We’re absolutely stoked to welcome Simone Lourens to the numero® team as our new SEO Team Lead. Simone joined us on 9 March 2026, bringing a career path so wonderfully non-linear that it makes the best kind of sense.
With a zoology degree, years of travelling, sales experience, a venture into account management, a diploma in web design, starting up a full-service agency in Raglan, and some of New Zealand’s biggest ecommerce brands under her belt. It’s safe to say, she didn’t take the scenic route by accident.
FROM ZOOLOGY TO RAGLAN TO RANKING ON GOOGLE
Simone didn’t exactly follow the playbook. She graduated with a science degree in zoology, took one look at a lab career, and thought: hard pass. So she did what any self-respecting 20-something does when the expected path doesn’t fit: she travelled. A lot. Most of her 20s were spent seeing the world, picking up sales skills along the way, and eventually landing in account management.
Then came the pivot that changed everything. Simone returned to study, completed a diploma in web design and development, and stepped into the digital marketing world. Not long after, she co-founded her own full-service agency in Raglan. Running your own shop teaches you things no course ever could: client management, creative problem-solving, and how to make things work when the budget, the brief, and the deadline are all fighting each other.
And her most recent role before joining numero®? Senior SEO Manager at Blackpepper, where she stayed long enough to do some seriously impressive work.
BIG BRANDS, BIG ECOMMERCE, REAL RESULTS
When we say Simone has worked on big accounts, we mean accounts that pretty much every New Zealander has shopped at. From Glassons to Hallensteins, Pascoes, Backdoor, and Stevens, these aren’t just any small fish. These are high-volume, high-competition ecommerce brands where SEO isn’t a nice-to-have; it’s a revenue line.
Working at that scale means you can’t hide behind vague strategies or wait-and-see reporting. You’re accountable to real numbers, real traffic, and real sales. Simone’s done that. She knows what it takes to move the needle on an ecommerce site that gets serious traffic, and she knows what happens when you get it wrong.
That depth of ecommerce experience doesn’t just look good on paper. It translates directly into smarter decisions for numero®’s clients: faster diagnosis, sharper strategy, and fewer expensive mistakes.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU (OUR CLIENTS)
Simone’s not your typical SEO. She’ll be the first to tell you she looks for the creativity in SEO, not just where the quick wins are hiding. That’s a rarer quality than you’d think. Many SEOs are excellent at following a checklist. Simone’s interested in what sits beyond the checklist.
She also doesn’t take life too seriously. And in an industry that can get pretty intense about algorithm updates and ranking fluctuations, that’s genuinely refreshing. It keeps perspective sharp and clients sane.
But don’t mistake easy-going for easy to impress. Simone brings serious ecommerce chops, a development background that means she actually understands what she’s asking developers to implement, and the strategic range that only comes from wearing a lot of different hats. From agency founder to account manager and now SEO Team Lead. She’s sat in enough seats to know what good looks like from every angle.
WHAT SIMONE SAYS ABOUT JOINING THE TEAM
We asked Simone what it was like joining the team, and she didn’t sugarcoat it. “It was a bit of a mess at first,” she laughed. And fair enough. Starting a new role is always a lot, especially when you’re stepping into a fast-moving agency mid-stride.
But here’s what stuck with her: the people, and the pace. The team made her feel welcome from day one, and the collaborative, quick environment with no unnecessary red tape was exactly what she was looking for. Everyone’s input is on the table, and everyone’s input actually counts.
For someone who’s spent time building things from scratch and working inside big agencies, Simone knows the difference between a team that says it values people and one that actually does. She reckons numero® is the latter. We’ll take that.
LOOKING AHEAD: SEO IN AN AI WORLD
Simone joins numero® at a genuinely interesting moment for search. LLMs and AI are reshaping how people find information, and the SEO agencies paying attention now will be ahead of the curve in two years. Simone’s already thinking about it.
At numero®, we’re building SEO products designed to move with that shift, and are accessible across all budgets, not just the big end of town. We’re also developing internal technology that makes our processes faster, smarter, and more streamlined for clients. It’s the kind of infrastructure work that doesn’t always get the spotlight, but it’s what separates agencies that scale well from ones that don’t.
Simone’s here to help lead that charge. And given everything she’s already navigated to get here, we reckon she’s more than ready for what’s next.
Welcome to the team, Simone. When you’re not ranking pages and building strategies, we hope the waves are good. 🤙
Want to stay across what’s happening in search, AI, and performance marketing? Keep an eye on the numero® blog, or get in touch if you’d like to talk about how smarter SEO could benefit your business!
