$0 to $13M: How Lawrence Hitches Scaled Studio Hawk With AI SEO

What does it really take to grow an SEO agency from three people to a business the video calls a $13M agency? 💰 And how do you explain AI search to clients who just want to sell more dresses on Black Friday? 🤔

In this episode of Inside A Hustler’s Brain, recorded in Melbourne, I sat down with Lawrence Hitches, GM of StudioHawk, together with my co-host Andrea. 🦅

What makes Lawrence special is his no-fluff, curious mindset. He doesn’t promise shortcuts. He runs tests, shares experience instead of advice, and still loves the grind of SEO. 💪

📊 In this episode, we unpacked:

• 🔍 How rating Bing vs Google results led him into SEO
• 🌱 “I want to grow you like a tree”: joining StudioHawk
• 🧪 Why he loves SEO testing, and how Claude reignited his passion
• 🗣️ How to explain AEO, GEO and AI SEO to clients in three sentences
• 📊 The 80/20 approach to traditional SEO vs AI optimization
• 🗺️ Building long-term SEO roadmaps instead of quick spikes
• 💀 Is SEO dead? His honest answer
• 🐔 Chicken farms, regrets and his advice to his younger self

🎥 Watch the full episode:

🔍 How Lawrence Hitches Got Into SEO

Lawrence’s search journey started in an unusual place: rating Bing results for a search quality program, around 2016–17. “My job was literally: here’s Bing, here’s Google, which one’s better? And usually it was Google.” 😄

At the time, he didn’t really know what SEO was. Then he put “SEO specialist” on his resume, got the job, and realised there are actually people behind those results. 🤯

Looking back at those rating guidelines, they covered the same things we talk about today: fresh content, credibility, trust signals, third-party vs first-party sources. The principles still hold. ✅

🌱 From Junior SEO to StudioHawk GM

Lawrence applied for a junior SEO role with Harry, StudioHawk’s founder, who told him in the interview: “I want to grow you like a tree.” You don’t know anything, let me teach you what I know. 🌳

They’ve worked together ever since, almost 10 years. The agency started with just three people, including Anthony, now GM of the UK, and grew into a really large agency. Lawrence became the company’s GM. 🦅

Is he an SEO or a CEO? “My heart is still in SEO.” He ran technical and content-driven campaigns for large enterprise clients, including a migration of 16 million URLs that he joined late. As GM he had to step back, so he keeps his own SEO blog going in the background for the enjoyment. 💻

🧪 SEO Testing, Curiosity and Claude

“I’m not the smartest SEO. I’m just very curious.” Lawrence loves running tests with tools like SEOTesting and SEOgets: change the date on a blog, embed a YouTube video, and see what happens. When something works on his own site, he takes it to the team. 🔬

It’s part data, part gut feel. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, “but I have a lot of fun doing it”. 🎯

And Claude has reinvigorated his love for SEO. StudioHawk “unleashed Claude into the team”, and now people with six months of experience are building incredibly impressive things, even before he can think of them. 🤖

He also finds that people who love video games, competition or maths tend to do really well in SEO. For another take on AI-era agencies, read Adam Chronister on SEO agency success in the AI era. 🎮

🗣️ Explaining AEO, GEO and AI SEO to Clients

When clients started throwing around AEO and GEO, StudioHawk chose one simple term: AI SEO. 🧩

Lawrence points out that Google’s developer guidelines say that for AI features, you just have to do SEO, and Microsoft has said similar. So the team built a central document, had everyone read it, and trained them to explain the change in three sentences. 📄

Why? Most clients are worried about Black Friday, selling more dresses, or getting plumbing jobs. Talking about compressed consideration phases and prompt injection would overload them. Simple messaging kept both the team and clients from being overwhelmed. 💡

📊 The 80/20 Approach to AI SEO

Many clients still ask for traditional SEO and only lightly mention AI. StudioHawk uses an 80/20 approach: 80% SEO, 20% “the cool stuff on top”. ⚖️

Tactics like Reddit optimization only excite a small segment of clients; many worry it looks like spam, and want to focus on what delivers ROI. The team experiments a lot, but looks for what’s practical and not manipulative. 🧪

