In this episode of The Engaging Marketeer, Darren Jamieson speaks with Peter Murphy Lewis, a seasoned SEO and video content marketing expert based in the United States. Peter shares his journey from running a pioneering travel business in South America to building a successful marketing agency and directing documentaries. The conversation covers SEO strategies, content marketing, AI, video content, and the powerful role of domain authority. Darren also finds himself on the receiving end of a few tough questions from Peter. What follows is a deep and revealing insight into modern marketing, the evolution of SEO, and how to future-proof your digital strategy.
Today on The Engaging Marketeer, I’m speaking with Peter Murphy Lewis. He’s an SEO and video content marketing expert based in the US, and he’s just sold his business — although he won’t tell me how much for. We talk about how Peter grew his business, competed with the big boys, made some expensive SEO mistakes, and how he’s now building documentaries for clients with stories worth telling. He even flips the script and puts me on the spot. Let’s dive in.
Peter:
I made money based on what I did right — or wrong. It was results-driven. I always say I put my money where my mouth is. Or maybe my mouth where my money is.
Darren:
You were in the SEO game before it really became what it is now. How did that start?
Peter:
I had a travel company in South America. Back then, people were still using Lonely Planet books. We were one of the first with a proper website, the first to take bookings online, and the first in our space doing SEO. I wouldn’t call myself a professional back then, but I made money by getting it right. That’s how I learned.
Darren:
You may not have called yourself a pro, but you were doing it long before most people in the industry now.
Peter:
That’s true. I wasn’t technical, just better than the competition at the time. As we grew — nearly 50 staff in four cities — I hired smarter people. My role shifted to founder and marketer. I’ve made plenty of mistakes too, but that’s part of it.
Darren:
What year was this?
Peter:
We opened in early 2008. By 2010, 80% of our bookings were coming through the site. Most of our clients booked tours online before they even arrived in Chile. North Americans and Western Europeans mostly.
Darren:
Who were you up against?
Peter:
Big bus tour operators — the same ones you get in New York, London, Paris. We were doing wine tours, walking tours, higher-end trips. The only advantage we had early on was our online presence.
Darren:
What were you doing online that they weren’t?
Peter:
SEO, for starters. Then TripAdvisor. The big operators ignored it. We didn’t. And once we had some momentum, our guerrilla marketing was next level. We got featured in The New York Times twice. Paul McCartney booked with us. Beyoncé. Aerosmith. We built a brand.
Darren:
And now you’ve sold the company?
Peter:
Yesterday. Signed the paperwork. It was the cleanest deal — no lawyers needed. We started the exit conversation in 2022. My partner wanted to invest more; I was ready to move on. We tested it for a year. He wanted to take it forward. I said, “Great. I’m out.”
Darren:
You’ve mentioned domain authority. How do you explain that to clients?
Peter:
I work mostly with CEOs. I explain it like this: your first impression isn’t your website or your handshake. It’s your search presence. It’s LinkedIn, YouTube, and increasingly AI. Before I pitch to investors, I run AI checks — lawsuits, Glassdoor reviews, media coverage. I need to know who I’m talking to. And they’re doing the same to me.
Darren:
It’s the Elon Musk effect, right? You can damage your brand even if you’re not running day-to-day.
Peter:
Exactly. That’s why I post on LinkedIn every single day. One negative move can hurt faster than anything. And recovery is slower.
Darren:
You said you made a costly mistake in Search Console?
Peter:
Yep. We accidentally set our primary audience location to Chile instead of the US. We lost $200,000 in traffic. Took three months to even realise. Back then, I didn’t have the systems in place to track it. Just a silly change — fixed in a minute — and it cost us big.
Darren:
Let’s talk about content. You mentioned something brilliant earlier — interns creating content about arriving in Chile.
Peter:
Yeah, we had 100 interns in the first ten years. We got them to document their experience — where they stayed, what restaurants they visited, how they got around. It became a kind of Santiago travel wiki. It wasn’t intended as SEO. It was a culture thing. But within a year, we were ranking on loads of long-tail keywords.
Darren:
That’s essentially employee-generated content — something people only started naming last year.
Peter:
Exactly. We stumbled into it. Now we’re much more strategic. We repurpose everything — blogs become YouTube videos, LinkedIn articles, Reddit answers. We use those platforms for distribution.
Darren:
Reddit seems to come up a lot in SEO conversations now.
