
High Performance SEO, PPC & Digital PR for Ambitious Brands
Founded in 2008, Honchō partners with ambitious brands across the UK, US and Europe to deliver high-performance SEO, PPC and Digital PR. With over 17 years’ experience, we build search strategies that drive measurable growth and long-term commercial impact across competitive sectors including ecommerce, fashion, automotive and beauty.
Connected Search, Built Around Your Strategy
Our clients don’t buy disconnected services, they invest in outcomes. Our approach is built around Connected Search; bringing together SEO, Digital PR and Paid Media in a way that supports performance, not internal silos.
Clients work with us on a flexible, hour-based monthly retainer, giving access to our specialist expertise across one or multiple disciplines. Some engage us for deep expertise in a single channel, while others take a more connected approach.
With a connected strategy we allocate time across channels as your strategy evolves, using the right expertise, at the right time, to drive the strongest commercial results.
Work with Us
What our Clients Say..
Luisa Pasquino - SEO & CRO Manager - SephoraIt's been such a pleasure working with Honcho for the Sephora UK launch. The wealth of knowledge shared has been invaluable due the complexity of the migration.
The team's positive attitude and always on-hand support helped us to drive the project over the line, despite some unforeseen challenges!
Jamil Kassam - DTC Lead - Roberts RadioThe Honchō team was an excellent support throughout Q4, our busiest time of the year. Through strategic search, shopping and social campaigns, Honchō helped us to achieve some fantastic results. We’re excited to continue our partnership with the team.
James Wilson - Senior Brand & DTC Director - AriatWe love working with Chris and the Honchō team, after 6 years their team and ours continue to get closer and more granular on how we can improve our Consumer acquisition and awareness. It’s great working with people with the same growth mindset but even better when the results follow, which they consistently do.“
Saad Usman - Chief Operating Officer - Miniso UKWe are thrilled with the results achieved through our partnership with Honchō. Their expertise in ecommerce strategy and Magento development has completely transformed our online presence.
Honchō's data-driven approach to SEO and focus on user experience have been instrumental in driving significant growth for MINISO's online sales.
SEO & Paid Media Case Studies
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John Lewis
Custom built dashboard that helps John Lewis make better marketing decisions.
SEO & DATA CASE STUDY
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Nobody's Child
Learn how we more than doubled SEO sales for fashion brand Nobody's Child.
SEO CASE STUDY
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Faith In Nature
How we delivered a 24% PPC revenue increase for Faith In Nature
PAID SEARCH CASE STUDY

Built for Results. Backed by Proof.
- 17+ years delivering measurable search growth
- Trusted by 100+ household brands
- Multi-award winners at UK & European Search Awards
- Google Premier Partner
FAQs about Honcho
What services do Honcho provide?
Honcho are a specialist Search Marketing agency that help brands increase their presence in Search Engines and on Social Media.
We do this through Organic Performance and Paid Media.
Organic performance combines SEO, Content and Digital PR strategies to increase our client's natural search rankings in Google & Bing.
Paid Media uses advertising channels like Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising and Meta to give brands instant visibility in search results and on social media feeds.
What does Honcho mean?
Honcho comes from the WWII era and is a Japanese word for used for "group leader," hancho, from han, "corps or squad," and cho, "head or chief."
In modern day it is used to describe a leader or 'head honcho'.
At Honcho we encourage our team to use traits of leadership like bravery, honesty and empathy. We use the term #BeHoncho as part of our values.
We believe anyone can be a leader, no matter what their title.
Where are Honcho based?
Honcho are an SEO, Paid Media and Digital PR agency based in the Hertfordshire town of Hertford.
We have great links to central London with a 30 minute direct train route into Kings Cross and Euston from nearby stations.
Since COVID we have widened our talent pool of SEO, PPC and digital marketing experts with remote workers in Scotland, Wales and the north and south of England.
How long have Honcho been established?
Honcho was established in 2008 by our Founder Chris Ailey.
We have grown to a team of 30+ and worked with a large number of household brands including Mothercare, eBay, WWE, Sephora, John Lewis and Group 1 Automotive in over 17 years in business.
As a specialist SEO and Paid Search agency we have won lots of major awards across UK and Europe and are recognised as a Google Premier Partner.
What is SEO and how does it work?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation and is the used to gain free traffic from Search Engines like Google by appearing top of their search results.
Search Engines use algorithms to establish which websites appear in what order in their results.SEO can be broken down into the following key areas:
Technical SEO is the process of ensuring Google can index your site quickly and easily and that pages load quickly.
Content and On-site SEO is the process of producing and optimising content so that Google can understand the topics and keywords the site and pages should be relevant for.
Digital PR is used to build authority and trust of a domain or website, a key factor that Google uses to establish whether your site should rank for the most competitive keywords.
What Paid Media channels can we advertise on?
We can promote or advertise your site on Search Engines so that people actively searching for your product or services can find you easily.
Google Shopping is a very effective channel and is often used by browsers searching for specific products. Through effective feed optimisation we can help your products show more often and for the best converting terms in Shopping results.
Paid Social advertising is a great way of reaching new audiences and we can promote your website or brand on Meta channels like Facebook and Instagram, TikTok, X and Pinterest.
We can also help you with video advertising on YouTube and programmatic advertising on networks.
Do we work on projects or retainers?
We prefer to work on retainer agreements with our clients as the work and projects we provide are usually part of a wider strategy.
For Paid Search and Shopping clients we offer a management service where we optimise their Google Ads and Bing Ads accounts on an ongoing basis, providing weekly reporting of the results.
For SEO, Digital PR and content clients we like to partner with our clients and set a 12-24 month strategy and roadmap designed to grow their organic presence.
However we regularly provide one off audits and projects for clients like auditing their Google Ads account, optimising their shopping feed or running technical audits for example.
Do we work with international brands?
We largely work with brands in the UK and US but optimise and advertise websites across the world, including across Europe in multiple countries and languages.
What sectors do we work in?
We specialise in B2C (business to consumer) marketing and supporting Direct to consumer brands.
We have a rich heritage in ecommerce and automotive but have clients across a range of sectors including for fashion, automotive, beauty, electronics and home and garden brands.
How do we charge for our services?
We charge by the hour. For retainer clients we provide a monthly roadmap with tasks assigned to calculate the monthly fee.This amount will never change without prior client approval.
Latest Blogs & Articles
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Google AI Mode Ads: What Direct Offers Mean for Retailers
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SEO Readiness for Agentic Commerce, From Discoverability to Actionability
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From Click to Checkout Inside Google: The Biggest Retail Shift Since Shopping & Pmax?
Google just changed the shopping playbook (again).. At NRF 2026, Google announced a major shift in how online shopping will work over the next few...Read Article → -
Honchō win at the 2025 UK Search Awards
Honchō were victorious at the 2025 UK Search Awards, celebrating not just a win but also a second-place finish. We proudly took home Best Use...Read Article → -
Ads have been spotted in AI Max for the first time
The first ads in Googles new AI Mode have been spotted. But how are they laid out? And what could this mean for Google Ads...Read Article →

