owners panic in month three and switch agency in month four, just before the work they paid for starts to pay off.
What a real quote depends on
A real quote depends on four things, and hardly anyone asks about them. How many of your pages already rank. How hard your money keywords are to win. Whether your site can be edited without a developer. And whether you could handle the extra work if it came in.
Where weak agencies cut corners
The first corner a weak agency cuts is research. Audit hours and competitor analysis never show up on a monthly report, so they are easy to skip. Ask any agency what they found before they wrote a single word. Their answer tells you most of what you need to know.
Areas covered
SEO Services Across London and the UK
We work with businesses across the whole of London and throughout the UK. Choose your area below to see local SEO for your part of London, or ask us for a quote.
What we do
The work First Place SEO actually does
We help UK businesses get found on Google and in AI answers, turn more visits into enquiries and see what their marketing is producing. The work sits across five connected services.
SEO campaigns
Research, technical fixes, content and link building for businesses that want to rank higher on Google and win more qualified enquiries.
02Local SEO
Local landing pages, Google Business Profile work and location signals for businesses that need customers in specific towns, boroughs or service areas.
03AI search optimisation
Clear expert content, entity signals and pages built to be quoted, so your business has a better chance of being named in ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI answers.
04Web design
Fast websites built to rank, shaped around the questions your customers ask and the action you want them to take.
05PPC management
Google Ads management, conversion tracking and regular account tuning for businesses that need visibility and enquiries now, while SEO builds.
Quick answers
Questions about First Place SEO
Short, plain answers to the questions people ask before they get in touch.
Who runs First Place SEO?
First Place SEO is run by its founder, Paul. Before starting the agency in January 2024, he owned and ran a multi-million pound company and held director roles across sales, marketing, operations and consulting. He leads every client account.
What services does First Place SEO offer?
First Place SEO offers SEO, local SEO, AI search optimisation, web design and PPC management, including Google Ads. Most clients start with SEO or Google Ads.
Where does First Place SEO work?
We work with businesses across London, Hertfordshire, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire, and with clients elsewhere in the UK.
How do meetings work?
We meet by phone, on Google Meet or at your premises. You never need to travel to us. Opening hours are Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
Will you work for my competitor?
No. We take one client per niche in each area. If a business like yours in your area is already with us, we will tell you on the first call.
Do you guarantee first page rankings?
No. Nobody controls Google, so nobody can promise a position. We agree a clear scope of work, give you an honest estimate and report on progress every month.
Is AI search included in your SEO plans?
Yes. Work to get your business cited in ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI answers is part of every SEO plan as standard. It is never sold as an extra.
How do I get started?
Book a free call or ring 020 7112 8794. The call takes about twenty minutes, costs nothing and comes with no obligation.
Start with a conversation
Find out if we can help
A call costs nothing and takes about twenty minutes. If we are not the right fit, or your competitor got here first, we will tell you on the call.
Talk To UsFree, no obligation, no pitch deck.
Talk To First Place SEO
Speak To The Person Behind The Work
You have seen who we are and how we work. Tell us about your business, what you want to achieve and what has not worked so far. We will tell you plainly whether we can help and what we would look at first.
