Head of SEO

HOLLAND AND BARRETT; Nuneaton; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A premier wellness retailer is seeking an experienced SEO leader to drive their SEO and AEO strategy. This role involves optimising for AI-powered search, tracking brand visibility, and integrating SEO across all business operations. The ideal candidate has a proven track record in technical SEO and experience with AI. This position is based in Nuneaton, with hybrid work flexibility.

Benefits

Competitive salary

Bonus scheme

25% discount on all products

Pension contributions

Retailer discounts

Qualifications

• Proven experience leading SEO strategies and teams.
• Deep understanding of technical SEO and AI integration.
• Experience scaling SEO across multiple markets.

Responsibilities

• Lead SEO and AEO strategy across various markets.
• Optimise prompts and structure content for AI visibility.
• Track brand performance across platforms.

Skills

Leadership in SEO

Technical SEO knowledge

AI and LLMs experience

Ability to forecast and build business cases

Collaboration across teams

Job description

Overview

We’re building one of the most advanced digital ecosystems in retail, and search is central to how we scale it. This isn’t old-school SEO. This is Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO), and we need someone who can lead it.

With over £884 million in annual revenue and a 35% share of the UK online wellness market, we’re outpacing the sector’s growth and expanding fast—from AI-powered recommendations to mobile-first wellness journeys. We’re setting the pace in search.

The Role

What you’ll actually be doing:

• Leading the SEO and AEO strategy across UK and international markets, including technical, content, and authority aspects for traditional search engines and emerging answer platforms.
• Optimising for prompts, not just keywords. Structuring content and data to surface in LLMs, answer engines, and AI-powered search experiences.
• Tracking brand visibility across platforms—Google, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and wherever customers search.
• Driving technical SEO—site speed, crawlability, schema, canonicalisation, Core Web Vitals—with Product & Engineering.
• Using AI and LLMs to automate metadata, internal linking, content classification, and structured data while maintaining quality.
• Building forecasting models to predict traffic, revenue, and ROI to secure investment.
• Defining content strategy for AEO, creating formats preferred by LLMs (listicles, comparisons, structured Q&A) aligned with Health Hub and commercial priorities.
• Expanding off-site presence through partnerships and syndication to build authority beyond our domains.
• Running audits and governance across multiple domains and markets to ensure best practices stick.
• Embedding SEO into everything—trading plans, marketing campaigns, product launches—SEO is an integral part of the business.
• Collaborating cross-functionally with Paid Media, CRM, Analytics, International teams to ensure SEO integrates well with others.
• Educating the business on the shift from keywords to prompts and what that means for online visibility.
• Tracking performance—organic traffic, AI visibility, conversions—and reporting in a way stakeholders care about.
• Driving innovation by deploying scalable, AI-powered SEO workflows that make the team faster, smarter, and more efficient.

How we’ll know you’re nailing it

• You appear in places Google can’t reach—LLMs, answer engines, AI platforms.
• Our content is cited, not just crawled.
• Organic traffic and conversions are up, and the value of SEO is clear to the business.
• Teams adopt your frameworks without reminders.
• Old‑school SEO looks like dial‑up in comparison.

Location

We have offices in Nuneaton (Head Office) and London. You’ll need to spend at least one office day a week in Nuneaton; two days in the office is preferred. If you’re based in London, you can work there as part of the role, with flexibility to move between sites when needed.

The Person

What you’ll need:

• You’ve led SEO before—owned it, not just managed it.
• You know technical SEO inside out (speed, crawl budgets, schema, canonicalisation) and have fixed, scaled, and sustained improvements.
• You’ve moved beyond keywords and understand how LLMs surface content and influence what’s seen.
• You’ve built workflows using AI and LLMs, deployed at scale.
• You’ve scaled SEO across multiple markets (localisation, international domains, market-entry strategies).
• You can forecast and build business cases, speaking the language of ROI.
• You've worked with affiliates, syndication, and external partners to build authority beyond your own domain.
• You’re comfortable in ambiguity—AI search, rapid indexing, shifting SERPs—and adapt quickly.
• You know how to align Product, Content, and Marketing and keep them coordinated.

What you’ll get

• A competitive salary (numbers discussed early).
• Bonus scheme aligned with growth—you share in the rewards.
• 25% off everything at Holland & Barrett (including supplements).
• Pension contributions for future you.
• Perks from other retailers—discounts, advice, and savings on brands you use.
• Additional benefits and incentives as applicable.

The company does not accept unsolicited resumes from search firms/recruiters. Please do not forward resumes to our job alias, employees, or any other company location. Holland & Barrett is not and will not be responsible for any fees if a candidate is submitted by a search firm/recruiter unless otherwise agreed with respect to specific open position(s).