We’ve spent sixteen years helping ambitious organisations win in organic search. Astrid IQ was founded to do that work properly — with a small number of clients, at a senior level, without the overhead and account management layers of a traditional agency.

“I’ve worked with John Hillman at Astrid IQ for 10 years, maybe more. He’s a great SEO consultant – I’ve referred people to him who have been really pleased with what he’s done. And will happily refer more people too.”

– Chris Reed, CEO, Restless Communications

I started in search in 2009 as Content Manager at NMPi (now Incubeta), one of the UK’s leading search agencies, and was promoted to Head of Content within a year.

In 2013 I founded Astrid IQ and began lecturing in Digital Storytelling at City University London. The following year I took on the SEO lead role at Universal Music’s Spinnup platform, helping grow it to 11 million annual page views across seven countries and playing a small part in the discovery of multiple multi-platinum artists.

Since then I’ve built a consultancy working with organisations across sport, banking, SaaS and travel — including Lords Cricket Ground, Gearset, TransferGo and major UK banks.

I have completed the LSE Digital Marketing Strategy and Analytics programme alongside my first GEO transformation project for a regulated UK bank.

Outside work I host Travels Through Time — a history podcast featured in the Guardian, The Times and the Evening Standard — and I spend too much time in the cold English sea.