Digital and integrated marketing across GroupM, Ogilvy, JLL and GUS: content, analytics, search and AI visibility, team leadership and pitch strategy.
01 The record
application pipeline from organic search, before enrolment conversion
GUS, SEO pages in one year.
YoY organic traffic growth, no paid amplification
GUS, Feb 2022 to Sep 2025.
ranking positions lost in a Drupal replatform
Two legacy education brand sites, GUS.
citation gain on restructured pages
Answer-first passages, FAQ and schema.
people led across SEO, content and analytics
Cross-functional operating model, GUS.
9,800 SEO-page leads became 3,200 applications in one year.
02 Profile
I am a digital and integrated marketing strategist who connects brand, content and demand to commercial outcomes, including a INR 416 crore application pipeline, before enrolment conversion, built through organic channels at GUS. Across agency, in-house and education environments since 2016, I have advised senior leadership, led teams of 7-10 and worked across the Americas, MENA, EMEA and APAC. My work combines depth in search and AI discovery, analytics and conversion with pitch, proposal and stakeholder communication experience from GroupM and Ogilvy, including the Ford win. I recently completed the Leeds MSc in Marketing Management with Advertising with First Class honours and was a top 13 UK finalist in the CIM x IBM “The Pitch” 2026.
03 Selected work
01 / 05 · Global University Systems · Higher Education
End-to-end Drupal replatform of two legacy education brand sites where search visibility had to be preserved without ranking disruption.
ranking positions lost post-launch
traffic variance across transition
to full organic recovery
02 / 05 · Global University Systems · Higher Education
Restructuring deep course and programme content with answer-first passages, FAQ markup, schema, and entity signals after tests showed low AI visibility.
citations on restructured deep pages
content production time via AI workflows
03 / 05 · Global University Systems · Higher Education
Connecting search content architecture directly to commercial enrolment targets, generating qualified demand and accountable student applications across EMEA and APAC.
YoY organic traffic, no paid amplification
YoY growth in qualified leads
application pipeline, before enrolment conversion
04 / 05 · GroupM, WPP Group · Automotive
Owned the website technical analysis and the competitor and market analysis behind the Ford win.
competitive Ford mandate pitch
non-branded organic traffic at zero budget
05 / 05 · JLL & Ogilvy · Global Enterprise
Multi-market SEO across the Americas, EMEA, and APAC on globally indexed domains, creating standardised governance playbooks and entity-level schema architectures.
across luxury, automotive, and healthcare
multi-market domain indexation
04 What I bring
Verified proof across brand, digital and communications, growth and product marketing, and search and AI discovery.
Owned the website technical analysis and the competitor and market analysis behind the Ford pitch win at GroupM.
Delivered search and digital execution across 10+ accounts in automotive, luxury, healthcare and e-commerce across Americas and MENA.
Tracked brand mention rate, citation count and share, AI share of voice, AI Overview presence and sentiment alongside organic traffic and conversion.
Shortlisted among the top 13 UK teams in 2026 for a GBP 400K go-to-market strategy involving AI-driven commercial marketing, pitched to IBM and CIM leadership.
Delivered weekly briefings to the marketing director and CBO-level leadership at GUS on AI answers reducing organic clicks, plus audit templates, playbooks and stakeholder training.
Built executive dashboards in Looker Studio and traced Salesforce-tracked leads from SEO pages to defend organic investment to leadership.
Reduced content production time by 40% across the GUS portfolio through structured, AI-enabled content workflows.
Supported entity signals and a hub-and-spoke content model with Reddit and forum answers plus genuine review growth on GMB and education portals.
Delivered an annual organic roadmap signed off by the CBO and marketing director at GUS, driving +65% YoY organic traffic with no paid amplification and +20% YoY qualified leads.
Lifted lead-to-application conversion by 10-12% and reduced bounce rate by 15-20% across 50-60K annual leads converting at roughly 30%.
One-year SEO page performance generated 9,800 leads and 3,200 applications, creating an INR 416 crore application pipeline, before enrolment conversion, at INR 13 lakh average programme value.
Led a team of 7-10 (5 SEO specialists, 2 content writers, 1 analyst) and built the cross-functional operating model with dev, brand and analytics leads.
Replatformed two legacy education brand sites onto Drupal at GUS with zero ranking loss, under 5% traffic variance and full recovery within one month.
Lifted citations by 15-20% on restructured deep content pages (answer-first passages, FAQ, schema) after Ahrefs and SEMrush tests showed low initial AI visibility.
Reported brand mention rate, citation count and share, AI share of voice, AI Overview presence, sentiment and AI referral traffic alongside organic traffic, engagement and conversion.
Deployed entity-level schema on sites with thousands of pages and regional sites of 100-200 pages across EMEA and APAC at JLL.
05 Experience
Feb 2022 to Sep 2025
+65% organic traffic YoY
Global University Systems (GUS) · Senior SEO Manager (Digital Portfolio and Content Strategy)
Organic traffic increased 65% year on year with no paid amplification, while qualified leads grew 20% year on year.
In one year, SEO pages generated 9,800 leads and 3,200 applications, creating an application pipeline of roughly INR 416 crore at an average programme value of INR 13 lakh, before enrolment conversion.
Executed a Drupal replatform of two legacy education brand sites with zero ranking loss, under 5% traffic variance, and full recovery within one month.
