Hi, I’m Shiva

And no—I’m not a narcissist! “The Shiva” started as a running joke between a friend and me, inspired by a philosophy I live by. The name stuck. But over time, it evolved into something more meaningful—and it perfectly reflects how I think about work.
Start a conversation → See what I do
Shiva with multiple arms representing AI Visibility, Technical SEO, Structured Data, Content & Topical Authority, Site Migration, and Web Development

The Philosophy

The Metaphor That Became My Method

The Metaphor
In many Hindu depictions, Shiva is represented with multiple arms, each symbolizing mastery over different forces. That metaphor fits how I work perfectly.
The Name
But here’s the thing: I didn’t just choose this name because it sounds cool. I chose it because it reflects how I think.
The Belief
I don’t believe in isolated solutions. A beautiful website means nothing if people can’t find it. SEO rankings don’t matter if the page doesn’t convert. Content is useless without the strategy to support it.
Everything is connected.

That’s been my driving principle for the past 11+ years—working across industries, with in-house teams, through agencies, and now on my own.

Experience

How I Got Here

Over the past 11+ years, I’ve worn many hats:

In-House

As an In-House Expert

Led digital strategy for businesses across different sectors. I learned what works at scale, where things break down, and how to think like a business owner instead of just a technician.
Agency Side

In Agencies

Worked alongside talented teams at leading digital marketing and SEO firms. I learned how to think bigger, build processes that actually stick, and collaborate without losing focus on fundamentals.
Independent

As a Freelancer

Full ownership. Strategy. Analysis. Execution. Results. No layers between the thinking and the delivery. This taught me something critical: isolated expertise doesn’t move the needle. Everything connects.
Cross-Sector

Across Industries

Startups, e-commerce, tourism, professional services, B2B. Different markets, different challenges, same insight: the best results come from coherent strategy, not scattered efforts.

Mindset Shift

How My Thinking Changed

Early in my career, I was obsessed with rankings. “Get to position one and you’ve won.” That’s… not how it works. Over time, my thinking shifted:
✕ What I used to chase
  • Rankings
  • Keywords
  • Traffic
  • Google alone
  • Pages
✓ What I chase now
  • Business growth
  • User intent and journey
  • Revenue and predictable leads
  • The entire search ecosystem—AI Overviews, LLMs, conversational search
  • Results that compound over time

This shift didn’t happen overnight. I watched clients with great rankings but weak conversions. High traffic but no leads. Beautiful websites that nobody could find.

The pieces weren’t talking to each other.

Recent Focus

Why I Went Deep on AI Visibility

Most SEO professionals are still optimizing for Google 2018. I’m not. In the past year, I dedicated serious time to understanding how businesses get discovered, cited, and trusted by LLMs and AI search tools. Not because it’s trendy. Because it’s becoming how people actually find things. And the rules are completely different from traditional SEO. I tested it hands-on: took a small business site with minimal content, applied technical precision and structural rigor, and watched it get cited in LLMs and appear in AI Overviews—without massive content creation or backlink farming. This matters because most businesses are invisible in these systems. They’re still thinking like it’s 2020. By the time they realize the shift, their competitors will already own that real estate. I care about this because it’s the difference between being discoverable and being invisible. Between future-proof and obsolete.
Live answer · illustrative
“Best walking food tour in Rome?”
1
2
✓ walkingourmet.com — cited directly

One of the sites I rebuilt for AI visibility, now named directly in generative answers.

Case study — Walking Gourmet, a small tourism site, now gets cited directly by ChatGPT and Claude for its category. See the full case study →
AI Overviews LLM Citations Technical SEO Structured Data Conversational Search
Shiva Malek portrait

About Me

Who I Am

I’m based in Porto, Portugal, and work with clients globally. I’ve spent eleven years learning how to think like a strategist, not just a technician. How to ask the right questions instead of jumping to tactics. How to see what’s actually broken instead of what looks broken on the surface. My clients’ results speak for themselves: businesses that rank higher and convert better. Websites that appear in AI systems. Strategies that hold up when the algorithm shifts.
11+ Years 5+ Industries
I’m open to new projects, partnerships, and collaborations.

In Someone Else’s Words

What it’s like to work with me

She has successfully led and managed projects across diverse industries, including tourism, cultural heritage, healthcare, law, and IT.

Even though I wasn’t familiar with many technical details, she explained everything clearly — helping me understand the importance of elements like alignment and SEO.

Massi Hashemi — worked with me for over eight years: first on my team, later as a client whose site I built. See it on LinkedIn ↗

For Recruiters

If You Are Hiring

Open to the right role, alongside the consulting

Most of my work is project-based. But I’m open to senior organic growth, technical SEO and AI search roles across Europe — remote or hybrid, full-time, contract or fractional.

If you’re hiring rather than buying, tell me about the role and I’ll tell you honestly whether I’m the right fit. Same conversation, different direction.

Tell Me About the Role

Ready to Talk?

Let’s Start With a Conversation

If you’ve read this far, you probably think about your business the way I do: connected, intentional, and not interested in shortcuts.

Start with a free 30-minute call. You describe what’s happening; I tell you what it needs — and whether that’s me. If I’m not the right person, I’ll say so and point you somewhere better.

Book a call → See my services

Or reach out: shiva@theshiva.co