Founder, lead SEO consultant and search strategist

Matt
Cayless.

Senior SEO judgement for a search landscape that no longer stops at Google.

I bring more than 15 years of experience across technical SEO, content strategy, Digital PR and AI search intelligence. My job is to challenge the evidence, set the commercial priorities and bring the right specialists together around the result.

Founder & Director, Bubblegum Search Co-Founder, SourceSignal.ai
Book a strategy call with Matt ↗ View LinkedIn ↗
15+ years
inside search
Matt Cayless, Founder and lead SEO consultant at Bubblegum Search
15+ yearsWorking in SEO
BrightonSEOConference speaker
Jellyfish + iCrossingAgency grounding
5.0 ★★★★★18 Google reviews ↗

What a lead consultant should actually do

I sit between the data and the decision.

Search teams rarely lack reports, tools or ideas. The harder problem is deciding what deserves attention, what can be trusted and what will make a commercial difference.

That is where I work best. AI and proprietary search intelligence accelerate the research. I challenge the findings, connect them to the business model and turn them into a clear sequence of decisions.

01 / EVIDENCE

Challenge the evidence

Separate genuine opportunity from noise, assumptions and low-value activity.

02 / PRIORITY

Set commercial priorities

Rank the work by likely business impact, risk, effort and competitive pressure.

03 / DELIVERY

Coordinate specialists

Give technical, content and Digital PR specialists one joined-up direction.

Experience built across the search industry

Credentials with a visible history.

The experience behind the advice spans formal marketing training, major agency environments, founder-led consultancy and proprietary search intelligence.

Education
Oxford College
of Marketing

Digital Marketing Diploma, accredited by the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

Agency experience
jellyfish

Early grounding in technical and performance-led search.

Agency experience
iCrossing

Search strategy inside a major international agency environment.

Founded
bubblegum
search

Senior strategy supported by technical, content and Digital PR specialists.

Co-Founded
SourceSignal.ai

Proprietary intelligence for understanding brand visibility and source influence in AI answers.

Core expertise

One strategy across the whole search system.

Modern organic growth is not one discipline. Technical foundations, useful content, earned authority and AI visibility need to reinforce each other around a clear commercial objective.

⌁

Technical SEO and site architecture

Diagnosing crawl, indexation, architecture, internal linking and performance issues that restrict commercial pages.

Aa

Content and commercial search strategy

Connecting search demand to customer journeys, priority landing pages and content that supports a decision.

↗

Digital PR and earned authority

Building the credible third-party mentions, links and brand signals that cannot be created on your own website.

◎

AI search intelligence

Using SourceSignal.ai to understand visibility, prompts, competitors and the sources shaping AI answers.

Matt Cayless speaking about digital authority and brand influence at the Digital PR Summit

Speaking and industry contribution

On stage, not just on-page.

I speak about how SEO, Digital PR and brand authority are changing as discovery spreads across traditional search and AI answers.

The photograph shows me presenting at the Digital PR Summit on how digital authority and PR are redefining brand influence. I have also spoken at BrightonSEO, sharing practical experience from the work rather than recycled theory.

View BrightonSEO profile ↗Connect on LinkedIn ↗
Conference speakerbrightonSEOView talk ↗ Conference speakerDIGITAL PR
SUMMITView slides ↗ Podcast guestSearch with CandourListen to episode ↗ Podcast guestPET BUSINESS
DISRUPTORSListen to episode ↗ Video commentary and case studies▶ BUBBLEGUM
ON YOUTUBEVisit the channel ↗

Published, quoted and trusted for a point of view.

A selection of independent places where Matt's expertise has been published, quoted or invited onto the stage.

Authored article

Ecommerce CTRs are plummeting

Analysis of how smart brands are responding to changing search results.

Read article ↗ Expert commentary

AI search and ecommerce visibility

Commentary on disappearing clicks, brand authority and AI discovery.

Read coverage ↗ Expert contribution

How to structure an SEO team

A practical view of specialist roles and delivery inside an SEO agency.

Read article ↗ Authored article

Explaining SEO clearly

A practical guide to communicating search strategy to clients and stakeholders.

View profile ↗
Also featured in Marketing Donut ↗ Databox ↗ Robin Waite ↗

My point of view

Principles that shape the work.

01AI accelerates the research. Experienced people make the decision.
02Rankings matter. Commercial outcomes matter more.
03Authority has to exist beyond your own website.
04A prioritised roadmap beats a 100-point audit.

What I am building now

Turning experience into better decisions.

My current work brings together senior consultancy and better search intelligence.

bubblegum
search

At Bubblegum Search, I lead the strategy and performance conversations while technical, content and Digital PR specialists deliver against the agreed priorities.

SourceSignal.ai

Through SourceSignal.ai, I am helping brands and agencies understand how they appear in AI answers, which competitors are recommended and which third-party sources shape those results.

Away from Search Console

A person, not a persona.

Outside work, I am usually with my family, out walking or running, attempting to improve my golf or listening to rock music. I also have an enduring weakness for horror films, which is useful preparation for the occasional technical migration.

Work with Matt

Need senior SEO direction?

Work directly with Matt on SEO strategy, supported by Bubblegum Search's technical SEO, content and Digital PR specialists where delivery is required.

View SEO consultancy ↗ Book a strategy call with Matt ↗

Build Brand Authority. Improve AI Search Visibility. Get Recommended.

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Bubblegum Search provides AI search intelligence, Digital PR and brand mention outreach for brands and agencies. We help brands strengthen their reputation, earn trusted third-party mentions and improve visibility across ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and other AI search platforms. We also support agencies with white-label delivery, helping them offer AI search and authority-building services to their own clients.

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