About Eight Engines
Eight Engines is a Creative Video Production Agency based in Manchester.
Originally founded to produce TV dramas for the BBC, Eight Engines adapted its offering in 2017 to produce content for clients ranging from huge household names, through to SMEs.
In 2019, the agency enlisted the help of Aqueous Digital to help improve its local SEO efforts in Manchester with the objective of increasing online visibility, and win more business through its website.
Since then, Eight Engines has become a highly valued customer and we’re thrilled our latest 2025 campaign was a roaring success.
The challenge
As the ‘Creative Capital’ of the UK, Manchester is a competitive city for creative businesses, including video production.
Because of this, there are a lot of competitors aiming rank for video production related keywords in Manchester.
In an attempt to compete, we began creating content in 2019 for lower volume keywords to build up topical authority in the location.
Once we secured those rankings, we moved on to more high volume, competitive keywords that would bring in organic website traffic.
In line with Eight Engines’ objectives, our most recent 2025 campaign was targeted towards securing greater visibility in AI search, shifting its customer base to B2B organisations that would spend more on production and expanding reach from a local, Manchester-based level to a national audience.
The solution
Where we started in 2019
Website functionality
Following an assessment of the website’s performance, it was identified that Eight Engines’ website content management system (SquareSpace) had limitations that impacted on its functionality.
Specifically, this related to how pages were designed and presented to website visitors.
Given website user experience is a ranking factor, this had to be addressed as part of the SEO strategy.
As a result, following our guidance and advice, a new website was launched on Webflow, a platform that resolved those old functionality issues.
Content
Following in-depth keyword research, we devised a content strategy focused on answering the questions people are asking while searching online.
By producing high-quality content, and publishing on Eight Engines’ website on a regular basis, a resource hub was created for Manchester businesses to better understand the agency’s services.
This established topical authority on all things surrounding video production in Manchester, all while assisting businesses on what approach they should take when weighing up whether to invest in corporate video production.
Outreach and PR
In addition to helpful content for businesses, outreach and PR was essential to building the Eight Engines brand.
For example, a PR piece was arranged between Prolific North and Eight Engines’ Creative & Managing Director Jack about the role of AI in video production.
This piece generated a lot of traffic (and backlinks) from other websites, raising the agency’s profile.
It also resulted in Jack receiving an invite to speak at Manchester’s animation festival, attracting further attention to the brand.
The latest campaign in 2025
AI visibility
In a rapidly evolving world of AI-driven search, we targeted users whose search behaviour has shifted and are increasingly likely to rely on AI tools to discover products and services.
We identified that we needed to repurpose existing content on the website to ensure it was structured, clear, and context-rich, so AI systems can interpret it accurately and present it to users.
Geo-page production
In a bid to expand reach from Manchester to a national level, we created a series of geo pages.
These are designed to increase online visibility for relevant services in key UK cities like London, Bristol, Sheffield, Cardiff, and Edinburgh.
As of early 2026, impressions started to grow significantly across all of these, helping Eight Engines to start winning work from clients based in other parts of the UK.
Sector-specific content
Alongside creating location-specific pages, we also built a variety of sector-targeted pages to help Eight Engines achieve one of its key goals of working with more B2B organisations.
To do this, we developed high-value, insight-driven articles that positioned Eight Engines as experts, not only in video production, but in marketing and brand strategy.
Instead of producing low-impact, keyword-led SEO blogs, we created authoritative, sector-specific perspectives that demonstrate expertise, build credibility, and create meaningful engagement with decision-makers in a wide range of sectors.
This approach included organisations operating in sectors such as education, manufacturing, transport, construction, arts, and gaming.
Results
Since the launch of the new website, Eight Engines has:
- Received a 4-fold (176.5%) increase in enquiries (over a 12-month period)
- Generated £333,000 in new business from organic search (over an 11-month period)
- Achieved 5 times increase in revenue and 400% return-on-investment
- Benefitted from a steady stream of leads coming in through the website
- Seen an increase in website sessions from organic search up by 80% (Jan 2025 vs Jan 2026)
- An increase in new users to the website of 182% (Jan 2025 vs Jan 2026)
- A boost in website visibility of 17%
- An increase in visibility in AI search, such as AI Overviews (2 client wins via ChatGPT AI search)
- An increase in digital PR coverage around the impact of AI on the video production
- An uptick in form submissions of 455.17% (Jan 2025 vs Jan 2026)
- An uptick of email enquiries of 3250% (Jan 2025 vs Jan 2026)
- An increase in average job orders of 40%
176.5%
increase in website enquiries
420.8%
return on investment
248
keywords ranking on Google
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