The Early Years (2015–2019)

I joined StudioHawk as a Junior SEO in 2018 with no agency experience. No formal training. Just a conviction that search was going to matter more, not less, and a willingness to outwork the learning curve.

Eight years later, I'm General Manager of a 115+ person agency that has won 45 industry awards, operates across Melbourne, Sydney, London, and the US, and generates over $20 million in global revenue. Under my leadership, StudioHawk became one of the most awarded SEO and AI search agencies in the world.

This is how it happened.

The Early Years (2015–2019)

StudioHawk was founded by Harry Sanders in 2015. He was 17 years old. By the time I walked in three years later, the agency had built a solid reputation in Melbourne — a small but focused team doing pure SEO work. No paid media. No social. Just search.

That specialisation is what drew me in. Most agencies spread themselves across every channel. StudioHawk went all-in on one thing and aimed to be the best at it.

The early awards came quickly. In 2019, we won Semrush's Best Marketing Agency — our first major agency-level award, competing against agencies globally. That same year, we launched StudioHawk London, our first international office.

It was a signal that something different was being built here.

COVID and the Growth That Followed (2020)

When COVID hit in early 2020, we lost roughly 20% of revenue almost overnight. Clients paused. Budgets froze. The future of the agency felt genuinely uncertain.

But we didn't contract. We invested. We doubled down on delivery, kept the team together, and focused on proving the value of SEO during a period when every marketing dollar was being scrutinised.

By the end of 2020, revenue had grown over 70%. The team doubled. We launched Hawk Academy — an SEO education platform that would eventually reach over 3,500 students globally. And we won four Semrush awards in a single year.

COVID was the hardest period — but it proved the model worked under pressure.

Becoming General Manager (2021)

In 2021, I stepped into the General Manager role. I'd gone from Junior SEO to leading the agency's strategic direction in three years.

That same year, I won Semrush's Young Search Professional of the Year. And the agency won Best Global Large SEO Agency at the Global Search Awards — our first global agency-category win.

Revenue was growing. The team was growing. But the real tests of leadership were ahead.

The Hardest Year (2022)

2022 was the toughest year in the agency's history. Sales slowed. We had months of negative revenue growth. Staff turnover spiked. Morale was low.

The easy move would have been to ride it out and hope the market recovered. Instead, we did a complete agency reshape.

Under my leadership, we:

• Rebuilt the entire organisational structure — new accountability chart, new roles, new progression paths
• Created dedicated Head of Learning & Development and Head of SEO Performance positions
• Moved to a performance-based bonus system and raised base salaries across the board — deliberately investing in retention even when profitability took a hit
• Built new KPIs at every level so people knew exactly what success looked like

By the end of the year, we'd stabilised. Staff turnover dropped. And we won Best Large SEO Agency at the APAC Search Awards for the first time — the start of a streak that's still running.

The 2022 reshape was painful. It was also the single most important thing we did. Everything that came after — the growth, the expansion, the award runs — was built on the foundation we laid during the hardest year.

The Expansion Years (2023–2024)

Sydney

We launched the Sydney office in late 2023 with two people. Within 12 months, it had grown to 12 team members and multiplied its monthly recurring revenue several times over. The team moved offices twice because they kept outgrowing the space.

Digital PR

We built a dedicated Digital PR team that integrated link building with genuine media outreach. Within the first year, campaigns earned coverage in 7News, 9News, Body+Soul, Vanity Fair, House Beautiful, The Sun, and Daily Express.

By 2026, we were winning APAC Search Awards specifically for PR in Search.

Web Development

We launched an in-house web development team — adding a capability that most SEO agencies outsource. It became profitable in its first year and quickly became a core part of the service offering.

The Award Momentum

2023 was our biggest award year — 10 wins in a single year. We won Semrush Best Marketing Agency for the second time. Won Best Large SEO Agency (APAC) again. Won Best Agency Culture at the Global Agency Awards. And won SEO Agency of the Year at the Global Digital Excellence Awards.

In 2024, we made it three consecutive years winning Best Large SEO Agency at the APAC Search Awards. We also won SEO Agency of the Year again at the Global Digital Excellence Awards — back-to-back.

The deals pipeline exploded — a 125% increase in closed deals over 12 months.

Going Global and Going AI (2025–2026)

In 2025, we expanded to the US (Atlanta). We won Best Large Agency of the Year at the Global Agency Awards — not just best SEO agency, best agency full stop. We won Standout SEO Agency of the Year at the Global Digital Excellence Awards — our third consecutive year winning the SEO Agency category (previously titled "SEO Agency of the Year" in 2023 and 2024).

Then came 2026.

