All About Tom Riley: SEO Consultant, Founder and Investor
Tom Riley is a UK SEO consultant, business owner, and investor. He is best known for driving organic growth in difficult, regulated markets like insurance and fintech, but his work and interests stretch well beyond search.
This is a full look at who he is: the agency he runs, the ecommerce business he owns, and where he puts his money as an investor.
Who is Tom Riley?
Tom is a growth marketer and SEO specialist who has spent his career in some of the hardest niches in search. He led SEO and AI search at Zego, the UK insurtech unicorn, and earlier drove growth for an FCA-regulated pension firm.
He also co-owned UK Smiles, a Turkey dental tourism agency, for a number of years, building it into a national category leader before selling his share to his brother.
On top of that, he has contracted at C-suite level with Tedaisy Insurance, a national insurance group, working on its Perfect Pet brand to grow organic visibility in the fiercely competitive UK pet insurance market.
He is a hands-on operator rather than a manager who delegates. He works directly in site architecture, content, technical SEO, link building, and digital PR, and he is known for an open-minded approach that adapts quickly to algorithm changes and the rise of AI search.
Owner of HAKKEN
Tom is the founder and owner of HAKKEN, an organic growth studio built specifically for brands in insurance, fintech, finance, and health.
He built HAKKEN to turn years of in-house and consulting experience into something focused and accountable, aimed at ambitious brands that are tired of paying agencies for underwhelming work. The studio specialises in competitive, high-stakes verticals where ranking actually moves revenue, combining SEO, content, digital PR, and AI search visibility into a single growth engine.
Rather than chasing volume, HAKKEN works with a focused set of clients who need search built properly, particularly funded startups that cannot afford to lose a year discovering an agency was learning on the job.
Owner of VERCORE, a national epoxy flooring business
Tom is also the owner of VERCORE, a national ecommerce business selling epoxy and industrial flooring paints across the UK.
VERCORE is a real, physical-product business rather than a digital side project. It gives Tom direct ownership of a competitive, high-intent ecommerce operation, from product and logistics through to the search and conversion strategy that drives sales. It also keeps him close to the commercial realities he advises clients on, since he is running the exact kind of ecommerce growth challenge he helps others solve.
An avid investor in robotics and crypto
Beyond his businesses, Tom is an active investor with a particular interest in robotics and cryptocurrency.
He follows robotics closely, especially the smaller, high-growth companies working in automation, edge AI, and the hardware behind the next wave of technology. On the crypto side, he takes an engaged, research-led approach to digital assets rather than treating them as a passive bet.
Both reflect a wider trait: a genuine interest in emerging technology and where growth is heading next. The same forward-looking instinct that shapes his investing is what keeps his SEO work ahead of the curve on AI search.
What markets does Tom Riley specialise in?
Through HAKKEN, Tom focuses on the hardest verticals in search, the ones most consultants avoid.
His core specialisms are insurance, fintech, finance, and health, all YMYL categories that sit under strict regulation and demand genuine topical authority and trust. He also brings hands-on ecommerce experience through VERCORE, and has a track record in high-intent commercial and local markets too.
What is Tom Riley known for?
Tom is known for combining several strengths that rarely sit in one person.
- An open-minded, adaptable approach that keeps pace with algorithm updates and AI search.
- Experienced link building and digital PR, including national news coverage.
- A strong all-round digital marketing approach spanning content, brand, technical SEO, and conversion.
- A habit of reverse-engineering traffic, studying exactly how category leaders win and rebuilding that advantage.
- A commercial mindset focused on revenue and ROI rather than vanity metrics.
The bottom line
Tom Riley is more than an SEO consultant. He is the founder of HAKKEN, the owner of the national epoxy flooring business VERCORE, and an active investor in robotics and crypto.
That mix of specialist search expertise, real business ownership, and a genuine interest in emerging technology is what sets him apart. He does not just advise on growth, he builds and backs it himself.