James Dooley Podcast

In this episode of the Fatrank Podcast, host James Dooley sits down with digital landlord and SEO entrepreneur Julien Goldie for a deep, in-depth conversation on building and scaling more than 600 lead-generation and rank-and-rent websites. The discussion explores Julien Goldie’s early challenges, his path to discovering sustainable long-term SEO strategies, and the systems and testing frameworks that power multi–seven- and eight-figure SEO operations. James Dooley and Julien Goldie break down the realities of entrepreneurship, team building, burnout, mindset, and why so many people fail to implement—even when they’re handed a complete blueprint. They also dive into tactical SEO subjects such as semantic optimisation, content velocity, backlink strategy, penalty recovery, niche selection, and how AI and SGE will reshape the future of search. Throughout the episode, James draws out Julien’s philosophy on scaling sustainably, developing the right team, building trust with local businesses, and creating predictable digital assets that compound in value over time. It’s an open, actionable, and highly insightful conversation for anyone looking to grow an SEO business or enter the rank-and-rent space.

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.

Julien Goldie:
Today we’re interviewing James Dooley, one of the most successful SEOs I know — but more importantly, someone who is exceptionally skilled at monetizing and running SEO businesses. He’s been called “the £100 million SEO,” operates more than 600 websites, and specializes in lead generation and rank-and-rent. This interview is all actionable insight: no fluff, no filler.
So James — how did you scale to that level with SEO?

Scaling to 600+ Sites

James Dooley:
It took a lot of hard work, a lot of failing, and years in the industry. You need solid systems, motivated staff, and a repeatable process. When something doesn’t work, you diagnose it, adapt to the algorithm, and move forward.

Julien Goldie:
How long did it take to reach that level?

James Dooley:
About fourteen years. And honestly, the first five years? I failed miserably. Others were spamming backlinks and ranking in weeks. I was “white hat”— great content, no promotion, no backlinks. People using GSA, blog comments, and forum links overtook me instantly.

So I learned from black hats — they’re usually right — and adapted those ideas into long-term systems.

Two things helped me scale big:

An in-house testing team breaking the SERPs daily.

A systems/process team refining SOPs so training becomes fast and scalable.

Hiring the Right People

Julien Goldie:
Do you hire people with SEO experience?

James Dooley:
Absolutely not. I tried hiring “SEO gurus” — terrible idea. They fought new methods and were stuck in their ways. I look for people with the right mindset: hungry, humble, willing to learn every day.
Experience matters far less than mentality.

Failing But Continuing

Julien Goldie:
You said the first five years weren't very successful — what made you keep going?

James Dooley:
We were making money. I only felt like I was failing because I compared myself to people ranking in weeks while it took us months. Comparison kills joy.

There were moments I thought about hiring agencies — but most agencies were learning on the job and didn’t know more than me. So I treated it like my “SEO university” and pushed through.

The Pain of Scaling

Julien Goldie:
This year I scaled massively, but it came at the cost of intensity and stress. Is scaling from 7 figures to 8 figures a different game?

James Dooley:
Completely. Entrepreneurship is not for everyone. It’s hard, lonely, and messy.
People chase the money, but the truth is: the journey is the reward.

When scaling, you deal with:

staff not showing up

internal politics

unequal growth among employees

burnout

algorithm updates

16-hour days

missing family time

It’s not glamorous — but worth it if you love what you do.

Managing People and Quality

Julien Goldie:
I noticed that if I'm not hyper-focused, standards drop. What’s your experience?

James Dooley:
You need middle management and quality control.
Anyone can churn 5,000 AI words in minutes. But is it good?
We have layers of QA checking content, links, and implementation.

How Growth Really Happened

Julien Goldie:
How did you go from a few niche sites making £10–20K/month to hundreds?

James Dooley:
We never aimed to build thousands of sites. It started with ranking our own playground construction business.

A mentor asked:
“You rank #1 — why not #2?”
So we built multiple sites targeting the same niche.

