Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO)
- FAQ, HowTo & Article schema
- Question-led content structure
- Featured snippet & AI Overview capture
- Concise, chunkable answers
- Speakable markup
Face-to-Face Available · Hereford
PPC, AIO & SEO Consultancy · Hereford
Commercial Velocity. In Hereford.
Senior PPC, AI optimisation and technical SEO for mid-market businesses across Herefordshire. Built to win Google, AI Overviews and answer engines in 2026. Face-to-face in Hereford. No junior handovers.
Verified Infrastructure Partners
PPC Consultancy in Hereford
The Hereford PPC consultancy
The Hereford PPC consultancy
built around profit.
Mid-market businesses in Hereford keep encountering the same failure from local PPC agencies and SEO agencies: technically active accounts, commercially adrift results. Account managers rotate. Junior staff run the work. Nobody holds the full picture.
The Crane Consultancy is a senior-led PPC and SEO consultancy, not an agency. One practitioner holds the entire Hereford engagement: paid search, paid social, server-side tracking, technical SEO and the financial logic that connects them. Every decision is filtered through one question: does this compound your profit? In 2026, with paid auctions tighter and search itself splitting between Google and AI answers, that question carries more weight than it ever has.
Hereford is the commercial centre of a largely rural, agriculture-led county, with notable strength in food and drink production alongside retail and professional services. Much of its demand comes from a dispersed rural population and from food producers selling well beyond the county line. It is one of the least urban markets the practice works in.
Rural search behaves nothing like an urban market, and broad reach here is mostly money burned on impressions that were never going to convert. The Hereford account follows how this dispersed, agricultural county genuinely searches and buys, splitting local catchment demand from the national reach of its food and drink producers across distinct campaigns. Reading those two markets correctly, and refusing to chase volume in either, is a senior call rather than a default setting.
AI Search Optimisation in Hereford
Win the AI search era
Win the AI search era
in Hereford.
Search in 2026 is no longer a page of links and nothing more. Buyers in Hereford now put their questions to Google AI Overviews, to ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Copilot, and act on a single synthesised answer. If your business is not named in that answer, a competitor is.
This is the discipline of AI optimisation, AIO: the architectural work that decides whether large language models can read your business, trust it and cite it. It divides into Answer Engine Optimisation, AEO, the structure that wins direct answers and AI Overviews, and Generative Engine Optimisation, GEO, the entity and authority signals that make a model recommend you by name. It is a technical exercise, not a content mill. Most Hereford websites lose here for the same handful of reasons: weak entity signals, missing or broken schema, and pages an AI reads as plain text rather than a defined business with services, locations and proof.
The practice treats this as core engineering. Structured data, a coherent entity graph, machine-readable content, an llms.txt discovery file, fast Core Web Vitals and disciplined crawl-budget hygiene are built so the model finds you, parses you and quotes you. The work is grounded in how classic search, AI Overviews and answer engines behave today, and built to still hold in 2027 rather than be unpicked a year later. For a Hereford business, that is the difference between being the answer and being invisible.
Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO)
- Entity graph & knowledge signals
- E-E-A-T & verified authorship
- Citation likelihood
- Brand sentiment & share of voice
- Consistent NAP & identifiers
Machine-Readable Foundations
- Schema.org structured data
- Open Graph & card integrity
- llms.txt & semantic HTML
- Core Web Vitals
- Crawl-budget & indexation hygiene
SEO Consultancy in Hereford
Technical SEO consultancy
Technical SEO consultancy
for Hereford businesses.
Most Hereford SEO agencies optimise for rankings. The Crane Consultancy optimises for revenue. Technical SEO, server-side tracking and conversion architecture are built to serve the paid media stack, not compete with it.
Paid Media
- Google Search & Shopping
- Microsoft Advertising
- Meta (Facebook & Instagram)
- LinkedIn B2B Acquisition
- YouTube & Display
- Amazon Performance Ads
Technical SEO
- Technical Site Audits
- Core Web Vitals
- Schema & Structured Data
- Crawlability & Indexation
- AI Crawl Readiness
- On-Page Optimisation
Commercial Intelligence
- Server-Side Tracking
- Attribution Modelling
- Conversion Rate Optimisation
- Advanced Data Analytics
- Bespoke Reporting
Hereford Sector Experience
PPC and SEO for Hereford
PPC and SEO for Hereford
across every sector.
The practice works with mid-market businesses in Hereford and Herefordshire across the following sectors. B2B lead generation and full omnichannel e-commerce engagements are both accepted.
Agriculture
- Paid Search & Shopping
- Paid Social
- Technical SEO
- Server-Side Tracking
Retail
- Paid Search & Shopping
- Paid Social
- Technical SEO
- Server-Side Tracking
Professional Services
- Paid Search & Shopping
- Paid Social
- Technical SEO
- Server-Side Tracking
Tourism
- Paid Search & Shopping
- Paid Social
- Technical SEO
- Server-Side Tracking
Historical Execution
Proven at global scale.
Proven at global scale.
Applied in Hereford.
Track record includes the global digital transformation of LUSH Cosmetics across sixteen markets. The same forensic commercial discipline applied to that programme is applied to every Hereford engagement, regardless of size.
One practitioner.
Every channel. Every week.
Nic Crane · Founder
A decade engineering profit at scale.
Architect of the LUSH Cosmetics global digital transformation across sixteen markets, recognised by Welocalize as Best Global Client Team. Former Paid Media Enablement and Commerce Lead at Adapt and Head of Paid Media at Navigate, leading programmes across attraction, conservation and tourism portfolios.
