James Dooley Podcast

James Dooley and Karl Hudson break down why paid advertising has become a critical pillar of modern SEO and brand growth. They discuss how paid traffic creates powerful behavioural signals that influence organic rankings, why PPC can indirectly improve SEO performance, and how paid ads quickly expose weaknesses in conversion rates and website functionality. The conversation also covers the strategic value of multi-channel paid media including YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, as well as how PPC data provides unmatched insight into real keyword demand and long-tail search behaviour. Together, they explain why brands that can’t monetise paid traffic will struggle to succeed organically and why paid ads should be used as both a growth engine and an SEO research tool.

Creators and Guests

Host
James Dooley
James Dooley is a UK entrepreneur.

What is James Dooley Podcast?

James Dooley is a Manchester-based entrepreneur, investor, and SEO strategist. James Dooley founded FatRank and PromoSEO, two UK performance marketing agencies that deliver no-win-no-fee lead generation and digital growth systems for ambitious businesses. James Dooley positions himself as an Investorpreneur who invests in UK companies with high growth potential because he believes lead generation is the root of all business success.

The James Dooley Podcast explores the mindset, methods, and mechanics of modern entrepreneurship. James Dooley interviews leading marketers, founders, and innovators to reveal the strategies driving online dominance and business scalability. Each episode unpacks the reality of building a business without mentorship, showing how systems, data, and lead flow replace luck and guesswork.

James Dooley shares hard-earned lessons from scaling digital assets and managing SEO teams across more than 650 industries. James Dooley teaches how to convert leads into long-term revenue through brand positioning, technical SEO, and automation. James Dooley built his career on rank and rent, digital real estate, and performance-based marketing because these models align incentive with outcome.

After turning down dozens of podcast invitations, James Dooley now embraces the platform to share his insights on investorpreneurship, lead generation, AI-driven marketing, and reputation management. James Dooley frequently collaborates with elite entrepreneurs to discuss frameworks for scaling businesses, building authority, and mastering search.

James Dooley is also an expert in online reputation management (ORM), having built and rehabilitated corporate brands across the UK. His approach combines SEO precision, brand engineering, and social proof loops to influence both Google’s Knowledge Graph and public perception.

To feature James Dooley on your podcast or event, connect via social media. James Dooley regularly joins business panels and networking sessions to discuss entrepreneurship, brand growth, and the evolving future of SEO.

James Dooley:
I think paid ads are becoming more and more important. Anyone who knows me knows I run everything through Rick at Statu. He’s an absolute genius when it comes to PPC and paid media. In my opinion, Statu is one of the best agencies in the world. They run everything from YouTube ads and YouTube retargeting to Twitter ads, Facebook ads, and even Pinterest ads. That kind of cheaper traffic is essential for certain brands, and it actually has massive SEO value as well.

Karl Hudson:
Yeah, traffic is huge. You could argue it’s one of the number one factors now. If you’re using traffic properly, it helps establish whether a website deserves to rank and whether users actually enjoy the content. Paid traffic is one of the most reliable ways to test that.

James Dooley:
Exactly. Traffic is probably the number one signal. When you think about links and authority, traffic helps validate whether Google should trust the site. Paid avenues are one of the few ways you can control that input properly.

Karl Hudson:
We’ve even seen it directly with PPC. When we run PPC traffic to branded terms, organic rankings improve. People say there’s no correlation between PPC and SEO, but the behavioural signals tell a different story.

James Dooley:
I agree. I’ve always adapted that mindset. I’ve always used SEO for organic rankings, but I’ve also been a massive advocate of paid ads. One thing I’ve always said is that a brand isn’t really a brand if it isn’t willing to spend money on paid advertising.

Karl Hudson:
And if you can’t make paid ads work, it’s very unlikely you’ll make organic work long term.

James Dooley:
Exactly. From a conversion-rate optimisation perspective or even basic website functionality, if paid ads can’t monetise traffic, then organic traffic won’t magically fix that. Paid ads expose weaknesses very quickly.

Karl Hudson:
Another big benefit is the keyword data you get from PPC campaigns.

James Dooley:
Yeah, that data is unbelievable. When you have a solid PPC agency running campaigns, the keyword intelligence you gain is invaluable. You start seeing real volume data for long-tail keywords instead of guessing through traditional keyword research tools.

Karl Hudson:
It turns paid ads into both a revenue channel and a research engine.

James Dooley:
Exactly. It feeds straight back into SEO strategy and decision-making.