Under my leadership, we:

• Hit $20M+ in global revenue ($15M+ in Australia alone)
• Grew to 115+ team members across four countries
• Won Best Large SEO Agency at the APAC Search Awards for the fourth time
• Won Best Use of Data in SEO — for StudioHawk's own SEO campaign, ranking #1 for "SEO agency Melbourne"
• Won 7 awards total in a single year — across SEO, content marketing, digital PR, data, and finance verticals
• Launched a dedicated AI/LLM visibility R&D arm — building tools and methodology for AI search optimisation
• Made AI SEO Certification mandatory for all staff
• Launched EarlyBird — a productised SEO service for SMBs that onboarded 100+ clients in its first year

The Campaigns

Awards don't mean much without the work behind them. Here are some of the campaigns that defined what StudioHawk became under my leadership:

Hunter Talent

Organic traffic grew over 2,500%. SEO drove the vast majority of the company's revenue — with zero paid advertising. One of the highest ROI campaigns in the agency's history.

The Meat & Wine Co

Organic bookings grew nearly 28% year-on-year — tens of thousands of additional bookings driving millions in additional revenue. Won Best SEO Campaign at the APAC Search Awards 2026.

QuickBooks APAC

Built a modular SEO framework spanning 12 APAC markets across 9 languages. Organic visibility grew significantly across all target markets within 12 months. The playbook was adopted by other enterprise clients. Won Best Pan-Asian Campaign at APAC Search Awards 2026.

Sharewise

Broke into the competitive financial services search landscape — a vertical where E-E-A-T and trust signals are everything. Won Finance SEO at APAC Search Awards 2026.

Our Own Website

We ranked #1 for "SEO agency Melbourne" and won the Best Use of Data in SEO award for it. When your potential clients find you organically for the most competitive keyword in your industry, that's the strongest proof point an agency can offer.

The Full Award Record

The Numbers Under My Leadership

Speaking & Industry Recognition

Beyond the awards, I've been fortunate to contribute to the SEO industry through speaking, writing, and education:

Podcast

I host Beyond the Fold — StudioHawk's podcast where I interview founders, marketers, and business leaders about the decisions that define their growth. Season 1 featured conversations on scaling brands, leadership, and digital strategy. Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. (Featured in Mi-3)

Press & Publications

• Featured contributor at Search Engine Land — including research on AI search attribution and buying decisions
• Contributions to Moz (Whiteboard Fridays, E-E-A-T, Link Building, SEO Leadership)
• Semrush Customer Story — featured on how we use Semrush to achieve a 70% pitch win rate
• SEOTesting Customer Story — featured on how we use SEOTesting for large-scale migrations and algorithm monitoring
• Wix SEO Tools Course contributor

Conference Speaking & Teaching

• Shenzhen SEO Conference 2025
• SEO Mastery Summit 2025 (Ho Chi Minh City)
• SEOCon Forum Bali 2024
• Phuket Summit
• Evocative Media eCommerce Summit
• Digital Marketers Australia
• iMedia Summit
• Add to Cart Campus — "SEO in the AI Era" Masterclass
• Activate UTS — Live SEO Workshop (University of Technology Sydney)

Full speaker profile on seo-conferences.com.

What I Learned

The hardest years produce the biggest growth

The 2022 reshape was the most difficult period of my career. It was also the catalyst for everything that followed. Three consecutive Best Large Agency wins, revenue nearly tripling, and global expansion — all built on decisions made during the worst year.

Specialisation wins

StudioHawk's refusal to become a generalist agency was its biggest strategic advantage. Four divisions — Technical SEO, Content, Digital PR, Web Development — but all in service of search visibility. Clients came to us because we were the best at one thing, not average at ten things.

Process scales, individual talent doesn't

Growing from 50 to 115 people without quality dropping required documented processes at every level. Our Junior Bootcamp takes someone from zero to client-ready in six weeks. KPIs are clear at every role. This is what lets you scale without losing what made you good in the first place.

Move early on what's next

We invested in AI search optimisation before most agencies acknowledged it existed. When clients started asking about ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and Microsoft Copilot, we already had the methodology and the results. Being early in a fast-moving industry compounds.

Practise what you preach

Ranking #1 for your own keywords and winning awards for your own SEO campaign is the strongest credibility signal an agency can have. If you can't do it for yourself, why would a client trust you to do it for them?

You don't need experience to start

I joined with nothing — no agency background, no formal SEO training. What mattered was curiosity, work ethic, and the willingness to build systems rather than rely on individual heroics. The path from Junior SEO to General Manager in three years wasn't about talent. It was about consistently doing the work that others skip.