SEO for recruitment agencies and ambitious SMEs
“We get all our work from referrals”Referred Googled Forgotten
- Name passed on
- Site checked
- Silence
Hey, I’m Rick. I get recruitment agencies and ambitious SMEs found in Google and AI search. Not a three-month content dump that crashes and burns, but a strategy that’s still paying off when AI shifts again.
Free, about 15 minutes, and no call unless you want one.
- 400%organic growth in six months
- 300+AI citations, built from zero
- Page 1finance recruitment terms, Manchester
Human strategy for AI search
Most SEO sprints the first mile.
Mine runs a negative split.
Founder of Yellow Lava and creator of NSEO (Negative Split SEO): disciplined diagnosis first, then acceleration, so your rankings and AI citations compound instead of fading after month three.
It’s how I coached endurance athletes to European podiums for sixteen years.It’s how I build websites that keep winning.
Discover NSEO
Mid-race. The second half is the bit that counts.
All the gear.
No idea.
A redesign, a blog plugin, a rank-tracking subscription and a monthly report full of green arrows. None of it tells Google, ChatGPT or your next client why they should pick you over the agency down the road.
Making your site sticky
Pages built around what your clients actually search, so they rank, and stay ranked when the next update lands.
Opening lines ChatGPT and AI Overviews can lift and quote, so yours is the name in the answer, not a competitor’s.
The referral who checks you out finds proof, process and a real person, and picks up the phone instead of going quiet.
Receipts, not promises.
Organic growth in six months, with 300+ AI citations built from zero over the same period.
Position one in Milton Keynes, Cambridge, Newcastle and Peterborough. Page one in Leeds. First for tech recruitment in Worcester.
From new content to a wedding booked because ChatGPT recommended them.
Monthly organic visits, built from a standing start over three years of on-page work. The curve didn’t break upward until month twelve — then it kept climbing for two more years.
Rick has an exceptional ability to simplify complex SEO and growth strategies and connect them clearly to business outcomes.
Rick has been absolutely amazing in transforming my business, he has dramatically improved my SEO and website traffic.
I pull websites apart.
Politely.
Short, jargon-free teardowns of the mistakes that cost businesses enquiries, and what to do about them. Built for the people who sign off the website, not the people who code it.
Watch on YouTube
What is
Yellow Lava?
Yellow Lava is an SEO consultancy founded by Rick Ashworth and based in Wilmslow, Cheshire. It helps recruitment agencies and ambitious SMEs get found in Google and cited by AI search tools, including ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google’s AI Overviews.
Its method, NSEO (Negative Split SEO), front-loads technical and content diagnosis before building, so results compound instead of fading after the first few months.
Results include 400% organic growth and 300+ AI citations in six months for a phobia and anxiety specialist, and position-one rankings across four UK cities for a finance recruitment client.
Search notes for people with an actual business to run.
What changed in Google and AI search, what it means for your website, and one thing to do about it. [Weekly / fortnightly]. No jargon.
Anyone can run in good weather.
Plenty of agencies looked brilliant when Google was the only thing to rank in. Then AI Overviews arrived and the results went quiet.
No quick wins here, and no three-month spike. If you want to still be showing up when AI shifts again, send me your site.
Get Your Free WalkthroughA 15-minute video of me going through your site. Free, and no call unless you want one. I do four a month.