Welcome to your team
Meet James and Laura leading the team that turn search demand into revenue growth.
[Who we are]
Agency values
[Meet the TRACE team]
Search is moving faster, becoming more complex and increasingly automated. The real risk isn't a lack of data. It's a misunderstanding of what the data is actually telling you.
The brands that win combine intelligent systems with experienced decision making. That belief shapes how we work, how we advise, and how we measure success.
When you work with us, you are not appointing another agency, you are adding senior thinking to your business. We stay intentionally small, senior led and outcome focused because that is what keeps performance sharp and commercially relevant.
Contact usJames Watling
Founder & Business Development Lead
Melbourne, APAC
James brings a commercial, operator-led perspective to TRACE, shaped by a background in luxury travel, hospitality and lifestyle publishing across Asia, Europe and the US. His focus is on growth strategy, market positioning and translating search performance into tangible business outcomes.
James works closely with founders and leadership teams to identify where organic search can replace inefficiency, reduce acquisition costs and unlock new revenue streams. James’s focus is on ROI generation as well as a holistic growth of businesses he manages in the agency portfolio.
Laura Hietala
Technical Director
Portugal, Europe
Laura leads TRACE’s technical and strategic search capability, ensuring every campaign is grounded in data integrity, AI-driven insight and proven SEO methodology. A certified Google specialist with over a decade of experience, she has delivered complex organic growth strategies for global brands across Europe, Australia and the United States.
Her work spans technical SEO, LLM optimisation, performance diagnostics and large-scale search architecture, with a reputation for precision and calm execution in competitive and regulated environments.
We both look forward to welcoming you in joining the TRACE family.