Selected career experience

Growth strategies built for real publishing teams

Three examples of turning audience insight into clearer editorial decisions, stronger operations and measurable commercial results.

01 — Pocket Tactics / Network N

From 400,000 to 25 million monthly pageviews

A search-led content strategy helped turn a specialist mobile-gaming publication into a global audience leader.

Role: Editor
Period: March 2020–December 2021
Focus: Organic growth, editorial strategy and scalable production
60×+growth from approximately 300,000–400,000 monthly pageviews
25mmonthly pageviews by the end of Glen’s tenure
2 → 6growth of the core editorial team

The opportunity

Pocket Tactics was broadening beyond its original mobile-strategy niche. The brand had authority, but it was overlooking many of the world’s biggest mobile games and rarely building coverage around specific search demand.

What changed

  • App Annie, Google Trends and keyword research informed commissioning.
  • High-demand games were covered through useful clusters of guides.
  • Templates and training made production faster and repeatable.
  • The wider audience team contributed major opportunities including Roblox.

The impact

Within approximately 12–15 months, traffic had increased more than sixtyfold. Search became the principal growth engine, daily guide output scaled substantially and the publication moved from loss-making to profitable.

02 — Push Your App

Building audience, revenue and an editorial team together

An integrated publishing and monetisation strategy transformed a portfolio of underperforming mobile-gaming websites.

Portfolio: Gamezebo, Droid Gamers and iFanzine
Role: Head of Editorial
Period: June 2022–January 2024
1.5mmonthly pageviews, up from approximately 400,000–500,000
£12.5kmonthly programmatic revenue, up from around £1,000
1 → 5growth of the editorial operation

The opportunity

The portfolio contained established brands but lacked consistent search planning, evergreen coverage and an effective advertising setup. Low revenue restricted hiring, while low traffic made a stronger ad partnership difficult to secure.

What changed

  • A search-led commissioning model was introduced across the portfolio.
  • Roblox and later Monopoly GO became repeatable growth opportunities.
  • Weekly and monthly reporting connected editorial work to performance.
  • A writing team, new development partner and Raptive relationship were established.

The impact

Over 18 months, traffic reached approximately 1.5 million monthly pageviews and advertising revenue grew more than twelvefold. Output increased to around 30 articles per day, supported by a five-person editorial team and more durable evergreen coverage.

03 — Metro.co.uk

Doubling Travel traffic with a tiered Discover strategy

A practical planning framework helped editors choose stories more confidently and turn historical audience data into repeatable growth.

Role: Senior SEO Strategist
Period: January–September 2024
Focus: Google Discover, training and newsroom implementation
1.5m → 3mapproximate monthly pageview growth for Travel
1–2 monthsto achieve the initial audience uplift
5–6journalists and editors trained

The opportunity

Metro’s Travel journalism was strong, but story selection was not consistently connected to the section’s historical performance. Analysis revealed untapped Discover potential in destination dupes, expert advice, accessible UK travel and affordable European breaks.

What changed

  • Tier 1 identified high-potential Discover stories.
  • Tier 2 balanced opportunities across several referrers.
  • Tier 3 protected evergreen, long-tail audience growth.
  • Reporting, training and packaging guidance embedded the system in planning.

The impact

Travel grew from approximately 1.5 million to 3 million monthly pageviews, with most of the additional traffic coming through Discover. The framework improved the apparent hit rate of commissioned stories and was subsequently adapted for other Metro sections.

A tangible example: an updated destination-dupe article about Albania’s “Europe’s Maldives” performed strongly in Discover and gave the team fresh evidence that the strategy could be repeated.

The common thread

Sharper decisions, not simply more content

Each project started with a different publishing challenge. The consistent approach was to identify where genuine demand existed, focus editorial effort on the strongest opportunities, make the process usable for the team and connect audience growth with commercial value.

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