Hi, I'm Mike Dodgson

My career started in 2001 as General Manager at Britnett Web Services in Barnard Castle, where I spent almost nine years managing every aspect of a web services company: development, hosting, client management, and the early days of search optimisation when Google was still finding its feet.

In 2010, I moved to Zine Ltd as Digital Marketing Lead. Over nearly six years there, I developed and delivered digital marketing strategies across multiple channels – building campaigns that combined SEO, paid media, content, and social to deliver measurable commercial results. It was at Zine that I really sharpened my ability to connect marketing activity directly to revenue, something that still drives everything I do today.

I launched Digital Sprout in 2016, initially alongside other commitments, because I wanted to work directly with business owners who needed straightforward, honest SEO support without the agency markup or the jargon. Since then, I've helped businesses across a range of sectors – from local trades and professional services to e-commerce and hospitality – improve their search visibility and, more importantly, their bottom line.

Since 2019, I've also held the role of Client Services Director at Maitland, a digital marketing agency with offices in Darlington and Newcastle. Managing multiple client accounts across SEO, performance marketing, and strategy has given me a broad perspective on what works at scale – and what doesn't. I bring that commercial rigour to every Digital Sprout engagement.

I don't believe in SEO as a black box. When we work together, you'll understand exactly what I'm doing, why I'm doing it, and what it's delivering for your business. I set up full conversion tracking from day one so you can see the real impact – not just rankings, but leads, enquiries, and revenue.

I use a combination of industry-standard tools including Google Search Console, Google Analytics 4, Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Screaming Frog, alongside Google Gemini AI to accelerate research and content workflows. Every strategy is built on data, delivered by a human, and measured against your commercial goals.