When clients say “I want to rank on AI”, Lawrence often finds the bulk of the work is already done through good SEO. His data shows AI activity is still small but increasing. Andrea added that for local businesses, most leads still come from Google Maps, though LLMs are growing about 10% a year. For local SEO, read Andrea Abbondanza on restaurant SEO for Google and LLMs. 📍

🗺️ Building SEO for Long-Term Growth

StudioHawk makes sure clients are a good fit. A discovery process uncovers what a brand really wants, then a roadmap starts with something simple like an audit. 🧭

The key question: are you after a quick ranking boost, or a sustainable channel? One goal is always to build a strong SEO program inside the business, even if the client eventually hires in-house or scales down the retainer. “Not making yourself like ‘you need me’. It’s a true collaboration.” 🤝

In Australia, he says, a common blocker is capability: some clients have no dev team, so they have to find people who can implement changes. 🛠️

💀 Is SEO Dead?

“No. SEO is not dead, it’s evolving.” Lawrence still sees a lot of leads coming through SEO for his clients. 📈

Until my mom, who’s in her 70s, comes to me and says, ‘I did some crazy research in ChatGPT and found this Reddit thread,’ I’m not really going to be too concerned about SEO as a channel.

Lawrence Hitches

Maybe, he says, it’s a slow evolution into a rebirth, happening at different speeds in different markets. And just in case, he jokes, he’s planning to be a chicken farmer someday. 🐔 For a different view, read Andrei Builov on what works in SEO now.

🐔 Regrets, Plans and Advice to His Younger Self

In our icebreaker round, Lawrence opened up:

• 👴 He’d love to meet the grandparents he never met
• 🎓 He regrets not finishing his university degree, which he’s still paid for
• 📝 Best advice: always have a plan, even an imperfect one, because doing something beats letting things happen to you
• 🙊 Worst advice: “all advice”. From his business mentoring group, he learned: don’t give advice, share experience
• 🥞 His “FU money” is simple: brunch on weekends and maybe flying business class
• 🐔 With $10 million, he’d start a chicken farm, a laundromat and a pickleball court

His advice to his younger self: don’t take things too personally. SEO leadership means handling both technical complexity and people problems. “That worst situation you think of right now, there’s probably 10 more waiting for you. So just move on.” 🙏

You can catch Lawrence at the Melbourne SEO Meetup on the first Tuesday of every month. 👋

📝 Key Takeaways From the Lawrence Hitches Interview

• 🔍 Search quality principles from years ago still apply today
• 🧪 Curiosity and constant SEO testing beat being “the smartest SEO”
• 🗣️ Explain AI SEO to clients simply, in about three sentences
• 📊 Use an 80/20 split: core SEO first, AI experiments on top
• 🤝 Build sustainable SEO programs, not dependency
• 💀 SEO isn’t dead, it’s evolving
• 📝 Always have a plan, and share experience rather than advice

❓ FAQs About Lawrence Hitches

Who is Lawrence Hitches?

Lawrence Hitches is the GM of StudioHawk, an SEO agency he joined as a junior SEO specialist almost 10 years ago, when it had just three people.

What is Lawrence Hitches’ approach to AI SEO?

StudioHawk uses an 80/20 approach: about 80% traditional SEO and 20% newer AI optimization experiments, focusing on tactics that are practical and not manipulative.

Is SEO dead according to Lawrence Hitches?

No. He says SEO is evolving, and he still sees many leads coming through SEO for clients.

What tools does Lawrence Hitches use for SEO testing?

He mentions SEOTesting, SEOgets and Claude, which he says reinvigorated his love for SEO.

🎙️ More Inside A Hustler’s Brain Interviews You’ll Love

• Cyrus Shepard Spills Secret SEO Hacks to Rank #1 on Google 🚀
• Navneet Kaushal: Building a Million-Dollar SEO Agency and Life Lessons 🧐
• How To Grow A 7-Figure SEO Agency That Runs Itself by Rafid Nassir 🚀
• 14 Best SEO Podcasts to Follow in 2026

If Lawrence’s story gave you even one idea, share it with a friend who runs or works in an SEO agency. 💬

🔔 Subscribe & Follow Jitendra Vaswani Everywhere

🎧 Subscribe to Inside A Hustler’s Brain on YouTube and Follow Jitendra Vaswani on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, everywhere. 🙌