Gained 15-20% more citations on restructured deep content pages by implementing answer-first passages, FAQ markup, schema, and entity signals.
Led a multidisciplinary team of 7 to 10 specialists, including 5 SEO specialists, 2 content writers, and 1 analyst, establishing the cross-functional operating model with development, brand, and analytics leads.
Briefed CBO-level leadership and the marketing director weekly on search trends, defending organic investment by tracing Salesforce-tracked leads from SEO pages.
Nov 2019 to Jan 2022
+20% non-branded organic
GroupM, WPP Group · Marketing Manager (Digital and Integrated Marketing)
Won the Ford pitch by owning the technical website analysis, competitor evaluation, and market opportunity analysis.
Achieved 20% growth in non-branded organic traffic at zero media budget, outperforming paid search on target queries.
Delivered international SEO programmes across the Americas and MENA regions for major clients including Ford, PepsiCo, and Zee5.
Led a dedicated team of 5 to 6 SEO and marketing specialists across client pitches, scoping, and operational delivery.
Presented performance data to executive client stakeholders, building the rationale for sustained organic investment.
Feb 2019 to Oct 2019
EMEA & APAC expansion
JLL · Digital Marketing Analyst
Managed multi-market search engine optimisation across EMEA and APAC on a globally indexed enterprise domain.
Implemented entity-level schema across complex websites containing thousands of indexed pages and multiple regional sites.
Built standardised SEO audit templates and technical playbooks for global regional sites.
Sep 2016 to Jan 2019
10+ client accounts
Ogilvy, WPP Group · Digital Marketing Analyst
Delivered technical and strategic search engine optimisation across more than 10 client accounts spanning automotive, luxury, healthcare, and e-commerce.
Executed international search engine optimisation across the Americas and MENA regions for global consumer and luxury brands.
Authored the strategic and technical search engine optimisation sections for prospective client pitch decks.
Conducted in-depth competitor audits and crawl diagnostics to identify immediate and compounding organic growth opportunities.
06 Capabilities
Annual roadmap across site, UX, A/B testing and content, signed off by the CBO and marketing director at GUS, driving 65% YoY organic traffic growth with no paid amplification and 20% YoY qualified lead growth.
Hub-and-spoke content architecture across multiple education brand sites, cutting content production time by 40% through AI-enabled workflows while scaling high-intent programme pages.
Competitor and category analysis across agency and in-house mandates, owning the website technical and market analysis behind the Ford pitch win at GroupM and tracking brand mentions and citations in AI answers.
Executive dashboards in GA4 and Looker Studio, defending marketing investment by tracing Salesforce-tracked leads from SEO pages, and running structured A/B testing that lifted lead-to-application conversion by 10-12% and reduced bounce rate by 15-20%.
Enterprise SEO, GEO and AEO execution, including a Drupal replatform of two legacy education brand sites with zero ranking loss and a 15-20% citation gain on restructured deep content pages.
Led a multidisciplinary team of 7-10 at GUS and 5-6 specialists at GroupM, delivering weekly CBO and marketing director briefings, stakeholder training and agency pitch presentations.
07 Education & recognition
MSc Marketing Management with Advertising
Graduated with First Class honours.
Dissertation on hyper-personalised Instagram ads and consumer purchasing decisions.
Shortlisted, Top 13 UK Teams
GBP 400K go-to-market strategy involving AI-driven commercial marketing.
Designed a multi-channel growth loop for “Green AI” and pitched it to IBM and CIM leadership.
MA Media Studies
Graduated with First Class honours.
Marketing Associate, 180 Degrees Consulting Leeds, voluntary.
08 Testimonials
Verified LinkedIn recommendations from managers and peers who have seen the work up close.
"I had the pleasure of working with Shalini during our time at JLL. While she was not my direct report, we did work on the same team to scale SEO best practices on a global scale. What sticks out in my mind about Shalini is her incredible work ethic. She is very smart and grasps new and highly technical concepts very easily. I always appreciated her ability to work independently and produce top-quality deliverables. That said, she never hesitated to ask questions or think outside of the box when it came to difficult tasks. I whole-heartedly recommend Shalini for any SEO leadership role."
"I had an amazing opportunity to work with Shalini in two different organizations over the years. It gave me a unique chance to see how dedicated she is and how eager she has always been to grow. She evolved remarkably from a junior role into senior positions where leadership and strong business understanding are essential. She is highly dedicated to her work and has unique skills in SEO and marketing overall."
09 Who you would be working with
Most digital marketers operate inside a single channel. I work across the broader commercial system, connecting brand, content, analytics and search directly to pipeline and revenue for migrations that cannot afford traffic loss, multi-market expansions that must scale quickly, and acquisition engines built to compound over time.
10 Latest thinking
Observations from enterprise practice: navigating AI Overviews and structuring pipelines that compound.
Most pages chasing AI Overview citations are doing it wrong. Here's what's actually working in 2026, based on observation, not theory.
Read article →The job descriptions say one thing. The interviews reveal another. A first-person look at what UK companies are really looking for in senior SEO hires right now.
Read article →Available for senior marketing, digital and growth roles.
11 Contact
Whether you have a project in mind, want to discuss marketing or search strategy, are looking to hire, or just want to connect: I would love to hear from you.