Peter:
It’s huge. My family planned our whole spring break trip using Reddit. I didn’t use it a year ago. Now it’s become part of how people search — because Google promotes it. It’s trusted content.
Darren:
And ChatGPT? Everyone wants to throw 10 blog topics into AI and publish.
Peter:
Recipe for disaster. Google will catch you, punish your site, and trust is hard to win back. I use AI for ideas, structure, early brainstorming — never for full content. We still use human writers. Always will.
Darren:
Same here. We’ve had people send in work that literally includes ChatGPT’s prompt. One even left the “Sure, here’s a sample…” at the top. Cringe.
Peter:
It’s dangerous because it looks easy. But if Google catches it, you’ll suffer. Maybe not overnight, but the impact can be long-term.
Darren:
And Google doesn’t tell you what’s wrong. No support.
Peter:
Nope. Try getting help from Google on SEO. Good luck.
Darren:
So where do you see SEO going?
Peter:
I don’t know. I really don’t. I focus on doing one or two things well, then observe. Right now, PR backlinks are working. Every week, we send out pitches to journalists. We get 3–15 backlinks with real quotes. Our domain rating keeps growing.
Darren:
And you’re using tools like Press Jockey and HARO?
Peter:
Yes. Journalists put their emails out there. As long as your pitch is good, they welcome it. If I’d known earlier, I’d have hired someone to do it years ago. You could get solid outreach for $2k a month. That’s not advertising. That’s brand building.
Darren:
So what’s your video strategy?
Peter:
YouTube is key — especially for B2B. I do 30 videos a quarter. It nurtures people before they even hit your website. If you don’t want to be on camera, fine — get someone else. But don’t skip video. Use tools like VidIQ for thumbnails, titles, optimisation.
Darren:
Do you need big views?
Peter:
No. One video aimed at the right five CEOs is worth more than 10,000 random views. My goal is not volume. It’s precision.
Darren:
And now you’re doing documentaries?
Peter:
Yes. Strategic Pete is my new focus. I produce long-form documentaries for businesses with powerful stories. But I only work with companies I trust. We vet them. Then we give them the playbooks: recruitment, brand authority, PR, even political influence. One client is using clips to geofence the US Capitol and target legislators.
Darren:
It’s the new business card. “Forget the book. Watch our documentary on Netflix.”
Peter:
That’s literally the first line of our new trailer.
Darren:
Brilliant. And if people want to work with you?
Peter:
Connect with me on LinkedIn — I’m the only Peter Murphy Lewis there. Or go to strategicpete.com. But fair warning — if you visit my site, I’ll probably find you on LinkedIn.
Darren:
Fantastic. Thanks for joining me.
Peter:
Thanks, Darren. Appreciate it.
More about Peter:
Peter Murphy Lewis is a seasoned SEO strategist, video content marketer, and documentary producer based in the United States. He began his career by founding a travel company in South America in 2008, where he pioneered early SEO and online booking strategies in the tourism sector. His innovative use of intern-generated content, TripAdvisor reviews, and guerrilla marketing saw his company featured in the New York Times and attract celebrity clients including Paul McCartney, Beyoncé, and Aerosmith.
After scaling the business to nearly 50 staff across multiple cities, Peter sold the company and transitioned into a new venture: Strategic Pete. Now working as a fractional CMO and documentary filmmaker, he helps B2B companies build brand authority through long-form storytelling. His documentaries are shot with professional television crews and aimed at platforms like Netflix and Amazon.
Peter is also a strong advocate for holistic SEO — combining PR backlinks, employee-generated content, and platform-specific strategies across YouTube, LinkedIn, Reddit, and traditional blogs. He’s highly data-driven, avoids shortcuts like AI-generated content for writing, and focuses on authority-building through trust, strategy, and human storytelling.
You can connect with Peter here:
Website: https://strategicpete.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petermurphylewis/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gringopeter/?hl=en
About your host:
Darren has worked within digital marketing since the last century, and was the first in-house web designer for video games retailer GAME in the UK, known as Electronics Boutique in the States. After co-founding his own agency, Engage Web, in 2009, Darren has worked with clients around the world, including Australia, Canada and the USA.
iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/engaging-marketeer/id1612454837
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darrenjamieson/
Engaging Marketeer: https://engagingmarketeer.com
Engage Web: https://www.engageweb.co.uk