Most recently engaged as Digital Data and Analytics lead through the Everywhen brand launch, securing data integrity across a migration spanning Towergate Insurance and forty other brands. A power user of HTML, CSS, JavaScript and GTM, now applying that technical depth to AI search optimisation: structured data, entity signals and the machine readability that decides visibility in Google AI Overviews and answer engines. Meta Advanced Media Buying Professional. Google Partner. Amazon Ads Partner.
The practice is based in Bath and North East Somerset and travels to Hereford and across Herefordshire for face-to-face client sessions.
The senior mind that wins the work is the senior mind that does the work.
PPC Agency vs PPC Consultancy in Hereford
Why Hereford businesses leave
Why Hereford businesses leave
PPC agencies for senior consultancy.
The typical Hereford PPC agency and SEO agency model has a structural flaw: the senior practitioner who wins the pitch is not the person who runs the account. What you signed for and what runs the account quietly become two different people.
The Crane Consultancy travels to Hereford for face-to-face sessions when the engagement calls for it. But proximity is never used as a substitute for expertise. Forensic data, disciplined capital deployment and a single undivided senior mind holding the Hereford account are what drive results. At roughly 49 miles from the practice's base in Bath and North East Somerset, Hereford sits comfortably within reach for face-to-face sessions whenever they add value.
Operating Standards
What every Hereford engagement
What every Hereford engagement
guarantees.
Four standing commitments separate this from the agency model most boards have contracted before.
i.
You own everything.
Every ad account, tag manager, analytics property and dashboard sits under your ownership. Always. We do not gatekeep your data.
ii.
No bait-and-switch.
The senior named on the proposal is the senior who does the work. No handover to a junior. No silent reassignment after the contract signs.
iii.
Live, not laminated.
Performance dashboards updated frequently. No vanity PDFs assembled the night before a quarterly review.
iv.
Direct line to the founder.
WhatsApp access to Nicholas, not a ticket queue. Ask the difficult question on a Sunday if you need to.
Questions from Hereford Businesses
PPC and SEO in Hereford:
PPC and SEO in Hereford:
common questions.
Are you a PPC agency or PPC consultancy in Hereford?
The Crane Consultancy is a senior-led PPC and SEO consultancy, not a traditional PPC agency. The structural difference matters: one senior practitioner holds every Hereford engagement from audit through to ongoing optimisation. There are no junior account managers, no team rotations and no handover documents. You work directly with the founder, Nicholas Crane, throughout the engagement.
Do you offer face-to-face PPC and SEO consultancy in Hereford?
Yes. The practice travels to Hereford and across Herefordshire for face-to-face client sessions. All Hereford engagements include full remote capability as standard: direct WhatsApp access to the founder, live performance dashboards and video sessions.
What makes The Crane Consultancy different from a Hereford PPC agency?
Most Hereford PPC agencies and SEO agencies operate the same model: a senior practitioner wins the pitch, junior staff run the account. The Crane Consultancy removes that structure entirely. One senior practitioner, with a track record including the global digital transformation of LUSH Cosmetics across sixteen markets, holds every Hereford engagement. The person who audits the account is the person optimising bids, reviewing technical SEO and reporting to the board every week.
What PPC and SEO services does The Crane Consultancy offer in Hereford?
The practice offers PPC consultancy across Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising, Meta, LinkedIn, YouTube and Amazon, alongside technical SEO consultancy, server-side tracking, attribution modelling and conversion rate optimisation. All services are delivered by one senior practitioner to Hereford businesses, anchored to a single profitability model rather than managed as separate channel siloes.
Can you help my Hereford business appear in AI search and Google AI Overviews?
Yes. This is a core part of the practice. Buyers in Hereford increasingly ask Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Copilot for recommendations and act on a single synthesised answer. The Crane Consultancy builds the technical foundations that let those systems read, trust and cite your business: structured data and schema, a coherent entity graph, machine-readable content, an llms.txt discovery file and fast Core Web Vitals. This is the discipline of AI optimisation, AIO, made up of Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) and Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO).
What is AI optimisation (AIO), and how is it different from SEO?
Traditional SEO earns rankings in a list of links. AI optimisation, AIO, earns visibility inside AI-generated answers, in Google AI Overviews and in large language models such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity. It splits into Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO), the structure that wins direct answers, and Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO), the entity and authority signals that make a model recommend you by name. For Hereford businesses it is an architectural and technical exercise, not a content mill, and it sits alongside PPC and technical SEO in every engagement.
Beyond Hereford
Senior PPC, AIO & SEO consultancy
Senior PPC, AIO & SEO consultancy
beyond Hereford.
Hereford sits within a wider region the practice serves both in person and remotely. If your business is closer to one of the following, the same senior-led PPC, AIO and SEO consultancy applies there too.
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About The Crane Consultancy in Hereford
The facts, plainly stated.
The Crane Consultancy provides senior-led PPC, AI optimisation (AIO) and technical SEO consultancy to mid-market businesses in Hereford, Herefordshire. It is a trading name of Crane Consultancy Limited, registered at Companies House under number 15526285, VAT number GB466677439, founded in 2024. The practice operates from Bath and North East Somerset, with a registered office at 45 Albemarle Street, Mayfair, London W1S 4JL. It travels to Hereford for face-to-face sessions and delivers the rest remotely.
Every Hereford engagement is held by one senior practitioner, the founder Nicholas Crane, from audit to invoice, with no account manager rotations and no junior handovers. Services include PPC across Google, Microsoft, Meta, LinkedIn, YouTube and Amazon; technical SEO; Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) and Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) for visibility in Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Copilot; server-side tracking; and conversion rate optimisation. Nicholas Crane is a Google Partner, Stape Partner and Amazon Ads Partner, and led the LUSH Cosmetics global digital transformation across sixteen markets.
Hereford Mandates
Start the conversation.
Capacity is deliberately limited. If you are a mid-market business in Hereford ready to replace agency faith with commercial certainty, use the form below.