Then he said:
“Who do you serve? Architects? Then build a site that gets them leads too.”

This created a chain reaction:

our clients grew

we grew as a result

then their partners wanted leads

then their suppliers wanted leads

It snowballed across industries.
Lead gen became the heart of everything.

Finding Local Lead Buyers

Julien Goldie:
Early on, how hard was it to find local suppliers to buy leads?

James Dooley:
Hard — but everyone wants leads.
Their pain points were:

agencies that stole money

lead-gen companies selling the same lead 5x

fake inquiries

no-show jobs

So you must build trust first — often giving leads free for a month, then finding the best converters, and only then moving to paid models.

Rank and Rent Reality

Julien Goldie:
Is rank and rent easy to start?

James Dooley:
No.
Rank and rent only works after you’ve:

done pay-per-lead

done pay-per-conversion

proven your leads convert

understood what exact jobs make them money

It takes 2–3 years to get a client to the point they’ll pay £2–3K/month for a site.

Vision and Motivation

Julien Goldie:
How far do you want to take this?

James Dooley:
It’s no longer about me.
It’s about my team — some of whom I’ve worked with for 10–12 years.
I want them to grow, succeed, and become wealthy.
I’m not materialistic — no Rolexes, no fancy cars.
I chase impact, not cash.

Even if you offered me £1 billion not to work again, I’d decline.
I love the game.

Entrepreneur vs SEO

Julien Goldie:
Your mindset feels more entrepreneur than SEO.

James Dooley:
I’m not a top SEO.
I’m a businessman who leverages SEO.
My team are the technical geniuses — I just assemble them and build the machine.

Tactical SEO Section

Julien Goldie:
One audience question: “I’m a lawyer and want to build rank-and-rent sites in the legal niche. How do I start?”

James Dooley:
You don’t.
Legal is brutal.
Instead, partner with someone excellent at SEO.
If you insist on doing it yourself, learn SEO for 5–6 years first.

Back to Zero Scenario

Julien Goldie:
If you lost everything and had to start again?

James Dooley:
I’d start with:

display ads

local lead gen

autoblogging

broad niche sites

reinvesting early earnings

Rank and rent comes years later.

KPIs & Ranking Philosophy

Julien Goldie:
Do you track impressions, clicks, or rankings?

James Dooley:
We track everything — but growth mainly happens during core updates.
Day-to-day changes are incremental.

Semantics & Content Quality

Julien Goldie:
Do you worry about semantics?

James Dooley:
Yes — semantics, entities, macro/micro structure, image entities, everything.
But 95% of people do fine with Surfer, Phrase, or POP.

CMS Choice

Julien Goldie:
Preferred CMS?

James Dooley:
WordPress.
Testbeds in PHP/HTML.

Work Habits & Burnout

Julien Goldie:
How much do you work daily?

James Dooley:
Varies.
Sometimes burnout hits and I take days off.
Sometimes I do 16-hour sprints.
Generally:

wake 5am

heavy morning work

gym or tennis

family time

calls in the afternoon

Penalty Recovery

Julien Goldie:
What’s your SOP for penalties?

James Dooley:
Three pillars:

E-E-A-T fundamentals

Information retrieval cost—delete thin content

Backlink audit & disavow — still very real

We've handled thousands of reconsideration requests.
Toxic links absolutely destroy rankings.

Future of SEO & AI

Julien Goldie:
What’s your view on SGEs and AI?

James Dooley:
AI will crush informational blogs but open huge opportunities.
Google still needs AdSense revenue, so they'll always need publishers.
SEO is entering a golden age because AI 100x multiplies output — if you embrace it.
If you don’t? You’ll fall behind fast.

Closing

Julien Goldie:
Where can people find you?

James Dooley:
JamesDooley.com — all my socials are there.
I’m more active now with podcasts and YouTube.
Ask me anything — I want others to win too.